Genre/Influences: IDM, minimal-electro, experimental-techno.

Background/Info: French artist/producer David Letellier is known as Kangding Ray. He has so far released a considerable number of productions on quality labels Raster-Noton and Stroboscopic Artefacts. Based in Berlin (Germany) he earlier this year launched his own label Ara. This 12” is the first release. 

Content: Kangding Ray invites us to join his sophisticated world of IDM where elements such as irregular rhythms, space-like atmospheres and a countless number of little effects are noises are ruling over his work. The work features 3 danceable cuts plus a last atmospheric piece.

+ + + : The sound intelligence and elaborated writing of this artist both remain the keywords to understand the universe of this genius. Kangding Ray is truly a sound wizard which is mixing complexity together with danceable vibes. The songs are carried by sophisticated drum patterns, but in the end the work remains pretty accessible. The maxi features 4 different cuts, which is a good reason to put your finger on this record.

– – – : The complexity might be disturbing for some music lovers preferring linear rhythms. The title song is not my favorite one from the record.

Conclusion: This debut record released on David Letellier’s brand new label is a successful work, which will appeal to lovers of intelligent electronics mixed with great astral atmospheres while driven by danceable vibes!

Best songs: “Orcan Tears”, “Stone Sober Brushstrokes”, “Predawn Qualia”.

Rate: (8).

Artist & Label: https://www.residentadvisor.net/dj/kangdingray

Inferno Sound Diaries

I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.

www.side-line.com

Icelandic electronic pioneer Reptilicus are to release a collaboration with Raster-Noton favourite Senking this Fall on Artoffact Records. The record deal is for an unspecified number of releases. The first album, a collaboration with Raster-Noton favourite Senking, will be released in October. The collaboration was recorded in Hamilton, Ontario’s famous Grant Avenue Studio and mixed by Bob Doidge (Crash Test Dummies, Cowboy Junkies).

In late November 2011, Reptilicus, Senking (Raster-Noton), Rúnar Magnússon, and Orphx shared the bill at a concert in Toronto organised by Praveer Baijal founder of Toronto label Yatra-Arts. The occasion was to celebrate the release of Reptilicus’ first output in years: “Initial Conditions”, a blue vinyl 7″ that included a remix by Senking on the B-side.

At the time, production for modular-synthesizer documentary I Dream of Wires was under way. Reptilicus, Senking and Rúnar Magnússon were among the first wave of artists featured for the project. Praveer Baijal of Yatra-Arts introduced the bands to William Blakeney, executive producer of the film, and a session was organized at Grant Avenue Studio in Hamilton, Ontario. The legendary studio was founded by the Lanois brothers and the site of numerous classic recordings, among them many of Brian Eno’s and Daniel Lanois’ ambient series in the 1980s.

A collection of vintage modular synthesizers was made available for recording the album while Reptilicus also brought their P-synth. Also included are a drone machine built by Guðlaugur Kristinn Óttarsson (Godkrist). The bands had Bob Doidge (Crash Test Dummies, Cowboy Junkies) at the mixing desk assisted by Dean Batute.

Afterwards, Senking and Reptilicus, with Rúnar Magnússon as a third member, worked on the raw material in a truly trans-European fashion from their respective locations in Cologne, Reykjavík and Copenhagen. The result of their collaboration is the album “Unison”.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

side-line.com

Genre/Influences: IDM, techno.

Background/Info: French producer David Letellier aka Kangding Ray is operating from Berlin, which is the right town for this artist. Most of his albums and EP’s have been released on Raster-Noton and Stroboscopic Artefacts, but this is the first album released on the Berliner Stroboscopic Artefacts.

Content: After the previous album (cf. “Cory Arcana”) released in 2015 I was really wondering what the new full length would sound like. Kangding Ray remains driven by the passion of sound creation, mixing dark-technoid elements together with more sophisticated and intelligent, icy sonic textures carried by somewhat bombastic rhythms. I think this artist is more active in the upper class of electronics instead of simply being labeled as a techno artist.

Some passages are quite trance-minded while other parts are driven by evasive sequences. I sometimes get the impression of hearing a fusion between Front 242 (for the great sound treatments) and techno music, which can only give birth to an intelligent sonic format.

+ + + : I was again impressed by the sound creativity of this artist. Kangding Ray stands for high-tech electronics, driven by impressive sound manipulations and sophisticated structures. It’s a cold and danceable sound carried by a hard kick. There are multiple transcendental passages running through this opus and I especially refer to the first half of the album, which is astonishing. This artist is not just a sound architect; he’s a real guru hold many disciples in his grip.

– – – : Both last cuts are not the most inspiring ones and definitely not representative for the genius of this artist.

Conclusion: “Hyper Opal Mantis” sounds a bit like Front 242’s “Geography” from the ‘modern ages’. This work is an absolute masterpiece for all lovers of elaborated and intelligent electronics.

Best songs: “Rubi”, “Dune”, “Soul Surfing”, “Lone Pyramids”, “Onde Mantis”.

Rate: (9).

Band: www.kangdingray.com / www.facebook.com/kangdingray

Label: http://stroboscopicartefacts.com / www.facebook.com/StroboscopicArtefacts

Inferno Sound Diaries

I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.

www.side-line.com

Genre/Influences: IDM, experimental-techno.

Background/Info: Kangding Ray (aka David Letellier) is a rather familiar artist releasing his work on Raster-Noton. “Cory Arcane” is the 5th full length of the French artist on the label.

Content: ‘Cory Arcane found her comfort zone in a constant state of crisis, and her liberation through love, sensuality, and high-speed internet access’. This conceptual theme was transposed into an intelligent and clearly IDM-minded sound. There’s an exciting twist between minimal-technoid arrangements and some more evasive passages. Some of the tracks move into mysterious atmospheres while there also is a more exotic touch emerging at the surface of a few cuts.

+ + + : I especially like the rather constant sound manipulations animated by subtle bleeps and somewhat darker, industrial components.

– – – : Some experimental elements are less accessible, but on the other side it also is one of the characteristics of the artist’s creation.

Conclusion: Kangding Ray is a confirmed value on Raster-Noton and the IDM scene as well. This album confirms the creative mind of this artist and his never-ending will to explore new sound-paths.

Best songs: “These Are My Rivers”, “Safran”, “Acto”, “Bleu Oscilliant”.

Rate: (DP:7½)DP.

Band: www.kangdingray.com

Label: www.raster-noton.net / www.facebook.com/rasternoton

Inferno Sound Diaries

I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.

www.side-line.com

(By Stéphane Froidcoeur aka Deranged Psyche) 2015 has been already a prolific year for the section Side-Line Reviews. As head of the Side-Line Reviews section I can only, but be extremely satisfied with the huge amount of promo material we got. Over the 700 (!) releases were selected while nearly 550 (!) have been reviewed thus far. I take the opportunity to express my gratitude to all labels, promoters and bands considering and respecting our work and efforts and this for years now.

But I also have to thank all of our readers because for their interest, support, trust and consideration. It’s a very important source of motivation to keep me moving on trying to support our lovely underground scene the best I can.

A review of course remains always ‘subjective’ and a source of discussion, but keep in mind it will be always the perception of the reviewer, but I can assure you we always try to argue our reviews the best as possible. I noticed multiple great releases during 2015; from EBM to dark-electro to IDM to synth-pop to ethereal, to dark-ambient to industrial to gothic and a few related genres I made a TOP 20 of the best albums of 2015! This selection has been made with the promotional material we got while compilations and EP’s were not selected for this ‘best of’.

Stéphane Froidcoeur (aka Deranged Psyche)

01 Irfan – The Eternal Return (CD Album – Prikosnovénie)
02 Neuroticfish – A Sign Of Life (CD Album – NOR)
03 Acylum – Pest (DCD Album – Alfa Matrix)
04 Eisfabrik – Eisplanet (CD Album & EP – SPV/NoCut)
05 Senking – Closing Eyes (CD Album – Raster-Noton)
06 Ah Cama-Sotz – State Of Mind (CD Album – Hands)
07 Karjalan Sissit – …Want You Dead (CD Album – Cyclic Law)
08 Alien Vampires – Drag You To Hell (DCD Album – Alfa Matrix)
09 Supersimmetria – Kosmogonie (CD Album – Hands)
10 Johan Baeckström – Like Before (CD Album – Progress Productions)
11 Hearts Of Black Science – Signal (CD Album – Progress Productions)
12 Dear Strange – Lonely Heroes (CD Album – Out Of Line)
13 IAMX – Metanoia (CD Album – Caroline International)
14 Legiac – The Faex Had Decimated (CD Album – Tympanik Audio)
15 Grand((Ø))Signal – Aktivation (Digital Album – Grand((Ø))Signal)
16 Encephalon – Psychogenesis (CD Album – Dependent)
17 Noisuf-X – 10 Years Of Riot (DCD Album – ProNoize)
18 Star Industry – The Renegade (DCD Album – Alfa Matrix)
19 Chainreactor – Dirt (CD Album – ProNoize)
20 Frozen Plasma – Dekadenz (CD Album – Infacted Recordings)

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

side-line.com

Genre/Influences: IDM, experimental.

Content: If you like intelligent electro experiments you for sure know Jens Massel aka Senking. And if you don’t know this German artist I think his newest opus is a great opportunity to get a bit more familiar with his unique sound treatments.

Massel has already released an impressive number of work, Raster-Noton being most of the time a comfortable home for his visionary experiments. “Closing Eyes” sounds a bit like an invitation to simply stop all our business and enter into the enigmatic electronic dimension of Senking. The musician rather appears to be a sound architect who’s more concerned by the creation of analogue treatments, which he next put into a mould of IDM. The work is once more filled with heavy sound blasts and deep resonating frequencies and flat bass tones.

Another characteristic of this artist remains in the slow cadence running through his work. It’s not exactly what I would call danceable music although it’s possible to dance to it in a rather experimental way. The music would perfectly match with a visual performance.

This artist explores the avant-garde paths of electronic music, but it can also be seen as a move back to the creation of noises, which was a quite common procedure during the early years of electronic music. “Closing Ice” is a real ambitious sonic platform revealing a truly astral dimension of electronic music. I’ve always been impressed by the facility of Senking to make ultra experimental music very accessible. The new work again fascinates and innovates within the universe of IDM.

I also was amazed by the complexity of some passages, which simply confirms the growing composing skills of Jens Messel. While his earlier work was more exploring ambient sonic paths he progressively joined a new dimension of experimental-techno and IDM opening paths for label mates like Diamond Version.

Conclusion: Senking is an artist who really deserves a wider recognition as he can be easily considered as one of the early visionary artists of the further IDM movement. This work is a new masterpiece in sound research.

Best songs: “Winter Brevet”, “Serpent”, “Hitchhiker Perspective”, “Scouts And Spies”.

Rate: (DP:9)DP.

Band: www.facebook.com/senkingofficial

Label: www.raster-noton.net / www.facebook.com/rasternoton

Inferno Sound Diaries

I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.

www.side-line.com

Genre/Influences: Technoid, minimal-electro.

Content: We don’t often get promo material from Atom™ (also known as Atom Heart) and that’s a pity as it concerns an artist we’ve fully supported during his early years and first steps dealing with electronic music. That was quite a long time ago when Uwe Schmidt was known as the master mind behind the Lassigue Bendthaus project.

Schmidt has released an impressive discography under multiple names and diverse projects, but Atom™ brought him to explore the paths of techno music. It’s a long odyssey revealing a never-ending inspiration and which has been now continued at this new EP released as a vinyl while the digital format features one extra track.

The “Album Version” confirms the long-time passion and addiction of Uwe Schmidt for high tech electronics based on minimalism and explicit sound manipulations. You immediately get in the grip of the deep, vibrating blasts and the kind of whipping kick. The track is expressed with darker tones while a few spoken like vocals inject a somewhat creepy touch to the work. This song is a remarkable composition, which explores some experimental technoid arrangements, but it first of all remains an intelligent electronic creation.

“Riding The Void” has been next featured in different remixed versions. The “Scuba’s Pulse Mix” is carried by a bouncing techno kick, which makes the song fully accessible for the clubs. Some elements of the original version have been fully respected while the extra danceable vibes makes it more exciting and techno-minded, which in a way is a bit the global mark for the other remixes as well.

The “Nought Remix” is a little bit more into groovy loops while the flat, deep sounding arrangements are coming through. The “Tool”-mix sounds a bit similar while the extra remix available on the digital format-only (cf. “Gesetz Der Oktaven’s Consumed Remix”) is my personal favorite. Hanno Leichtmann transformed the creation into an icy groovy version, which remains ultra danceable, but underground-minded as well.

Together with this release you also get a DVD including the visual works of “HD+”. It consists of 8 songs and clips, which are like a throwback to the “HD”-album released in 2013. The music reminds me a bit to a mix of minimal-electronics and even pure sound experimentalism, plus a kind of wink to Kraftwerk. The visual part of the work totally matches with the music. There’s a part of avant-garde and typical electronic visuals. The clips are absolutely great and threatened by the newest techniques of montage.

Among the song I especially like the kind of Suicide-inspired “Empty”, which reminds to this legendary band, but transposed into the sci-fi electronic universe of Atom™. The most surprising song probably is the cover version of “My Generation”, which was originally written by The Who.

The Other songs left move in between pure experimental and ambient inspired music to more explicit techno driven grooves. Atom™ often revealed himself as the imaginary hybrid between Kraftwerk, Biosphere and Autechre, but all in the end Uwe Schmidt doesn’t really need any further comparison because there’s only one Atom™!

Conclusion: Interesting material, which confirms the never-ending genius of this artist who’ll always and first of all remain a great sound architect.

Best songs: “Riding The Void”, “Riding The Void – Gesetz Der Oktaven’s Consumed Remix” + Empty.

Rate: (DP:8½)DP.

Band: www.atom-tm.com / www.facebook.com/AtomTM

Label: www.raster-noton.net / www.facebook.com/rasternoton

Inferno Sound Diaries

I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.

www.side-line.com