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ANN AIMEE is an androgen entity, originally lost during a storm of metroids in space cluster x69dsr/ann27n. After several light years of re-generation, re-covering and pre-final re-orientation, Ann Aimee now decided to return home, return to the place of eternal love and undisputed goodness, to return to The Mothership. Although the exact position of The Mothership is yet unknown, several exploring excursions are now set up to prepare the final journey home.
An earthbase has been set up Jeri Naraiv; Additional supplies on all journeys will be delivered by Deltainc.nl.
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.: Request for clarification < 1 of 5 > :. Jeri, can you tell us a little bit about yourself, what prompted you to start the Ann Aimee label and how you got it off the ground?
.: Ann Aimee Response < 1 of 5 > :. A part of my story is on our set up website. As far as I know my history isn’t very large. My own history starts while being transferred from Ann Aimee to here, to set
up the earthbase, and then set out the first missions.
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.: Analysis < 1 of 5 > :. The legendary Delsin label has been a staple of the output of the fascinating Amsterdam music scene for many years. Releasing to the world a plethora of electronica, Detroit techno, house and broken beat records, Delsin has been a label of consistent quality coupled with eclectic output. Delsin, however, dropped it’s IDM tinged electronic releases some time ago in favor of more techno inspired works.
There has been a resurgence of Detroit styled techno and house music in Amsterdam as released by small labels such as nwaq and M.O.U.T, a broken beat scene spearheaded by labels like Rush Hour, and a steady output of lush electronica often fusing these styles with IDM and classic early experimental music. Of late there seems to be a desire to return to the traditional House and Techno sounds of the late 80’s, that dirty, organic sound rather than heftily produced and diligently polished, squeaky clean techno. This is the manifesto of newly established labels like M.O.U.T. run by Jon Slocum and Sturmey Archer, and the new M>O>S Recordings label, whose debut release is a polished collaboration between Aroy Dee and Delsin Records owner Peel Seamus.
All of these labels are promoted by the newly established nomorewords.net, who now host an online shop that sells direct to consumers both in and outside of Europe.
A new record label, the mysterious and eccentric Ann Aimee, has taken the reigns from Delsin and begun to release truly wonderful, lush electronic music from artists such as one-time Delsin contributors, CiM and Lucky & Easy.
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.: Request for clarification < 2 of 5 > :. The Amsterdam music scene seems to be on the rise with new labels like M>O>S Recordings, M.O.U.T., and the already well-established Rush Hour, Delsin and NWAQ Recordings. What is the music scene like in Amsterdam now, and how do you see Ann Aimee fitting into that scene?
.: Ann Aimee Response < 2 of 5 > :. Our earthbase is operating from Amsterdam, and a lot of people over here are very, very friendly and supportive on our mission. But that we’re operating from Amsterdam is more accidentally, so to be said. Our earthbase could have been established on several places here on earth.
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.: Transmission 1 :. First space cadets have been recruited. Initial missions will be carried out by
Alexander Neumann (code name Alex Cortex, Germany) and Simon Walley (codename CiM, England). Supplies will be delivered by Boris Telegen (codename Delta, Holland). Hope they will serve us well, as the future of Ann Aimee is their hands.
.: Transmission 2 :. Goal of the first mission is set. Goal is to re-establish cluster control. Space
Cadet on this first flight is volunteer Alex Cortex.
.: Transmission 3 :. After months of preparation our mission has been published to the great outlands. With this action we hope not to harm our mission, but to seek all help to complete our mission.
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.: Product Review < ann001 > :.
.: Alex Cortex – CTRL EP :.
Ann Aimee’s debut release was this very fine seven track 12″ only EP by German producer Alex Cortex, already know for his releases on Source, Kanzleramt, Klang Elektronik and Out to Lunch. The 12″ is housed in the first of DeltainC’s 3D>2D picture sleeves for the label, and both this and the 12″ offer no hint of a track listing whatsoever.
Suffice it to say that CTRL offers seven tracks fusing Detroit fuelled electronica with warm strings, lush, ambient soundscapes, 8-bit sounds and smooth broken beat excursions. In a similar vein to the work of CiM, few of these tracks exceed three minutes in length. However the textured sound bytes presented here are more successful for it.
An excellent and very promising debut for the label, this is immersive electronic listening music at it’s best.
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.: Request for clarification < 3 of 5 > :. What is Ann Aimee’s target market? That is to say, what sort of music do you want to characterize the Ann Aimee label?
.: Ann Aimee Response < 3 of 5 > :. We don’t have any target market. The music we put out is to get all people involved of the lost of the Mothership. We hope people will support Ann Aimee on her journey
home. That is our only target. We can only say it’s the music from the journeys our volunteers have to get through.
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.: Analysis < 3 of 5 > :. These journeys are mentioned many times on the Ann Aimee website, but what the Mothership actually is or represents, either figuratively or literally, is unknown.
Certainly, Delsin ceased releasing IDM records a long time ago, so it’s entirely possible that Delsin is The Mothership and the artists such as Lucky & Easy had been planning to release more through Delsin until it’s output policy changed.
Your guess is as good as mine.
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.: Transmission 4 :. A mysterious incident occurred. Today we received some very useful and important information from the one, who says he is known as the Traveller 451. He has been investigating us for the last couple of weeks, and thinks we’re on good trust. He told us, in help for our search, it could help us to meet up with the semi-god Hal Varian – which should reside at the Noki Bay. Thanks Lost Traveller 451. All respect.
.: Transmission 5 :. First target achieved, mission one completed! Alex just returned and has completed his first mission successfully. He dropped several nodes and beacons, so we will now be able to explore the direct environment of Ann Aimee, as well in search of the correct directions to the Noki Bay. Alex’ audio-logical impressions will be available on vinyl format in public on March 13th.
.: Transmission 6 :. We’re now preparing the next journey. Volunteer Simon Walley will be taking off his first full mission to reach Noki Bay. Thanks to Alex we will be able to set out the right directions, to get the whole mission completed as soon as possible. We hope Hal Varian can give us additional information for the journey home: Estimated take off, end of March.
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.: Product Review < ann002 > :.
.: CiM – Noki Bay EP :.
In many ways, this EP is very similar to Ann Aimee’s debut release. The Noki Bay EP is a nine track ep, each track featuring a diminutive running time but packing into that as much character, melody and atmosphere as possible to great effect. But that’s not a coincidence. This is a CiM record after all, and his debut LP Reference (released on the now sadly lost DeFocus label) featured no less than 22 tracks, also of diminutive length but perfectly timed.
The Noki Bay EP continues in much the same vein as Reference: It is the forerunner to the soon to be released Do Not Multiply Models CD and features nine tracks of exclusive new CiM material that will not appear on that CD.
Despite being wrapped in Deltainc’s cryptic 2D>3D artwork with no sign of track listing, unlike the Alex Cortex releases, the track-listing can be found etched into the run-in grooves of this disc, giving the listener a reference point, this time.
CiM may not be the most prolific artist on the scene, but then what does quantity have to do with anything? There’s no denying the superior quality of the releases we’ve seen from Simon Walley so far: the eclectic mix of styles combined with readily apparent care and attention to detail reveal an obvious love of music in all it’s forms.
As a result, as with CiM’s previous releases, you get everything you could possibly want here. “Overhead” kicks off the EP in classic CiM territory, an ultra-warm slice of electronica with funky percussion and deep washes. You have the glitchy “Fuss” and “Dance Party”, delicate, almost classical pieces like “Lighthouse or “Not Today”, whose warm melodies are encrusted with spiky yet unobtrusive percussive elements. There’s the marvelous “Pop Squabble” – probably the finest entry here – a gorgeous and, funnily enough, poppy slice of electronica featuring cheerful, bouncy marimbas wrapped in CiM’s trademark atmospherics. It’s an addictive experience that, despite the nine-tracks presented here, is over all too quickly.
Far more down-tempo and low-key than his previous releases, the Noki Bay EP is another slice of armchair heaven: charming, comforting and awash with atmospheric warmth this is a superlative second release for Ann Aimee.
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.: Transmission 7 :. CiM returned from the Noki Bay, but things went far different as expected. Instead of meeting up with Hal Varian, the Noki Bay was full of illness, death and darkness. The only being alive there was a little mobile unit, identifying itself as Anthony Binky. And according to Anthony it was the evil’ish Hal Varian himself responsible for all mess in the once, full rich, light full, Noki Bay. And this remarks compared to the previous outings of Traveller 451 leaves me only with more and more question
marks.
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.: Request for clarification < 4 of 5 > :. The Website, and the highly distinguished artwork (by Deltainc) for the Ann Aimee releases, are all suitably cryptic. Can you talk about the concepts and ideas behind the presentation of the label?
.: Ann Aimee Response < 4 of 5 > :. Hmmm, not really. As there’s no idea or concept behind the label, except the ones already said. It represents the struggle we have to get through.
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.: Analysis < 4 of 5 > :. There’s no shortage of inventiveness as far as the labels presentation is concerned. The web-site reads like a sci-fi inspired, historical journal. Have a look and see if you’re able to make heads or tails of anything documented there.
Delta’s artwork is certainly intriguing, fresh and highly innovative. Having also contributed t-shirt designs to Warp Records, an exhibition of Delta’s work was displayed in the Eclectic Gallery in West London on Sunday 11th October. You can visit the website Deltainc.nl to see some of the art and installation work that has been carried out by this graffiti master from the Netherlands.
There’s no denying the marketing power of good packaging for products and Ann Aimee seem to have this aspect of the label well and truly covered. The packaging for Alex Cortex’s Inward CTRL CD is a case in point. Housed in a 3-flipped, soft-touch cardboard Digi-Pak, Delta’s artwork is mapped across every external surface of the packaging. It hardly looks like a CD box at all. The intriguing artwork stands out very prominently on a CD shelf whilst at the same time revealing almost nothing about it’s contents.
By all accounts, the packaging for the CiM CD will be no less interesting, as the artwork appears to be one of Delta’s trademark blurring of the 2 and 3 dimensional.
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.: Transmission 9 :. Together with all volunteers, we decided not to let it take us down and to undertake a new, bigger mission. From the spare information we’ve heard from both Traveller 451 and Anthony Binky – the direction to go, seems inwards the lost solar system 3-7-A. Alex has offered himself to take the responsibility to carry out this big mission. Third mission set, should be carried out within the next few weeks.
.: Transmission 10 :. Alex should be returning this night.. Due to communication failure, I didn’t receive any updates so far.
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.: Product Review < ann-cd1 / ann-lp1 > :.
.: Alex Cortex – Inward CTRL :.
Inward / Inward CTRL is Alex Cortex’s full length follow-up to Ann Aimee’s debut release, the CTRL EP.
To briefly explain the formatting of this album, the 2xLP version (titled Inward) is pressed on limited white vinyl and features 17 new tracks, whilst the CD (titled Inward CTRL) collects together all of the tracks that appeared on the vinyl only.
CTRL EP as well as all of the new tracks on the LP version making for a total of 24 tracks.
It’s difficult to review an album that has no track titles, at all. The effect is interesting. It was once posited by Global Communication on their 76 14 album that track titles can bias the listener’s perception of the music, causing it to provoke a reaction or elicit an emotion that it was never intended to. There’s definitely something in this theory. Listening to this album without named reference points is very disorienting but extremely refreshing. No specific emotions can be attached to the tracks: they simply function as was intended by the artist, leaving the interpretation entirely up to the individual.
The tracks presented here are a series of heavily textured analogue sound bytes without any attached thematic content, designed simply to be listened to and enjoyed in whatever context the listener sees fit. And with 24 of these sound bytes present on the CD it’s very easy to become wonderfully and completely lost in the experience.
Flitting about, almost from minute to minute, between quite varied styles, pacing and temperament, Inward CTRL is a heady experience and, at just over 73 minutes in duration, one you certainly have a chance to savor. Like the CTRL EP, there is, again, an eclectic mix of styles with a heavy focus on melody and sun-drenched atmospherics. Listen to the mp3 samples on the website and you’ll soon get the idea.
This is a highly innovative release and a wonderful listening experience and one of my favorite releases of the year. Don’t miss it.
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.: Request for clarification < 5 of 5 > :. What does the future hold for Ann Aimee?
.: Ann Aimee Response < 5 of 5 > :. We hope Ann Aimee will return to the Mothership very soon. This said, we all hope the journey won’t be too difficult, too long awaited. No idea what will happen when Ann Aimee has returned to the Mothership. Maybe we will be able to set out new journeys after that. But the sooner it’s finished the better.
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.: Analysis < 5 of 5 > :. In a slightly clearer version, the immediate future heralds the release of the new Lucky & Easy 3 track Pimp Soul Blister EP (out now), closely followed by CiM’s CD
only album Do Not Multiply Models, a 16 track compilation of the Service Pack EP
releases on Delsin and the Warm Data EP released on DeFocus; Lucky & Easy’s debut album Talent Hoover follows.
Beyond that, your guess is as good as mine.
In case you hadn’t noticed, one of the keywords here is warmth. To understand just how apposite that word is to the music, take a listen to the Ann Aimee Showcase here: and you’ll see what I mean.
Ann Aimee is an unusual label and the releases thus far reflect that. However, that’s not to say that they’re unnecessarily esoteric. These are charming, involving records with a magical quality that’s missing from much electronic music today. I can’t recommend this label highly enough.
So now you understand everything there is to know about Ann Aimee. Perhaps you wouldn’t mind explaining it all to me sometime.
.: End Transmission :.
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