Articles
Andy Vaz Interview and Set
Mark O'Leary's Grønland

Albums
Acre
Arborea
Ólafur Arnalds
Kush Arora
Asura
bbcb
Steve Brand
Nick Chacona
Robert Curgenven
Cuushe
Daniell and McCombs
Delicate Noise
d'incise
Ecovillage
Danton Eeprom
Seren Ffordd
Paul Fiocco
El Fog
Koutaro Fukui
Corey Fuller
The Go Find
Ernest Gonzales
Koss
Francisco López
Ingram Marshall
Craig McElhinney
Minamo
My Majestic Star
Mystified
Nest
Nommo Ogo
Olive Oil
O'Leary - Passborg - Riis
Oy
[Post-foetus]
RPM Orchestra
Ryonkt
Richard Skelton
Slow Six
Sone Institute
Sousa & Correia
Stanislav Vdovin
Viridian Sun
Christian Zanési

Compilations / Mixes
Erased Tapes Collection II
Hammann & Janson
Leaves of Life
Music Grows On Trees
Phasen
Quit Having Fun
Scuba
Thesis Vol. 1

EPs
Aubrey
Be Maledetto Now!
DK7
Herzog
Hrdvsion
Mr Cloudy
Damon McU
Morning Factory
Neve
M. Ostermeier
R&J emp
Stanislav Vdovin

Neve: Centigrade
[ parvoart ] recordings

M. Ostermeier: Percolate
[ parvoart ] recordings

By Marc Ostermeier's own description, Percolate features “experimental and ambient compositions often built from skeletal piano melodies and augmented with electronics and acoustic recordings,” as on-point a description of the mini-album as any I might venture. The Maryland-based university professor gravitates towards music's melancholy side in his pieces, and does so by embedding acoustic and rhodes piano melodies in fields of electronic elements—downtempo beats, atmospheric textures, percussive accents, and the like. The brooding “Clockwork” pairs electric piano and electric guitar twang in a way that suggests a lost track from an early Labradford session, while “Scratchy” adds a restrained post-rock urgency to the mix. A 4/4 rhythm and snare-kick drum pattern undergirds the twilight calm of “Continuity” with a techno pulse, whereas “September Again” is autumnal, but lovely and pensive too. “Persuasion,” Percolate's prettiest track, uses electric piano, guitar, and electronics to create a mood of wistful reverie that also carries with it more than a little uplift. In the final analysis, Ostermeier covers multiple stylistic bases during the release's twenty-six minutes without betraying the piano-based ambient style that is his music's essence.

Neve likewise provides a helpful characterization of the material on his own mini-album by calling Centigrade's tracks “micro sound sculptures.” Melody is therefore downplayed in favour of atmosphere and texture, as sine tones and electronic noises combine to form ambient sound paintings of brief duration. Settings range from severe (“Marvel”) to enigmatic (“Plexflux”) and windswept (“Surface Plane”) in micro-drone settings filled with hazy sine tones, willowy electronics, speckles of static, and low-end ambient rumble. Neve's description turns out to be a tad misleading, however, as it suggests stasis and stillness, and the release's nine tracks (ten if you include 2°C, a gallery of photographic images) are anything but still. Rather, they register more as mini-soundtracks for hikes undertaken through snow-covered forests or along the frozen river's edge.

February 2010