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Net Decks 19

  Tobias

What is minimal? Anything, it seems these days. On the other hand, if even flamboyant dandies like the Pet Shop Boys are staking their claim, then it's about time someone brought things back to their roots. In this regard, the debut compilation release by alt-recordings must be considered a courageous and necessary step. Taking the simple and straight-forward goal of delivering high-quality dance music free of any confining and predefined genre-associations, this four-track mission statement introduces us to a team of producers who know how effective the interplay between a mere handful of elements can still be if skilfully realised – and with years of professional experience as well as several releases with befriended online record companies to their name, only fools will doubt the proficiency and talent of these British technoheads. Completely disregarding its title, Tone Def's „I Dunno“, at least, knows exactly what it wants and where it's going to. For seven minutes, a milisecond-short organchord-snippet duels with a constantly evolving four to the floor beat, sparking momentary fires of  harmonic variations in its wake. Mr. Smith's „Out for the Chopping Block“ and Joe Ellis' „198 Yards“ play with funky basslines and the contrast betwen a full, warm sound and traces of disentangled drum rolls. Great stuff, but if you ask me, it's the final installment, courtesy of Audio Dependent, which points to the full potential of the label's open-border philosophy. „The Deep End“ builds from scratch to ecstacy on the strength of an irresistible quasi-latin groove and a bonedry subaquatic bass, making yet another leap when the deeper region of the spectrum (nomen est omen!) suddenly moves and shakes its musical booty in delight and a trancey breakdown spirals up up and away. Anticipating the reaction to its release in its title, „Not another Netlabel Vol 1“ is well aware that it is not going to move any Himalayan mountains with its concept. On the other hand, it insist that quality will prevail in the end, regardless of how „progressive“ „futuristic“ or „influential“you are. The scene could well come to the conclusion that it needs this label.
www.alt-recordings.com

The story of how Kareem was introduced to techno is not too different from my own one. Or, to put it differently, it happened in the same places: The Robert Johnson in Offenbach and the Ostparkstrasse and Spaceplace (best location ever, if you ask me!) in Frankfurt. These were the clubs of a second generation of clubbers, who wanted more than just a delapidated garage for a dancefloor, yet cared greatly for the social network and energetic mood these meeting points provided. Inspired by a good friend (greetings, Stessy!), I would experience first-hand, how the diferences between the abstract and the physical melted under the hands of DJs and DJanes like Andrea Parker. In the case of Kareem, it was Kairos of Netlabel Pentagonik, who served as an early guide and soulmate, gently directing his attention from drum n bass to tech house and associated styles and awakening his interest to become active as a producer in this field as well. A couple of years later, the connection is still intact, as Kareem unleashes „Dada Punk“ with the friendly assistance of Pentagonik. Four tracks incorporating almost everything that made these club-years so euphorising, inebriant and unforgettable: Breathless buildups, sharp hihat figures, pumping kickdrums and synth stabs echoing into oblivion somewhere in the distance. It is a hypnotic music, sensual and cold at the same time and delivered both with the zeal of an addicted dancer and the smart arrangements that come with tedious brainwork and endless sessions in the studio. The title track, a classic anthem between sweet delight and industrial culture, is a perfect example, as are the bubbling sequencer runs of „Scholle“ and the relentless electro groove of „Hutini“. The strange duck (or the „Punk factor“, if you like) is the potent powerplay of „Minihaus“, a percussion extravaganza that is bound to drive crowds wild.
www.pentagonik.de

In direct comparison with the two previous EPs, „Ultramar“ by Spanish audiovisual artist Gastón Arévalo is made of an entirely different cloth. Arévalo loves deep, warm textures and searches for inner peace in musical structures equally steeped in repetitive patterns as well as organic improvisations. His tracks may only just touch the five minute mark, but in their floating, formless semi-embryonic state, which always appears to remain nascent, they aspire for eternity, spanning wider galaxies than many aimless jam sessions. Direction is essential to „Ultramar“, which creates the sensation of weightlessness through highly controlled doses of reverb, echo, dreamy acid filter modulations and a dense brushwood of percussions. While the two opening tunes are ambitious chill out visions, the spaceship truly lifts off with the astral fantasy „Verona“: Traces of choral voices, swooshing effects, sunwinds, bleeps and dots rotate like a spiral nebula inside a cosmic mirage, pushing forward as the body is stretched to infinite length at the border of the singularity – words can hardly do this track justice. „Cinema“ then safely lands the craft with crackling and stumbling rhythms and a quest for liniarity. With its bended guitars licks and spontaneous reciprocity between different elements, the EP tends strongly towards a far-out version of Jazz at the outer corner of your mind.
www.thinner.cc

To round things up this week, we have a little special on Jason Corder for you. Or, to put it differently: Jason Corder has made the last few months very special for all of us. A total of three free MP3 EPs has already been released and there is still more to come. Let's have a look at what this versatile artist haling from the „humble bluegrass hills of Kentucky“ and working in the spectral zone between inquisitive sound art and peaceful ambient has had in store for us lately with his alter ego Off the Sky. Firstly, there's a 28-minute long, one-track work on Autoplate entitled „Cumulae Movement“, dealing with the shapes, forms and paths of clouds as they drift through unpredictable lifecycles. Meant to be enjoyed outside and with the eyes to the sky, this music is very much inspired by visual events and draws its compositional breath from organic processes. Corder has however not simply resigned himself to mimicry. Instead of merely copying nature in theory, he traces both the clouds' silhouetess and their contrasts with their surroundings to the score. „Cumulae Movement“ has therefore turned out an equally beautiful and brutal excursion, which does not shy away from sharp edgs and presents listeners with an entire sound world made up of minute details.
www.thinner.cc

„Form Creek“, on Term, shows just how similar the aesthetics and feel of his releases are, while maintaining their unique character and loveable idiosyncracies. Jason Corder is again drawn to nature here, visiting „hot spots“ in his immediate environment, testing their resonance with poetry, absorbing their energy and trying to catch their essence on tape. The mood is more intimate, which can probably be explained by the theme of the individual exposing itself to the limitless source. Opener „Family Tree“ is a soft drone caress, taken to immeasurable depths and closeness on the miniature symphony „Creek Fire“: Sustained tones heave and sink, acoustic guitar strings sigh in  brittle and broken chords, a far-away harmonica is kissed by the wind around the tent, conjuring up images of drums, glass shardes and unclassifiable frequencies: Sublimated field recordings constituting a new, physical reality. Jason Corder effectively contrasts and combines two views of the world in a single style: Coherent, dense moodscapes made up of stretched tones on the one hand and digital cuts and samples, either placed seemingly random and in rhythmic alignments, on the other. Macroview and Microperspective melt in the magic of the moment, as abstract and concrete events stand side by side. It's not just harmless harmony, though: While „Ignore All“ is a fluent invitational gesture, the melancholic rattlings of „Grass Stain“ end things on a disturbing and thoughtful note. Wonderfully ambigous aural pointilism.
www.12k.com/term/

If these free releases are to your liking, a further Off the Sky offering might be worth investing the friendly sum of five dollars in: „Du Soleil“ on Atmoworks, at least on the strength of its preview excerpts, is more melodious, less claustrophobic, yet just as hermetic, yearning and brimming with inner tension. Tempting for sure.
www.atmoworks.com/

And finally, if you want to check out a very different side of Corder, then his „Extract from Excerpt EP“ on Con-V is certainly a recommendation. Teaming up with busy bee Danny Kreutzfeldt, he operates under the moniker of Shelter's End here, treading through solitary swamps and wading through thick clouds of mist. Again a single piece stretching out into epic length, it is made up of multiple stages and parts. A haunting cavernous drone opens things up, comes to an emotional climax, before silence takes over and metallic pads and living glitches fill a space of uncertainty and paranoia. It might seem like a contradiction with his previous output, but maybe this is the dark side of the forces he set out to explore. Certainly a valuable addition for anyone interested in psychoanalysing Jason Corder's personality – or those looking for the hidden trapdoors in his music.
www.con-v.org

By Tobias Fischer

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“Net Decks” is a weekly feature of tokafi.com covering Netlabel releases from the techno and electronica scene. It is published each Monday. For including your infos, having your releases reviewed or joining the reviews team, please contact us at tobias@tokafi.com