January 2008 news

January 30, 2008

ICE LAMENTS


• tube'|109 - Bård Farbu - Zink EP

«The metallic name given to this EP does not misguide the listener: what this release from Norwegian sound designer Bård Farbu offers us, is about 17 minutes of cool and concrete ambiance. These tracks should be listened with high volume in order to be captured by the intense metallic sounds on it. Rather than new-age dumbness, “Zink EP” manages to unrest the listener with the sound bursts that reminds musique concrète works from earlier electronic recordings of the last century. Additionally, these are like soundscapes that seem to be inspired by nature itself, in such a way that puts Bård Farbu in the same vein of fellow Norwegian Biosphere, although the sounds in this release are unrelated with the chill ambience of Biosphere. In fact, Bård Farbu gives his personal view of the relation between sounds and nature, without any techno beat underneath. Of course, the sound design and production here is superb, and any further description will not fully characterize this work. Each one should listen and unravel what these abstract sounds can mean.»
- César Laia

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January 20, 2008

DOOR TO A POP DREAM


• tube'|108 - Multi-Panel - The Door

«Another extremely nice EP for those of you fond of Múm and other acoustic pop delicacies. Multi-Panel - real name for dutch artist Ludo Maas - delivers in just little over 15 minutes, 7 great tracks soaked in nostalgia, droney keyboards, soft beats and acoustic guitar pluckings. Reminds me a bit of other test tube releases from Aitänna77 and Bacanal Intruder.
'Radio' is the opener and my favorite track of this record. Starts slowly paced with a gently plucked guitar, metronome style wood beat and dreamy keyboards for a perfect match. The rest of the release follows the same steps of this one: short but to the point tracks, rich in melody and drama and easily remembered. After a minute short interlude, we come to the second part of this EP to find a more downtempo and less acoustic oriented set of tracks, some voiceovers and human samples, culminating at the title track, which is actually a full ambient composition. Now all we need is a full lenght of material to enjoy Multi-Panel magic to the fullest.» - Pedro Leitão

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January 10, 2008

FLOATING BEATS


• tube'|107 - Cristian Gualpa - Flotante EP

«Hailing from Mendoza, Argentina, here is an EP release of warm ambient idm beats, from Cristian Gualpa, called “Flotante”. In five tracks, Gualpa explores an electronic language of aquatic beats, somehow related with the kind of stuff explored by artists like Arovane, and also a language with the laboratorial driving force that one can usually recognize on releases from labels like Raster-Noton. Indeed, while the last track “Capital Solar” develops a warm sense of melody, tracks like “Buenhogar” or “Al Aire” enter the mathematical domain, with a techno background underneath. Listening to these tracks is like admiring the architecture of a building, with one feet dancing at the same time. Dark ambience comes along with “Previo”, but even here the mechanical beat gives way to an ethereal melody. “Posada” sums up the ideas expressed before, and is both a relaxing or restless place to stay, depending of which things the listener pays attention to: the warm aquatic melody underneath or the drilled beat that gives structure to the track, which reminds of early Autechre releases. With about 20 minutes, “Flotante” is enjoyable brainy electronics, to be listened with headphones, and an excellent debut for Cristian Gualpa.» - César Laia

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January 09, 2008

January 06, 2008

January 03, 2008