Article
Kate Simko

Albums
2562
3ofmillions
3 Seconds Of Air
Monty Adkins
Agoria
Anduin
Natalie Beridze TBA
Black Eagle Child
Boduf Songs
Bodzin Vs Romboy
Build
Marco Carola
Blake Carrington
Codes In The Clouds
Dreamsploitation
Federico Durand
Elektro Guzzi
Emanuele Errante
FiRES WERE SHOT
Rick Frystak
Garin & Gobart
Gerard and Graydon
Kraig Grady
Guthrie & Budd
Marcus Intalex
Jumpel
Slavek Kwi
March
Maschine
Melodium
Alton Miller
Obsil
Phaedra
Semiomime
Shaula
Kate Simko
Sleepingdog
Nobuto Suda
Moritz Von Oswald Trio

Compilations / Mixes
5ZIG
20 F@#&ING Years
Michelangelo Antonioni
Fabric 56: Derrick Carter

EPs
Agoria featuring Kid A
Aleph
A Story of Rats
Orlando B.
Ceremony
Cex
Matthew Dear
Entia Non & Tanner Menard
Nick Kuepfer
Clem Leek
Mat Le Star
Lulacruza
Paul Lyman
Moss
Resampled Part 1
Resampled Part 2
Snoretex
Subeena

Melodium: Coloribus
Abandon Building

Though France's Laurent Girard has issued a wealth of Melodium music during the past dozen years, Coloribus finds him in especially fine form. With releases now counting in the double digits, Girard's signature brand of folk-tinged electronica has achieved a noticeable polish on musical and production grounds, and such sophistication is clearly evident on the new collection. The Melodium style is instantly apparent even just a few seconds into the opening song. It's the simple, sing-song piano melodies dancing through “Hey June” that shout “Melodium!” right away, and his music's sunny side is also spotlighted on “Augusta Falls” when its pizzicatti string patterns brighten the song's otherwise melancholic tendencies. As one would expect, that well-known melancholy side of Melodium gets a thorough workout too, with songs such as “The Link is Dead,” “Sweet Depression,” and “I Am Epsilon” instantiating that oft-times elegant dimension of Girard's music.

Another thing that identifies the material as pure Melodium is the seamless integration of acoustic and electronic sounds, as Girard succeeds at erasing any boundaries separating the two sides and uniting them into an organic whole (hear, for example, how naturally the acoustic guitar strums complement the fluttering electronics flowing through the background of “White Chapel”). While electronics are present, the lead voice is often allocated to the piano, and Girard's signature melodic style is rarely unaccounted for either. He indulges his more explorative side in allowing an occasional piece veer into experimental soundscaping territory (e.g., “Aural Stimuli,” “Saltic de Ridig”), but even when it does it eventually grounds itself to some degree in melody. With the album comprised of twenty tracks, there appears to be an excess of music on offer, but in fact Coloribus is less excessive than it might at first seem as every one of the songs hovers around the two-minute mark. The album plays, then, like a stimulating collection of miniatures, like a play of multiple vignettes that never stays too long in any one place. Boredom never becomes an issue when the scenery changes as often as it does.

April 2011