Urlaubshits

One of the most intriguing tweets that I’ve seen over the last few months was delivered by Oneohtrix Point Never (@0PN), who simply tweeted the word “blogdrone”. Of course I can’t find the tweet now, so maybe it was deleted, or my mind is playing tricks on me, but whether seen in reality or simply imagined in a dream, it’s a term that really struck me. I’ve written quite extensively on the recent progression of ambient synth music to the relative mainstream, but has the genre already reached the point of saturation where one of the leading figures of the scene is arguably comparing it to the scourge of the late noughties, “blog house”? It’s possible. And it’s something to worry about too – although the exposure of a lot of previously underground artists is a good thing, we risk getting to a point where a lack of quality control is being applied. I’ve been toying for a while while trying to organise my thoughts into regular features; this is the first of an attempt to catalogue and filter the ambient side of electronica and noise. And in lieu of a better name for this feature, it’s going to be called “Blogdrone” in honour of this throwaway comment, though it should be made clear that the name in no way reflects on the quality of the music I will be talking about.

Tying in quite nicely with the idea that the idea that we need some kind of gatekeepers for this kind of music, the last month has seen the formation of a new offshoot from Editions Mego (responsible for last year’s releases by Emeralds and OPN), Spectrum Spools, which looks to be dedicated to synthesiser music. The first two releases are out, A Sort of Radiance by Fabric, and Bee Mask’s Canzoni dal Laboratorio del Silenzio Cosmico. I’m really torn between loving A Sort of Radiance and just thinking it sounds too much like Oneohtrix Point Never to my ears to really have it’s own identity. I think that ultimately it’s a nice listen, especially if you’re a fan of OPN and Emeralds, but is probably unlikely to set the world on fire. I am intrigued to hear more from Fabric though, because there is the potential for him to create some great stuff.

Much more interesting to my ears is the Bee Mask material. I was recently treated to a “performance” of Xenakis’ electroacoustic tape piece La légende d’Eer as part of the London Sinfonietta’s recent Xenakis season at Southbank Centre. It was a 50 minute piece of constantly evolving textures which pushed several audience members past their comfort zones, but was an invigorating listening experience for me, not least because it was particularly illuminating to see the parallels between his work and a lot of current synth music. Canzoni dal Laboratorio del Silenzio Cosmico is much in the same vein as this kind of electroacoustic experimentation, combining radiophonic tones with what are, I presume field recordings or found sounds. Split into two sides, the first side is the more overtly experimental of the two pieces, concentrating mainly on textures, while Side B is more mood based, combining the roughness of Side A with melodies and synths that recall Italian horror movie soundtracks, 50’s sci-fi B-movie themes, and even Italo disco towards its conclusion. It feels like a musical curiosity that has been liberated from someone’s attic, and is highly recommended.

On the less extreme edges of the synthesiser fringes, RVNG have just released a remastered version of Harald Grosskopf’s 1980 album Synthesist. The liner notes for this are a fascinating read, recounting Grosskopf’s difficulty in just getting his synthesiser to stay in tune due to the temperature fluctuations; in the end the only solution was to put a hot bulb directly over the top of it to ensure that it stayed at a constant temperature. It’s an album that particularly deserves another look at this moment in time, especially given the current fetishisation of the analog synthesiser and the arpeggio by artists such as Emeralds and Gavin Russom. It comes with a great CD of reworks by artists who are essentially making the modern equivalent of Harald Grosskopf’s music; Blondes, ARP, CFCF and many others. All the reworkings are great in their own unique ways, but the most surprising is Stellar OM Source’s rework of “1847 – Earth”, which flies against all expectations by turning the thing into a sort of proto house track. Far from being the kind of floaty kosmische she’s known for it’s actually something you could play in a DJ set. Most unexpected.

Stellar OM Source – “1847 – Earth”

Another contributor to the Re-Synthesist disc is Snoretex, aka Sam Willis of Allez-Allez and Walls. He’s a really good choice to rework Grosskopf, as there are some undeniable similarities in their material. Snoretex’s first single “Strange Aeons” seems influenced by that kind of gentle beat driven kraut of Grosskopf and Harmonia, whilst also sharing the same kind of hazy, seasick quality of his contemporary James Holden (especially the recent “Triangle Folds”). It’s just been released on Buzzin’ Fly, but it’s worth having a look at Snoretex’s Soundcloud page, as there are many more delights there, and you can genuinely see how his sound has developed over the last few months. Much like his work as Walls, it inhabits that interesting zone between kosmische and all out dance music, is obviously very conscientiously produced, and is well worth checking out if you want something a bit different from the latest post-dubstep buzz-producer.

In much the same vein as Grosskopf’s Synthesist is the new album from Hatchback on Lo Recordings. It seems hard to believe that Hatchback’s White Diamond was released way back in September of 2007. As well as prefiguring the balearic revival of 2008, Hatchback, and his other project Windsurf, I think it’s fair to say, pretty much also foreshadowed a lot of the chillwave stuff that’s blown up over the last few years. And I think it’s also fair to say that Hatchback was doing the “new new age” thing (that genre description came from this review of Emeralds’ recent live show in New York) long before it was cool. The album, Zeus & Apollo, requires a lot more patience than his debut, which although downtempo, was a lot more obviously beat driven than the follow up, which often verges into the territories of pure ambient (It consists of only 6 tracks, 4 of which are over 12 minutes long). But it’s still got those moments of melancholy juxtaposed with the optimistic electric guitar chimes and bright piano keys that make Hatchback’s material so great.

The Violet Sequence by Hatchback