We Deserve This – Fusion

We Deserve This is a one man project formed in the year 2010 by JanDirk Platek. He was born in 1976 in Germany and he is a multi-instrumentalist who plays all the instruments on the record. We are used to hear edgy post-rock / post metal tunes from him. In the past Jan created beautiful but heavy instrumentals with guitars, drums and bass. While recording Fusion, he didn’t touch the guitars. In this album Jan creates symphonic music with the piano as the most important element.

Inspired by Hammock, Ludovico Einaudi and HeklAa he composed six melancholic and sad songs with beautiful textures and slow beats. We Deserve This new album “Fusion” is an ambient/postclassical journey with wonderful harmonies and warm melodies. This album is kind of overwhelming with all the string arrangements and melodies. You can't even say that this is a post-rock record. The "rock" element with real drums and massive guitar walls is no longer important.

We Deserve This has reached a new level in songwriting and you won't regret a single second listening to it. This record is a very melancholic piece of music. "Fusion" is the perfect album for our modern, hectic style of living. Don't hurry just close your eyes and dive into the sound. It's more Ambient than Rock and it makes you forget your bad day. Try it, you won't regret it.

Gate – Sekai

Gate is an experiment in improvised music by Lajos Ishibashi-Brons, a Dutch philosopher and musician living in Japan. The name of the project, ‘Gate’, summarizes its intended nature: a gate is in between, in between inside and outside, between here and there, between now and then; and a gate is a passageway, both an entrance and an exit, and a point where paths cross. The symbol |˟˟| is a simplification of the ‘broken gate radical’ 鬥, which (on its own) is a Chinese character meaning ‘struggle’, representing another core theme of the project: dissonance, discomfort, distress.

We have asked Lajos his thoughts about his new album on Fluttery Records:

"Bury your romantic proclivities for harmony, for order, for purpose. All of that is illusion, paint. Look at the world, listen. There is beauty in discord, dissonance, disorder, destruction, decay, corruption, contrast, arbitrariness. Life is discord, life is destruction, randomness, change. Look at the world, look at the power- lines, open-pit mines, rivers and lakes, factories and power plants, mountains and roads, buildings and forests, trash dumps and oceans. Look at them clash, interpenetrate, infest, defile. Look at the transformation of landscapes. Look at the haphazard collections of streets and buildings, and at the people living in them. Look at the dirt, the mess, the disharmony. Just look: it’s beautiful. And listen. Open your eyes and ears. Listen to the sounds of the world, to the crashing, grinding, and banging. Embrace the dissonance, the discomfort, the randomness. Those are our sounds, our world. Listen. And travel in sound."

The new album by Gate, “Sekai” (世界, ‘world’), is a mix of four layers of solo improvisation on multiple instruments, one of those layers being a mix itself. The four layers resulted from four recording sessions. The first and longest of these was focused on creating loops, drones, and background noise. Selected material from this session was arranged on the four audio tracks that together form layer 1. Layers 2 to 4 were added one after the other by means of improvisation while listening to the previously recorded layers. These sessions were exactly as long as the finished recording (i.e. 69 minutes and 2 seconds), and no edits or changes to the session recordings were made other than volume adjustments (and a bit of reverb in case of layers 2 and 3). For layers 2 and 3, only acoustic instruments were used (and thus no effects or other electronics). Session 4 made use of electric instruments and a number of effects.

Instruments used include Bassanxi, a four-string instrument (tuned like a bass) combining design elements from both the guzheng (古箏) and huqin (胡琴) families of instruments; Chaĭlaazkhuur, a tea can with a neck, fingerboard, and one string; Hichiriki (篳篥), a traditional Japanese double reed instrument used mainly in Gagaku (雅楽), Japanese classical music; Sousen, an electric string instrument used for sound effects and noises; and Zarazara, a small box with short pieces of bass B-string attached on one end for creating crackling and other noises. Except Hichiriki, all of these instruments were designed and built especially for this project.
“Sekai” comes in two editions. The Original (White) Edition is the original 69 minutes, four-layered session, as it was created and as it was and is intended to be heard. The Black Edition is a remix, cutting up the original in 5 parts each between 12 and 17 minutes. The Black Edition is only available as a download.

Gate – Iterations

|˟˟| (pronounced 'gate') is a Dutch-Japanese free music / noise project based in Tokyo, Japan. The project was started by Lajos in June 2009 as an experiment in solo improvisation on multiple instruments simultaneously, some of which were built (or adapted) especially for this project. In November 2009, Taka joined the project.

'Iterations' is the first release by |˟˟| as a duo. Here is what they say about their new album:

"Freedom is an illusion. Spinoza pointed out that those who think that they are acting freely are usually just ‘carried away by impulse’. In practice, ‘freedom’ often means nothing but ignorance of the causes of one’s actions and desires, and ‘free choice’ is the unrestrained surrender to unconscious impulse. ‘Free improvisation’ is only ‘free’ in that rather limited sense. Music flows, and as soon as an improvising musician steps into the current, there is no (or little) time to consciously decide upon the next note or sound; rather, the musician allows him/herself to be ‘carried away by impulse’.

There is, however, a choice to start or end, or to step in or out of a current, to try to bend it into different directions, or to disrupt it. And by exploring one’s motivations and influences (the aforementioned causes of one’s actions and desires) and becoming aware of those, such choices can (to some extent) escape the grasp of unconscious impulse and be free. The ‘freedom’ of ‘free music’ (rather than just ‘free improvisation’) then, does not lie in the lack of written scores or predetermined musical constructions, but in the consciousness born from (self-) exploration, and the choice of currents and directions based thereupon. ‘Free music’ is the conscious manipulation of uncovered impulse.

‘Free music’ is the means of expression, but not the purpose, of the project |˟˟| (‘gate’). Our music is the result of an exploration of and response to our influences and motivations. Some of these are musical (or aural at least) -- jazz, noise (urban, natural, musical), drone doom, Japanese traditional music, and various other sounds and genres are all reflected in our music -- but perhaps even more important is the exploration of non-musical influences – life in modern society, discomfort and alienation, and the limits of freedom itself.
Human freedom is as illusory as the freedom of the improvising musician, but while ‘free music’ offers an opportunity to escape the grasp of impulse through exploration and conscious manipulation of impulse, the exploration of the causes of one’s actions and desires and the attempt to freely choose direction based on that exploration can only lead to the realization that there is little similar opportunity for freedom in human existence. Human freedom is an illusion, and paradoxically, the discomfort born from that realization is what we (‘freely’) choose to express in our (‘free’) music."

REVIEWS

Whisperinandhollerin / Martin Raybould RATING: 8/10

If you are searching for an easy listening experience, look away now.

Gate is based in Tokyo and started out as a solo vehicle of Lajos Ishibashi-Brons (Lajos). He conceived the project as an experiment in improvisation on multiple instruments, many of which he built himself.

These are often played simultaneously and distorted using loops or delay pedals.

The home made instruments include a sousen, an electric four string instrument used to create drones, and an electric morin khuur, an adaptation of a Mongolian stringed instrument played with a bow. Lajos also plays electric and bass guitar.

After three solo excursions, he has now teamed up with a Dutchman with the very Japanese sounding name of Takahito Hayashi (Taka). The result is Iterations; Gate's fourth release but the first as a duo.

Taka plays soprano sax, flute, ryuuteki (dragon flute), recorders, whistles, and didgeridoo; a relatively normal range of instruments compared to Lajos but by no means played in a conventional manner.

All the music is the product of free improvisation without scores or predetermined ideas and recorded in single takes with no overdubs. In a mission statement improvisation is praised in the following terms: "by exploring one's motivations and influences and becoming aware of those, such choices can (to some extent) escape the grasp of unconscious impulse and be free".

They get deeper into philosophical matters by quoting Spinoza's assertion that those who think that they are acting freely are usually just 'carried away by impulse' and expressing the belief that "human freedom is as illusory as the freedom of the improvising musician".

All this places Lajos and Taka squarely in a Catch 22 situation of striving for freedom of expression cognitive of the fact that freedom itself is a delusion.

You will get the point that this is not music conceived as lightweight entertainment.

This is also evident from the track titles which are identified by numbers and letters (70e, 55e, 72e, 56e, 66 x1, 66 x 2 and 66 x 3) rather than anything so bourgeois as names. Even the is duo's name is actually written as a symbol but is also pronounced and written as Gate.

After reading the philosophy and working methods of 'Gate' and learning that their influences include free jazz, noise, drone, doom and Japanese traditional music, the expectation is that the music itself will be a wild , unhinged cacophony of atonal abandon.

Surprisingly, Iterations is a relatively subdued affair. The long droning tracks evolve slowly, punctuated by saxophone honks and squawks or by eery sound effects. The latter are often akin to flapping of wings or someone searching desperately in a drawer full of metallic objects.

This makes for an undeniably strange and enigmatic album. There are no beats to tap along to or tunes to hum, but if you can live with its abstract concepts the effect is oddly calming.

Draff Krimmy – Poetry Of Vår

1 - NATURE
2 - Tror ikke på ny revolusjon, but that doesn`t explain why you came all the way out here, all the way out here to hell
3 - Vennligst ikke parker foran porten, we are listening to a lullaby
4 - Otradnoje
5 - Hører du stillhetens klang, it`s the poetry, the poetry of war
6 - Et øyeblikk av salighet, burried at the bottom of the sea
7 - Det regner en slik regn som cleans the air
8 - Min engel
9- Matchball!
10 - Ser du, det blir mørkere and the frost makes a flower
11- Farvel vår, winter is coming

Poetry of Vår is a result of a collaboration between musicians living in 8 different countries, which included Halvard Vebjörnsson (Germany), Morfar (Norway), Rim and Kidedo (France), Void`s Anatomy (Canada), Bosques De Mi Mente (Spain), Hasta Luego Pilar (Denmark), Dylan Waller (USA) and Gargle (Japan).

The album is an experimental piece of music with a cinematic atmosphere. Standing somewhere between post-rock / ambient, listeners of Set Fire to Flames, Eluvium, Godspeed You Black Emperor and Mùm may find new tastes in the album when they meet Draff Krimmy’s ambience floating with guitars, accordion and drones.

Pascal Payant (filmmaker):
“There’s a place between time and melody. This fracture of reality blended with originality. A moment where you are left alone. Thinking of a sound, a mood, an atmosphere. This place in time is called Draff Krimmy. Alone in the bliss of dark with a glance of joy in your face. Welcome to a real ambience melody.”

Thomas Andre (musician)
“Early morning, wintertime. An eerie light brushes away the last shreds of the night. The day to come awaits, numb. It’s that time when everything seems to melt and merge, thoughts, dreams and languages alike. Draff Krimmy’s music is playing. It is mysterious and uncanny. It is this early morning melting of the senses. Echoes of instruments you recognize and the swoosh of others unknown, melodies entwined, evocative, reaching out and meeting on neutral ground. Draff Krimmy is the peaceful coming together of peoples in the Northern lights, speaking in many languages and communicating. It is the poetry of vår.”

Taner Torun (musician / producer)
“I had the same feeling when I listen to my favorite bands like Godspeed You Black Emperor and Low. Poetry of Vår is an epic listening experience to fall, rise and get lost in it.”

Martial Despre (musician)

“Listening to Draff Krimmy’s music means to accept a journey through beauty, melancholy, happiness and poetry. Through the grace of a personal vision of music which contains all the troubles and the beauties of our world. Poetry of vår is not just a musical trip, it’s more than that, it means accepting to face the beauty of musical poetry.”

”Poetry of vår burde fåes på resept!” (Poetry of vår should be available on prescription!)

REVIEWS

Caleidoscoop review by Jan Willem Broek

Draff Krimmy is the kind of project top which the label ‘band’ really does not fit well. It is much more a project in which different musicians from 8 different countries communicate with each other through music – langua...ge as music and the other way around. The musicians and/or bands that started exchanging material are Halvard Vebjörnsson (Germany), Morfar or Morten of Youth Pictures Of Florence Henderson (Norway), Rim and Kidedo (France), Void`s Anatomy (Canada), Bosques De Mi Mente (Spain), Hasta Luego Pilar (Danmark), Dylan Waller (VS), and Gargle (Japan); while the hard core of Draff Krimmy is the in Norway living German Jan, Maciek (Germany) and Mareno (Norway). The participants do not always know what instruments the others use; it is more like a natural process in which ideas and elaborations are shared and extended like in a real conversation and discussion through music. Nevertheless, a reasonably consistent and harmonious whole, covered by a mysterious veil resulted from this. Dreamlike soundscapes, made up of scraps of glitch, post-rock, electronics, experimental music, folk, lo-fi and ambient. It really is more like atmosphere than like regular music and that makes this project such extraordinarily fascinating. Electronic sounds, guitars, piano, whispered male and female vocals, accordion, field recordings, creaky sounds, samples, and lots more pass by in a serene, sometimes ghostly fashion. Rustic, but with a spooky feeling; something like that. The song titles have also become linguistic hybrids, further covering the project with a mysterious mist. The young quality label Fluttery has shown with this that they stand for innovation and guts, like they have proven with many other releases. The music by Draff Krimmy is an enjoyable middle between 2 By Bukowski, The Third Eye Foundation, Human Greed, Hood, Piano Magic, Múm, Set Fire To Flames and the related Godspeed You! Black Emperor. The poetry of this band is in all pores. Beautiful listening experience!

Zeugulator / Music will Save Us All

Eight musicians comes together to create Poetry Of Var, eight artists from eight different countries. I could say that would be at least one from Iceland, but it isn't. The sound of Draff Krimmy reminds the bands from the magical island. It's the partnership ambient and experimental, film atmosphere, spooky noises, frightening breaths, electronic props and somewhere between scattered vocals. A pack of melancholic compositions that create a special package (of music) poetry on overflowing emotions. The Poetry Of Vår is released by Fluttery Records.

InForty rewiew by Matt Bone

A collaborative project between musicians from eight different countries, it’s unsurprising that Poetry Of Vår is a very eclectic affair. The record sweeps through post rock, ambience, experimental noise, and regions more unclassifiable without much concern of coherence, whilst throwing in such things as storm samples, the whirring of a washing machine, and, weirdly enough, commentary of a tennis match. With its contrasting of the worldly and otherworldly it holds similarities to The Knife’s Tomorrow, In a Year, and is more an experiment in sonic textures than an album – though it does possess moments of conventional beauty (see the latter half of “Min Engel”).

Tamed Animals – Redefinition

This is a digital only release.

Redefinition is Tamed Animal’s broken hearted debut. It’s a twelve song album where his electronic driven music is backed by modal acoustic guitar chords, strip melodies and wet pianos. While his voice sounds fragile and his melodies mournful, the voids are filled with atmospheres and claustrophobic computer clicks muttering with the heartbreak amid waves of electronic keyboards. Barnett plays all the instruments, sings, creates all the beats and sounds engineered. He says “Many elements come into the music, I have many influences. I think that the most accurate description for my style of music is "Folktronica" or "Laptop Folk.”

REVIEWS

Whisperinandhollerin

Glitchy, shuffling drums, decayed around the edges with by the fuzz of distortion, drive 'Pleroma,' the opening track on Tamed Animals' 'Redefinition.' The lyrics are few, and delivered in long, mournful tones that suggest a hint of Thom Yorke.

It's easy to appreciate what Dan Barnett - the man behind Tamed Animals - is driving at when he describes his sound as 'laptop folk' on tracks like 'Solace,' on which a fragile picked acoustic guitar is underpinned with flickering glitchtronica percussion and the occasional burst of sweeping ambient synth. These seemingly incongruous elements work surprisingly well, the introspective nature of more conventional folk contrasting with broad vistas, Barnett setting his eyes on the vast horizon and realising there's a huge world out there, and he exists as a mere speck in the grand cosmic scheme. It's simultaneously scary and elating.

Contrasts and juxtapositions provide the all-important dynamic tension that holds 'Redefinition' together: there's a smoothness to the overall production, much of which is derived from the digital synths that swirl through many of the tracks, but then there are moments of jolting percussion that run contra to the time signature to disorientating effect, as on 'Seahloh.' 'From the West' begins quietly, brittle and fragile, before exploding into a truly immense post-rock crescendo. Elsewhere, 'Volenska' can perhaps be best described as shoegaze trip-hop: slow, deliberate and darkly atmospheric, with Barnett's soaring vocals conveying a sense of anguish while the lyrics remain indecipherable. While at times this unintelligibility is slightly frustrating, generally speaking, it matters not: the vocals act as another instrument, providing another layer to the many layers that drift like mist, ephemeral, sometimes barely there, to create a whole that is often both majestic and beautiful.

Denver Westword / Tom Murphy

"Pleroma" sounds like a collage take on IDM, post-rock and dream pop, like if Geogaddi-era Boards of Canada blended together bits of sound ideas from Sigur Rós and Radiohead. On Redefinition, Dan Barnett has crafted a melancholy yet expansive set of music that suggests night travel by air over an urban landscape lit only by the moon. Organic and electronic sounds weave together seamlessly in stark harmony for an effect that would fit perfectly in a movie about the Aztecs first stumbling upon the sprawling ruins of Teotihuacán and being awestruck at its mysterious grandeur. "Volenska" conjures imagery from Andrei Tarkovsky's Stalker, while "Shadows Recede" casts off the album's mood of alienation but loses none of its sense of wonder.

Music For No Movies – Violent Zen

Music For No Movies is Federico Fantuz's electro-acoustic / ambient tunes. With his guitar strings and ambient pads he creates a warm cinematic atmosphere. Violent Zen is his 11 piece debut. As the Italian journalist Aurelio Pasini (Il Mucchio Slevaggio, Radio Città del Capo) points out “Not only does Music For No Movies turn the very idea of soundtrack inside-out - it also succeeds in creating experimental yet intriguing and deeply fascinating soundscapes. Very well done indeed.”

Here is what he says about his music:

“My name is Federico Fantuz (Bologna - Italy) and I am a guitar player, or better a musician. Or at least this is what I aim to be. I started playing guitar when I was 12, and carried out scattered studies under the influence of a wide range of music styles. I started on my own and only later on I took a few lessons both for electric and acoustic and classic guitar.

But the most precious sources for my musical growth and development have been the encounters with my fellow musicians. I've always shared my knowledge with them, but most of all I've learnt and tried to learn those vital elements that are never taught in schools: the importance of jamming, of confronting with different instruments, the search of a personal sound that goes beyond the techniques, finding the personal space within an arrangement, listening ceaselessly to the “music continuum” and one’s own personal “voice” within the “chorus”, and last but not least learning from all the mistakes, and in fact use them to create new modes and worlds. For all this and more I thank:

Beatrice Antolini and her band (among which Luca Nicolasi, who helped me thoroughly in my soloist project), Vittorio Carniglia and Nave Cargo Parampampoli, Nicola Barilli and CuldeSac, Sergio Altamura, Antonio Stragapede, Luca Bernard, Tim-Trevor Briscoe, E.L. Quartet, Edgar Cafè, Shiva Bakta, Marcello Petruzzi (33ore), Simone e Luca Cavina, Tubax, Pino Basile and Sergio LaViola, La Fionda Teatro and Jorge Bosso, Loungedelic and Pippo de Palma, Mattia Boschi, Alberto Fiori, Carolina Pintos and Paolo Poggio, Tristan Honsinger, Niccolò D'Ambrosio and Laura Caressa, Mariposa and all the musicians that I have met, even for a short span of time, on my way.

My music path does not have stages, but just passages; it has never followed one single direction, but on the contrary it has met different genres without concentrating on a particular one.I've always tried to mix and match everything that my intuition and experience suggested me on the spot without following any rules .

And after wandering through never ending and spontaneous jam sessions and bands with different music backgrounds, finally I've got here, in this room, from where I am writing now. And right here I composed Music for No Movies. Alone, but with many voices inside.”

Federico Fantuz

REVIEWS

Rolling Stone / Paolo Agnoletto

Music for No Movies is a new project by Federico Fantuz, a very talented guitarist that has put together a group of beautiful instrumental songs in search of the right motherhood movie: the aim of the author is in fact to find for each theme a film in which it can fit and hopefully be used. This interesting collection of tunes, inspired by artists such as Brian Eno (in particular “Original Soundtracks 1”, written with U2 under the name Passengers) and Vangelis, international masters when it comes to writing soundtracks and atmospheric songs, is enhanced with a personal and gentle touch that makes this album a genuine and fascinating listen.

"Waterquake" is an exhilarating and haunting track suitable for a great dramatic picture whereas the opener "Air Games" operates in the area of a crepuscular and gently melancholy. Other outstanding songs are the irresistible "Earth Job", adorned with unconventional sounds like chair creaks and coins falls, perfect for a mystery picture, "Wind Wash", particularly fitting for a positive final sequence in a sad drama that ends full of hope, and "Fire and Sky", that only asks to be used in an historical movie, maybe in the Spain of the eighteenth century. The intriguing and obsessive "Arvo Moon" is instead suitable for a sequence in which is described the passage of time: in general the instruments' assemblage is excellent and the arrangement very smooth in order to create a music in which you can pleasantly lose yourself.

To summarize, "Music For No Movies" is an interesting and intriguing piece of work that deserves to be listened to and appreciated: this soft music requires an attentive and aware audience that has to be keen on being cradled by these evocative and imaginative tunes and, hopefully, a film, a sequence, an history in which it can function as soundtrack.

The Silent Ballet / Matt Gilley

An atmospheric, creeping pizzicato. Shadowy eastern melodies. A thin mist of electronics rises from the damp ground, curling around the trees. A snap betrays movement close by. A dog stands and sniffs curiously through the rain. The protagonist warms his hands by the fire. An ominous rumbling shivers through the ground. This is a slow-moving ‘no movie’, unfurling through subtle changes of tone and the hints of track titles. If not for some strange contradictions, Violent Zen's cinematic tale would have been completely exquisite. While most of the titles evoke nature, "Space Trees" suggests sci-fi, and contains an intrusive vocoder. "Stupid American Elephant Drunk Joy Joke" is as comedic as its name. Although these two tracks amount to only a few minutes of running time, they disrupt the narrative. There is also very little evidence of the violent part of Violent Zen. Nevertheless the album is descriptive and accomplished. Next time around Music for No Movies may well become the sound-painters they aspire to be.

Indie Eye / Michele Faggi

Violent Zen is the first full length with the name Music For no Movies, a project by Federico Fantuz, a Bolognese guitarist known for his long artistic co-operation with Beatrice Antolini and a large number of other musicians such as Vittorio Carniglia and Nave Cargo Parampampoli, Nicola Barilli and CuldeSac, Sergio Altamura, E.L. Quartet, Shiva Bakta, Loungedelic and Pippo De Palma, Mariposa, Edgar Cafè, just to name a few. The cd includes 11 instrumental tracks generated, in a way, from a certain landscape intuition that Federico describes with an image of the absence. “Music for dead moments, dead tempos”, acoustic illusions in search of an optical effect. A path that has a lot of the traits of the acousmatic search, at least in that double movement capable to immediately generate sounds disconnected from a phenomenological environment and in fact, both from an inductive and deductive process, able to produce imaginary spaces, mirages, real Doppelgänger. This process is very close to the idea of immaginary soundtracks that we have been loving for a while and that for several reasons encounters part of Bruno Dorella’s music. The structure of Earth Job, the introductory track, brings together all these elements with a time rhythm that seems to be taken from Danny Elfman’s imaginary chronometry, plunged in an amplified phenomenal context.Together with the music of another big illusions weaver, Alessandro Stefana (reviewed here and here on Indie-eye.it), that of Federico Fantuz owns a very rare sensibility, capable to describe a sensorial space that has no function, a place with no hypertrophic images or encyclopedic simulacra and for this a possible visionary.

EtherReal / Fabrice Allard

We follow here the discovery of the label Fluttery Records, generally very anchored in the kind of post-rock. We browse their catalog diagonally, and when a record seems to stand out, we decide to talk about it here. This is the case for Music for no Movies, a solo project by the Italian Federico Fantuz, who signes here his first remarkable album.

The disk begins with Earth Job, which reminds us of something...sounds played backwards, a fractured style, we are not far from the awesome madness of a Leafcutter John. A music which gives the impression of chaos while sliding along melodies both simple and powerful. The instrumentation is not very clear, this first title swarming with various sounds, both acoustic and electronic, while « Air Games » demonstrates simplicity with sounds of acoustic guitar accompanied by layers and crystalline sliding.

Diamond Gloss – Bears

Bears is the debut album of Gonçalo Pereira, under the alias Diamond Gloss. His sound and melodies incorporate elements of modern classical, electronica, idm, ambient, and post-rock music with live instrumentation.

Pianos, micro-beats, effects-treated guitars, music-boxes, lo-fi strings arrangements and other acoustic instruments such as glockenspiels are the vehicles that shape this carefully produced and layered, non-linear quest. His influences travels among modern composers such as Arvo Pärt and Henryk Górecki, the ambient experiments of Brian Eno or his peers Autechre, Hammock, Sigur Rós, Helios and Múm.

Bears takes us on a journey through landscapes and environments that oscillate between contemplative, tender sometimes mournful symphonic melodies and gleeful, joyful and explosive moments.

REVIEWS

Central Michigan Life - Jay Garry

Diamond Gloss’s debut album “Bears” is a fresh take on the usual dark, droning styles of post-rock and ambient IDM. His solo work features many of the set piece calls of a post-rock/ambient IDM album with its slow, passionate piano work, droning background sweeps and glitchy electronics, making for an album that easily showcases its influence from acts like Helios, Secede, Sigur Rós and Múm.

From that basic starting point however Diamond Gloss adds these very happy and high pitched instruments like music boxes and glockenspiels. The inclusion and use of these instruments take the usually serious emotional tone of post-rock and inverts it into an almost innocent and nostalgic, emotional style.

It’s hard to describe through words alone how this transition is accomplished but this sound is strong and striking when experienced. Songs like “Walnut and Trees Tables” invoke the thought of taking a nap in a kindergarten music room as an autumn evening breeze chills the air outside; it’s peaceful, serene, and calming.

Slave State - Michael Porali

It was a suprise for me to discover a new record label (Fluttery) starting in 2011 with a debut "Bears" by the Goncalo Pereira, the man behind the Portuguese post rock / drone project Diamond Gloss. And what a gateway for me! Bears is a journey into a dream world you are allowed to visit- at least, with musical help - with repetitive chunks of dark drones, unique mixes by Pereira, mediocre noise music with backwards samples which are far beyond being ordinary with the nice Glockenspiels. All in all, "Bears" about everything I need for the next few months. But are you able to sit still with wide open minds for a good hour? I dare to promise to "Bears" will reward you richly!

Caleidoscoop / Jan Willem Broek

Neoclassical, ambient, idm and glitch are also woven into his intimate post-rock patchwork. Namely, aside from the electronic sounds, glitches, and symphonic harmonies, one can also hear several sometimes electronically transformed acoustic instruments or fragments thereof, from mouth-organ to typewriter, guitar, and bowed string instruments. This is further colored by means of desolate piano pieces. The music is very modest and sad, which in all likelihood is related to the fact that he dedicated it to his late wife. The serene and restful music pleasantly enters the subconscious, like a daydream, lovingly covering the nightmare hiding beneath.

The Silent Ballet / Richard Allen

As the album winds down - quietly, like a bedtime story - the listener is left with the feeling that the artist may be well acquainted with the shadows, but prefers to live in the light. The album's last natural sound is that of a person splashing in a puddle, one of the most joyous and least self-conscious of all human acts. This sound provides the impression of bright umbrellas and matching plastic boots, a break in the clouds, a sudden spring after a wearying winter.

EtherREAL / Fabrice Allard

After each element in its right place, the rest seems clear. Melodies are amplified and are growing, some arrangements appear as ethereal scapes, melodic loops and rhythmic elements, a kind of maracas on Canadians or some wonderful dry snaps and cracks on Walnut And Trees Tables. Bit-by-bit, the sound thin down, all the elements are mixed together as an abstract ambient, a dream refined by cracking and bright tinkling (Argyle Square) or a melody of piano (Filter Fat Corner).

Gate – No Exit

Gate, also written as |˟˟| creates a wild environment in his debut on Fluttery Records. 'No Exit' is a path to discover his music which stands somewhere between noise and jazz, but which is also influenced by drone, industrial and Mongolian traditional music. In this Tokyo based project everything is product of solo improvisation without any overdubbing; it is completely free music without plans, themes, or melodies; and the music on the CD is - except for some fade-in or out - exactly the same as when it was first created. 'No Exit' is an expression of discomfort, restlessness and oppression. Lajos Ishibashi-Brons (the person behind the |˟˟| project / pronounced as 'gate') says “Modern society expects - even demands - people to be happy. Vast numbers of people walk around with a forced and fake smile, pretending to be what society wants them to be, until they break down. Such fake happiness and its commercial products, such as most pop music, is depressing and nauseating more than comforting. Perhaps my music is a response to and expression of the discomfort caused by this euphoritotalitarianism.”

REVIEWS

Abolute Zero Magazine

Ah Jap Noise its always an adventure no matter who creates it Merzbow, Masonna, Melt Banana and Incapacitants etc. Gate is just the same where they try to add a bit of freeform jazz elements into there nutty collection of tones, rumbles, blips, feedbacks other forms of various broken and rewired pedals and odd laptop effects. No Exit will drive most to the point of ultimate madness but to the fans of this style myself loving this . I would say if the brilliant Jap noise label of SSSM was still around this would be a highlight to its roster. So I'm glad a newer label like Fluttery Records is keeping this style out there to the masses even if there are just a few thousand of us out there. I look forward to many more challenging releases from Fluttery and Gate...

Devil Has The Best Tuna

Gate, also written as |˟˟| (if it was good enough for Prince it's good enough for Lajos Ishibashi-Brons The person behind |˟˟|) creates a improvised masterpiece on his debut on Fluttery Records. 'No Exit' is pitched somewhere between noise and jazz, between drone and industrial with a dose of Mongolian traditional music thrown in for good measure. This Tokyo based project is as close to pure music as you can get.

In Forty

Seven minutes of deafening, near-formless noise opens No Exit. Two minutes of something akin to electronic whale song follows. Track six sounds like some megalithic spacecraft grinding slowly past your window. The improvisational project of Lajos Ishibashi-Brons is certainly not easy – this is an hour of droning, freeform, unsettling noise; anti-music that you might admire, detest, or both.

Connexion Bizarre

The album is a very diverse one. Lajos starts it off with dirty drones and a primitive melody scratching itself out in "28 ss rd". He brings in strings on "38 ss mk" with what I guess is the morin khuur being bowed, the piece later develops into a delightful grating loop which keeps time with an ominous drum beat. "13 ss rd gt" is a complete surprise as it bursts onto your speakers with vigorous pounding rhythmic noise. This is followed by "44x ss rd bs", an introspective piece dominated by echoing plucked strings. Again on a completely different vibe "29 ss rd gt" is a noise ambient piece with claustrophobic engine room sounds and haunting drones.

News

Edo Ghost: “Yurei”

This month we release from the artists we have signed to our label lately, Edo Ghost is one of them. As soon as he has his first first single get recorded, we made it ready for the release thinking that it will be a good introduction to our label fan base. Edo Ghost is a […]

News
release

Max Lilja release Morphosis

Last year we started the talks with Max Lilja about his upcoming album. Now, it is such a nice feeling to have such a gifted artist in your artist roster. Lilja, known as one of the most versatile and adventurous cellist of all times, is a Finnish cellist and composer. Max Lilja is also co-founder […]

Tag: experimental music

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Music For No Movies – Violent Zen

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Music For No Movies - Violent Zen

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Diamond Gloss – Bears

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Diamond Gloss - Bears

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Gate – No Exit

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Gate - No Exit

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Edo Ghost: “Yurei”

Max Lilja release Morphosis