Deef – Unbekannte Deutsche Touristen In Frankreich

Ambient & Experimental, Broken Beat, Downbeat & Downtempo, Dubstep & Garage, IDM // By: simiolioliocloseAuthor: simioliolio Email: simon@netlabelism.com
More Authors Posts (40) // 07/02/2012 // 2 Comments

Plinky wibbly smatterings of gurgling synths, punchy kick drums and lively wonky beats. Microscopic cuts strangled by organically evolving textures, smearing and swooping drunkenly into your unsuspecting ear drums. An intriguing, unpredictable aural-collage, abstract but approvable, peculiar but lovable, presents itself in a dignified and polite manner. It’s the fragments of ticklish melodies interrupted by bizarre snippets of samples from the real world which fulfil a potential in using field recordings which few manage to exploit fully. The interlinking elements drift in and out of a continually changeable continuity; what was once a melodic synth is now a blistering high-pitched squeal, what was once a single tap of a metallic spoon is now an army of 10,000 nano-spoons hitting each other in a chaotic frenzy.

It is evident that Deef has taken a long time to complete this lengthy and involved work. When you think back to all the tunes you know which have one main hook which loops around and around, with a few accompanying parts sailing in and out, with a little variation in neighbouring sections. This is a million miles away from those tunes. Fair enough, some tracks (such as ‘Am Strand’) take one singular musical motif and play with it for it’s entirety, but when recovering from the fidgety, unsettled nature of most other compositions included in this album, this is easily welcomed as an enjoyable contrast. It takes a tremendous amount of time and energy to make music which is this involved and diverging, as well as taking an extremely positive and diligent attitude to avoid hitting the dreaded ‘loop’ button.

Now, although I really like this release, it is by no means perfect (we are label buddies, so I’ve got to eradicate any bias!). Its disjointed nature makes it a fairly challenging listen. Also, some synth sounds can be quite bland. The opening passage of ‘Die fruechte sind teuer. Das leben ist hart’ is clunky, dry, and lifeless. Luckily the magnificent explosion into the ‘real’ introduction at 0:27 ended my woe and triggered curiosity, but with most other sounds possessing a delightful organic demeanor, I feel some work could be done on softening up the garish synth sounds which hinder some otherwise-beautiful atmospheres. However, perhaps this would make the whole album too passive? Opinions in the comments below!

The title track ‘Exotisch ist nicht gleich witzig’ is twitchy and fuelled with tension, and the loose yet abrasive glitch of ‘Ehrlicher pathos ‘ had my toes wiggling. If you are tired and in need of soothing relaxation, you will probably be scared off by the bizarre individualism of this album. If, however, you can allow Deef to penetrate your brain, manically whisk it up, and bake it at Gas Mark 10, you will love every minute.

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Blossom – Blue Balloons

Audio, Downbeat & Downtempo, Hip Hop // By: SimonVBcloseAuthor: SimonVB Email: simon.vanbockstal@gmail.com
More Authors Posts (23) // 03/02/2012 // 2 Comments

On December 21st, 2011, Export Label gave birth to a new release: Blossom’s “Blue Balloons”. Though I should have had an eye out for this artist from his earlier work for Export Label, Blossom’s debut took me by surprise. “Blue Balloons” transported me back to some of my fondest memories in my long-standing marriage with downtempo. And it’s not because I write for netlabelism that I’m not allowed to have an extra-marital affaire or two with commercial releases. Please allow me a moment to indulge in a few paragraphs of reminiscing about two of my longest serving mistresses: The Cinematic Orchestra and Bonobo.

Blossom’s “Noon’s Bourg” reminds me very much of The Cinematic Orchestra’s tracks “Awakening of a Woman” and “Evolution” on their masterpiece “Man with a Movie Camera”. The patient way in which the double bass and subtle string touches enrich the overal sound, the latent energy in the drums, the sublime orchestration of a large amount of instruments without losing the feeling of space in the composition: it’s all there. This is by far the best track of the album, and in my opinion one of the very best of 2011.

“Nightbeat”, on the other hand is a little less high culture jazz, and a little more triphop, of the kind contained in Bonobo’s “Black Sands”. Here the double bass takes a commanding lead of the tune, instead of reinforcing the melody. Combined with grittier drum loops this is the ultimate head bobbing experience. Aptly named, “Nightbeat” is perfect for midnight walks through your urban environment of choice.

So Blossom measures up to the big names in the genre. But it’s more than that, I don’t want to give the impression that we simply have a talented copycat on our hands here. On the contrary, the entire album basks in an atmosphere that is distinctly his own. “Eternaldream” is a good illustration of how Blossom effortlessly meanders through different rhythms and soundsets, while unmistakingly leaving his mark on the resulting composition.

There is but one part of the release which is less than stellar: the details for the release mention a bonus track. Apart from my dislike of cheap marketing phrases like “bonus track”, my resentment stems mostly from the fact that they made a typo there. I’m pretty sure they meant bogus track. I reviewed ‘Cuefx – Whale EP‘ a few months ago, and let’s just say that for all its potential, I was pretty disappointed by that release. The only thing impressive about it is that Blossom managed to make a remix of the original track that sounded decent. So while I salute his efforts at plastic surgery, there’s no reason to include that track again here.

Overall, “Blue Balloons” is a very mature-sounding album. If this really is a debut, we’re in for some very good releases from Blossom in the future. The incredible mix of the best downtempo has to offer coupled with great production skills (especially on the drums) indicate an artist with the potential to make it big. Very big. The only reason this album didn’t make it to my “Best of 2011″ list is because of its release date late December, preventing a clear judgment on whether I would still be blown away after listening to it a few hundred times. The answer to that is a resounding yes. Highly recommended. [SVB]

Blossom – Noon’s Bourg

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CAST06

Podcast // By: NetlabelismcloseAuthor: Netlabelism Email: markus@modularfield.net
More Authors Posts (118) // 31/01/2012 // No Comments

The Netlabelism-Podcast Series furthers our efforts for featuring new releases, special mixes, guests, interviews, news and explorations into the vast world of netlabels and notable netaudio projects. Netlabelism is a loose bunch of music-addicted people who love to share the most valuable tunes to be found on the internet for free. We pick up quality music on the web and try to give you an overview of the vast range of netaudio. 2011 presented us with tons of great releases, but out of the many, some will be remembered as this year’s very best.

In this cast we feature tracks from releases the Netlabelism staff has chosen as the best of 2011. Each of the Netabelism staff members chose their top 3 releases of 2011.

Via: iTunes // Podcast-Feed // Unenhanced Version (MP3 & OGG) via archive.org

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