Category Archives: On record

Switched On – Chihei Hatakeyama & Dirk Serries: Black Frost (Glacial Movements)

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reviewed by Ben Hogwood

What’s the story?

This is the second collaboration on the Glacial Movements label between Chihei Hatakeyama and Dirk Serries, a follow-up of sorts to their album The Storm Of Silence in 2016. Like that release, Black Frost has four tracks and runs for just over 40 minutes, expanding their already widescreen approach of guitars and electronics.

Chihei Hatakeyama is a musician and sound artist currently living on the edge of Tokyo, and has many releases under his belt both as a solo artist and as part of the duo Opitope, with Tomoyoshi Date. Dirk Serries, meanwhile, is an experienced ambient artist based in Belgium who has built up an impressive CV of collaborations through work on an ongoing Microphonics series.

What’s the music like?

Simple – but that word should not be taken lightly. It is simple in the sense that the music is very simple to listen to. Each track largely hangs on a specific pitch, and no effort is required on the part of the listener to reach a meditative calm. In fact the less effort made, the more effective the ambience is. And yet, if the ear moves in for a closer take, the layers and subtle oscillations / variations reveal themselves, and the 40 minutes can be seen as a single unit, one gigantic four-part chord progression.

The textures are wonderfully airy and cool, polar in their chilled temperature but with a hazy warmth too. In terms of colour the music has sharper outlines and more piercing tones than the blue wisps of The Storm Of Silence – hence the dark overtones of the cover.

Those dark colours become more evident in third track Breen, which gives off an icy residue, but they don’t take root as such – and Frossen Luft closes out the quartet with more drawn-out pitches which eventually disappear into the middle distance.

Does it all work?

Yes. As anyone familiar with Glacial Movements releases will know, the ambience is of the deeply immersive kind, ideal for the end of a working day, the beginning of a new one, or an antidote to the fast and worrisome pace of life we are faced with from time to time.

Is it recommended?

For sure. Anyone enjoying previous music from this source will not need further encouragement, for Black Frost ends up as the ideal complement to The Storm Of Silence. It may be darker in countenance but it still ends up in the same, contemplative space.

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Switched On – WhoMadeWho: Synchronicity (Kompakt)

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reviewed by Ben Hogwood

What’s the story?

Copenhagen trio WhoMadeWho are an established and much-loved force in electronic music, bringing together their various backgrounds of rock, jazz and dance to a project that is always interesting to chart and invigorating to listen to.

Synchronicity suggests more of a jazz influence, and indeed it is there in the idea that each track should be a collaboration with one of the many artists they have rubbed shoulders with along the way. It is their first album for Kompakt in eight years, and includes staples of the label Michael Mayer and Robag Wruhme, part of a guest list also including Axel Boman and Frank Wiedemann.

What’s the music like?

Although it is a set of collaborations, Synchronicity is carefully planned and structured, making a coherent album that works really well from start to finish. Like a DJ set it has a measured beginning, working through Frank Wiedemann’s collaboration Dream Hoarding to hit the groove with Sainte Vie in Hibernation.

There are some really excellent tracks here, from the moody and atmospheric Oblivion, with Mano Le Tough, to the strutting groove of Hamstring with Michael Mayer and the broken beat of Peter Pan Me, another Wiedemann co-write. The slinky undercarriage of Twenty Tears, with Rebolledo, is notable, as is the slightly dubby Anywhere In The World, a shimmering delight in the company of Axel Boman. To illustrate the variety on the album, the preceding Shadow Of Doubt, with Adana Twins, has a lovely open air twang to its guitar, while the scoring for the strings in Cecil – with Echonomist – is sublime.

Does it all work?

Yes. WhoMadeWho work economically, so their percussion is never crowded but still hits the right mark – and their vocals are on point too. Synchronicity could easily lose its emotive punch given the number of people involved, but that doesn’t happen at any point.

Is it recommended?

Yes. The Copenhagen trio are still not as well known as they should be, despite the love they get in electronic music circles, and this release really should propel them onto the playlists of anyone looking for something switched on and new. A really excellent album.

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You can listen to clips of Synchronicity and purchase on LP, CD or download at the Kompakt website

Switched On – Deutsche Elektronische Musik 4 (Soul Jazz Records)

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reviewed by Ben Hogwood

What’s the story?

Deutsche Elektronische Musik has proved to be an enterprising series from Soul Jazz Records, with its packaging proving to be every bit as colourful and quirky as the music it presents. While the mention of Krautrock will make readers think of bands such as Can, Neu! and Popol Vuh, the crate diggers at Soul Jazz present some of the lesser names alongside these luminaries.

It proved an effective formula on the first three volumes, each offering a double album’s-worth of treats, and the fourth looks set to offer similar rewards.

What’s the music like?

A great deal of fun. One of the great things about this set of tracks is the feeling that the rules have been pushed to one side. Anything goes, and as a result the variety of grooves, colours, riffs and moods range far and wide.

To offer a few highlights, Agitation Free offer a lovely bit of pastoral cheerfulness with Laila, Pt. II, a mood which could also be levelled at Between’s Triumphzug Kaiser Maximilian I. Can’s I’m So Green is typically excellent, with a shuffling groove, while Michael Rother’s Flammende Herzen expands really nicely from a dreamy interlude to a more driven groove.

My Strand-Eyed Girl from Virus is very Doorsy, with that late 1960s psychedelia feel, and E.Mak impress with their more modern sounding Tanz In Den Himmel, and its hazy block chords. On the stranger side of the fence sit the German psychedelic band Kalacakra, with a long, drone-led ritual of goblin like voices. Meanwhile Roedelius offers a nice, woozy instrumental in the beatless Halmharfe – the lack of beats immediately compensated by Dzyan’s descriptive drum workout Dragonsong.

Finally Günter Schickert applies a really excellent beat and guitar panning for Suleika, a track which has already found favour with the likes of Richard Fearless, then Witthüser & Westrupp apply some dreamy meandering for Schöpfung (1. Mose 1), before it grows into a more athletic wig-out.

Does it all work?

Not all of it will be according to taste, but that is part of the appeal with this series – Soul Jazz include so many different free standing styles that it would be almost impossible to like them all. This instalment is noticeably more relaxed in its grooves than the last, but the musical positivity is still ever-present.

Is it recommended?

Wholeheartedly. If like me you already owned the first three volumes of this excellent series, there is no need to hesitate about the possibility of adding a fourth. It is another history lesson cum late night party soundtrack.

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You can hear clips from the compilation and purchase from the Soul Jazz shop, Sounds Of The Universe

Switched On – Various Artists: Pop Ambient 2021 (Kompakt)

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reviewed by Ben Hogwood

What’s the story?

Pop Ambient has always been one of Kompakt’s flagship projects, but in 2021 it is surely needed more than ever. With no reason to change the winning formula of seasoned regulars and bright new things, the series – in Kompakt’s words – becomes ‘a sprightly young adult waltzing out of its teenage joys and tears’.

What’s the music like?

It is no understatement to say this really is balm to soothe the soul. From the moment new Kompakt signings Blank Gloss begin the music takes its listener to a special and very relaxed place, the Sacramento group letting their guitar run free through On A Vessel.

Then Yui Onodera pans out with Chromo 5, with similarly warm textures that seem to hang on a gentle breeze. Reich & Würden‘s Lens proves to be rather special, with a slightly mournful trumpet lead that hints of a detective or intelligence series theme. Joachim Spieth & Pepo Galán‘s Libration proves to be one of those wonderfully immersive ambient tracks, holding still on one pitch but moving subtly above it. Max Würden‘s Center does the same, with a simple but probing piano line, while Neozaïre‘s Vor Den Toren Europas resembles the sound of an orchestra playing slowly outdoors.

Neozaïre is one of three new Kompakt artists on this release, along with Blank Gloss and Seventh World, whose Light The Waves Before Dawn is a beautifully stretched mood piece suggestive of the lazily moving waters themselves.

Does it all work?

Effortlessly so. The great thing about Pop Ambient is that it works so well but never rests on its laurels, giving new pointers in ambient music with each installment.

Is it recommended?

You know the answer. As a standpoint in the ambient music calendar, Pop Ambient is eagerly awaited and delivers with as little effort as possible. As, indeed, ambient music should.

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Switched On – Domenique Dumont: People On Sunday (The Leaf Label)

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reviewed by Ben Hogwood

What’s the story?

People On Sunday is the soundtrack to the 1930 film of the same name (also known as Menschen am Sonntag, Les Hommes le Dimanche and People On Sunday). Dominique Dumont was commissioned to write the score for the Les Arcs film festival in 2019, where it was given a live performance. The film follows a group of characters going about their business in Weimar-era Berlin over one weekend, showing normal life in Germany before dictatorship

He took a great deal from the experience, documenting on his Bandcamp page how the film itself ‘strengthened my belief that the time we currently live in, although far from perfect, might be the best time to be alive’. That was before the Coronavirus pandemic, obviously, but a certain truth still rings true in his observation that, ‘we are living in a utopia compared to what came before and, perhaps, what is to come’.

What’s the music like?

Dumont’s music has the construction of a spider’s web, in that it has a fragile and graceful exterior but is held together with very solid musical elements. It also conforms to his optimistic outlook, with airy textures and delicate tones.

The twinkling lights of Arrival set the scene beautifully, using a minimal loop but expanding into droplets of melody up above. Where this track is cool, Water Theme (Le Château de Corail) has warmth through what sounds like steel pans.

Elsewhere the mood is blissful but closer inspection reveals the detail Dumont applies to every aspect of his work. The small but intricate melodic cells have consonant harmonies but feel as though they are providing light in relative darkness, finding calm and order away from hustle and bustle.

Rituals is especially good at this, panning out to find meditative calm, while We Almost Got Lost settles quickly into a trance, underwritten by a soft, bossa nova rhythm. Falling Asleep Under Pine Trees flickers with enchanting but restful activity, while Merry-Go-Round is charming and could easily run for double its duration on the brightly lit and closely woven parts Dumont brings forward. Watching Boats Pass By is as relaxing as the title suggests it should be,

Does it all work?

Yes. The music can easily be enjoyed as an album, independent of the moving images or even with other, more natural backdrops. Listening in a quiet space or on headphones brings out all of the individual elements employed, but these can also be listened to as a whole, setting the right, contemplative mood.

Is it recommended?

Yes. People On Sunday is a rather beautiful piece of work, shimmering in the half light and casting a spell on its listeners.

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