Elephant have secured two of the modern atmospherics masters. Martin looks gazes skyward before fixing his eyes on the land below. Valanx focuses of the terrestrial, forging forms with the memories of mankind. Both artists seep from the shadows, utilizing industrial tones and penetrating drone to distort perceptions and invoke the other.
Elephant Recordings seems to have the drive of a pachyderm in heat. Woeful animal metaphors aside, this fledgling imprint is only months out of the nest and already has three releases under its wing. So much for the ditching of the metaphors, anyway. Following Aleks Jurczyk’s sell out debut, Brutal Britain, Elephant delivers two heavy hitters from the world of atmospheric electronics and industrial washed ambience.
Ian Martin needs little introduction. Netherlands based Martin has been transmitting his brand of machine music on labels like Strange Life, Bunker and Further. The Wanderer is the Rotterdamer’s first expedition on tape. Martin begins with re-entry. Streaks flash past earlobes before the disorientation and final recognition occur. The title piece adopts a wavering rhythm whilst developing overhanging organ tones. Drone and interference are never far away with Martin, angular static driving wedges between chords to accentuate the vacuum. The A-side plateaus, the turbulence settling into a wide expanse of soft modular synthesis. The dizzying “Double Cross” opens the flip before the darkened scuttles of “Maelton” accost the listener. Heavy chords sit on a bed of activity, a cross section co-existing sounds. The finale sees the return of a steady saturated beat. Dense murmurings invade before they are tethered and contorted into this sound sculptor chosen form.
Never afraid of what lurks in the recesses, Arne Weinberg is up next with paranoid visions delivered through the eyes of Valanx. The listener is drawn into darkened introspection from the outset of Through Stygian Forests. But rather than outright ash the Glasgow based artist paints with a reduced palette. Plinks are echoed and ricocheted within concrete canisters as “Agitation Reversal” bleeds into the lonesome catacombs of “Collider.” Weinberg amplified the solitude. Caverns are constructed, deep subterranean soundscapes that subdue and stalk the headphone wearer. Sonic dampness infects ever hollowing pillars of diminishing substance. Nano-filament whirls cold gusts around crash barriers of bass. Skies fill with lead for “Remnants of a Burned World,” Valanx working charcoal as night descends. Reels of rumbling noise scale absence as aural objects are obscured by the ever dominant forces. Rain clouds looms for the close. A softening winter shower falls with “Idealistic Concepts and Models” washing the final remnants of night into day.
Elephant have secured two of the modern atmospherics masters. Martin looks gazes skyward before fixing his eyes on the land below. Valanx focuses of the terrestrial, forging forms with the memories of mankind. Both artists seep from the shadows, utilizing industrial tones and penetrating drone to distort perceptions and invoke the other. Three releases down and more in the pipeline, this London based label is determined to continue their voyage into the lesser seen world of the machines.
Both releases are available on Elephant.
