17 August 2005

Various - Small Melodies - Spekk - CD


Look at the artwork. Just take a good look at how crisp, how beautiful and how thoughtful it is. Stylized, minimalist and just plain delightful... much like the label it's released on.

Spekk is run out of Tokyo by Nao Sugimoto, otherwise known as Mondii and a member of Rdl, and is an avenue specifically created for him to explore the otherworldly sounds of contemporary digital minimalism.

Let’s get one thing straight though, ‘Small Melodies’ is a CD that’s considerably more friendly and warm than the previous releases and whilst it doesn’t so much mark a departure in style, it certainly has a more accessible feel than the ultra-minimal works from artists such as William Basinski, Richard Chartier, John Hudak, Boca Raton and Taylor Deupree – with the exception, maybe, of Andrey Kiritchenko’s superb ‘True Delusions’.


It takes a broad look at the micro-genre of melodic, organic Electronic Minimalism and features such a superb track-listing - by artists both known and not so well known - that one feels it's going to be special even before listening to it... and it really is.

The opening track by the Ultra Milkmaids is a suitably grand beginning with its spatial stereo stabs and flexible programming. It leads you along by building on the chord structures to create an almost symphonic, mid-range drone of sound that’s beautifully melodic without losing any of its edge. Slivers of rhythm cut through and whispers of ghostly percussion become clear. It’s a fantastic intro that hints to the listener of the delights that are coming their way.

Sogar and Tomoyoshi Date provide the following two tracks and, although on the surface they share a similar sound, that of a light and airy organic / electronic hybrid, the tracks are distinctly different. Sogar’s is a more hypnotic, looped style with layers of melodic found-sounds melding into one delightful piece. Micro-textures flow in the background with little captured samples providing punctuation to the flowing chords. Tomoyoshi paints a more overtly melodic picture with a playful, melodic sound that’s not a million miles away from some of Plop’s (another Nao Sugimoto-related label) output. Lustrous strings and reversed instruments create a swathe of fairytale sound.

Leave it to Taylor Deupree to show why he’s easily one of the leading lights of the contemporary digital minimalist scene. His contribution ‘For Nicholas’ is a textbook track that uses incredibly detailed sound design and a cleverly reduced style to convey warmth, depth and emotion through isolationism.

Raster Noton and List’s Hervé Boghossian lends himself to organic manipulations and his previous guitar work has been provoking thoughts and enchanting listeners for some time. His track ‘The Latter’ has a more sculptural feel than some of his other material, but it works so well. The closest I can get to describing it is to compare it to the backing noise of a Seefeel record (‘Time to Find Me’ springs immediately to mind). The swell and flow is incredibly fluid and immerses the listener fully. Guitars are still the source of the sound, but here they take on another dimension.

Following this is a trio of, what I would describe as, pure Japanese Electronica. Aen, Naph and Tape all deliver deeply melodic, organically laced tracks that are delicate, fragile, achingly melancholic and feature some wonderful background found-sounds. Regardless of whether they are Japanese artists or not, they’ve truly found a natural home here and their contributions are immaculate and, again, not too far removed from the Plop label.

Long-standing sound artist Oren Ambarchi is completely at home with his track ‘Thirsty Boots’; a low-key, drone based piece of work that has a gentle touch and an oriental feel. The bell-like tones are as soothing as kneeling at a Shinto shrine and as deep as Lake Biwa.

Fenton (aka Dan Abrams, aka Shuttle358) shouldn’t need much introduction and the track he has produced for this album is very pretty indeed. Guitars are the key element and he has a way of plucking the strings that avoids the clichés of Folk and Country and stays considerably deeper and more hypnotic. Gentle manipulation of the background sounds lends it a slightly eerie feel with a high-pitched whine working its way into the listeners head. Ultimately, the track is friendly and easygoing… surely not a bad thing?

With some subtle filtering and construction, Rdl give us ‘Finale’ a hypnotic, soothing track that uses gentle layering to build the track into a morphing, swaying soundtrack. A soundtrack to what? Your imagination will easily conjure up images that sit with this wonderful piece of music. Re-occurring motifs and loops provide points of reference for the listener to hold onto as the track changes over time becoming almost hymn-like and spiritual by the end. Delicious.

Apestaartje’s Anderegg once more proves that he can manipulate organic sounds and create lush noisescapes with the best of them. This bears some resemblance to Boghossian’s track earlier on the CD, but has a slightly lighter air and an insistent high frequency sound that lurks in the background keeping the listener attuned at all times.

Under his Mondii moniker, Nao Sugimoto gives us one of the highlights of the album with the divine ‘Between’ – a shimmering, shining example of how to coax melody out of machines. Forest floors, sunlight through trees, twinkling stars… all of these things spring readily to mind when engaging with this fascinatingly detailed work. It comes across as effortless, though, and the gentle guitar plucking that makes up the sonic backdrop add a touch of humanity to an otherwise other-worldly piece of work. Haunting.

Finally, Stephan Mathieu sees the CD out with a soft and glistening track that’s full of grace, depth and melody, but always seems to hold itself back – never getting over-the-top or too sweet and sickly – leaving the listener wanting more and more.

‘Small Melodies’ is the kind of album that reaffirms ones faith in music and should easily charm enough people to make this a firm favourite of the year and another supremely confident release from Spekk.

Quite simply superb.

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