(01.02.06) Californian Jase Rex has been recording as AEM – or Another Electronic Musician to give the project its full moniker – since 2001. Releasing material mostly through Net labels and on compilations, Use is his debut album for n5MD.
Far from being “another electronic musician,” Rex has quietly and consistently produced excellent experimental electronic music since his appearance 5 years ago. His ability to create carefully crafted electronic music that surrounds and submerses the listener is undeniable. Rex’s music doesn’t try and bludgeon you with an onslaught of heavy beats or confuse you with unnecessary noise or weird glitches, instead his music sounds deceptively effortless. It is not difficult to imagine standing in a huge darkened room with the sound of “H+,” “Extended” or “Field Felt” flowing around you and enveloping you in its warm waves of sound. Aside from the absorbing quality of his music, Rex is also adept at creating textural qualities and subtly different moods whilst maintaining a sense of spaciousness. “Non Sum Qualis Eram” (I Am Not What I Once Was), for example conjures images of a long contemplative train journey across the desert while “Enclosure” might act as a reminder of happier times. As the soundtrack to an art installation, the combination of textures in the music, the physical open space and visual stimulation would be intense.
It is almost as though Rex starts each track with a wide open space and creates intricately layered sounds that intertwine and interact but never obstruct each other, the finished product appearing natural and unforced.
Use is out now on n5MD.
((( Buy it at Amazon.com )))
