
Artist: Bitcrush
Album: In Distance
Label: n5MD
Release date: 15 May 2006
Genre: Electronic
Style: Indietronica/Shoegazing/Ambient
Tracklisting:
01. Post
02. Falling Inward
03. Colder
04. In Distance
05. Song For Three
06. Drop Entitled
07. And Triage
08. Every Ghost Has It's Spectre
09. The 2AM Edit
Total running time: 67' 57"
[Bitcrush - Open MySpace Standalone Music Player]
[Bitcrush - Colder - Video Clip]
"Mike Cadoo has nurtured his own sound for many years, once a part of the now-defunct Gridlock duo, and expressing gritty drum'n bass under the Dryft moniker, his most personal work as Bitcrush is a defining sound that has now fully established itself on In Distance. An album that will certainly target a new group of fans to the label, In Distance's thick guitar riffs, scraping ambient infiltrations, processed lyrical whispers and live drums consistently evoke feelings of temptation, imagination and creative reflection. The electrical pulse of Enarc (Component Records) is not entirely stripped; on In Distance the melodies collide and fall against smooth compositional layering and gentle guitar moments brush against gritty beats that build and decompose often in the same track.
Shimmer & Fade, the MP3 release on en:peg, n5MD's digital division, displayed what would soon evolve into In Distance. Crashing vocals and deeply integrated emotions somehow intensify the listeners moods in any direction or path. "Post" opens up with a slow building guitar melody and a calming ambient current until the beats break out mid-way through and the lyrics "I can no longer follow, I can no longer do this anyway" casually repeat with amazing effect. "Falling Inward" comes very close to Ulrich Schnauss' uplifting mesh of percussion, ambience and continual growth within 9-minutes. It's a signature sound that elevates this album into a field that is not electronic at all but rather alive in its feeling and overall mood. The closure to "Falling Inward" is perhaps the most inspirational moment on the album --not as easy to describe with words, as it does with sound, but "Falling Inward" is an emotional journey that doesn't let go. "Colder" is yet another highlight on In Distance, the shortest track of the nine included herein --it glows like no other. The aged beat work and melodic push of this track is as captivating as gliding through a dream sequence that tugs at your heartstrings every mile of the way. The title track, "In Distance," has a more distinct pulse filled with traditional instrumentation and stretched vocals that appear ever so faintly as the chorus line unveils itself in full color. "Song for Three" has a similar feeling --slowly punctuating guitars drift amongst an all-consuming beat that holds your thoughts firmly until its release in the last few minutes. "Drop Entitled" will certainly appeal to indie fans and college radio DJ's --heavy guitars smashing against intense percussion and flowing ambient permutations; it begins to tear apart in its final moments leaving you to gently push repeat on your CD player without hesitation.
On the 11-minute "And Triage," one of the finest moments of In Distance, time means nothing at all in the big picture. Images of times gone by and memories left to grow are nurtured within this track. The first few minutes are slightly intensified --a casual beat patters against your heart until a climactic beginning opens at the center of it all. And just when you thought "And Triage" would slide away into your subconscious, it breaks down into severed elements of itself and begins to gradually take you under its wing three-quarters of the way through. And with a splash of amazing distortion, decay and utmost clarity "And Triage" lifts you into the stratosphere and simply lets go just as quickly. Not only a piece of this huge puzzle that is In Distance, "And Triage" is an entity like no other.
"Every Ghost has its Spectre" and the closing "The 2am Edit" are two gradual pieces of time that are augmented by pure ambient propulsion and sonic passages of human thought. "Every Ghost has its Spectre" speaks subliminally with its softly spoken vocals and casual stream of consciousness while "The 2am Edit" offers a 10-minute voyage of Orb styled ambiences and thought provoking movements in minimalism.
In Distance is Bitcrush's most personal piece of work. Capturing over an hours worth of gravitational elegance wrapped in shredded atmospheres and drenched guitar work, this is perhaps n5MD's most ambitious release and one that will certainly appeal to a larger crowd resting outside of the experimental electronic music sphere. The question remains, however, will this album ever be topped? It's a difficult thought to imagine, so we'll leave that with Bitcrush to decide. Prepare to go the distance and to come back again for yet another trip into an avalanche of audio beauty that is locked in distance." [source]
[Download.Buy.Buy at iTunes]
Thursday, July 05, 2007
Bitcrush "In Distance"
Posted by
Sonic Process
at
17:31
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notes
Genre: Ambient, Indietronica, Shoegazing
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
People Press Play "People Press Play"

Artist: People Press Play
Album: People Press Play
Label: Morr Music
Release date: 15 June 2007
Genre: Electronic
Style: Electro Pop/Indietronica/Downtempo
Tracklisting:
01. Girl
02. Always Wrong
03. These Days
04. That Walk
05. Hanging On
06. Frail
07. Studio
08. Before Me
09. Everything
10. Stop
Total running time: 38' 26"
[People Press Play - Open MySpace Standalone Music Player]
"At its simplest, System (Future 3 members Anders Remmer, Jesper Skaaning, Thomas Knak) plus singer Sara Savery equals People Press Play. But reducing the quartet and its self-titled album to an equation does a disservice to this exceptional album's fully-realized electronic pop. Informed by its creators' many years of experience in constructing meticulous electronic atmospheres and rhythms, the album's ten songs are intimate, melancholic, joyous, dreamy, and pulsating—perfect vehicles for Savery's versatile voice, which easily moves from crystal clear (“These Days”) and intimate (“Always Wrong”) to alluring (“Hanging On”).
Traces of other groups can be glimpsed: a song like “Frail” likens People Press Play to a more beat-focused Susanna and the Magical Orchestra; “Always Wrong” pairs Savery's voice with a bass-heavy propulsion reminiscent of Remmer's Dub Tractor style; and a subtle injection of shoegaze roar informs “Everything” and “Stop” while “Girl” sweetens her whispered murmur with blurry sheets of sound. And though People Press Play's style is distinctive, largely instrumental tracks like “Studio” and “That Walk” reveal that the quartet's style isn't radically different from System's (notwithstanding its recent move into dubstep on Tempo EP), once Savery's singing is removed. Even so, the sparkle of the musical backing provides a gorgeous support for her relaxed vocal in “Hanging On” while the chiming electro-pop of “These Days” shadows Savery's voice with Theremin-styled counterpoint that—in an alternate universe at least—would have hit single written all over it." [source]
[Download.Buy]
Posted by
Sonic Process
at
11:41
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notes
Genre: Downtempo, Electro Pop, Indietronica
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Ulrich Schnauss "Goodbye"

Artist: Ulrich Schnauss
Album: Goodbye
Label: Independiente
Release date: 25 June 2007
Genre: Electronic
Style: Indietronica/Downtempo
Tracklisting:
01. Never Be The Same
02. Shine
03. Stars
04. Einfeld
05. In Between The Years
06. Here Today, Gone Tomorrow
07. A Song About Hope
08. Medusa
09. Goodbye
10. For Good
Total running time: 55' 50"
[Ulrich Schnaus - Open MySpace Standalone Music Player]
"Ulrich Schnauss presents the final part in his trilogy of electronically ethereal albums. As their names – Far Away Trains Passing By, A Strangely Isolated Place and now Goodbye - suggest, his productions invoke the idea of a bleak, but worthwhile, journey. His music could be for an outing that involves the body physically moving (the ideal tape for a long car ride), or a static body allowing the mind to truly wander. Ultimately the same outcome is achieved, a deep sense of introspection initiated via a soundtrack of delicate beauty.
The first two albums were released on the small German electronica label City Centre Offices, but, as a testament to Schnauss’ success and veneration, this album has been picked up by the much larger Independiente label. His tracks have been used by luminaries such as Nick Warren and Sasha on their mix albums, and his own remixes range from Depeche Mode to Long-View – the English band for whom he has recently taken over keyboard duties. Schnauss utilizes lead singer Rob McVey on ‘’Shine’’; an eerie orchestral epic, where layered vocals melt together with cyclic drum beats to create a beautiful and emotive soundscape.
Goodbye may, at times, put you in mind of sirens drawing sailors to their downfall, but that’s not to say that this isn’t an uplifting album. The dissociated vocals are seamlessly combined with fragile chord progressions, tribal rhythms and textured electronic noise to create an album filled with optimism. The two tracks which make up the finale, ‘‘Goodbye’’ and ‘‘For Good’’, emphasise the message of the album; a valediction at the end of the journey. Hopefully there will be a reprise sometime soon and this is not goodbye, for good." [source]
[Download.Buy]
Posted by
Sonic Process
at
01:34
0
notes
Genre: Downtempo, Indietronica
Sunday, December 10, 2006
Ulrich Schnauss "A Strangely Isolated Place"

Artist: Ulrich Schnauss
Album: A Strangely Isolated Place
Label: City Centre Offices
Release date: 9 June 2003
Genre: Electronic
Style: Indietronica/Downtempo
Tracklisting:
01. Gone Forever
02. On My Own
03. A Letter From Home
04. Monday - Paracetamol
05. Clear Day
06. Blumenthal
07. In All The Wrong Places
08. A Strangely Isolated Place
Total running time: 61' 49"
"Since the release of his amazing debut album "Far Away Trains Passing By", Ulrich Schnauss has been overwhelmed by a viral spread of appreciation for his music. From the zeitgeist-crazed message boards and forums of cool record labels to the license-requesting teams working behind the scenes for trend-setting compilations, Ulrich's sound has managed to do that rarest of things and has crossed-over beyond the parameters of the electronic music club and has leaped into a wider public domain. Electronic music has rarely found itself a popular home. Switch on your TV set or go to the cinema, however, and you'll discover a world of vast and endless possibilities brought to life with instrumental textures designed to arouse an emotional response. Add some guitars, unforgettable tunes and even a sliver of voice here and there, and you have yourself a soundtrack with instant mass appeal and an emotional vocabulary that is enriched with every single listen. Ulrich's debut album followed these principles perfectly, and this, his long-awaited follow-up "a strangely isolated place" extends and expands on a formula which is uniquely and unforgettably his own. This is a record with an unashamed love of many forms of popular music, as well as a technologically inspired method of delivery, "...isolated place" starts off with timeless melodies and embroiders itself with pop stylings, some vocals and a euphoric, larger than life sound that betrays the loneliness of its highly evocative title. Moving away from the widespread fascination with all things "micro", the scope here is BIG, although every fragment of sound from the opening melancholy bliss of "Gone Forever" to the dusty detuned breakbeat of "A Letter From Home" has been carefully wrapped and labelled "Fragile". For this is music that has been assembled piece by piece, every fragment carefully chosen and given a sense of belonging, a home. Ulrich Schnauss has brought to life a place that you may have never visited, but it's a place that you have always known." [source]
[Download[pw:in zip file].Buy]
Posted by
Sonic Process
at
15:11
3
notes
Genre: Downtempo, Indietronica

