To celebrate the 10th release by Dusseldorf
based electronica label, Level Recordings, a three-part series
of 12”s have been dropped over the course of the last 6
months. Level Records was started in 2004 by Daniel Fritschi as
a specialist label with a focus on deep minimal music and since
its inception its ranks have swelled with talent from the likes
of Anders Ilar, Slg, Fax and Fritschi himself. With this three-part
series they celebrate their own unique brand of eerie, atmospheric
minimal tech-house which forgoes the cold, sterile aesthetic usually
associated with minimalist electronica in favour of dubby grooves,
jazzy arrangements and soundscapes which possess real soul.
10a:
The first of these commemorative releases is appropriately titled,
‘10a’. Released in Oct 2007, the A-Side sees classical
musician turned electronica-stalwart, Marcin Czubala kick off
with ‘diagonal’, a track that starts off with smatterings
of brushy snares and kicks underpinning a melodic deep-house core.
Treble heavy melodies cross paths with bass heavy synth clusters
and hollowed beeps to carve out a progressively meandering retro-house
soundscape that bounces with menacing techno-ised intent. On the
flip side, efforts by Bvoice & Khz along with the established
Anders Ilar provide another dose chilled-out and subtly crafted
tech-house. Sounding a bit like 4Hero meets ambient Autechre,
Bvoices & KHz’s ‘present for KHz’ exists
on a backbone of deep and bouncy three-dimensional bass throbs
that creates a leftfield house dynamic thanks to the out-of-sync
placement of beats and notes. This ‘free’ approach
makes for a jazzy feel that is steeped in dark and breathy atmospherics.
Anders Ilar presents ‘made for us to love’ the 5th
track off his forthcoming full length ‘Sworn’,
an album that recently scored a 9/10 in these very pages. Anders
Ilar is an expert at developing forlorn, minimalist micro-tech
and this track is no exception. Like some kind of electro sorcerer,
he hangs heavily processed melancholic strings in a slow-motion
stouper over deep shifting bass hooks and mid-tempo kicks whilst
hypnotic patterns appear and disperse alongside.
10b:
November’s ‘Level 10b’
see’s four artists from across the world pitted together
in a miniature world-tour of electronica. ‘Prestige’
by Ferenc Vaspoeri shimmers with a classy Mathew Jonson-esque
tech-house vibe in which squelchy House-inspired synths and clustered
kicks mix it up with a bustling array of out-of-focus melodics
and fx before the whole entity drops down into a deep and dubby
mélange of euphoric motifs and slinky beats. Japan’s
Hidenobu Ito is on hand to provide a highly unique piece of evolved
electronica which sees howling windlike atmospherics cascade across
a backdrop of squelchy, aqua beats to an hypnotic and quietly
menacing effect, an effect that is heighted due to the counteraction
with intermittent bursts of rather upbeat and inside-out melodics.
Antonelli Electr’s ‘Materialized’ is a slightly
bizarre foray into the Chicago school of House with sliding synths
and disorientating carnivalesque melodics shooting across an upbeat
terrain. Mexico’s ‘Fax’ contributes ‘Voltage’,
a track not found on his excellent ‘Bilateral EP’.
Similar in style to the best works of ‘Rothko’ and
fully seizing the haunting power of the electric guitar, ‘Fax’
manages to captivate listeners with a mellow and bittersweet soundscape
of perfectly arranged guitars motifs which sweep listlessly across
the soundscape and nestle amongst deep, dubby groovescapes to
create a track which stirs the soul.
10c:
Commencing with the high-nrg deep-tech
of ‘Freefall’ by Slg, the gauntlet is thrown down
for the post-midnight dancefloor session with Febuary 2008’s
‘Level 10c’, a period of the night where clubbers
gain their second wind and connect emotionally and mentally with
the deep, hypnotic soundwaves that seep from the soundsystem.
Utilising a dubby sci-fi atmosphere and rolling bass-grooves,
melodic bleeps and glitches are spliced and euphorically arranged
to stretch out into a sonic oblivion. Jeff Milligan, a name well
known across techno’s far reaching expanse, is on hand to
deliver a rather abstract slice of glitch’n’crackle
in which he fuses alien micro glitches over naturalist sounding
grooves to provocative effect. Label founder, Daniel Fritschi
remixes ‘Paracaidas’ by Fax, creating a slow-motion
and hypnotic piece that sees organic and subterranean bass grooves
prop up fluttering clicks and pops before atmospheric melodics
trickle in like liquid waves of sound filling a jagged river bed
made of rubber. ‘Ekkohaus’ immediately sets out his
intent with a pounding layer of kicks that mutates into a densely
produced flicker of bass-y beatscapes accompanied by piercing
micro-glitches, sampled throatwork and some rather out-of-focus
melodies that produce an SND-style micro-funk sound. Interestingly,
all the elements seem to communicate with each other creating
an organic and funky tech-house soundscape that is like some sort
of sonic narrative.
Overall the ‘10’ series is
a testament to the quality of the Level records roster and showcases
classic, unreleased and forthcoming material across the spectrum
of deep minimal electronica. Its nigh on impossible to pick one
of these releases over another so do yourself a favour a bag them
all as the whole series works best when spun in order taking the
listener on a real journey into the heart and soul of deep dubby
tech-house. (KS)
For fans of: Mathew Jonson, Audion, Rothko, Cobblestone
Jazz, Jamie Jones, The Green Kingdom, Board of Canada, SND
Click
to buy 10A
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