Axiome – Field Guide To Alien Planets And Other Disco Balls (Album – Audiophob)
Genre/Influences: IDM, Acid.
Format: Digital, CD.
Background/Info: Belgian Axiome duo strikes back with a new album which is their first one released by Audiophob. Active since 1990/1991, good-old mates Olivier Moreau (Imminent, Urawa ao) and C-Drik Fermont (Kirdec, Tetra Plok, Ambre ao) have released the main part of their work on Ant-Zen.
Content: This work sounds like the offspring between different influences. Broken beats have been mixed with retro-strings, numerous effects, Acid sequences and pitched vocals. The work sounds diversified although there’s a true cohesion between the songs.
+ + + : I already heard great works from this duo but I’m impressed the way they evolved in sound throughout the years. It’s fascinating to see how pure vintage/analogue-like sounds and effects have this magic to become refreshing and even visionary. This album sounds a bit minimal but is mainly characterized by impressive sound treatments and terrific retro strings. The vocals often sound like samples but first of all create a robotic, ghost-like sensation. The broken beats get the production ultra-danceable. I definitely like the Acid sequences which are mainly emerging at the final part of the work. The album reveals a succession of great cuts but the masterpiece is “The Dentist”.
– – – : The very last track which is also the longest one is the single track that couldn’t totally convince me. I think there’s no reason to complain!
Conclusion: Axiome is getting better and better with this new album being a sublime and totally accomplished piece of modern and intelligent Electronics.
Best songs: “The Dentist”, “Enemies Or Foes?”, “Forsaken”, “Gala On The Moon”, “Planetarium”, “Superfluid”.
Rate: 9.
Artist: http://syrphe.com/axiome.html / www.facebook.com/Axiome.duo
Label: www.audiophob.de / www.facebook.com/audiophob
About Axiome
Axiome is a Belgian duo formed around 1990 and 1991 by Olivier Moreau and Cedrik Fermont, who also records as C-drik and Kirdec. Moreau is known for Imminent, Fermont for Kirdec and Tetra Plok among many other projects.
Fermont was born in Lubumbashi in the former Zaire, grew up in Belgium and studied with electroacoustic composer Annette Vande Gorne at the Royal Conservatory of Mons. He started his first project in 1989, runs the Syrphe and Textolux labels, and was co-awarded the Golden Nica Prix Ars Electronica in digital music and sound art in 2017.
The duo released most of their earlier work through Ant-Zen, including “Rictus” (1999), “Ca Ne Nous Rendra Pas Le Congo”, “L’Avenir Est Un Cerf Teint”, “The Smell Of Lava In The Morning” and “Ten Hymns For Sorbetiere Or How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Freezer” (2012).
“Field Guide To Alien Planets And Other Disco Balls” is their first album for Audiophob and was released on CD on 1 April 2022. It runs twelve tracks: “Superfluid”, “Disco Highway”, “Expanding Lightwaves”, “Atomic Gimmick”, “Vortex Polaire”, “Forsaken”, “Enemies Or Foes?”, “The Dentist”, “White Sky Black Clouds”, “Planetarium”, “Gala On The Moon” and “Doomed For Immortality”. Later that year the duo appeared on the Audiophob compilation “Hyperakusis IV“, released on 18 November 2022.
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