Flanger

Atom Heart's and Bernd Friedmann's Flanger project is produced by the combination of traditional jazz elements with experimental filtering and editing techniques. For the 1999 album Templates, Flanger used drums, bass, piano, and vibraphone, then put the product through their own editing process with the end product of unrecognizable instruments. The June 1999 release was hosted by the well-respected Ninja Tune Records, home of artists including Kid Koala, DJ Food, and Funki Porcini. Midnight Sound followed in fall 2000.

2001 - Outer Space Inner Space

Flanger - 2001 - Outer Space Inner Space

With 2001's Outer Space/Inner Space -- how apt a title and motif for this space odyssey! -- Flanger vault even further forward into the future of jazz while somehow managing to keep one foot in the roots of hard bop, free jazz, Latin jazz, and samba. The grounding element is most likely the core of guest musicians, including players from Cologne, Germany; Copenhagen, Denmark; and Santiago, Chile. On the title track a robotic voice chants "outer space" over decidedly retro Latin jazz rhythms augmented by occasional synthesizer flourishes and beats that are equal parts organic percussion and electro loops, again blurring the line between jazz old and new, which appears to be the Flanger modus operandi. "Galak" is an astronaut's floating dream with its fluid blend of spacy vibes and earthy acoustic bass, its spiraling ascent chased along by dueling congas and fusion guitar. A squelchy computer rhythm clashes with driving acoustic drums while two keyboards and processed bass and guitar battle it out furiously on "The Man Who Fell to Earth," evocative of a more down to earth (so to speak) Squarepusher. A sexy Rhodes fuels the robot dance of "Inner Spacesuit," while flailing funk bass propels the sci-fi theme "Le Dernier Combat." (Is that a Spanish-speaking musician announcing something like "I'm drunk" on the fade?) The zenith, and mission statement, of this album is "It Ain't Rocket Science," with its dueling Coltrane-esque saxophones and grimy techstep beat programming that perfectly meld the origin and the destination of modern jazz. Apparently it takes two forward-thinking and often whimsical German composer/multi-instrumentalist/deconstructionists and their host of multiethnic trad jazz players to bring the groove to the sometimes stiff world of jazz and launch it into the future.

		1		Outer Space/Inner Space	Flanger	5:35
		2		Galak	Flanger	7:47
		3		The Men Who Fell from Earth	Flanger	3:44
		4		Inner Spacesuit	Flanger	7:45
		5		Le Dernier Combat	Flanger	5:57
		6		Unosietecero	Flanger	4:50
		7		It Ain't Rocket Science	Flanger, Hass	4:45
		8		Hirnflug	Flanger	6:03

¡Aquí!

Aphex Twin

Exploring the experimental possibilities inherent in acid and ambience, the two major influences on home-listening techno during the late '80s, Richard D. James' recordings as Aphex Twin brought him more critical praise than any other electronic artist during the 1990s. Though his first major single, "Didgeridoo," was a piece of acid thrash designed to tire dancers during his DJ sets, ambient stylists and critics later took him under their wing for Selected Ambient Works 85-92, a sublime touchstone in the field of ambient techno. James' reaction to the exposure portrayed an artist unwilling to become either pigeonholed or categorizable. His second Aphex Twin album, Selected Ambient Works, Vol. 2, was so minimal as to be barely conscious -- in what appeared to be an elaborate joke on the electronic community. Follow-ups showed James gradually returning to his hardcore and acid roots, even while his stated desire to crash the British Top Ten (and perform on Top of the Pops) resulted in a series of cartoonish pop songs whose twisted genius was near-masked by their many absurdities. His iconoclastic behavior surprisingly aligned with MTV audiences turned on to end-of-the-millennium nihilist pop along the lines of Marilyn Manson and Nine Inch Nails.

James began taking apart electronics gear as a teenager growing up in Cornwall, England. (If the title Selected Ambient Works 85-92 is to be believed, it contains recordings made at the age of 14.) Inspired by acid house in the late '80s, James began DJing raves around Cornwall. His first release was the Analogue Bubblebath EP, recorded with Tom Middleton and released on the Mighty Force label in September 1991. Middleton left later that year to form Global Communication, after which James recorded a second volume in the Analogue Bubblebath series. This EP (the first to include "Digeridoo") got some airplay on the London pirate radio station Kiss FM, and prompted Belgium's R&S Records to sign him early the following year. A re-recording of "Digeridoo" made number 55 in the British charts just after its April 1992 release date, and James followed with the Xylem Tube EP in June. He also co-formed (with Grant Wilson-Claridge) his own Rephlex label around that time, releasing a series of singles as Caustic Window during 1992-1993. Available in cruelly limited editions, most of the recordings continued the cold acid precision of "Digeridoo" -- though several expressed humor and fragility barely dreamed of in the hardcore/rave scene to that point.

The climate for "intelligent" techno had begun to warm in the early '90s, though. The Orb had proved the commercial viability of ambient house with their chart-topping "Blue Room" single, and R&S scrambled to find useful material from its own artists. In November 1992, James acquiesced with Selected Ambient Works 85-92, consisting mostly of home material recorded during the past few years. Simply stated, it was a masterpiece of ambient techno, the genre's second work of brilliance after the Orb's Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld. As his star began to shine, several bands approached him to remix their work, and he complied, with mostly unrecognizable reworkings of tracks by St. Etienne, the Cure, Jesus Jones, Meat Beat Manifesto, and Curve.

Early in 1993, Richard James signed to Warp Records, the influential British label that virtually introduced the concept of futuristic "electronic listening music" with a series of albums (subtitled Artificial Intelligence) by ambient techno pioneers Black Dog, Autechre, B12, and FUSE (aka Richie Hawtin) among others. James' release in the series, titled Surfing on Sine Waves, was recorded as Polygon Window and released in January 1993. The album charted a course between the raw muscle of James' nose-bleed techno and the understated minimalism of Selected Ambient Works. A deal between Warp and TVT gave Surfing on Sine Waves an American release (James' first) by the summer. A second album was released that year, Analogue Bubblebath 3, for Rephlex. Recorded as AFX, the LP renounced any debt to ambient music and was the most bracing work yet in the Aphex Twin canon. On a tour of America with Orbital and Moby later that year, James clung to the headbanging material, to the detriment of his mostly unreplaceable gear. He later cut down on his live performance schedule.

In December of 1993, the new single "On" resulted in James' highest chart placing, a number 32 spot on the British charts. The two-part single included remixes by old pal Tom Middleton (as Reload) and future Rephlex star µ-Ziq. Despite James' appearance on the pop charts, his following album, Selected Ambient Works, Vol. 2, appeared to be a joke on the ambient techno community. So minimal as to be barely conscious, the quadruple album left most of the beats behind, with only tape loops of unsettling ambient noise remaining. The album mostly struck out with critics but hit number 11 on the British charts and earned James a major-label American contract with Sire soon afterward. During 1994, he worked on the ever-growing Rephlex stable, signing µ-Ziq (Michael Paradinas), Kosmik Kommando (Mike Dred), and Kinesthesia/Cylob (Chris Jeffs) to the label. In August 1994, he released the fourth Analogue Bubblebath, this one a five-track EP.

The year 1995 began with the January release of Classics, a compilation of his early R&S singles. Two months later, James released the single "Ventolin," a harsh, appropriately wheezing ode to the asthma drug on which he relied. I Care Because You Do followed in April, pairing his hardcore experimentalism with more symphonic ambient material, aligned with the work of many post-classical composers -- including Philip Glass, who arranged an orchestral version of the album's "Icct Hedral" on the August 1995 single Donkey Rhubarb.

Later that year, the Hangable Auto Bulb EP replaced Analogue Bubblebath 3 as Aphex Twin's most brutal, uncompromising release -- a fusion of experimental music and jungle being explored at the same time on releases by Plug and Squarepusher. In July 1996, Rephlex released the long-awaited collaboration between Richard James and Michael Paradinas (µ-Ziq). The album, Expert Knob Twiddlers (credited to Mike & Rich), watered down the experimentalism of Aphex Twin with µ-Ziq's easy-listening electro-funk. The fourth proper Aphex Twin album, November 1996's Richard D. James Album, continued his forays into acid-jungle and experimental music. Retaining the experimental edge, but with a stated wish to make the British pop charts, James' next two releases, 1997's Come to Daddy EP and 1999's Windowlicker EP, were acid storms of industrial drum'n'bass. The accompanying videos, both directed by Chris Cunningham, featured the bodies of small children and female models (respectively) dancing around, all with special-effects-created Aphex Twin faces grinning maniacally.

James released nothing during the year 2000, but did record the score to Flex, a Chris Cunningham short film exhibited as part of the Apocalypse exhibition at London's Royal Academy. With very little advance warning, another LP, Drukqs, finally arrived in late 2001. Although James continued making frequent DJ appearances, he released no more material until 2005, when Rephlex issued the first installment in a lengthy, 11-part series of 12" singles titled Analord. The singles' minimalist acid techno harked back to his Caustic Window/Analogue Bubblebath material of the early '90s. Chosen Lords, a CD compilation of some of the Analord material, appeared in April 2006.

1994 - Live At Hallam University EP

Aphex Twin - 1994 - Live At Hallam University EP

¡Aquí!

Mr. Oizo - 2000 - Analogue Worms Attack

The album debut for Quentin Dupieux may not have received worldwide distribution had it not been for its most publicized track, the notorious Levi's advert and crossover hit named "Flat Beat." But it's doubtful Dupieux will turn into a one-hit wonder -- and if he does, there's always his directing career -- since Analog Worms Attack is an inventive album that somehow marries the experimental side of techno (Cristian Vogel, Laurent Garnier) with the outrageous flair of novelty tracks usually seen on, well, television commercials. Even including "Flat Beat" (which was wisely added only as a bonus track), the highlights are "Monophonic Shit" and "No Day Massacre," two tracks that blend surprisingly deep grooves and oddball effects. It's not so much a sense of humor that Dupieux displays here; it's closer to the playful side of quasi-pop electronica fashioned by Mouse on Mars and Like a Tim. Fans of the trademarked "Flat Beat" sound will find much to love as well ("Smoking Tape" and "Flat 55" are most similar to the hit), making Analog Worms Attack a left-field treat for both pop-culture seekers and genuine music fans.

		1		Bad Start	Ozio	54:39
		2		Monophonic Shit	Ozio	52:53
		3		No Day Massacre	Ozio	48:57
		4		Smoking Tape	Ozio	44:40
		5		Last Night a DJ Killed My Dog	Ozio	43:08
		6		The Salad	Ozio	38:41
		7		Bobby Can't Dance	Ozio	35:37
		8		Analog Worms Attack	Dupieux	32:51
		9		One Minute Shakin	Dupieux	27:58
		10		Inside the Kidney Machine	Dupieux	26:44
		11		Miaaaw	Dupieux	21:54
		12		Flat 55	Dupieux	17:31
		13		Feadz On	Dupieux	15:08
		14		Analog Wormz Sequet	Dupieux	13:58
		15		Flat Beat [*]	Dupieux	5:18

¡Aquí!

Komet - 1999 - 20' to 2000

		1			Bretschneider	5:06
		2			Bretschneider	4:32
		3			Bretschneider	3:48
		4			Bretschneider	4:51

¡Aquí!

Oval - 1999 - Szenariodisk EP

Like many other electronic projects, Oval is difficult to describe. Markus Popp has had a hand in loads of interesting projects, from the minimalist/experimental Microstoria to the Jim O'Rourke and David Grubbs combo Gastr del Sol. On Szenariodisk, Popp puts his many hats to work in creating a cerebral, complex result. One hears echoes of the click-oriented compositions of Nobukazu Takemura combined with electronic-sounding feedback, vaguely vocal-sounding samples, and a plain old synthesizer. The music is extremely contemplative; it's too detailed to be background sound and requires focused attention to be fully appreciated. The track listing is a bit misleading, as it seems that five of the songs are comprised of two tracks each and the final track consists of only one section. It is nearly impossible to discern any type of link between the two-part tracks. Most tracks have some type of clicking in the background; this is especially true of "Episonik," the first track, as well as "Kardio V." The clicks provide a vague sense of rhythm in an otherwise timeless space. The second half of "Episonik" is essentially washed-out electronic distortion punctuated by bells that ring every five seconds or so. Perhaps the best piece on the album is "Par," which has an identifiable melody poised far behind waves of synthesized noise. This sheds some light on what might be an essential element of Popp's aesthetic: taking what could be an easily hummable melody and rearranging it to be barely recognizable. Nonetheless, Popp loses none of the melodic beauty behind his songs; rather, he constructs something equally as beautiful. [Szenariodisk compiles tracks from the two Oval EPs Szenario and Aero Deko.]

		1		Episonik		3:27
		2		Kardio V		2:52
		3		Zentrik		2:41
		4		Motif		3:37
		5		Memo		3:46
		6		Par		3:00

¡Aquí!

[[[VVRSSNN]]]] - 2003 - [[[[VVRSSNN]]]]

[[[[VVRSSNN]]]] (pronounced "version") takes on the little-explored interface between pop, new age, and computer dance music, with a more human face than most such endeavors allow. As the title signifies, Forkner's approach to music-making has aspects in common with those used by reggae artists who create "versions," or variations of tracks and songs, by layering and stripping away various elements. Much of the record was created with computerized technology, to be sure, but there's also a good deal of guitar and voice. These usually aren't used in the service of conventional songs on this disc, but in keeping with the spirit of K Records, there's an engaging humility -- a quality that is a lot rarer in technologically crafted music than it is in the more standard rock bands that K more often releases. The tender, modest vocals (often looped) are like less pretentious alterations of the new romantic approach, and sometimes are even folky in nature. While the melodies aren't blockbuster, they're capable of being both appealingly naïve and haunting. At times, this also ventures into serene murky instrumental passages that tread on new age, though on the most attractive borders of that genre. The synthetic beats might be the least impressive part of Forkner's arsenal, but they do keep the beats moving adequately in the more pop-driven segments without getting monotonous.

¡Aqui!