Urlaubshits

Probably one of this year’s most exciting musical trends (for me personally at least), coming almost entirely out of leftfield, is the wave of artists channelling 70s and 80s ambient synth music and krautrock through their own personal musical filters, creating music that goes beyond the established norms of the music that inspired it. Artists like Emeralds, Walls, ARP and Oneohtrix Point Never have proved that, far from being the domain of new age spiritualists and fans of obscure German kosmische, ambient synth music is becoming just as popular with bloggers and more esteemed music publications. Of this wave of artists, Oneohtrix Point Never is probably the most unlikely success story. His album Rifts was declared the 2nd best album of the year by The Wire in 2009, and since then has released Returnal, a heady mixture of colourful analogue tones and dense noise, forcing him into the mainstream consciousness, and earning him mentions on Pitchfork and The Guardian, and a brilliant Machine Love feature on Resident Advisor.

With this in mind, this month’s podcast is a collection of music featuring the aforementioned artists and a few that may have gone under the radar, alongside some examples of authentic kosmische, and a few tracks from the last decade that have more than earned their place in the canon. My intention was to keep the selections as close to the German school of ambient music as possible (hence the inclusion of Harmonia, Cluster et al). In order to keep it as focused as possible I decided against including anything from the more British pastoral movement in electronica such as Delia Derbyshire, the works of Ghost Box, Boards of Canada and the like. That is a whole other selection in itself…

Download:> Urlaubshits Radio – October 2010 (137.6mb, 01:40:04, 192kbs)

01) Cluster & Eno – Steinsame
Cluster were one of the originators of the kosmische sound, with their self-titled album from 1971. Unlike their countrymen such as Can and NEU! who were making rhythmic experimental rock music which would go on to be given the term “krautrock”, Cluster and bands such as Tangerine Dream evolved in parallel, putting the sythesiser textures more to the forefront than the motorik drive of their more energetic contemporaries. This track, from 1977 is from their collaborative album with Brian Eno (before he made some questionable musical decisions), sounding something like an experimental tone poem with folky undertones.

02) Jonas Reinhardt – Only You Can Achieve Nitrogen
Obviously very much influenced by the German school of kosmische, Jonas Reinhardt’s Powers of Audition was released earlier this year on Kranky. This track is a gurgling synth led affair, but the rest of the album is more inspired by motorik beat driven kraut, but is equally is immersive a listen as this hazy cushion of sound.

03) Emeralds – The Overlook (Side B)
Enjoying almost as much recognition as Oneohtrix Point Never this year, Emeralds have been ridiculously prolific since 2006, releasing a slew of material on limited run CD-Rs and cassettes. This year’s release on Editions Mego, Does It Look Like I’m Here, has gone some way to putting them into the consciousness of more listeners, but that album barely scratches the surface. This track comes from a highly limited cassette release, entitled The Overlook. It’s a particularly delicate sounding release, eschewing the unfiltered synth arpeggios which characterise Does It Look Like I’m Here for drawn out drones, minimalist guitar and crystalline synth waves which float in and out of the background. But in a curious way it is the medium of cassette which lends the most interesting texture, the whole track being permeated by a subtle layer of hiss which provides additional nostalgia to the listening experience.

04) Oneohtrix Point Never – Ships Without Meaning
Deftly demonstrating OPN’s ability to combine density with something altogether more delicate, this track from last year’s collection Rifts is a combination of floaty half-melodies with a deep wash of drones. It isn’t as immediately satisfying as some of his other work, but in terms of creating a mental soundscape which you can immerse yourself in, it’s one of his best.

05) The Psychic Stewardess – Telepathic Synthesis System (Strange Life Records)
Strange Life Records currently hold an endless source of fascination for me. Run by the massively prolific Dutch artist Legowelt (who I could easily write an entire column about here on this blog), Strange Life has a sizeable roster of artists with insane names and backstories that, it is speculated, are mainly a series of alter egos for Legowelt himself. The Psychic Stewardess is one of them, and the homemade CDR nature of many of the label’s releases only add credence to the myth. This track takes the bass drones of horror movie soundtrack music and filters it through half remembered library music to make something uniquely unsettling.

06) Brain Machine – Capricorn Rising
Thisisnotanexit’s Brain Machine released their debut album almost two years ago, and was criminally overlooked by pretty much everyone. Their music is a combination of kraut textures and Kompakt-esque techno. Conceptually, it’s by far the strongest TINAE release to date, and is well worth a purchase (especially the beautiful vinyl doublepack). This track is the album closer, an ambient journey through an alienating sonic abyss; when the track eventually winds down, the mood shifts so perceptably you can almost see the light coming closer as you come out the other end.

07) Fennesz – Rivers of Sand
An absolute classic from the 2004 album Venice, this has been well featured on many a mixtape. But its searing frequencies take the power of noise music and funnel it through something altogether more melodic, creating an all encompassing swathe of sound that literally rolls around in the atmosphere around your head.

08) Walls – Strawberry Sect
Walls are another of this year’s kosmiche successes. Comprising Allez-Allez’s Sam Willis and Banjo or Freakout’s NAME, Walls are strongly influenced by the sounds of the German canon of kosmiche, combining heavily effected guitar tones with warm synths. Although this track is beatless, their other material recalls the pastoral textures and alien rhythmic quality of Harmonia and Cluster. Their self-titled album is highly recommended.

09) Arp – Catch Wave
Formerly a member of Tussle, Alexis Georgopoulos has since become another of the recent crop of contemporary kosmische artists. Unlike his contemporaries OPN and Emeralds however, he employs much more blissed out sounds, creating music that is perhaps texturally much easier on the ear. In this track he contrasts acoustic piano with a textured backdrop of raw synths, painting a picture of an autumnal sunrise.

10) Harmonia – Sehr Kosmisch
Consisting of both members of Cluster, and one member of the more motorik NEU!, Harmonia are somewhere between ambient kosmische and beat driven krautrock. This track from 1974 brings out the best of both worlds, as pulsing drones are married with a heartbeat-like rhythm, sounding something like an unholy union between man and machine, slowly intensifying over its ten minute length.

11) Klaus Schulze – Floating
Klaus Schulze is one of the earliest progenitors of cosmic music, forming Ash Ra Tempel with Manuel Göttsching in 1970 and going on to create a huge amount of music; this track comes from his 1976 album Moondawn, and often feels like an early precursor to techno. Hearing this track for the first time was the main inspiration for doing this mix – it’s long, but don’t let that put you off – it breathes with a psychedelic intensity. If you liked Lindstrom’s epic album from 2008, then this is highly recommended.

12) Oneohtrix Point Never – Ouroboros
Another OPN track, this time showing his more gentle and melodic side. It’s this kind of material that I think has made his music so popular; it’s still deep enough to demand your concentration, but has a slightly, dare I say it, poppier, element that makes it eminently more accessable. Beautiful.

13) Delia Gonzales & Gavin Russom – Black Spring
Coming from their “Days of Mars” album on DFA way back in 2005, “Black Spring” is a haunting lament through the medium of synthesis. Unlike most of the artists here, their music pulses along in a powerful fashion which is on a constant knife edge of breaking into something which never quite comes. But it’s something that works, as the music is constantly kept in that moment of anticipation (which some would say is always the best part). One of only a handful of tracks they recorded, their presumably final material was released earlier this month.