What's it like John? I have two of his albums (Winter Music and the piano one he made in a church). I'm not crazy about his piano style but the pump organ he plays on Winter Music is sensational! He's a great friend of Peter Broderick too as you already know....They have recently collaborated on an album and it sounds good. The title keeps putting me off though (Oliveray!). It's a mix of their names....
On the venerable Nottingham Analogue. Only for the eclectic few :)
KTL 5 - Double vinyl with bonus 12" :) Only if bought direct from the label itself....
KTL – the collaborative unit made up of Editions Mego boss Peter Rehberg and Sunn O)))’s Stephen O’Malley – are to return with a new LP.
The new record will be titled V, continuing the trend set on 2009′s IV. The record, laid down at a range of studios across Europe over 2010-11, is set to be something of a departure for the pair. According to the press blurb, listeners can expect a “rich set of sound experiments far removed from harsh metal/noise blizzards of their early albums”. Moreover, the second track features a lush orchestral accompaniment, arranged by Icelandic composer Jóhann Jóhannsson and performed by the City Of Prague Philharmonic. V was recorded in some fairly illustrious studios: the list included Stockholm’s EMS, Paris’ Ina GRM, Bergen’s Tinitus and Prague’s Smecky.
V released now. Ordering swiftly is recommended – the first 300 orders will come bundled with a free 12″ of out-takes from the sessions. The track list is available to scrutinise below:
Tracklist:
1. Phill 1
2. Study A
3. Tony
4. Phill 2
5. Last Spring: A Prequel
Review:
It's been a long time in the making, but KTL's fifth slab of blackened wax is finally upon us, and what a treat it is. Peter Rehberg and Stephen O'Malley's grim collaboration may have begun as an ear-clawing take on the doom metal subgenre, but on 'V' the duo strip the metal from their deathly compositions. In fact much of the record was recorded at electronic music Meccas GRM (in Paris) and EMS (in Stockholm), so that should give you some idea of the direction we're taking here. While hardly a 'classical' record, the sounds on 'V' are rooted in the European minimalism of Eliane Radigue or even Gyorgy Ligeti, with Rehberg's distinctive electronic processes drifting further and further away from the choppy noise of his Pita days. Atonal, bass-laced string clusters scratch and squeal their way through the first half of the record sounding like a post-apocalyptic take on Kubrick's 'The Shining'. This is a darker, more punishing side of the lithium-addled noise of the duo's previous records, and what stuns the most is that it's done without resorting to obvious tropes. The album's stand-out is an unexpected collaboration with Johann Johannsson, who works wonders arranging 'Phill 2'; a roomy, stomach churning masterpiece which comes across as a demonic counterpoint to Gavin Bryars' comparatively Angelic 'Sinking of the Titanic'. Anyone out there with a vague interest in the darker realms of experimental music should grab this without delay - even those of you who were undecided on KTL's previous records, 'V' without a doubt is their crowning effort to date. Unmissable.
Last edited by cybot on Wed May 02, 2012 11:04 pm, edited 1 time in total.
What's it like John? I have two of his albums (Winter Music and the piano one he made in a church). I'm not crazy about his piano style but the pump organ he plays on Winter Music is sensational! He's a great friend of Peter Broderick too as you already know....They have recently collaborated on an album and it sounds good. The title keeps putting me off though (Oliveray!). It's a mix of their names....
Sorry Dermot for taking so long to respond..I like this alot..The recording is captured really well,seems to be microphones everywhere inside the piano,
so the whole Mechanics of the piano gets recorded in a strange but brilliant way,then adds a layer of room noise.One or two dodgy moments,but overall
Nils is a huge talent.
What's it like John? I have two of his albums (Winter Music and the piano one he made in a church). I'm not crazy about his piano style but the pump organ he plays on Winter Music is sensational! He's a great friend of Peter Broderick too as you already know....They have recently collaborated on an album and it sounds good. The title keeps putting me off though (Oliveray!). It's a mix of their names....
Sorry Dermot for taking so long to respond..I like this alot..The recording is captured really well,seems to be microphones everywhere inside the piano,
so the whole Mechanics of the piano gets recorded in a strange but brilliant way,then adds a layer of room noise.One or two dodgy moments,but overall
Nils is a huge talent.
No bother! Thanks for the summing up. Must have a proper listen later.....and you're right he is super talented. Don't tell him though ;)
Edit: I remember now why it's called Felt :)
Boomkat:
There's a very literal reason for the title of Nils Frahm's new album, Felt. He wanted to play the piano during the dead of night, without disturbing his neighbours, so he layed thick felt in front of its strings to muffle the sound. Rather than being frustrated, he unexpectedly found himself enchanted by this dampened sound, and it opened up new compositional as well as playing possibilities for his inquisitive mind. The resulting work is varied in style but it all has a close, confessional, nocturnal quality that's beautifully wrought and expertly recorded: from the Reich-a-like layered arpeggios of 'Keep' and 'More', to the wistful, jazz-tinted Glassisms of 'Familiar', there are plenty of grand harmonic gestures, but these are nicely
interspersed with, and balanced by, eerie ambiences like 'Pause' and 'Less'. Really lovely music for the arriving Autumn days, and recommended for fans of Machinefabriek, Isan and other masters of electro-acoustic sonorities.
