Articles
2011 Top 10s and 20s
Spotlight 4

Albums
Akhet
Cory Allen
Alva Noto
Aun
Bass Communion
Alexander Berne
Birds Passage / Rosado
The Black Dog
BNJMN
Ursula Bogner
Cokiyu
Steve Coleman
Cubenx
Mats Eilertsen
Elektro Guzzi
eleventhfloorrecords
Ben Fleury-Steiner
Golden Gardens
Goldmund
Thom Gossage
Steve Hauschildt
Helvacioglu & Pancaroglu
Illuha
Larkian & Yellow6
Clem Leek
Mamerico
Milyoo
Hedvig Mollestad Trio
Nao
Yann Novak
Sasajima & Hirao
Scissors And Sellotape
Ryan Scott
Till von Sein
Shaula
The Silent Section
Scott Solter
Spheruleus
Talkingmakesnosense
thisquietarmy
Anna Thorvaldsdottir
tINI
Tycho

Newly Issued
The Beach Boys

Compilations / Mixes
Deetron
Mike Huckaby
Radio Slave
Rebel Rave 2: Droog

EPs
Thavius Beck
Niccolò Bianchi
Falko Brocksieper
Alex Cobb & Aquarelle
Deru
Everything Is
Ed Hamilton
Hammock
Herzog
Oknai
SlowPitch
Tracey Thorn
Damian Valles

Larkian & Yellow6: Offtempo
Basses Fréquences / three:four records

Bring together two experimental guitarists sensitive to atmosphere and schooled in the ways of ambient, drone, post-rock, and shoegaze genres and what do you get? Offtempo, an hour-long collaboration between Larkian (Cyril Monnard) and Yellow6 (Jon Attwood). The two go back a ways, with Attwood having released the seven-inch Yellow6 single Grey on Monnard's Tricycle Evolutif label in 2002. Subsequent discussions about a split release never came to fruition, but 2009 found them once again pooling their energies and initiating a year-long process of file exchanges that now finds its way into the world as Offtempo.

Their voices blend together remarkably well, so much so that without knowing otherwise one would assume that what is being presented is the work of a single player, albeit one armed with the gear necessary to generate multiple layers of tremolo effects, loops, and textural shadings. Offtempo is anything but a gunslinging session; instead, the guitarists truly collaborate on creating a rich and delicately woven soundworld where their voices complement one another and their contributions blend into a whole greater than the parts. Listeners with a taste for ambient guitar-based moodscaping will find the release especially satisfying.

“Jazz F2B” is hardly jazz but rather five minutes of creeping drone atmospherics that shudders and shimmers broodingly; “Walz,” on the other hand, does use 3/4 time as a springboard for the duo's explorative forays, while “Rita” is suitably supplicating in tone. A hint of post-rock emerges during “Untitled3” in the form of a plodding cymbal pattern and burning atmospherics that point the duo's material a little bit in the direction of Nadja and thisquietarmy. Though still relatively peaceful in nature and tempo, “Pool” smolders and snarls a tad more ferociously as it cultivates an air of spectral wonderment.

Offtempo is also an interesting set on sequencing grounds. With one exception, each track is slightly longer than the one before, and consequently the recording's first six pieces set the stage for the album's ultimate and most powerful piece, “Séquences inversées,” a seventeen-minute epic of ethereal beauty. As wave upon billowing guitar wave rolls in, it's hard not to be reminded of Popul Vuh's equally unearthly Aguirre soundtrack and to think that “Séquences inversées” could be conjoined rather seamlessly to the Popul Vuh work. Monnard and Attwood's slow-burning colossus brings this consistently strong collaborative effort to a stunning conclusion.

December 2011