Articles
The Fun Years
Mlle Caro & Franck Garcia
James Blackshaw
Lullatone

Albums
@c
Antenne
Antripodean Collective
Rudi Arapahoe
Black Gold 360
Brael / Tokyo Bloodworm
Richard Chartier
Jack Dangers
Rae Davis
Depth Affect
Taylor Deupree
Engine7
Emanuele Errante
Force of Nature
Gel-Sol
Glissando
Hardfloor
He Can Jog
Hulk
Adam Hurst
Kenny Larkin
Loco Dice
Mad EP
Maju
Marc + Hillage
Izumi Misawa
Nico Muhly
Toshimaru Nakamura
Organum
Maja S.K. Ratkje
Nicola Ratti
Recue
Renfro
Sawako
Seawalker
Raoul Sinier
Spyweirdos et al.
Svartbag
Tape
John Tejada
Tietchens + Chartier
Transitional

Compilations / Mixes
Ai022LP
Buzzin' Fly 5 Golden Years
Cielo-Cinco
Deconstructive Music
Om: Miami 2008
Sounds of Om Vol. 6
Traum 100
Underscan Now

EPs
Claro Intelecto
Funckarma
Tanaka Hideyuki
Jona
Alton Miller
Move D
saidsound
Sebastian San
Scott vs. Vaz
Philip Sherburne
Vakula

Emanuele Errante: Humus
Somnia

When “Fecunda” inaugurates Humus by looping a sample lifted from Mahler's Symphony no. 5 “Adagietto,” we ready ourselves for an hour-long exercise in Marsen Jules-styled “orchestral-ambient” music. Certainly the treatment by Italian composer Emanuele Errante doesn't lose the elegiac splendor of Mahler's original but one awaits the subsequent material wondering if Errante will continue to plunder existing works. Thankfully the tracks that follow blossom as arrestingly without drawing so noticeably upon the works of others. It's significant that “humus” refers to the dark organic material in soils that's produced by the decomposition of vegetable or animal matter, as Errante's pieces likewise present themselves as fertile entities out of which musical forms elegantly grow.

Many pieces are ambient meditations by design (e.g., the undulating “Lucus” and shuddering “Humi”) whereas others introduce a pronounced rhythmic dimension. Burbling micro-rhythms give “Radio Hopes,” for one, a subtle thrust while bright tones and voice exhalations punctuate the skies above, and jittery piano patterns are calmed by vocal placidity during “Ant's Trail.” As pretty as Humus is, however, it can sometimes feel rather static and would benefit from more propulsion, which also would lend the album greater contrast and heft. “Aquatic,” for instance, is credible enough in its existing form but one longs for the underlying tension held in check throughout to be unleashed so that the cut can turn into the dynamic techno raver it could be; here's the rare case where a club remix would be anything but superfluous.

July 2008