mark fell : ul8

mark fell
ul8
mego 111
editions mego


image:©japanese forms

Well one2zero more or less ends the year with a further release from Mark Fell. UL8 follows hard on the heels of his very recent Multistability on raster-noton and his tape only release on Alku Records (see previous posts here & here). On UL8 Fell explores territories of sonic abstraction that might not be easy on the ear for most of us though some will applaud this adventure in sound and rythmn... As Boomkat puts it "... [Fell] takes his sound even further into the outer reaches of glacial, rhythmic experimentation. " I've only listened to it a couple of times (so far) but I imagine that even after a few more spins I'll like it less than the Multistability album. I'll maybe let the over-indulgence of Xmas fade a bit before returning to it and to give it a listen in less hectic circumstances.
All in all though, an impressive album with Fell in full 'experimental' but not completely uncomprising mode as someone like Hecker perhaps.
Available in digipak card-sleeve with beautiful graphic design/artwork which, like the Multstability sleeve, was done by the musician himself. Recommended. one2zero
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UL8 ...Just two weeks after Multistability comes UL8 on Editions Mego. Handily split into digestible sections, it's a much different listen than Multistability. The first section ("The Occultation of 3C 273") is the closest, but the sounds are duller, and more relaxed, with its distinct low-end coated with grit. The second section ("Vortex Studies") plays games with static and very slight noise for something that sounds like Kraftwerk's Radio-Activity as filtered through AtomTM's Liedgut: ancient but determinedly technological...©Resident Advisor
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Buy this disc @ Editions Mego / @ boomkat

radio belbury (programme n°1)

Programme 1 : "Holidays & Hintermass" by Ghost Box on Mixcloud

ghost box - mixtape

Ghost Box

mark fell : multistability

mark fell
multistability
r-n125
raster-noton


image:©japanese forms


Well Mark Fell is certainly ending the year in multi-release style with several recordings all appearing in the last couple of weeks. With a flurry releases including a cassette tape only release on Alku Records; a CD + 7" single on raster-noton; another album on Mego as well as a (very) limited edition release to tie in with the Coherence and Proximity solo art exhibition, Mr Fell has indeed been a very busy man recently. As with recent raster-noton releases, Multistability comes in a lavishly packaged triple fold-out card sleeve with artwork/design by Mark Fell himself. Electronic abstract and minimal is how I'd describe the music contained within which, I suppose, some listeners might define as being not very accessible -it's doubtful that you'll be dancing to it at your local club sometime soon but I don't think that was ever the point of it anyway. I'll be listening to it (often) on headphones; in the dark; with a glass and a bottle of single malt close at hand. one2zero
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Multistability chooses a theme that, though equally academic, is at least a little more trippy. In its most basic sense, the title refers to forms that contain two separate images at once, which the viewer can alternate between at will. A press release explains that Fell's new album is "split into two halves" and "contains two versions of itself," with recurring passages and "pattern-generating systems" somehow creating a multistable effect. ©Resident Advisor
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Buy this disc @ raster-noton

conrad schnitzler : 10.10.84

conrad schnitzler
10.10.84
mt004
mirror tapes
limited edition of 250


image:©japanese forms

As we move into the last month of 2010 yet another tape for my collection arrived in the post yesterday. This time it's the Conrad Schnitzler tape, that I recently ordered from Mirror Tapes, that's just winged it's way over from Malaysia (where Mirror Tapes is based). An interesting artefact and a real archival treasure recorded quite a long time ago now; in an era when cassette tapes were the MP3s of their day. This tape documents a 1984 session by one of krautrock's elder statesmen and a founding member of Tangerine Dream and Kluster. Excellent. Includes a tastefully designed inlay card but unfortunately no information whatsoever. one2zero

"Conrad Schnitzler, a previous student of Joseph Beuys, and a founding member of Tangerine Dream and Kluster, as a soloist developed the idea of the “kassetten konzert” or cassette concert, utilizing pre-recorded synthesized sounds on separate tapes, which were mixed together through adjustments of volume and equalization into a vaster and more complex piece that formed his live remix performances. Each event is unique due to the element of unpredictability in his real-time improvisations, and this is a documentation of such a performance on 10th October 1984, Berlin." © Mirror Tapes

Buy this tape @ Mirror Tapes