Feelin' Fragile

'Bout that time of year where everything catches up with me and it all just feels a bit 'eh' you know? Not helped by Friday's night out I imagine, but also this year in general. Still, things are winding down so I'm taking the time to sit and write a little bit more than usual. I've been keeping rolling lists of stuff I've been listening to and have plenty to go at, so let's dive right in.

Sam Gilliam - This Time (2008)

To match the title, I've chosen a selection of fitting songs to go at - not all ambient but all very much under that kind of fragile umbrella. Starting with some Arovane. Lilies is an album that I keep thinking I should do a full deep dive on, Arovane pretty much disappeared for about 10 years after it came out which makes for an interesting tale. At any rate, plenty of tracks from this album could have gone here - it's a gorgeously produced album, very accessible and never straying to hard into hardcore IDM territory. Tracks like Passage To Nagoya are what spring to mind for me, especially considering the content of this post, but this time I've gone with the hauntingly beautiful Tokyo Ghost Stories. The sparse piano soon gives way to something that sounds very Trip Hop in its execution, I've been playing this one a lot as of late.



It ain't all doom and gloom though, the intro for DMX Krew's December Darkness sort of fits this bill as well. Tucked away around the midpoint of the unassumingly titled Bass Drop EP, it quickly became one of my all time favourites from DMX's catalogue, and remains so to this day. Once again it's like DMX had my number completely, this kind of luscious deep house vibe is supremely up my alley. I'm a total sucker for the slow introduction of new elements too, just when I think I could be getting a little tired, something new drops into the mix to inject it with a fresh coat of paint. The EP is wholly instrumental (save for some vocal samples on the title track) so there's no tongue in cheek lyrical content like you might expect from DMX if you've heard his other work. That said, this EP is still very much a love letter to his influences, there's a whole heap of electro and acid to get at on here.



And finally, I've fallen back in with Everything But The Girl, as I seem to do every winter. Tracey Thorn's delivery is impeccable and twins oh-so-well with the Drum & Bass direction they took toward the tail end of their releases. Walking Wounded is the obvious highlight, and an album I've talked about at length before, it's the album that marked that hard shift into the electronic side of things. Unfortunately it's a little difficult to post legitimately, EBTG are one of those artists where a lot of it is gated off behind Soundcloud premium otherwise I'd probably mention them more - I'm going to make do though. I've gone with Above The Law once again, a previously unreleased demo of what would become Before Today given the shared lyrical content. It's a little more raw feeling than the rest of the album as you might expect from a demo, but it sounds incredible regardless - the production and Tracey's vocal are absolutely perfect together.

Everything But The Girl · Above The Law (Demo)

And that'll be all for now, as I mentioned up top I'm going to try and write a little more in the coming weeks, I have plenty to go at as usual - I still have to do this month's Bandcamp findings after all! I might even try and get something a little more long-form down as well, I'm starting to feel the itch a little again. But I'm going off track once again so I'll wrap up here - as always, stay safe and enjoy the music.

-CVF

Friday's Sounds

Another month, another chance for me to drop a bunch of recent purchases on you. Not sure how much longer that will be the case though, the announcement of Bandcamp Fridays continuing into 2022 ominously stopped at 'May', and with the recent acquisition news it's entirely possible that they will stop then too. But let's not dwell on that, instead lets take a look at my digital bag! This time around I had a pretty solid idea going in and ended up picking up a whole heap of records you could quite easily put under the 'IDM' umbrella, let's take a look.

Charles Sheeler - Windows (1952)

Starting with something that's been on my wishlist for ages at this point, what was seemingly Arovane's final album - Lilies. Arovane's work is a very delicate touch compared to some other operators in the 'IDM' world - there are some tracks from Tides that wouldn't sound out of place on the trip-hop style parts of the Silent Hill OSTs, and the same is true here, quite fittingly with Tokyo Ghost Stories being the most like that, but it appears early on too - after an ambient intro you enter that same sound space with Windy Wish Trees. It's just after that the the album really hits its stride for me though - the twinned approach of Passage To Nagoya and Cry Osaka Cry is divine. Osaka is still my favourite of the bunch, but the title track comes close - I've picked that for today as I've already posted Osaka before and I think it also does a very good job of demoing Arovane's relatively soft but engaging sound.



Getting a little deeper into the realms of obscurity we have Karsten Pflum, a name I'm pretty sure I've heard before but may be getting confused with Abfahrt Hinwil. At any rate, a lot of artists like this have put their work up on Bandcamp now that the original labels are long defunct (Worm Interface in this case) which I always like to see. Tracks is a very fun album, one that explores the more 'fun' side of IDM - think Plaid and co. and you'll end up in the same area of sound. It's been a long time since I added something like this to my collection, as someone whose favourite AFX tracks are the super melodic ones, I can't help but grin at tracks like Te that fully embrace that lovely squelchy electronic sound. Very impressive for a debut, beautifully balanced between abstract and melodic, it's fast entered heavy rotation for me. Thankfully Karsten has plenty of other releases to get stuck into so I will have plenty to come back to in time.



Rolling back to 'Something I've been meaning to pick up for ages' once again for this next one, I think I first heard this track on some kind of mix or compilation - and after seeing a Metamatics album be one of the many 'Xth Anniversary' releases of other IDM records by Lapsus Records in their Perennial Series, I wish listed a couple of them for future reference. And the wait, while a little too long perhaps, had been worth it - coming back to Vanishing Point was like falling in love all over again, I just can't get enough of the vibe here. It's quite far removed from what comes to mind when I think 'IDM' but I'm sort of beyond labels at this point. I highly recommend NeoOuija in general - it's a very refined experience, even at times where it gets a little out there as with the off-kilter melodic passes on So Many Ways. If you're after more of the same feel as Vanishing Point though, look no further than Beautiful Mutations to enter that hi-tech lounge zone once more.



Ending now with the release that made me decide to go all in on the IDM stuff this time around, flicking through n5MD's back catalogue and I found plenty to grab my attention, the label has a pretty impressive roster. Loess' self titled debut has a fairly unassuming cover but it's at least sonically appropriate - this album dwells a lot more on the darker, slightly melancholic side. Not to say it's super dreary or anything, in fact I'd say there's a bit of warmth to it - take opening track Chariv Canopy for one, it's fairly short but serves as a fantastic intro to the album as a whole, and tracks like Pleuston also evoke that sort of 'Artificial Intelligence' sound to a degree, though not quite as bleepy as the Warp originals. Another reason I've chosen the very first track is because the entirety of this album is designed to flow together - a bit of a rarity for this kind of electronic. It makes for an interesting experience, as someone who usually shuffles my entire collection doubly so - I've had it on in the background while writing and it's almost totally seamless.



And that'll be all for this time, I have a bit of free time over the next couple weeks so I'm going to try post a little bit more than usual - perhaps even finish up some of those longform ones, it has been a while after all. Still, I hope you've enjoyed this month's entry - I'll be back soon enough with more but until then, as always - stay safe and enjoy the music.

-CVF

Please Hold

The post in question I mentioned last time is taking a little longer than I want it to, but as I said last time I kind of expected that. Nothing major - just it's a very broad topic and I'm tackling it like a proper article instead of these usual quick-fire posts. I've been a little busier IRL too to boot. Still, that's why we plan for these things isn't it? And besides, I didn't want to do two fairly big posts back to back anyway.

Helen Frankenthaler - Robinson's Wrap (1974)
So I've got a little selection of things I'm eyeing to get my hands on soon, a fair warning we are heading back down IDM lane once again though - starting with Arovane, another find from my deep dive into the genre many years ago. My introduction delicate, almost ambient Tides, an album full of delicate electronics and for my money potentially the most accessible 'IDM' album of all time - there's no hyper-technological abrasiveness here, the tracks with beats come out sounding more closer to Trip Hop (particularly the kind of stuff Akira Yamaoka makes for the Silent Hill soundtracks), a great stepping stone if you're looking to get into the genre.

But my choice this time is actually from the follow up to that album with Lilies, a much more technological feeling album but no less organic on the melody front. Which is actually thematically relevant as there is a very strong Japanese influence on this album, first appearing on Passage To Nagoya, which features a sample of the Shinkansen announcer detailing the route to Shin-Ōsaka Station. My pick from the track list also shows this influence on the title, Cry Osaka Cry - by far and away the most conventionally 'IDM' of the lot, which is actually why I've chosen it this time. As long time readers will know I have a real soft spot for this style, it can be a little generic at times but I think Arovane skirts that nicely here, his melody work here is great and I just love that those delicate elements get their moment in the sun to stand alone in the final quarter. Lovely stuff.



Returning to early Apparat for more of the same vibe with his debut album: the delightfully german Multifunktionsebene. It was a bit difficult to find on streaming or otherwise legally on the web for a while, though unfortunately that's still the case for a few earlier Apparat releases like one of my favourites from him in the Shapemodes EP. Back on topic though, I do like it when there are little blurbs on Bandcamp pages about the albums in question, the one for Multifunktionsebene details the process behind the creation, which according to the bandcamp page is as follows:

at variable intervals, audio data are manipulated by using random modulation algorithms. the result is relaxed electronica, "de-beautified" by (severe) exceptional sound errors.

I'm not sure I 100% buy that, as someone who's worked with a similar kind of process before, that normally gets you some good bases that you then need to refine, but then again mine was for still images and not audio so maybe you can kind of stitch the good bits of randomness together easier in audio form. At any rate if there were a single track that would make me believe that it would be Multifocus, that squeaky synth making up the backbone of the track does seem pretty random in its excecution, and I will admit Apparat does a great job of contrasting it with some really smooth backing, pop it on some decent headphones and you can pick out the intricacies. While most of my favourite Apparat works are his later ones, I do have an appreciation for tracks like this, it's a striking debut at the very least, and Apparat builds on this foundation in really interesting ways in the releases afterwards.



Ocoeur to close out - I'm sure I say this every time I talk about them but they are yet another find from my Grooveshark days, one of the few recommended artists underneath The Flashbulb if I remember right. My introduction was Light As A Feather which is a fantastic album in its own right and an ideal intro to the man's work, it has an almost palpable textural feel to it that is on show in full force throughout that album. Truth be told though it's a little reductive to just label Ocoeur's output as just IDM - while it does fit under the broad umbrella of the term it doesn't give you a great idea as to what exactly it sounds like, which is one of the main reasons I don't much care for the 'IDM' name: Boards Of Canada and Aphex Twin are two wildly different atmospheres.

For example, there a lot of Techno influence when it comes to Ocoeur - not so much that the tracks come close to being full-on Techno mind you but it's certainly there, and I can think of no better example than the one I've chosen here. When it all comes together you get traces of the likes of Burial and Moderat too as First Highway breathes to life over the first couple of minutes. The sparse kick drums tease, coming in to full force around the 2:35 mark - underpinning the gentle weave of melodies and sounds that Ocoeur plays with over the rest of the runtime. I would still recommend Light As A Feather as a starting point, but if you like what you hear there then A Parallel Life will make a fine addition to it.



And that'll do it for this time. I don't have an exact ETA on when the bigger post I'm working on will be done, but I'll try to put a couple more of these smaller ones out in the meantime if it takes longer still. In the meantime I hope you find something in these selections that really appeals to you, I'd recommend Light As A Feather even if you're not into the genre, it's has some really great atmospheres on it and isn't too avant garde in its stylings, making it a much more digestible listen than you might expect given the IDM label. And with that, all that's left to say is - as always - stay safe and enjoy the music.

-CVF

Disconnect

Gérard Fromanger - Tirez-Tirez, Boulevard des Italiens (1971)

Lately I've been taking some time to do more just sitting and listening to my collection. For years it's played as the background to my goings-on but as of recently I couldn't shake the feeling I wasn't giving it the attention it deserved, especially some of the newer things I'd picked up that immediately get lost in the sea of shuffle as there are thousands of tracks. So, as cliche as it sounds, I've been taking a little slice of the day after I get off work to stretch out and just listen for a while with no real distractions. Here are some bits and pieces I've had a good time with as of late.

Arovane is one of those. I want to say that this is another one that I had recommended to me a bunch back in the Grooveshark days but I can't say for sure, we have come full circle though in that it does keep recommending it to me on discogs now I'm looking at a bunch of old Toytronic stuff. Tides is a lovely album, one that was distinctly more ambient in my memory than it actually is, it seems. It came into my collection when I was still riding the high of Akira Yamaoka's more trip-hop influenced stuff from the Silent Hill soundtracks, and there's a little bit of that influence here: title track Tides sounding like one of the less menacing examples from the original 4 with that hazy, heavy stumbling beat and distant acoustic backing, the same kind of atmosphere Yamaokoa was playing with comes up even more later on with some delicately placed warm pads. The final falling away of all the elements and fade into the full ambient outro is beautiful too, Tides is an early highlight of the album - but the rest is great too, if you like this one you could scoop the whole thing and enjoy it easily.



Sense came to me in a similar way, one of those artists I noted down in the past that had been recommended to me, but I put off because I assumed they'd be hard to come by like some of the older IDM stuff, but most of Sense's work is up on Bandcamp. This album sat on my Bandcamp wishlist for a while among a couple of other Sense releases - Learning To Be stood out to me from the artwork alone, I find it really striking and really evocative of the albums sound. The opening of ex t nerla carries on that warm and fuzzy trend with more lush pads and an analogue hum, with some little pitch bends and that introduce a slightly off kilter sound that's a signifier of things to come.

Learning To Be is a much more traditional IDM affair than the above, nothing super intense though, more in line with some of the stuff Casino Versus Japan or The Flashbulb have made. It's a solid opener, one that nicely sets up the rest of the album as most of the tracks follow this same kind of formula, but that's not a condemnation as it's one that works really really well. The beats can be a little on the harsh side at times, but I do love the sounds that Sense plays with on this album, and I will almost certainly be posting the gorgeous ambient drone of Human Buffer Zone at some point in the future.





Closing out is B-side to the Truant EP - Burial's Rough Sleeper which I've brought up a few times in the past. It might just eke out the top spot for my favourite thing he's ever done, it's a 13 minute masterclass in his aesthetic - though it remains a near constant beautifully lush for the entire runtime and doesn't quite dip to the tense and menacing vibes of some of his other work. Having said that though the opening sections do have some nice and thick basslines behind them, and there is usually a 2-step beat accompanying most of it, so it's not like a full on ambient piece or anything. It can be a bit daunting with it's length but its not too bad in practice: It is a continuous experience but one that's divided into clear sections, the first half is are absolutely divine and my favourite of the lot, but each one has there place and there's not a bad one among them. None of them overstay their welcome, but take that with a hint of bias as the longest sections are also my favourites of the bunch.

I only have a couple of complaints after all this time, the first one being simply the ending is super abrupt (but that's small potatoes considering the length) but the other one is a little more pressing. Here and there over the runtime, there are some intentional digital glitches put in. They are good for flavour I will admit, but they are a bit too convincing in execution (if you've ever ripped a slightly scuffed CD you'll attest to that too), to the point where I actually had to listen to the official uploads on other services to make sure it wasn't just my copy.



That's all for this time, I have a couple more things lined up for the coming posts but I might also slip another quick one that's just a blurb and some tunes like I did a little while ago (just minus the rant next time!). I found it pretty refreshing to do, and while I love to write posts like this where I get to go a bit in depth, I appreciate it does sometimes get a bit text heavy so I figure I might try it just for variety and that - might let me queue up multiple like I used to a little while ago. But anyway, hope you dig some of these choices and as always: Stay safe and enjoy the music.

-CVF

Charity Run 02.1

Returning with the second part, the one that wqas actually originally supposed to be first but proved a little... complicated. See, I came back to this charity compilation after an old post of mine on Ochre had the soundcloud player break, so I went to look up other sources and found the bandcamp for it, 'oh neat, that'd make a decent post sometime' I thought. So I started scrolling down to find the Ochre track. And I kept scrolling. And scrolling... And scrolling...

Somehow along the way I'd forgotten that this compialtion is TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY FOUR TRACKS!, and the min price is only £15 - and let me tell you I've paid much more for much less in the past. The cynic in you is probably saying 'Ah, but I bet there's a load of filler', and I'll admit I felt that way a bit at first - but a quick gander at the tracklist should set you at ease, sure there are lots of acts I've never heard of but nestled between them are some very big names indeed, and a fair chunk of the Warp crew both past and present. From my quick scroll you have: 808 State, Autechre, Arovane, B12, Bibio, DMX Krew, Luke Vibert, Machinedrum, Mira Calix, Orbital, The Future Sound Of London and even µ-Ziq at the very end.

A lot of these only appear on this comp too, with all the Warp names on there I'm surprised there wasn't more promo work done at the time, but I also don't really follow their main channels that closely. Digression aside, let's get stuck in. I'm starting with Arovane - yet another artist I found out about years ago but only fairly recently actually checked out. If you're at all famillair with Arovane's work this one will be familliar to you, delicate high tech vibes contrasted with these granular rhythmic bits. As expected of the 'IDM' world sure, but here and on a lot of Arovane works the contrast is not quite as harsh compared to some of my other previous posted stuff in this melodic style. As a result I think Arovane is a really good recomendation to those interested in exploring this side of the electronic genres if for example you like the more melodic bits of Aphex Twin but find some of it a little hard to get into.



Another from old school Warp favourites of mine B12 as well. Their album for the {Artificial Intelligence} series (like pretty much all of them in the series) was fantastic, a real triumph for that 'Electronic Listening Music' angle Warp was working with aroudn the time, and a great albeit slightly dated now piece of techy goodness. B12 have always had a bit of a Sci-Fi edge to them that made their work stand out a little on the {AE} series - the cover for Time Tourist for example showing a retro-future vision of London straight from a pulpy magazine cover. It's a visual style that goes hand in hand with the kind of techno they were making, and one that really suits that 'The sound of the future from the 90's' line that I use when talking about that era too. Orbita Tolv is another chapter in that book, if you liked the older B12 you'll find plenty to like here - the sounds and methodology are pretty much the same. And yet, I can't quite put my finger on why, but it certainly sounds much more... modern than their previous works. That sounds a little redundant I realise as of course a newer production is going to sound newer, but listen to a track like Telefone 529 and then this one back to back and you'll see what I mean.



Seeing Bibio on the list is always an interesting one as it could go a bunch of different ways - is it some fuzzy folktronica? Perhaps one of those nearly ambient pieces? Or are we talking one of those Gold Panada style wonky hip-hop kind of deals that broke up the folky bits of Ambivalence Avenue? In this case it's the latter! Truth be told I haven't kept up much with Bibio, I don't think he's doing this style full time from the bits and pieces that I've heard, it's still the odd track here and there that has this kind of sound to it. He does have a real knack for it I must say, I might not be into it as much as I would have been in the past but I can't deny it's still cacthy as hell. Perhaps not as much of an earworm that ocassionally crops up from the back of my mind to loop a couple of times like Fire Ant does, but give it a few years time to catch up and it might join the ranks.



Originally I planned to go through and share a bunch of my favourites from this comp but I'm afraid there's just too much. But I'm not going to stop here, as you might have guessed from the '.1' in the title I plan to come back and share some more tracks from here soon, just thought it'd be nicer to keep them in more digestible blocks is all. I did want to see if I could embed the main album page and see if it would even support the full 200+ tracks but I'll save that for later. Only complaints are I'm not a huge fan of the art - looks like it'd be more at home on some soundcloud hypeman (but it is for charity so I'll bite my tongue) and that at some point there was a Ceephax Acid Crew track on here that is now missing from the bandcamp page. Small potatoes given the sheer number of tracks here but still a bit of a let down.

Anyway, I hope you've found some stuff that piques your interest here, definitley check out the full thing as there are plenty of Artists there I didn't even mention that I'm varying degrees of familliar with and it's a really good deal for that price - almost certainly going to pick it up this coming BC Friday. And as always, Stay safe and enjoy the music.

-CVF