Contemporary cult electronica / braindance legend Brainwaltzera returns with a new singular expression, mixing sophisticated synthesis with hypnotic sequencing and eerie disposition. Utilizing an AFX-friendly palette of detuned FM synths, modular elements and raw braindance articulation, Brainwaltzera has conjured up another slice of hypnagogic futurism which sends crushing breaks and fried circuit boards tumbling towards the event-horizon; growling Reece's welcoming the apocalypse with open subwoofers.

Peeshay takes us back to Bad Company-era DnB with tearing rave synths accompanying the rampant breaks and ever-growing Reece bass. A dark side piece of ruffage that takes us back to the rampant energy DnB reached at the turn of the millennium. Scary good.

Finally there's a separate version of GBDF which sees the beats stripped out and proffers the eerie, detuned synth assemble center stage.

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Few in modern electronica have reached the cult adoration of Brainwaltzera (maybe Roy Of The Ravers?). Here we see the producer move into darkside DnB territories with help from real deal jungalist Peshay. Devastating ruffage for the headstrong!

TRACK LISTING

A1. Medal Headz [G.B.D.F] Peshay Remix 
A2. Medal Headz [G.B.D.F] Extended 
B1. G.B.D.F [separated] 

Taking its influence from downtempo alt-pop and hip-hop, but with nods to blissed out dub plus trans-global influences, the Indian producer arrives on Berlin based label Film with "Creators of The Rain". Danny Wolfers takes control on the flip - turning in a gothy, highly on trend, EBM-style remix under his esteemed Legowelt alias.

Live instrumentation provides the backbone of the work - dusty drums drive the music forward, complemented by shifting dub-guitar leads, off kilter bassline licks and delayed drum machine breaks. Singer Gio’s vocals sit comfortably at the back of the mix, soft but inviting - present but realised with a distinctly otherworldly energy. There’s a fine, organic feel to the recording - ambient surface noise shifts and warps between elements, and live FX pop and duck in and amongst instrument strikes giving the work a rolling, hypnotic feel. It’s a deep and fully realized piece of music - wonderfully three dimensional in its execution, and a striking homage to the artist’s wide frame of reference.

On his remix, legendary synthesizer enthusiast Legowelt draws for a characteristically sci-fi finish, in keeping with the best of celebrated output for Clone, L.I.E.S., Creme Organisation and nodding to the ALFOS, new-EBM and Tapan camps respectively. Maintaining the tempo of the original piece, but augmenting the work with a growling 'Reece' bassline and hazy lead synths, the Dutch producer carefully shifts Keshvara’s recording up a gear. Where "Creators of The Rain" began life as a grooving, hip-hop indebted piece of dance exotica, Danny Wolfers injects a darker yet euphoria sentiment, highlighting the dub elements with a delayed drum machine line and pushing the vocals back with a touch of reverb to give his glorious synth-work space to breathe. It’s a wonderful take on an already accomplished piece of music; respectful but inspired - and no doubt some of the hardware occultist’s finest work. 

TRACK LISTING

A1: Creators Of Rain (feat. Gío) 
B1. Creators Of Rain (Legowelt Remix) 

The anonymous producer, whose work has has already received online approval from legendary british IDM auteur Aphex Twin, offers up his debut album. Brainwaltzera’s debut LP “Poly-ana" follows quickly on the heels of the producer’s Aescoba EP - also released this year via FILM (Steve Reich/Terry Riley/Grandbrothers) Across thirteen tracks of both previously released material and fresh excursions into the artist’s world, Brainwaltzera explores sounds ranging from luscious, downtempo grooves and expertly reduced braindance cuts with nods to early 90’s experimental IDM to harder, more caustic outings - all bound together by a recurring theme of otherworldly ambience.

Taking its name from a variety of sources dear to the artist, including polyphonic analogue synthesizers and the Pollyanna Principle itself - a theory that suggests individuals recall pleasurable experience more acutely than displeasing ones - the title represents a meeting point in the artistic process between creative method and conceptual choices. Production techniques range from more traditional hardware synthesis to the incorporation of a modified dot matrix printer acting as a modulation source for MIDI parameters.

Sample sources include VHS material from the producer’s own childhood and ambient Bullet Train samples from an on-the-fly production session traveling from Tokyo to Kyoto. According to the enigmatic producer, memory and its fundamental role in the human experience is one of the central themes of the record. While the artist's own experiences shaped the sound of the record, there is no attempt to impose them on the listener through blatant exposition. This is also evident in the artwork, which provides an identity and bold referential outline but, much like a coloring book, leaves the colors, tones and shades to others. In the same vein, the concept suggests that particular stimuli such as sound or scent, can transport an individual back to a particular point in their life. Scent has long been identified as the most efficient agent for this phenomenon, providing perhaps the most visceral form of "braintravel".

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Who is it? We really don't know, and it doesn't really matter. We know what it sounds like and trust me, that is enough. Influenced by classic braindance as much as woozy twisted tape and 80's wavetable synths as much as powerful mono beasts. Unbelievable percussive patterns, woven through a finely created mesh of fizzing oscillators and resonant filters abound. If you like AFX, or anything on warp, or any music really... this one's for you.

TRACK LISTING

1: Kurrytee [MIDI_2_CV],
2: Smit,
3: Day Aft8r [the_greyz],
4: Poly_ana Summers [schoolyard Surph Beat],
5: Carniblurr.lane 6,
6: Mixolydian Transition 18,
7: Kurzweil Dame,
8: BouheD Trot,
9: [take1],
10: Triangulate Dither [night More Sleepy Version],
11: Frikandel [the End Bit],
12: Yamaha Hills [edit ∞],
13: Δlate Ηither [ma8ema8mati7s Afsxissor Nap Version]

Played by: Gregor Schwellenbach /Hauscka/ Daniel Brauer / Paul Frick / Erol Sarp / Lukas Vogel (Grandbrothers) John Kameel Farah.

After the widely noticed performance at the „Acht Brücken Festival 2016” at Cologne's Philharmonic Hall, Gregor Schwellenbach, Hauschka, Erol Sarp (of „Grandbrothers“), Daniel Brandt, Paul Frick (both of „Brandt Brauer Frick“) and John Kameel Farah will be releasing their interpretation of Steve Reich’s „Six Pianos” as a studio recording via FILM. The re-recording of this piece is an interpretation of Reich’s composition but still far more than just that – it is a modern approach to his idea behind it.

The basic idea came up at the beginning of the 70s at „The Baldwin Piano & Organ Company“ in New York. During a rehearsal phase Steve Reich spent in this very piano store, the idea emerged of writing a composition for all the grand pianos available to him at the company. By the time of the finished piece, the actual number of pianos had settled down to six, whereof „Six Pianos” developed in 1973.

On the occasion of his 80th birthday, the six pianists declare their love to Steve Reich and his composition with this release. Shaped by electronic club music as well as their classical education, they form „Six Pianos” in dignified modernity and top it off with today’s sound esthetics and technical recording possibilities.

What you will be hearing is not the recording from the „Kölner Philharmonie” (Cologne Philharmonics) but the ensemble play of six different grand pianos in six different locations, throughout Germany. Each pianist performed his part on his piano using his typical studio equipment and passed the recording over to the next one. Thus the six characteristic and individual timbres of the performers overlay to create the overall picture – „Six Pianos” the way it should be looked at in 2016.

„Pianists are soloists and lone warriors by nature”, as Gregor Schwellenbach once said. But the initiator not only won over solo artists to the greatest possible extent such as Hauschka or John Kameel Farah but also musicians from „Brandt Brauer Frick“ and „Grandbrothers“ as well as their ensemble partners: Jan Brauer mixed „Six Pianos” in the studio while Lukas Vogel provided delays for the b-side.

„Keyboard Study #1“ by Terry Riley is a worthy b-side opposed to Reich’s composition. The piece is kind of a building set of ever lengthening, repetitive patterns played against each other with the right and left hand displaced. The composition proposes various possible combinations for the performer to choose from and repeat at will. And what the performers have chosen proves Gregor Schwellenbach’s assumption: „Especially Terry Riley’s and Steve Reich’s music are open doors for pianists socialized by pop music and their audience.”