minimal

A personal remark for Origamibiro, by Can Ayverdi. Origambiro, an artist whom I never heard before, has mostly accomplished this. I thank Tom Hill for giving such wonderful music to this world. A must grab album : Cracked Mirrors And Stopped Clocks, out since 2007. Only one song will tell..

Finnish electronic music composer Lauri Saine makes genrebending electronic music without falling into the cheesy electronic tapestry category that so many trip-hop artists often do.

Cenk Akyol prepares Deep House Meditation, “Mostly new tracks, with the most laidback deep house tunes with a few experimental ones in between. (incl. Jan Jelinek, Model 500, Morgan Geist, Lawrence, 3 Chairs, Terre Thaemlitz, Move D, Markus Guntner.)”

Out as the third release on Germany’s Shoreless Records bvdub’s Prayer to False Gods is apocalyptic and doom ridden, with waves of melancholy and accompanying images of a dead nature. 5 tracks of desolate soundscapes with occasional layers of doomy strings and at times fuzzy noises. Don’t touch this one if you’re in the Southern Hemisphere or are enjoying a day of sun! Rest of the world drench in it.

Icelander Yagya has been making music for some time and I’m sure everyone interested in minimal / dubby techno music still remember his 2002 release “Rhythm on Snow” on Force Inc. His third album Rigning is once again inspired by weather, as it’s the Icelandic word for “rain”. It’s also the doinant theme in the album more evident especially on the beatless tracks.

Swiss techno merchants Styro2000 and Bang Goes are two of the best kept secrets of the minimal techno underground. I remember seeing their live show in Istanbul a few years ago, in front of a huge desk with godknows how many analogue devices, creating this mindblowing raw improvised techno with no computers in sight.

Transcending his earlier more 4/4 minimal techno works this album has managed to fuse clicky electronic beats with ambient scapes, traces of shoegaze and melodies. The balance of these elements on Yo Recuerdo is outstanding with distorted guitars or warm reverby synth washes never scaring the casual listener while giving the serious listener a complex and emotive dimension to enjoy.

Soulphiction aka Jackmate aka Michael Baumann has a new album out on the indisposable Berlin label Sonar Kollektiv. How they manage to be both prolific and quality is beyond me, but I have to say they’re holding the standard for cool electronic dance scene nowadays.