Album Review: Centralia - Mountains

I've followed Mountains since their first release through Thrill Jockey - Choral, their third album overall - and whilst their sound doesn't ever change massively every album feels like a treat to listen to.

Mountains are Koen Holtkamp and Brendon Anderegg and they specialise in making slow-cooked ambient soundscapes. I've probably said this before: ambient music makes me hate my ears a little bit. But when it is done well it can be truly special, and Mountains can generally be relied upon to get it right.

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Centralia - Mountains

To make this album Holtkamp and Anderegg focused on separating their acoustic and electronic instruments out, with each recorded separately. What this means is that their is no electronically manipulated sound based on acoustic sources. The result adds a little more of a human element to the Mountains sound, as the acoustic elements - the guitars, cello, organs and piano - all feel a little more exposed.

In places this combination is Mountains at their best. The desert-mirage soundscape of the closing minutes of 'Sand' - the cello rhythmically circling back into the music. The dreamy piano keys hidden behind the layers of electronic hum and gentle guitar on 'Indentical Ship'. The descent into nature's ambient noise on 'Tilt' and the contrasting electronic equivalent on 'Propeller'.

The pure electronic moments don't always work, a little clinical and with less perceptible change, but the album is tied together like a constantly changing iceberg, flipping as sounds are created and other melt away. Mountains remain a transcendent act within the ambient genre.

Centralia is released through Thrill Jockey on 21 January, available for pre-order on CD or LP from Amazon.co.uk [affiliate links]. Listen to and download 'Living Lens' via Soundcloud below:

Single Review: Hemingway - Piek feat. Samuel Fitch & Mianyo

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Piek

'Hemingway' is the result of a collaboration between Piek, 

Mianyo and vocalist Samuel Fitch. And it's just the sort of polished disco-house record to kick start your January.

Piek comes from Northern Spain and has released through Azari, Cray1, LabWorks, Inmotion and his own label Paulatine, which he runs with Uner and Baum. Hemingway comes out through Fiakun initially on vinyl, with the digital release following later in the month.

The single features two versions. The original boasts a thick, satisfyingly infectious bass line that's hard to ignore, layers of loose percussion and Fitch's slinky vocals. The combination of the hard, electronic square-wave bass and live, clattering drums create a deep, organic but still modern sounding record.

M.V.I.P. - that'll be Mathias Vogt and Ian Pooley - deliver the remix, and it's a more stripped back affair. There are nods to classic house in some of the big atmospheric sounds, whilst the track is given a tight techie edge. It still has a few of the disco flourishes but it's a much deeper cut and a strong complement to the a-side.

Hemingway is out today through Fiakun on 12" and 21 January as a digital release. Preview the release on Soundcloud below:

EP Review: A Crystal / A Diamond / An End / A Start - Phil McMinn

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A Crystal / A Diamond / An End / A Start - Phil McMinn

Phil McMinn's début EP, A Crystal / A Diamond / An End / A Start is exactly the sort of thing I want to hear right now. The reprieve to all the months of electronic music and well produced R&B and urban influenced dubstep. It's just a short collection of four beautiful and touching songs.

Opening up, in more ways than one, with 'Chase Horses Down', a naked and slowly contemplative song -  McMinn lays down his emotions bare and it sets the pace for the EP. McMinn takes folk music and blasts it into widescreen, creating a floating-in-space aesthetic without losing any of the honesty. 

The EP was born following a trip to Scotland that McMinn took with his father, where they drove to the Isle of Skye and across from there under the Cairngorms mountain range to the east coast of Scotland. The space and big skies are still almost just as audible here on these songs as they must have been then.

Phil's also been through a couple of band splits - Fell City Girl, who imploded after signing to SonyBMG in a move that saw their management become the A&R team responsible for signing the deal, leaving them untouchable as far as future management were considered. Following this he formed The Winchell Riots, who took a more independent route but ultimately ended up splitting up too.

Following the demise of his last band McMinn took a year off from music completely and it was only after the trip with his father that he was ready and able to make music again.

There are analogues to Bon Iver in McMinn's journey, and a similar sound of recovery at work in this music, whether on the backwards glances of 'That House You Built From The Wreckage' or the hopeful optimism of ’Lavender Hill'. The songs here are already strong, the vocals steady and production work capable of transcending the folk genre from which the music ultimately comes from.

A Crystal / A Diamond / An End / A Start is out now on Beard Museum. You can preview the EP via Bandcamp below and it's available on Amazon.co.uk as a download here [affiliate link].

Album Review: The Dread Of An Unknown Evil - KRTS

The title of KRTS' album might be one of my favourites of this year. It completely captures the sense and feeling of these sounds and yet you don't realise it until your ears are already enclosed and trapped by KRTS' sounds. It's a sense concern and uneasiness, building to paranoia. The Dread Of An Unknown Evil. Irrational fear, in other words.

On his debut album KRTS builds soundscapes based on the artists and styles that have influenced him. This is an album that takes the R&B and contemporary soul of The Weeknd and Frank Ocean and piles on more fear and alienation. It's an album that embraces silky vocals one minute and abstract electronic soundscapes the next.

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The Dread Of An Unknown Evil - KRTS

The album opens with 'Something New', a sonic security blanket to the aching vocals of guest star Jon Hairston. Finger clicks and steal drums create a a subtle yet complex background to Hairston's words. The music may shift uneasily beneath the weight of the content yet it comes up strong, an undeniably great start to any album. 'Fire' gradually beckons in the album's more instrumental moments with stark piano chords working in relay to build melodies with KRTS' synths.

It is KRTS' own mother Stevee Wellons however, appearing on 'Your Eyes', that marks out exactly how ambitious The Dread Of An Unknown Evil is. It is a dark, introspective and epic electronic ballad, both terrifying and uplifting.

The deep, dub influenced melodies of KRTS' debut album may come from the same place as Burial and and The Weeknd, but he takes the experimental production of the former and filters it through his New York palette. The result includes the more instantly emotional and obviously personal lyrics of the latter.

Regardless of the background to this album it's an achievement. For a debut album from a relatively unknown artist however it's more than that - it's staggering.

The Dread Of An Unknown Evil is out now through Project Mooncircle, available from Amazon.co.uk on LP or, for just £5.99, MP3 [affiliate links]. Check out the snippet preview via Soundcloud below:

Album Review: Stand Up Against Heart Crime - Stand Up Against Heart Crime

Stand Up Against Heart Crime are a new five piece now based in Barcelona and this new self-titled album is their debut. Stand Up Against Heart Crime truly is a stinker of a band name but thankfully this album makes up for such shortcomings elsewhere.

The sound of the band comes from a combination of several genres including post-punk, krautrock and new wave - something the band themselves have termed 'krautwave'. As a combination it's a relatively obvious one - these genres already relate to each other fairly directly - but layered together it is hard to deny it works. The album has a grey feel, flecked with sadness but some big catchy pop choruses coming from that new wave influence.

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Stand Up Against Heart Crime - Stand Up Against Heart Crime

The albums kicks off with the instrumental opener 'Birth', which really plays up the krautrock angle with rhythms built of rapid, snappy percussion, bass and guitar. It sets the tone and pace for the album. This is directly mirrored in the closing instrumental 'Pulsar', a similarly rhythmic but less steady and more frantic conclusion.

This is a relatively varied release and at 41-minutes it doesn't stick around enough to grow tired. 'Standing Outside' is a heavy, distorted track full of confusion and angst, the cacophonous, over-dubbed vocals creating the sense of a man at odds with himself. In stark contrast 'Welcome Party Sharks' is angular, applying spiky guitars to a building crescendo to make a wailing pop record.

The production and mixing suits the band's style, with each track playing with different elements of their sound. On 'Children' Josep Xortó's vocals are obscured and seem to come from the next room, increasing the sense of alienation the band are portraying. 'Am I Safe', featured below and available as a free download, is Stand Up Against Heart Crime's strongest pop moment, a soft, haunted song built around a big hook for the chorus.

Overall Stand Up Against Heart Crime have delivered an assured debut.

Stand Up Against Heart Crime is out now on Tape Music, available from Amazon.co.uk on MP3 [affiliate link]. Preview and download the tracks 'I Need No Sun' and 'Am I Safe?' below: