Article
Spotlight 9

Albums
Cory Allen
Ellen Allien
Barry Altschul
A-Sun Amissa
Matt Baldwin
bvdub
Cass.
Gensu Dean & Planet Asia
Dreissk
Mats Eilertsen Trio
Farthest South
Ben Fleury-Steiner
William Ryan Fritch
Function
Ben Goldberg
Graveyard Tapes
Julia Kent
Annea Lockwood
Madegg
Stephan Mathieu
Moss Garden
Papir
Ian Pooley
Quiet Evenings
Seba
Dirk Serries
Nadia Sirota
Space Dim. Controller
Splashgirl
Mark Templeton
Versalife

Compilations / Mixes
The Aftermath
DJ Sprinkles
Finding Time
Friends Will Carry You
Future Disco Vol. 6

EPs / Cassettes / Singles
Break / Enei
Consequence
Elektro Guzzi
Stefan Goldmann
Hogweed And The Aderyn
Karol XVII & MB Valence
Mise En Place Pt. 2
Reverence
Warszawa
Whodat

Cass.: Loops & Farewell Sketches
Cass.

As an electronic music genre, dark ambient is widely available, whereas its diametric counterpart seems to be less common, perhaps because darkness tends to be associated with deeper existential matters and prettiness is thereby devalued as shallow by comparison. That's a shame because an album such as Loops & Farewell Sketches, the debut collection by Niklas Rehme-Schlüter under the Cass. name, is certainly pretty, but it's also worthy of one's attention. The young Germany-based producer has fashioned an eight-track debut full-length (100 copies) that while short by CD standards at thirty-four minutes proves nonetheless to be a rewarding listen.

There's a peacefulness and stillness to the album that evokes the wintry quietude of a remote cabin surrounded by snow-covered fields and trees (the cover painting, which was inspired by the landscape of Sammaljoki, Finland, also suggests as much). Unfolding in meditative swirls, the music was assembled from vinyl samples, field recordings, synths, acoustic instruments, and Rehme-Schlüter's voice. The opening pieces “Aiiy” and “Rustling and Pure” augment pretty loops and twinkling sounds with soft wordless vocalizing (the latter track even includes an energized beat pattern—a rarity on the album). Adding to the music's organic qualities, bird sounds appear within “Falmer Sea Piano I” alongside the peaceful pitter-patter of the electric piano and found sound noises, the latter of which suggest that Rehme-Schlüter's been aborbing Ezekiel Honig's music (the closing “Ethan Veerbek” invites a similar comparison).

Though Loops & Farewell Sketches is no game-changer, one presumes that that wasn't what Rehme-Schlüter had in mind. Instead, one imagines he set out to produce an appealing collection of softly shimmering ambient material, and on such grounds the goal has been met. There's a relaxed and peaceful vibe about the album's sonic tinting and blue-grey tonality that also enhances its appeal.

March 2013