Johnny Labelle – XVIII (2020)

Inner Ear

Bandcamp

• Art pop 
• Experimental pop 
• Post-pop 
• Avant-pop 
• Electronic 
• Sophisti-pop 
• Singer-songwriter 
• Ambient pop 
• Cinematic 
• Baroque pop
• Psychedelic 

Scott Walker on surnud, aga tema halo ja vaimsus hõljuvad jätkuvalt ümberringi. Teate ju küll seda kosmopoliidist samettämbrilist baritoni, kes sündis ameeriklase ja frankokanadalanna perre, aga enamuse oma elust veetis ja kuulsuse saavutas Britannias. Kes 60ndate teisel poolel oli The Walker Brothers'i koosseisus biitleid kukutamas, aga pärast soolokarjääri jätkates keeras asjadele väga kummastavaid vinte peale. Kelle mõjukus ja kaja on ulatunud järgmise ja ülejärgmise generatsiooni muusikuteni, sh Eestis ((Andres Lõo (album "Love Bomb Letter") ja Mart Avi)). Ateenlase Johnny Labelle'i teine üllitis on fantastiline kummardus popikoonile, võttes vaatluse alla teatud hämaramad nurgad ja võimendades seda uue väärtuseni – samas säilitades terviku võimsate avangardlauludena. Mõni võib öelda, et mis paganama kloonimine leiab siin aset. Isegi kui see nõnda oligi plaanitud, on tulemus jahmatamapanev – justkui Johnny Labelle oleks seestunud, et anda Scott'ile veel üks võimalus. Viimane võimalus, et täiusena ilmneda. Maskuliinsus läbi astraalkeha. Eksperimentaalne hullus taltunud popvalemis. Üks selle aasta parimaid albumeid. Popalbumina kindlasti. Ning "The Dolphins" ja "The Beginning Of The End" on supernoovad selles galaktikas, mille on üllitanud Kreeka leibel Inner Ear. 

Coti – Metamemoria (2001/2020)

Inner Ear

Bandcamp

• IDM 
• Electronic music 
• Experimental electronica 
• Downtempo 
• Minimal techno 
• Organic electronica 
• Musique concrète 
• Ambient techno

 

Coti's Metamemoria was firstly released on Vibrant Music in 2001 and since then being considered an important issue in Greece. Inner Ear Records released it on vinyl approximately two decades later to resurface electronic memories from the period when many important issues and projects did take place. Boards Of Canada, Squarepusher, Plaid, Plone, and of course two main stalwarts like Richard D. James based on his many pseudonyms, and Autechre from the Great Britain, and on the other side Teutonic IDM/neokrautrock/post-techno artists like To Rococo Rot, Mouse on Mars, Kreidler, Jan Jelinek, Pole, Oval, Microstoria had broadened borders of electronic music. Given that chronological and technological advantage most musicians from other districts were undoubtedly influenced by them. Metamemoria is a fascinating issue because of searching successfully for balance between coherent flow in harmonized and syncopated progression and refreshing sonic fabric and compelling effects. All these elements are properly represented doing away with undue exaggerations. However, the listener can find out a legacy of Kraftwerk coming from their Autobahn period. The favourite of mine is M Key, a superb track of cinematic semi-orchestrations imbued with heavy vinyl crackles and backed up by a slowed-down pace. In a word, solid performance.

Mechanimal – Crux (2020)

Inner Ear

• Synthwave 
• Dark wave 
• Synth-rock 
• Minimal wave 
• Gothic rock 
• Electronic 
• Rap
• Minimal wave
• EBM 
• Post-punk
• Neoclassical
• Electro pop 
• Industrial rock

Comment: after the very first listening of this 10-track album (On Inner Ear Records) I ceased to consider the album due to the impression of being the bride on a wedding and the dead person on a funeral. More profoundly, these tracks seemed to cover different styles yet showcasing their nature by numbers. However, by starting listening to it a month later my opinion would have changed since then. Of course, the opening track Ghetto Level, as the title already says, cannot be nothing more but ridiculous. OK, a little bit ridiculous. It would have been cooperated by MC Ride to bring more credibility to the otherwise convincingly composed track. On the other side, the following stuff is solid – it mostly ploughs the field of gothic/post-punk field with a strong electronic flavour (such derivatives of post-punk as EBM, synthwave, cold wave, minimal synth/wave are solely and intertwined represented over there). The whole contains a couple of gems within – Easy Dead is all about compelling guitar looming and suggestive chanting about easy phenomena in our lifes. Indeed, we are nothing more but to be inclined towards the dust and ashes. We are obsessed with it. In general, the guitar treatments are solidly built throughout the album. Razor Tube is a remake of Kraftwerk with hints at early Kraftwerk (with more motorik grooves which later would get transformed into the essence of Neu!) and classical, electro and techno-induced Kraftwerk. Hospital of the Storm is a thoughtful track where menacing chanting is backed up by exquisite guitar chords, electronic wobbles and lone yet stomping drumming. La Poverina Della Ossa is the most immersive composition being accompanied by a slightly orchestrated chamber/neoclassical number. In a word, this release would be a great addition in the luggage of a EBM/industrial/synth-pop preferring DJ. Additionally to its intrinsic value it used to touch important points to me like The Fall (especially the 90s when MES and his accompanying backups would transform more electronic; also Lycia, Current 93, and Death In June).

Mikael Delta – Elation (2019)

Inner Ear

Bandcamp

• IDM 
• Modern classical 
• Post-classical 
• Electronic music 
• Kraut-techno 
• Ambient techno

Comment: this bunch of 12 tracks is something which can be entitled as a threnody to classical experimental techno and intelligent dance music and post-krautrock acts which had been operating with different patterns in rhythm and composition in the Ruhr valley at the end of the 90s and the first half of the 00s. Kreidler, Mouse On Mars, To Rococo Rot, Schneider TM etc, all those groups whose members' subconsciousness was obviously imbued with the legacy of Neu!, Faust, CAN, and Kraftwerk yet on the other side their very own time and space happened to be some decades later at a further point of development and understanding in experimental sound. Mikael Delta is an experienced musician from Greece who adds even more lushness based on vowel sounds and atmospheric upper tones to be juxtaposed with Teutonic rigidity and iterative machinery. The fabulous effort is a part of Inner Ear Records.

Stavros Gasparatos – Rage Park (2019)

Inner Ear

• Post-classical 
• Piano music 
• Glitchtronica 
• Crossover 
• Micronoise 
• Avant-garde 
• Experimentalism 
• Modern classical 
• Electro-acoustic 
• Contemporary classical 
• Art music 
• Ambient

Comment: Patras, Greece-based Stavros Gasparatos (born in 1975) has been tightly related to music as a composer, sound engineer, arranger, producer for decades. His 7-track outing Rage Park is an organic, "logical" yet exuberant mix of blistering and soothing sounds, traditional and modern sonic approaches. More profoundly, the whole body is based on a mindset of classical music (in turn based on brisk orchestrations and artsy piano sequences) which is interfered with or split into noises, glitched-out electronics, vivid drones, open space electro-acoustic effects, rare overdriven synth flutters and full-fledged beatific ambient and classical music mixed soundscapes if to name most of them. At times it reminds somehow of Penguin Cafe Orchestra by its mental grid and ideological grasp though technically Gasparatos' sound is more kindred to Eluvium, Tim Hecker, Hauschka, Stars Of The Lid, Max Richter. Indeed, wide panning and freely blossoming mood is the obvious reason for comparisons to be drawn with the mastermind of Simon Jeffes-led combo. Let's call it excellent breathing or combustion of the album. Given that as a compatriot of the artist said more than 2500 years ago that something could exist/begin existing within the borders only – in the case one can enjoy music which make drifts within the borders of contemporary/modern classical to a bit beyond the limits of it yet preserving its blissful face and dynamic nature effortlessly. In a word, it is a truly astounding output worth to be remembered within lists of the best albums in 2019. I am going to remember. Thank you, Stavros.