Articles
Rafael Anton Irisarri
Slow Six

Albums
Another Electronic Musician
Balmorhea
Celer
City of Satellites
Cylon
Deadbeat
Kyle Bobby Dunn
Eluvium
Ent
Ido Govrin
Danny Paul Grody
Chihei Hatakeyama
Wyndel Hunt
The Internal Tulips
Keepsakes
The Knife
Kshatriy
Lali Puna
Francisco López
Mask
Melodium
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Myrmyr
Nos Phillipé
Ontayso
Outputmessage
Pleq
The Q4
Schuster
Shinkei + mise_en_scene
The Sight Below
Sphere Rex
subtractiveLAD
Bjørn Svin
Tamagawa
Ten and Tracer
Trills
Trouble Books
Yellow Swans

Compilations / Mixes
An Taobh Tuathail Vol. III
Does Your Cat Know My...
Emerging Organisms 3
Moment Sound Vol. 1

EPs
Brim Liski
Ceremony
Eric Chenaux
Abe Duque
Hieroglyphic Being
Rafael Anton Irisarri
Manaboo
Monolake
Mr Cooper & Dday One
Pleq & Seque
Nigel Samways
Santos and Woodward
Simon Scott
Soundpool
Stimming, Watt & Biel
Stray Ghost
Ten and Tracer
Stuchka Vkarmanye

VA: Emerging Organisms 3
Tympanik Audio

As per usual, there's no shortage of apocalyptic, end-of-the-world material on Tympanik Audio's third Emerging Organisms round-up, the kind of stuff that could legitimately play as a soundtrack to the Final Days; and also as usual, the contributors largely come from the darkest corners of the dark electronic music spectrum, with affiliated artists from Hymen, Ad Noiseam, Ant-Zen, Spectral Liquid, and the like taking part. Those with an appetite for viral hell-raising may wish to proceed directly to pieces by Access To Arasaka (“Kill Recorder”), Klangstabil (Subheim's remix of “Beziehungsohr”), Candle Nine (“Penumbra”), Lucidstatic (an Access To Arasaka remix of “Coal Cage”), Displacer (“Sun_Phase (Nightfall mix)”), Fractional (“Blood”), and Keef Baker (“Trion”).

With “Seven Endings (Departure),” Ant-Zen's S:cage breaks free of the dark electronic straitjacket by an artful sound design that reflects a better-than-average level of sophistication and imagination. On disc two, Undermathic accomplishes much the same with “Bodhi,” a meticulously sculpted set-piece of percussive richness and string atmospheres, as do Skytree and OTX with their respective tracks, the restrained “Stomata Spirit” and “Anna.” Also standing out from the wreckage are Exhale's more orchestral take on the genre (“Clear Green”), SE's gloomscaping (“Chrono”), and Metaform's synth-encrusted stepper “OCD.”

Tympanik Audio's got a few other surprises up its coal black sleeve too. One-time Funkstorung member Michael Fakesch appears, though why “Rand VA,” a track from his 1999 Marion release, is included rather than something more recent is a tad mystifying. Regardless, the drum programming is a marvel to behold, and the track sounds good even if it's a blast from the past. It's nice to see Terminal Sound System included, too, as the Extreme artist's work—as “We Eat the Sun,” which alternates between fleet-footed locomotion and crushing heaviosity, illustrates—is definitely worth hearing.

Like its predecessors, Emerging Organisms 3 is not for the weak of heart, but the label presumably wouldn't have it any other way. And during its 150 minutes, there's certainly more than enough bass throb, brooding strings, and electronic beats that hammer, pound, squiggle, screech, and skitter on hand to keep genre devotees well-sated for at least a month or two.

March 2010