Cyclic Defrost Magazine |  |
| Luengliss – Motion In Mind (Bocumast) Posted: 06 Jun 2009 02:01 AM PDT
Denver, Colorado-based electronic producer Tom Metz’s 2007 debut album as Iuengliss ‘Wake-Up Time’ introduced his delicate blend of glacial IDM programming and wistful synth-pop, and now two years on this follow-up effort ‘Motion In Mind’ sees Metz continuing to forge a path that sits somewhere between Plaid and The Postal Service’s yearning vocals. In many senses, the blend of earnest emotive vocals, jagged broken rhythms and glistening synths conjured on tracks such as ‘Sunrise’ and ‘Dark Motions’ isn’t completely dissimilar to Tim Exile’s recent vocal-heavy ‘Listening Tree’ album, but while Exile digitally chops and contorts his vocals to within an inch of their life, Metz prefers to give his vocals only subtle treatments, allowing their sense of wistful calm to nicely balance out the fractured rhythmic textures below. When it all combines effectively, as on the icily graceful ‘Worth A Million’ and ‘Say Goodbye (Dark Mix)’, easily two of the biggest highlights here, the fusion between the emotional vocals, trailing electronics and sharp-edged breakbeats is certainly a poignant one, recalling at points echoes of Ulrich Schnauss’ synth-shoegazer landscapes. Overall, this is well-crafted IDM-pop that should appeal to fans of the Warp label, though the earnest lyrics do venture towards being a bit twee at points – hopefully, future Iuengliss releases will see Metz branching out a bit from the comparatively restricted stylistic palette of elements in use here as well. |
| Posted: 05 Jun 2009 06:55 PM PDT
Andy Votel, Dom Thomas and Doug Shipton seem to be obsolutely obsessed with uncovering rare, unheard or forgotten music from the past, and between them their seems to be no limit to what they can find, from every corner of the globe. Released on Twisted Nerve, one of UK’s truely independant labels, still consistently releasing quality original quality releases 10 years on. Tracks have been culled from the first 20 releases from sub-labels Finders Keepers and B-Music, setup specifically to concentrate on reissueing lost gems from the past. With this mixed cd, they have engaged The Gaslamp Killer to weave his magic, being a fellow music obsessive from the US, but they didn’t have to send him a thing, he already had been collecting every release from the Finders Keepers and B-Music catalogue, and was more than familiar with the nuggets to be found on each release. The best thing about this cd is the selection is spot on. I have found some of the reissues difficult to listen to from start to finish, each release having one or two tracks of complete gold, but the rest hasn’t excited me, The Gaslamp Killer has plucked all the great moments and thrown them into his melting pot, mixing them together in his own style, creating a true psychedelic journey for the body and mind, and having very similar taste in the breaks he has chosen, the ride for me is a thoroughly enjoyable one. All the best included here from Lubos Fiser, John Hill, Jan Jankeje, Spectre, Chris Harwood, Susan Christie, Jean-Jacques Dexter, Amral’s Trinidad Cavaliers Steel Drum Orchestra, Jean-Claude Vannier, Stanley Myers, Omega, Sevil and Ayla, Zafer Dilek, Yamasuki, Sarolta Zalatnay, Selda, Ersen, Pierre Cavalli, Vampires of Dartmoore, Mustafa …zkent, The Stylers, Jir' Slitr & Jir' Sust, and Bruno Spoerri. Another brilliant mix from The Gaslamp Killer, being true to the originals, giving an accurate sample of what the Finders Keepers and B-Music back catalogue is all about. I snapped this up straight away, without question, and am not disappointed in the slightest. A very limited 7″ has also just been released containing The Gaslamp Killers megamix on the a-side, and his re-edit of Zalim by Ersen, but this was a little disappointing, not really hitting the mark. Both releases are available from the Finders Keepers online store, or at your friendly independant store, if you ask them nicely. Wayne Stronell |
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