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

Stanislav Vdovin: December 24
Rat Hole

Stanislav Vdovin: Rapid and Tired
Rat Hole

These releases—a full-length and EP—by Stanislav Vdovin (aka Unit 21) couldn't appear to be more straightforward; after all, little confusion can set in when the details accompanying them are so sparing (located in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia, the Rat Hole imprint, which rose from the ashes of the defunct net-labels Green Rat and Dead Rat Records, is overseen by Vdovin and Anton Cherkasov). December 24 features four tracks, each one named for a specific time of day, and the only info provided credits Vdovin with “music” (and Taylor Deupree with mastering). With melody downplayed, atmosphere, texture, and pulse become the material's primary focus, rendering the music itself a deeply textured blend of ambient and minimal techno.

“December Morning” sets the scene with seven minutes of atmospheric minimal techno that pairs a rubbery kick drum pattern with granular, glutinous textures. As the album moves towards darkness, the stylistic kinship between Vdovin and Wolfgang Voigt's Gas become ever more apparent, the difference being the more epic aura that has come to be built up around the Gas project. A sense of restlessness and urgency animates “December Evening” before the album's most immersive escapade, the twenty-five-minute “December Night,” appears. In its opening minutes, whispering tones lend the piece a mood of twilight and melancholy, until the piece abruptly stops after five minutes. A minute of silence ensues, after which December 24 plunges deeply into a vaporous ambient drone bath of hiss, soft clicks, and, most prominently, an unrelenting central waver that slowly swells in intensity for twelve minutes before collapsing into the arms of an agitated melody. The drone swells again, this time the high-pitched tone augmented by a low-pitched, cello-like mass. The album's best experienced via headphones as doing so enables one to better appreciate the music's subtle and gradual shifts. It may be minimal to some degree, but it's hardly static.

February 2010