Articles
2009 Top 10s and 20s
King Midas Sound
Starke

Albums
36
Aardvarck
Matias Aguayo
Anaphoria
Anduin
Arbol + Fibla
Aufgang
Beneva vs. Clark Nova
Black to Comm
Bvdub
Cornstar
Dinky
Enola
Fieldhead
FOURM / Shinkei / Turra
Billy Gomberg
The Green Kingdom
Chihei Hatakeyama
Ian Hawgood
Marek Hemmann
Khate
King Midas Sound
Marcel Knopf
Robot Koch
Lambent
Shinobu Nemoto
Olekranon
Laurent Perrier
Piano Magic
Porzellan
Pylône
Ryonkt
Shadyzane
Slow
Small Color
Solomun
The Sound of Lucrecia
Stray Ghost
The Use of Ashes
Sylvie Walder

Compilations / Mixes
Sebo K
Will Saul
Tama Sumo
VOLTT Amsterdam Vol. 1

EPs
Blindhæð
Roberto Bosco
Franco Cangelli
Dieb
dub KULT
Abe Duque/Blake Baxter
Gemmy
Christopher Hobbs
Duncan Ó Ceallaigh
Christopher Roberts
The Sight Below
Two Fourteen
Van Der Papen
Andy Vaz
Vetrix
Eddie Zarook

DVD
Optofonica

Slow: Dual Box
Resting Bell

Slow is the moniker Russian composer Sergey Suokas uses for his hypnotic ambient music-making (he also records techno under the Suokas name), of which Dual Box (a so-called meditation on the “Flower of Life”) is an impressive example. The conceptual foundation for the release lies in the geometrical figure adorning the release's cover, a symmetrical design whose circles and lines are arranged into a star-like, hexagonal pattern that's evocative of geometrical figures one often sees in religious texts. Suokas connects the image and music dimensions by dedicating each of the album's six tracks to one of the circles in the figure—not that one necessarily needs to be cognizant of any of such detail in order to benefit from the recording's thirty-eight minutes of music.

“Chinatown” unfolds as a percussion meditation with bells and tinkles giving the piece a determinedly gamelan-like feel but Suokas nudges it into an entirely different realm by adding subtle electric guitar shadings for melodic spice. “Loma” lives up to the moniker name with a slow-motion blend of shuddering strings and willowy, high-pitched tones; similarly meditative, “Dreaming” pairs the arresting sound of shuddering treatments with a repeated guitar motif that proves to be a calming antidote, after which bell tinklings and long, tendril-like strokes extend for six minutes throughout the subdued “Insomnia.”

If anything, Dual Box grows progressively more beautiful and transporting as it unfolds. The penultimate piece, “Miracle,” offers a lovely exercise in ambient soundscaping in its pairing of bright harp patterns and gossamer plucks with softly lulling tones. The closing setting, “You Can't Say No To,” moves the Slow sound in the ‘dark ambient' direction one associates with Miasmah, with Suokas effecting carefully-modulated segues between overlapping tones and punctuating it all with an ominous tolling strike. Not to take anything away from the producer, but mention also might be made of Ian Hawgood's mastering contribution, which is to some degree responsible for the music's impact.

December 2009