Stages is a very creative collection of early electronica soundscapes taking us to far away places we’ve long since forgotten—a beautiful soundtrack to life.
Bursting at the seams with emotive electricity
Tokee is an alter-ego of the Russian/Israeli composer and sound engineer Anatoly Grinberg who has released numerous solo and collaborative albums and is mostly known as a prominent dark ambient, cinematic drone and post-industrial music composer. Those words—pulled straight from the Mahorka release page for Tokee’s Stages released late August 2020—couldn’t be more direct and to the point.
Having had some time to assimilate what Stages has to offer, it is clear that each delicate audio slice is bursting at the seams with emotive electricity. Seven original tracks and eight remixes, the whole assembly is evolving and engaging start to finish. Inspired by Grinberg’s childhood memories and youth before the Soviet Union was split, Stages is blissful but not too polished. There are elements of creative flutter and nostalgia on tracks like “Infancy,” “Childhood” and “Middle Age”—notice the progression of track titles representing the incremental stages of life?—all the way through “Death” where the artist administers an enlightened assortment of downtempo drums and muddied melodies flashing before our eyes. At once reminiscent of the early works of Abfahrt Hinwil, Novel 23 and Penfold Plum, Stages runs in a parallel trajectory and maintains its focus.
The remixers offer their own take and subtle twists on the originals. Highlights include AAirial’s remix of “Childhood” where pitter-patter beats and its chugging melody line sways in the background. 4T Thieves takes us into a bewildering, gauzy and ultra-synthesized world on his rendition of “Childhood,” the drums lending a lively feel to the overall dynamic. The Pixel Door also takes “Childhood” to new plateaus with overarching melody strands pulling at the heartstrings. Elsewhere you’ll find MindDivided, Thermidor, Freemasonry, Autoclav 1.1, and UDPWNF creating their own unique impressions of “Infancy,” “Young Man” and “Childhood” with experimental electronic gravitas.
Stages is a very creative collection of early electronica soundscapes taking us to far away places we’ve long since forgotten—a beautiful soundtrack to life.
Stages is available on Mahorka. [Bandcamp]
