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Imminent - Cask strength
CD, Ant Zen, 2009
www.myspace.com/tentack



Olivier Moreau aka Imminent's, latest release on Ant Zen, 'Cask Strength' is a full blown assault of percussive glitches and hard distortions.
It begins with "Seracs", a construction of rhythmic elements that ramp into a colossal wall of sound with underlying melodies echoing beyond. "Gari" is a barrage of broken beats, symphonic moans and harsh bass hits that whirl around your head like a tornado. "Bock" is the second assault of percussion and glitch in Imminent's assault that at times seems to fight the constraints of rhythm via bass hits, distortion and stabs. "Garn" is the most coherent song on the release so far with menacing drums, underlying tonals and swaying synth pulls. "Lorsc" is a groove using resonance drums and classic analog synths to achieve a musical meandering complete with whistling. "Teskede" changes the mood by introducing hard kicks at break neck speeds amidst intermittent frequency drops and subtle strings. "Lla" is the equivalent of an electronic drum circle and vaguely reminiscent of Terrorfakt. "Cling" is a reprieve from the prior track with a thick bass ridden ambience interlaced with drum reverses and echo hits. "Rubbs" rejoins the distortion with rabid enthusiasm beating the listener with distorted kicks and soothing them with bittersweet pads. "Droak" keeps pace with "Rubbs" with a broken beat rhythm and fast light synths that attempt to keep tempo. "Ebat" enters with high frequency noise and then bangs out a dub step experiment in consuming distortion and ambiences. "Thal" is two minutes of closure, soft and subtle mixed with slow abrasive percussion and sullen strings.
My personal highlights on this disc would include: "Gari", "Garn", "Lla" and "Thal". As an album, "Cask Strength" works on two levels, subtle enough to be background music and aggressive and intricate enough to hold a listener at full attention - it is a force to be reckoned with in the genre of IDM and glitch.
[Editor's note: the limited edition box-set scores a bit more on the strength of the fancy packaging, if one can still find it for sale that is...]

-- James Church [8.5/10]


Spherical Disrupted - Quasar
CD, Audiophob, 2009
www.disrupted.de



Space! The final frontier. An expanse so vast it cannot be conceived by the simple human imagination. A great source of inspiration for artists and scientists for centuries. The incalculable universe scattered with bizarre phenomena such as black holes, red dwarves and quasars. A quasar (I have just discovered) is a quasi-stellar radio source, a compact region surrounding a black hole. So having previously dealt with more earthly or abstract imagery, Germany's ambient experimentalist Spherical Disrupted now turns his attention to space and one of its strangest mysteries.
In a change of inspiration and imagery it seems fitting to have a change of style, and while the first six or seven minutes of the epic "Einstein Cross" feature some cosmic ambience, a real surprise comes with the introduction of a thick electro bass line and crunchy, almost industrial beats. This is topped off by an evocative retro-style synthesiser, giving a lovely scientific feel to the piece, with the passion for exploration and discovery. "Accretion Disc", which powers the quasar, is then the second track, darker in mood, a suspenseful journey from which there may be no return.
A galaxy bulge is the tightly packed group of stars at the centre of most spiral galaxies, and the track named after this formation is another foreboding piece of dark electronica, subtly suggesting the presence of powerful celestial bodies. The highlight of the album may well be its shortest track, the appropriately titled "Solar Luminosity", the quasar's being two trillion times that of our sun, expansive synth washes shining brightly through the ether. "Stellar Debris" returns us to haunting dark ambient sounds, possibly illustrating a spaceship drifting cautiously through dense fields of material, attempting to steer a safe course as the debris threatens to breech the ship's hull.
We then reach the remix section of the disc, which thankfully works really well to keep in the right mood of the main album while providing extra dimensions to the music already heard. Xabec's take on "Solar Luminosity" adds an effectively repetitious melody sequence to the piece, elevating it to the status of classic sci-fi soundtrack music, while Empusae's reworking of "Accretion Disc" smooths out some of the original's rougher edges and adds occult sounding percussion, bringing to mind some ancient ritual intended to channel the universe's mystical energies. Finally we have Spherical Disrupted's remix of his own "Cosmological Redshift" piece, which features more of the curious experimental scratchings and scrapings he indulged in during earlier works, overlaid with ethereal synth sounds characteristic of the "Quasar" album. All in all, an excellent soundtrack for an evening of amateur astronomy or of reading up on astrophysics until your brain feels strained and needs some audio soothing.

-- Nathan Clemence [8/10]


Amon Vs. Mortar - Amon Vs. Mortar
CD-R, Afe Records , 2008
www.aferecords.com/releases/afe101cd.htm



According to the albums notes the basic material for this album was constructed by Mortar and then enhanced further by Amon - the later is a music project of Italian Andrea Marutti, while Mortar is a side-project of Moreno Daldosso. Though both artists have an extensive list of past releases and projects this release would be my introduction to the two projects.
A good part of the album contains deep bass drones that dominate the mix but there are times when other things seep in and take on a shape all their own too. "Part III" stars out with some haunting choir sounds that fade away into noise that resembles waves crashing on a shore. "Part IV" is probably my favorite chunk of the album because it breaks away completely from everything else and drifts away with some very nice organ work - in fact, I wish it had gone on more than the just barely over three minute length it carries.
Overall, this disc has some great atmospheres and some truly haunting sections. I do feel though that some sections drag on a bit and I did find my interest tailing away on some of the tracks. The formula this release has is well thought out - I just think the 'experience' could have been enhanced a bit if a few of the tracks were shortened or had more variation though. This is only my opinion though and I may be completely missing what the artists were going for. I do think if you're a fan of dark, brooding droning ambient music that this is a release you may want to look into.

-- Charlie Martineau [6/10]