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Andrea Belfi & Jules Reidy
Dessus Oben Alto Up
Marionette
‘Their first collaborative recording: four beautifully recorded excursions, threading crystalline drum-work through a sparkling haze of guitars and electronics.
‘The opener Dessus begins with Reidy’s distinctive just-intonation guitar figures, shimmering over a delicate substratum of Befli’s brushwork and bass drum accents. As in all of Reidy’s recent work, the guitarism evades cliché via unfamiliar tuning and electronic processing. Hanging almost inaudibly in the background for much of the piece, a rush of synthetic tones surges into the foreground to end it. Oben is built from kinetic patterns of picked guitar arpeggios, locking into irregular grooves with Belfi’s drums, which move from elegant rolls and cymbal patter to driving closed hi-hats and explosive rock interjections. Around the traditional instruments and across the stereo field, electronic sounds swarm and swirl, fizzing and popping in a sun-drenched soundscape that at points suggests both vintage analogue synth destruction and glitching harmonies. Alto begins in similar territory but turns proceedings up a notch, eventually settling into a propulsive 6/8 groove of shifting drum accents, manically strummed 12 string acoustic, and burbling synth chords.
‘The B side is dedicated to the fifteen-minute Up, where the strategies adopted on the other pieces are put in the service of a more relaxed, slowly unfolding epic. Anchored by a steady pulse throughout, the piece combines chiming guitars, dubbed-out bass lines and constantly adjusted percussive details into a complex flux of sound. Change is at once so subtle and so ever-present that, at any given moment, the listener can never be entirely sure quite how they got there.’
‘An alluring, meditative, psychedelic brew of shamanic and alchemical rhythms and harmonies, ranging across a wide array of instruments and influences. Modular synths, a two-stringed erhu fiddle, flute, feedback, electronics, guitar, field recordings, and various percussion objects, in ritualistic studio sessions which are augmented and sampled over and over… with the controls set for other planes of there.’
‘The first collaborative release by Pretty Sneaky and long-time friend and co-conspirator Koldd, aka Norman Levy.
‘Seven themes lysergically weave field recordings of bird calls and wind/water together with pastoral synth lines and resonating modular patches on occasion sideswiped with a bass-heavy thump and stripped back percussion.
‘A mysterious offering for outward-bound heads with lodgings on the dance floor. The sort of thing you might play for your friends after a night out, which blows them to smithereens.’
The eagerly awaited return of Bastian Epple to Marionette, for his debut album. Fifteen richly evocative vignettes conjured up with modular synth, tape-work, synthetic sounds, percussion, guitar: captivating, scene-setting catalysts of dreams, nostalgia, and other imaginary voyages; intimate, unpredictable, and alive; full of curiosity and wonder.
Moss-green, rooted, bodily crossings of Folk, Ambient, Drone, and experimental electroacoustic music, using violin, woodwind, percussion, voice, and various effects. Captivatingly story-based and ancient as fairy tales. The inner life of a pearl of sap in song. Warmly recommended.
His treasurable third solo LP in three decades of collaborative work as Vilod, the Moritz Von Oswald Trio, Non Standard Institute, Sun Electric, Ambiq, and company.
‘Max at his most exhilarating, morphing through bittersweet and optimistic soundscapes to bleak moments of throbbing unease — all while maintaining a musical grace and elegance. Petrichor is a reflection of Loderbauer’s impactful trips to the mountains, and returning from these summits with an electrifying urge to paint this mighty perspective. The harmonies and melodies on the tracks simulate emotional peaks and valleys, with vibration and rhythm rooted in the foundation of the sound, as though woven into the fabric of the fauna and flora.’
Brecht Ameel playing prepared harmonium and celesta, alongside Kim Delcour modulating air and breath via various wind and reed instruments; joined by Will Guthrie on tuned and melodic percussion (timpani, glockenspiel, marimba, vibraphone), and Paul Garriau on hurdy-gurdy.
‘With a distinct rhythmic impetus and fluidity new to Razen, and characteristic freshness and playfulness, Regression relays between dire inhospitableness and refuge, abject sorrow and cosmic transcendence. It invokes mythology and superstition as keys to the primeval and the unknown.’
‘The culmination of all his efforts thus far to mimic a synthesizer and drum machine. This seemingly impossible feat challenges Julian to experiment and develop a musical language that bridges the gap between organic timbres and electronic music. When listening to Mux, one might simply forget that the seemingly electronic sounds are only constructed organically via hand movements.
‘This is Julian’s second outing for Marionette, following Sulla Pelle with Valentina Magaletti in 2019.’
‘Experimental jazz, chanson, bluesy folk and various strains of outsider music permeate a rich layering of music boxes, walkie-talkies and plastic straws, plucked charrango and banjo, kazoos, flutes and snake-charming ocarina, accordion and melodica, found percussion and traditional tuned drums. The moods switch from child-like and epiphanic (Tarzan en Tasmanie, Madrigal for Lola) to babbling (Pocarina), mysterious and dark (Septième Ciel, Rugit Le Coeur) to tender and simple (Rainbow de Nuit, Chevalier Gambette); from murky, suspenseful melancholy (Levy Attend, Eno Ennio) to pensive psychedelia (Un Cercueil à Deux Places). A world of echoes. A tale of tales. You’ll be whistling and humming along on first listen.’
Limberly pulsating, dubwise and warmly intimate, open to the heavens but twinkling with avian detail, deftly shuffling melody and dissonance, rhythm and pause — and lit up up by the woody, breathy timbres of Clive Bell’s shakuhachi playing — this is life-affirming, smart, deeply pleasurable music, easy to dance to, with everything from Lee Perry to Noh Theatre via Karlheinz Stockhausen and King Sunny Ade in the electro-acoustic mix.
Benjamin Kilchhofer’s artwork peers through the vacuum of space, catching a rare glimpse of the mysterious alien biomes, fossils and silhouettes generated by dwarf planets, asteroids, Kuiper belt, and other trans-Neptunian objects.
Buckle up… needle to the groove… take the tour!
Warmly recommended.
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