Previously seen here on Entity on the Vortex compilation and 7E Phalanx, and a resonant artist in the by now legendary Hymen stable. Within this album Subskan explores a highly imaginative world that brings to mind images of future cities and dark neon-lit passages. A big focus on story and enticing ephemeral analogue fragments make this an album that will have you returning to it.
Mastered by Frank Riggio, you can expect only the highest sound quality in this release.
You can support the artist by buying the 24BIT FLAC version on his Bandcamp.
The finest cloth for your eternal rave retirement home.
01 - Death Qualia - Janus 2 Janus
02 - Death Qualia - Blue of Cards
03 - Death Qualia - Pulsating Loan
04 - Death Qualia - You Are Black (Dead Information of the Solar Halt)
[NTT086] SUTTLEINMETA - PORTAL FORMATIONS FOR MYSTERY TRIBES
Suttleinmeta is a project from Bristol/UK based artist Jamie Sturrock. His album "Portal Formations For Mystery Tribes" conveys fusing cycles of evolving layers, subliminal ambiences and an appreciation for techno, noise and avant-garde electronic music.
This release sees Suttleinmeta excavate noise artefacts, riddled with rhythmicity, probed from cosmic perspectives, symbiotically linking the future and ancient past of percussive trance expressions. Brutality in alien forms, vortices and swathes of incomprehensible commune. Electronic beat constructions with organic, bio-diverse bassline architectures mesh through and punctuate this work.
Satanoid - an audio project by Finland's Sami Kekkonen - investigates the borders of what could be considered extreme sonic decimation.
Listening to his album Astronomical Disease, you will find out that, despite the seemingly persistent illusion that today's abundance of electronic music continually collides into a mode of endless reiteration, there is still room for refreshing experiments.
This magnificent slaughterhouse of relentless modular deconstruction easily obliterates any previously established notion of high BPM's and intelligent (de-)composition, while viscerally exploiting those quasi-aleatoric holes few humans are likely to have ever conceived of.
A masterful work that deserves your undivided attention, if like me, you crave for things that are entirely authentic.
In a dark corner in Krefeld (Germany) lives Kaschade, a producer of dark ambience and also avantgarde jazz, modern classical instrumentalist.
The Kaschade alias envelops Alexander's passion for music, creating live saxophone or piano atmospheres while employing a range of effects and synths to improvise in a sparse yet spacious, filmic environment.
Indeed, Performance might well be the soundtrack to an imaginary film, perhaps in the style of film noir or a collection of surreal scenes, as experimental soundeffects produce a constant string of plottwists while spiralling through a wide range of lasting impressions.
01 - Kaschade - Performance
02 - Kaschade - Dark Advance
03 - Kaschade - Doberman
04 - Kaschade - Wax Cellulite
05 - Kaschade - Philip K. Dick
06 - Kaschade - Clover Club
07 - Kaschade - Intermission
08 - Kaschade - Starfall Joint
09 - Kaschade - Graffiti Punk
10 - Kaschade - Winter Cake
11 - Kaschade - Suicide Pub
12 - Kaschade - Koala Soda
13 - Kaschade - Golden Balls
Once in a good while, something completely original, a thing that defies conventional genre itself, falls into our laps - making it a great pleasure to present to you Nestor Peixoto Aballe's latest outing as Aethereal Arthropod. "Hydra's Amaranthine Invigoration" will immerse you into a hyperverse of deeply evolved aural semantics.
A psychedelic journey through multi-layered rhythms, imposing a mindbending world of transcendental sound dynamics where micro and macro face off in epic juxtaposition.
There's a very real formula here, and it's one that only a handful of people could really read.
Its flawless execution however, will send you above and beyond.
As an antidote for the cold days, Anti-Narcose and Entity teamed up for this special co-release. Annwn - Dutch-born, Bangkok-based sounddesigner who also manages the Anti-Narcose semi-netlabel - intrudes your senses in the most beautiful of incoherent ways.
If you can stomach the radioactive remains of forgotten experimental sci-fi speedcore adventures, and maybe, just maybe if you have a good ear for abstract sounds and ingenious polymorphic structures, you are sure to appreciate the 5 tracks that we have prepared for you.
After another hiatus this futuristic space emission by LNNDL aka Alexandre Casademunt is beyond overdue. A perfect glitchy abstractcore setting for your everyday zoning sessions. Great sound design, perplexing atmospheres from start to finish. You just might want to check this out.
01 - Les Neiges Noires De Laponie - Obsession
02 - Les Neiges Noires De Laponie - Might
03 - Les Neiges Noires De Laponie - Kosmos Colony
04 - Les Neiges Noires De Laponie - Oxytropis
05 - Les Neiges Noires De Laponie - A Secret
Hailing from Tashkent/Uzbekistan is Orgatanatos, a duo of electronic wizards (Nikita Iksanov and Ilya Lyubkin) who offer a marvellous album that got perfected over the 4 years it has been in the making. Successfully combining ambient, glitch and idm forms, the tracklist on "Chrome Reflections" should have you properly mesmerized.
Using soothing tones and harmonics, a hint of atypical idm rhythms and lush abstract sound design ventures, this album does display a new perspective to aforementioned styles, as they are executed to perfection - all the time revealing Orgatanatos' unique audio vision.
Special thanks to Evgeny Vaschenko / v4w.enko for providing the excellent cover art!
Originating from within the Belgian borders, the name 6SISS - an alias taken on by Peter Adriaenssens - is rapidly making its way to a more international audience... and rightfully so. Having witnessed several of his live performances I think it's safe to say that 6SISS' music envelops a wide array of influences, ranging from intricate IDM, dub, techno and downtempo work to ominous and spacious sound scapes... but it's the consequent focus on handcrafted sounds that sets his works apart.
"In Pallid Nights" evokes a darker tale than previously heard material from this artist.
Perhaps not the type of stuff that gets dancefloors packed (something well represented within Peter's discography), but more of a cold escape into off-beat post-industrial dub scenery.
Dethrone Yourself is Fredrik Nilsson aka METEK's debut EP on Entity. In a single, 28 minutes long track, he explores those areas where the mind does not usually dare to tread.
A journey into ego-dissolution and disquieting places. Losing yourself to discover who or what you are.
Co-released with CyberCity, the latest Entity offspring which is curated by Kim Blomme aka Alien8.
Check out the site, get the compilation, and generally find your way to CyberCity.
¬[d] aka Darien Brito is an electroacoustic composer and audio/visual artist based in The Hague, Netherlands.
From the very start of this EP, it's obvious that Darien masters and executes a unique sonic vision to excellent detail.
Balancing personal expression with more universal soundscapes and peculiar hand-crafted noises, "Array of Detritus" is an honest, beautiful, dark and compelling place to reside.
On top of that, it got a sublime mastering treatment at Subvert Central Mastering.
Hailing from Poland, mister Marian Marianski brings us his version of a "Gravitational Lens", a deep-scope reflection on galaxy clusters far beyond our current reach.
Sonically dense and meticulously controlled, spacious atmospheres interweave with sharp glitches and sub-ranged feedback echoes. A subtle yet wide spectrum of sonic entities is revealed.
A welcome addition to the family.
Revelation describes a journey into the great void, peering into the deepest corners of mind,
while non-simultaneously gazing at the breathtaking scenery that our reality is fabricated of.
A collective vision of ambient space drones. The Void talking back to us.
Former Angstprod Netlabel curator Alexandre Casademunt dives into harsh sonic explosions with his latest LNNDL ep.
Quite possibly one of the only fitting soundtracks to today's supposed "end of the world", Thunder Ohm intends to submerge the listener in a forceful current of spacial bleeps and turbulent noise.
Interference is an exploratory descent into the darker, more mysterious corners of the mind by means of processed instrumentals, field recordings and synthetically generated ambience.
Like a puzzle, it incorporates fragments of recordings, such as the magnificent contrabass/flute improvisation by Ilia Saveliev and Bogdan Dullsky, Idle Sunder's "fieldscape" experiments, Cisfinitum's marvelous drones with enchanting vocals by Anzhel Hutopia, and more, *much* more!
Mixed together into a single 72 minute piece, this one should have you hooked until the end.
Cover art was created by Geoffrey Lillemon / Oculart.
Bogdan Dullsky - flute, electronics, field recordings
Evgeny Voronovsky - drones, loops, sound construction
Idle Sunder - electronics, field recordings, mixing / mastering
Ilia Saveliev - contrabass
Anzhel Hutopia - vocal noise
diFfuSed beats is a duo comprised of Ish Shehrawat (Delhi) and Konrad Bayer (Munich). They engage with sound as a philosophical and social reverberant and not just as an aesthetic object.
Sound is the main element in their works and they use it with an expressionist angle to reflect on the times we live in. diFfuSed beats draw an acoustic portrait of the imagined by means of
contemporary electro-acoustic music (field recordings, sampling, sequencing, cut-up etc.).
The works are composed out of field recordings, sounds, noise along with digital and analog synthesis.
It is by re-arranging, re-contextualizing and re-interpreting the sonic material an acoustic topography of the places and the hidden spaces that constitute the abstract experience emerges. 'A long way round' is their first EP which follows up the release of their first album called 'incidents and recollections' on Sound Reasons.
Tim Ballista (curator of the Abstract Reflexions netlabel) and Nick Nenov (known especially for his (audio-)visual gems, such as NTT063) collaborated on "Inherent Split" - a dark looming ambient ep that has its basis in SEM (Scanning Electron Microscope) imagery of blood cells.
Using an array of spectral transformation techniques, curious sound textures emerged, offering a unique perspective into the biological realm.
It's been too long since we've heard anything that could remotely resemble "Shibashi Todomen" (2004). Suffice it to say that Belgium-based Gommaar Delneste has not too often engaged in similar sonic activities in recent years. However, as one might imagine, plenty of unheard jewels were still left afloat on his HDD.
The idea of an "Archive" release seemed a more than appropriate manner for him to close a chapter, undoubtedly making way for what's yet to come.
Back in Japan, and this time we meet with programmer / sounddesigner Hideki Masatani aka Hazcauch! His Fitzhugh ep features 4 tracks that wage a battle between heavy electronic percussion, lush ambient scapes and raw, destructive glitch effects.
Vortex Engine is a set of 10 works of complex post-IDM that explores musical extremes: sparse/dense, random/ordered, dissonant/consonant, melodic/noise-driven, chaotic/grooved, ridiculous/sublime. The sensibility of post-Webernian Euro avant garde (Stockhausen, Xenakis, Boulez, et al) enfolded into the world of electronica. Vortex Engine is not easy-listening music. It is challenging, boundary-pushing, even at times disturbing.
But rachMiel is a performer and never loses sight of his goal to entertain his audience. Adventurous listeners -- especially those with a taste for the musically outré -- will find vast sonic pleasures in Vortex Engine, and perhaps even an entryway to new planes of musical consciousness.
For the 64th release, we'd like to present Takamitsu Endo's RYUKAU project.
"Selected Rooms" is an aural treat that breaks into the extremes of noisy and glitchy sound art, one of those things the Japanese seem to have a knack for. After all these years a release like this is long overdue on Entity. Play it loud and brace yourself!!
Huge thanks to Nick Nenov for providing another stunning piece of cover art.
Nick Nenov is responsible for this shortest, yet arguably most dense release in the history of Entity.
With Cosc, he proves a lot of positive things that you COULD experience by clicking on the Youtube link below. However I would urge you to NOT ruin it in advance, and download the high quality version so you can sit back and dive in with style.
An audiovisual masterpiece that pushes the borders of synchronized high definition organic visualisations.
Not only do I owe mister Jonathan Dean (aka NTT048's Otets Dekan) my sincerest apologies for making him wait over a year to finally put his deliciously organic sounding ep out to the public... I also need to thank him for letting me throw in a more recent bonus track for good measure. Floating Eye Syndrome is easily his most remarkable work to date and something that should easily please your ears for hours on end.
Takeshi Nakamura is back with his latest ep called "Music For 14 Years Old", and the result is quite an unexpected one, portraying a blend of cold electronic glitch as well as warmer influences that add a more accessible quality to his style.
Takeshi also injects some acoustic percussion and granulized voices into his reknown mix of finely processed bleep tones and other such noises, making all of this add up to a charmingly entrancing ep that will most likely have you returning to it.
Pack is a very fine tuned atmospheric minimal glitch collaboration by Ukrainian artists .at/on and v4w.enko.
This release also includes a number of audio visuals by v4w.enko and aiuto, which puts the music in the context of smooth colorful glitch designs, combining hardware sound with max/msp signal processing.
The result is a strangely effective, stunning collection of warm experimental glitch ambient that incites with minimum effort.
Idle Sunder and Bogdan Dullsky return once again, with the closing chapter of their Psygnosis series (give or take some anachronisms). Thewholething now spans over 2,5hours, and covers an extensive glimpse into some of the most bizarre and outworldly soundworlds. Not to be missed.
PlanetZoo - the braindeadchild of arguably mentally deranged composers Samuel Glazer (Zoogoo) and Anthony Colas (Planet Aldol) - was not so long ago destined to release on Entity and (thankfully) have yet again put everything aside to work on the continuation of what is already becoming a compendium of hyperrealistic yet surreal and psychedelic auditory sceneries.
This new incarnation brings a horrific tale of dark, virtual entities, bearing a story that will keep you puzzled as you relive each unpredictable moment, only to discover more of the dirty secrets that you hoped to be spared from.
Is this the work of madmen then, or is this a magnification of the statement that nothing is ever as obvious as it seems?
I'd recommend you to find it out for yourself, if you dare.
Antanas Jasenka is a longtime composer in the field of experimental electronica. After his Sonic Machine (NTT036), which got released on Entity 3 years ago, he has now put a new work at your disposal. The evolution in both sound and atmosphere is blatantly obvious, and i think it's fair to say that Antanas has really outdone himself this time.
"Metal Alloy" consists of 5 expansive tracks, each featuring exquisite sound design, while exhibiting a high degree of control and emotional depth. The bass tones in this one are incredibly smooth and soothing, the fine modulated ambience is sharp like metal, yet never overly intrusive. Highly recommended!
The third chapter in the Psygnosis series is bound to draw you in its glorious, surreal journey from start to finish. Bogdan Dullsky, who has worked with Idle Sunder on the whole Psygnosis trilogy has sent me an email about his views and experiences concerning the collaboration.
"Sharp dualism - opposition of spirit and matter"
Where are we? Between spirit and matter? I have stepped aboard the ship "Idle Sunder" to learn where we are... Anyway, I very much hoped for it. I was affably met by the captain and we have departed on this long trip named "Psygnosis".
Two years have passed... Now I understand... That it's not a children's game... Is it a sect? Perhaps ;)...
All who participates in the project is united through one purpose... To learn the truth tensely and steadfastly peering through "dim bottle glass"...
To learn the world through feelings (music)? It is sometimes sick, sometimes it ennobles.
If you have dared to listen to it, keep in mind... that while it possesses a lot of pleasure, it also carries a lot of tears... a lot of disappointments... And, of course, eternal High... One on all... It is dominant... It seems to me, that I have spent in it one thousand years... Also it is ready to spend eternity in.
We became brothers in arms, have removed masks, have thrown it out to hell.... This world does not see itself without these attributes.
Join, by our ship there are places... It'll only last for a short while.
"Immemorial quest between spirit and matter, eternal trip" is Psygnosis.
Hailing from Italy is Fabrizio Greco, aka Scene, who is a sound engineer and composer. Aside from working on his psytrance or multimedia projects, his Scene project is one that delves into ambient soundscaping.
For the short ep "Water Message", Scene has subtly implemented brainwave techniques (tuned to Theta frequencies) to add to the serene tones and relaxing drones.
A small gem with a lot of immersive potential.
Brainwave details: Water Message: Binaural freq 5 Hz. (30-25) Theta waves They: 5 and 15 Hz (30-25,30-15) Theta waves.
Something entirely novel comes from experimental and conceptual artist disastrato.
"Très Textual" is a collection of very diverse origins, being improvised, collected and recorded all over Europe over the past 9 years.
The staggering amount of psychological and cultural references in this release truly make it work on a level that you don't normally expect music to work. In fact, "Très Textual" is built from a unique informative perspective that doesn't take itself too seriously while presenting its internal message:
experimental music has a plethora of directions waiting to be stumbled upon.
A word of thanks goes out to Fredo Viola and Prügelknaben. Hello to Frank Zappa, Marcel Duchamp, Vincent Gallo, Nicole Kidman, Selvin, Nehir, some dogs in Treviso, a Dutch man, etc.
In a style somewhat reminiscent of the Acta release (NTT006, that's 2003), Fabrice Planquette (responsible for projects such as fp, elt.act, acta, a.s., ...) brings us one of his soundworks that has its origins in theater.
From director Yan Allegret's 60+ minutes play "La Plénitude des Cendres" comes fp's sonic distillation, leaving hints of the performance and an entirety of deep droning guitar noises.
Bromsgrove/UK brings us Steven Crompton, who has been producing as Barbarix for a considerable time, encompassing a multitude of electronic styles.
The rhythmic tracks on his first (!) ep contain some very subtle dub (greatly soothing underlying bass) and idm influences, while the more abstract scenes (such as the title track) present a dark world of supernatural impressions. All wrapped up with an ear for production and attention to detail.
A solid, filmic, impactful ep from someone who's been gaining attention on BBC Radio 1's Mary-Anne Hobbs show and Rob Booth's Electronic Explorations. Rightfully so.
With a strong focus on unique electronic sounddesign and structures, v/a - Vortex has turned into a solid collection of next level sonic wizardry.
All of the artists involved have dedicated an extremely respectable amount of time and effort to sculpt their submission until it was perfect.
Could it be possible that one reason for this has to do with the fact that v/a - Vortex was a compilation that simply needed to be made?
Let's do a quick rundown to get to know these wonderful artists:
* Hecq, German sounddesign professional with an admirable discography on labels such as Hymen, Bnkcrsh, ... * Otets Dekan, Zoogoo and brother Chlorophyll Fluxbunny, who collaborated intensely on their morphing re-assimilation monster, and who should be known from previous NTT releases. * Circuit Paralelle, aka Yann Hekate of the Italian "Hekate Soundsystem", in charge of Anarmonia and related promising labels and responsible for a completely alien glitchmorph fest. * Barbarix, a rising UK artist who could previously be heard on BBC's Mary Anne Hobbs and Electronic Explorations radio shows, and who's also preparing the next Entity release. * Sytrjv, another relatively unknown though very talented knobtweaker from Rome, delivering a complex onslaught of dark experimental rhythms. * Subskan, whose dark, mindcrashing electronics can assimilate any A.I. mutant from a distance, and who created some seriously awesome releases on respected labels such as Belgium's own Ambivalence Records and Mirex. * La Peste, head of the French Hangars Liquides label, coined the musical term "flashcore" and operates in his own personal sounddimension. * SDK, aka Sedarka, who will one day be like Kazumoto Endo, except better, as his Entity release so charmingly demonstrates. * Binray, who's merciless track got lifted from the cancelled Phalanx project "Hyperion", and who also brought you a mesmerizing free release in the past, as well as on labels such as ZOD and Ad Noiseam. * Xanopticon, micro tweaker deluxe, especially known for his insane livesets and ultra-detailed Liminal Space album on Hymen. * Inshizzo, a psytrance vs breakcore duo who rock the Moscow underground partyscene and run the Acidsamovar label, bringing us a speedcore influenced track. * Bogdan Dullsky, aka Quest.Room.Project, a sound project exploring the strange and the bizarre by superimposing the impossible, as with his outworldly Entity release "Room Number". * Atomhead, aka yours truly!
*epilepsy warning due to intense light flashing!!*
standard controls (can be modified):
arrow keys for movement "S" for special mode (when meter is full) "S"+downarrow to drop blocks instantly. "A"+arrows for drilling!
--------------------------------------
ABOUT TETROID 2012:
--------------------------------------
Tetroid 2012 is a game and electronic music compilation,
intended to promote "experimental" electronic music, by
means of an addictive catalyst.
The game was programmed by Carsten Waechter (aka Toxie
from the Apocalypse Inc demogroup). http://www.ainc.de
Each level in the game features music and sound effects
by artists that may or may not have appeared in the
Entity netlabel catalog.
The general art direction was orchestrated by Jan Robbe
(aka Erratic/Atomhead, Entity netlabel). http://www.entity.be
This software & music was done in our spare time and
you should have gotten it for free.. since we don't want
to make profit with this game you shouldn't have paid
anything for it!
Left/Right Move Block
Down Drop
Up / Joy0 Rotate Left (in Bonus mode: Jump)
'A' / Joy1 Rotate Right (in Bonus mode: Drill)
'S' / Joy2 Activate Special Mode (needs full Powerbar)
Drop+Special Instant Fast Drop
FMOD team => www.fmod.org
markus oberhumer/laszlo molnar => upx.sourceforge.net
delax^sdi .. hopper^tsq .. bugger^tsq .. frenetic ..
yoda^tsq .. jace^tbl .. venom^venomsoft .. neospark ..
mecflai^eska .. avalanche .. verschdl^never .. t$ ..
morten^never .. robocop^atl ..
all (ex-)ainc-members ..
all metalvotze-members ..
all artists who have done something for Entity and
especially Binray for hooking us up with the Ambling
Band ..
YOU for checking it out ..
and sorry to all we forgot ;)
mainly done in 2k5/2k6 and finally finished in
2k8 by toxie^ainc/voz and erratic^entity.
additional thanx to bitbreaker^voz for
providing the mr.piller gfx..
Samuel Glaser (Zoogoo), who's based in Florida, and Anthony Colas (Planet Aldol) from France have been putting their energy in an intense journey through organic spectra, while still encompassing a wide range of emotions.
Tapping into the subconscious by exposing the listener to a constantly morphing world of living organisms is something PlanetZoo has gotten especially good at.
The sparse instrumental passages contribute greatly to this album in a sense that they put a more emotional image to the stage. Overall this is a work that will reward repeated listening, as its complex and at times recursive structure becomes more clear over time.
Enclosed is Samuel Glaser's journal which should give you a closer look into his world.braindeadchild of arguably mentally deranged composers Samuel Glazer (Zoogoo) and Anthony Colas (Planet Aldol) - was not so long ago destined to release on Entity and (thankfully) have yet again put everything aside to work on the continuation of what is already becoming a compendium of hyperrealistic yet surreal and psychedelic auditory sceneries.
The anachronic thought-wilderness that descends from Jonathan Dean's imagination has taken on a polymorphic form of its own and was found disguising itself in what had to become the newest Entity release.
Let Otets Dekan's techno-organic automata clutch you with their slimey amorphous tentacles, drag you into their vomiting pits of acid and perform their insectile indoctrination ritual. I assure you that you won't regret it ;)
David Deschuyteneer (aka Ronny Ragtroll/Affective Disorder), a close friend and an exceptionally talented artist, excels in many forms of both graphical and sonic art.
With his "Greatest Clubhits From Beyond" he crawls back into the skin of Ronny Ragtroll, as he did a long time ago for his previous Entity release "[NTT012] Ronny Ragtroll - Smart Disable For All".
Rising from beyond space-time borders into a universe of chill, David might as well be rightfully marked as the inventor of space disco hop. Just give his work a listen and decide for yourself, as you fly along in a mercilessly entrancing masterpiece such as "The Thrill Is Back", or perhaps you could identify with a glance in his Beautiful Messy Room... with the risk of them being stuck in your head for days to come.
Takeshi Nakamura, who's been making quite the name for himself on various netlabels (Zymogen, Digital Biotope, Play-Code, ...), can certainly be relied upon should you be looking for avant-garde sonic investigations.
"Strange Animals" is made of curious harmonics that were meticulously assembled through what i would guess are alien Max/msp or Reaktor patches. The tracks' structures are at first hard to identify as most of the rhythms are quite unorthodox, until (in some cases) a more familiar rhythm manages to put ongoing sounds in a new perspective.
Other tracks show an equally glitchy approach to sounddesign and do not fail to present the listener with the most peculiar soundenvironments.
If anything this release is not easy-listening, but the execution of it all is interesting, original and entertaining. I for one will continue to watch mister Nakamura as he steadily continues his path towards glitchmastery.
Having worked closely with Bogdan Dullsky (Quest.Room.Project - see NTT043) on this 1st album of the Psygnosis trilogy, Idle Sunder has transcended the space drone boundaries they were once confined to, to visit a universe of remarkably visual minimal rhythms and manipulated instruments/recordings.
All of the tracks contain a great diversity in both sound and style, while retaining a quite conceptual atmosphere which holds ground in between existential and psychological ideas that are sure to be elaborated on throughout the remainder of this project.
A word of thanks goes out to all the people that have made a contribution in one form or another:
levinj, Suonho, djgriffin, NoiseCollector, Melack and Bram at Freesound for sound sources, Winne Clement for the flute in track 8 and once again ChristianJehle for the nice cover art.
After her first effort for Entity in 2004 ([NTT009] Elín - Impressions), Elín
Anna Steinarsdóttir is very welcome to return with some of her newer material.
In these 9 tracks we get to experience a concrete, dynamic environment that could've easily originated in some of Iceland's dense forests or parks.
Apparently, a dark fairytale unfolded at the time of recording, and there
must've been loads of those because "Undertones" covers the whole
synaesthetic approach by enabling a myriad of sound sources (percussion, found/recorded sounds, instruments, synthesizers, ...) to find common ground in an ever-expanding canvas of organic sonifications.
Bogdan Dullsky (Q.R.P.) explores with "Room Number" in great depth the borders of abstraction and absurdity. He renders a world consisting of the strangest harmonics, dancing around a variety of instruments (such as flute and bass guitar) which he plays very proficiently.
Skillfully designed sounds are excessively displayed and the sheer number of them alone will never leave you bored.
Count in the extraordinary artwork from Russian visual artist "Barandash" and you know you're heading towards a unique listening experience.
Germany's Siegmar Fricke has been active in the electronic scene since the 80's. Along the road he has been responsible for projects such as Efficient Refineries (together with Miguel A. Ruiz) and several collaborations with Italian sound artists Maurizio Bianchi and Giancarlo Toniutti.
The album NEUROMECANISMO combines dark organic ambiences, drones, minimalistic percussive impulses, metallic rhythm-dissections and pharmacoustic psychedelia. The aim was to open new territories in mindaltering audio-endoscopics.
Not only does Siegmar demonstrate a high degree of control over the atmosphere's crystal clear sound character, but he also succeeds in sustaining a compelling modulated flow.
When Idle Sunder's full length Aether I sequel engages, boundaries of physical reality are metamorphically translated into a sound that goes beyond words. The sources used in this work are again plucked from space observatory archives, bringing with them a mindstretching stream of rich sonic character and dream-eliciting immersive potential. Be ready when the void breaks open and the blinding light reaches out to your "inner sanctum".
Aether II is a very visual album which progresses gently into very submerging ambient scapes.
Many thanks to Chris of Shaperesort.com for providing us with an excerpt of his visionary artskills..
E.T.O. (which stands for Experimental Tea Orchestra) is an ensemble originating from Izhevsk, Russia. Using a myriad of Asian/ethnic sounding instruments, and subtly influencing the resulting entrancing soundscapes through the use of some more modern technology, they manage to breathe interesting new life into a musical genre that had arguably been executed to death. None of what you might have heard however captures the essence quite like ETO.
From the engaging "Sufik Sky" through the hypnotising "Lunadrive", "Winter Center" is a collection of highly qualitative tracks containing a healthy amount of experimentation, without ever leaving the original instrumental context.
The XE Phalanx collective mind project strikes again. This time around, the combined forces of 9 iridescent minds have conceived 40 minutes of unique melodic, emotionally charged textures, cunningly derived from a vast range of self-recorded instruments. As usual, the parts flow seamlessly into eachother, co-creating a fascinating electro-acoustic experience through an awe-inspiring spectrum of curious emotions.
Infinite thanks go out to all artists involved, and that includes Geoff Lillemon of Oculart fame (who is responsible for the perfect "Silhouette" coverart), i hope you all enjoy the final result!
[NTT037] DOTKRAZ VS IDLE SUNDER VS CASUAL COINCIDENCE - RUST
"Rust" uses mystified drones, scattered field recordings and some more synthetic methods to travel a fine line in between drama and resolution. The result targets your innermost feelings and generally sets out to invoke an enfolding path of personal liberation.
Many thanks to all Dotkràz, Idle Sunder and Casual Coincidence members for delivering the goods.
Antanas Jasenka is a Lithuanian composer and sound artist who has been active in a plethora of musical purposes for over 20 years. "Sonic Machine" is a work that expands his sonic research concerning the Man and the Machine. Antanas evokes a whole variety of different emotions through constant structural changes in sound and composition.
In this context he does not shy away from infusing his music with ambient, abstract, rhythmic, glitch and at times even powerful noise influences. The strange, outworldly harmonics that float throughout this album are infective in their own unique way.
Lots of views, details and musical concepts are combined in such an unusual, "experimental" way that it may take some adaptation at first, but that should certainly not stop you from discovering the intrinsic beauty in this work.
Many thanks to Giedre Brazyte for the nice cover design.
It's not the first time that Entity virtually dwells in the depths of Russia, and with good reason (CD-R, Cisfinitum, anyone?)! This Metro_NM release for instance, of which the first track was originally released on the Top-40.org netlabel, reminds us of the surreal scopes and depth that is seemingly prevalent in their experimental musical subculture.
Ingeniously switching between rhythmic, ambient, vocal and abstract passages, the title track is a sublime journey into Vladimir's almost poetic universe. The insane variety in this piece definitely warrants multiple rewarding listening sessions.
What follows are emotionally charged, less chaotic, beautifully crafted atmospheres that come very highly recommended as well. Must-hear.
From Barcelona comes Eduard Catafal Abril's project Autopsy Protocol, which was previously featured on the Lostfrog netlabel. In Umami he mixes violent extremes with a healthy dose of humor.
Elements of headsplicing industrial and hardcore are entangled in original b-movie and local village song samples.
The combination is very entertaining and shows a lot of compositional skill. Fans of Kurosawa/Miike style flicks should feel right at home in this ambiguous environment.
The included videoclip shows quite alarming footage from the mind's darker corners, while the accompanying track was made using an optical theremin connected to a kaosspad and guitar pedals.
Impressive stuff that proves the hardcore industrial era is not over yet.
Most welcome to the NTT catalogue is Bristol/UK's Binray, who delivers an intense melting pot of high standard electronic constructions. The tracks in "Cederoth Bloodstopper" blur the lines between sonic Lorenz attractors and freestyle alien beatings.
Its sound flows so naturally that it could only have come from Binray's self-invented sequencing methods, which appearantly offer an incredible degree of control. Not staking out in the chaotic beatfuckery area, some of the other, less beat oriented tracks (Reinvertebrate/Mondieuilpleut) suggest that we've only scratched the surface of this artist's awesome potential. Keep an eye out on this one!!
Since Nico indefinitely left Entity and music production altogether, a re-emergence of his music, containing released and unreleased tracks with various remixes, might as well serve as a tribute release for this Entity co-founder.
There's no question about the complexity in the ep: every nanosecond of sound was surgically put into place in order to maximize the impact of a dazzling rhythmic spectacle.
"Polymorphism" shows how inventive structures, raw power and/or subtlety, qualitative sounddesign and emotional depth are translated into soundwaves.
Indeed, this ep is everything Entity ever stood for.
Many thanks go out to some very talented remixers (Sedarka, Yvan Hinge, Ronny Ragtroll und Atomhead) for submitting their mindbending reinterpretations.
In Aether I, the Idle Sunder group sets out to disassemble the physical reality that we all reside in. They meticulously melt together the raw sonic textures of energetic information that determines our universe with a mystical sense of humanity, as to translate to us petty humans the holistic greatness of existence.
The album also contains the first Entity micro-release "Folding Light" (albeit in slightly different form), which perfectly fits into their universal picture. As the title suggests, Aether IIis already under construction, and will attempt to further deepen the concept of visual information/energy streams.
Enigmatic, very emotional drone album from Cisfinitum, who finishes in this way his surreal "0 vs 0", "Landschaft [NTT024]" and "Malgyl" trilogy. Awesome, heartily recommended work.
It's no surprise that SATKA and Sedarka (see NTT021) have a common musical history as both these artists seem to be investigating the outer fringes of dark and deep industrial/breakcore/noise fusions. SATKA's contribution to Entity turns your mind into a warzone of high energy obstructions.
Remnants of dislocated industrial rhythms continuously exterminate eachother as the tracks keep building towards higher momentum and sustaining climaxes.
The massive metallic constructions are guided by returning shards of ambience/fx which are in the same way skillfully placed and crafted.
"The Recombinant Sign" has a potential that lies beyond old routines and heard-to-death sequences, but please, don't take my word for it.
A bit closer to home (Belgium), Hans De Ley creates some very unusual abstract soundscapes, using only his voice and a seemingly limitless arsenal of DSP algorithms. The result is more than just a monotone array of singing chimpansees, and proves that the voice's range can outperform many a synth.
The immense spectrum of sounds accessed through this method clearly offers a lot of possibilities, which Hans puts to use without ever repeating himself. The 6 tracks in question are enormous continual soundtransformations which could not have been labelled better than "mouthscapes". A very unique direction that deserves to be further inspected.
ps and m__ - the two hard working individuals behind the stellar Enough Records and Con-v - joined forces to create an intelligent melting pot of various musique concrete styles, which pretty much reflects the quality of their own brainchilds.
In this unique cooperation they have constructed a polymorphic opus from just about any type of source material. It seems combinations of concrete vs electronic ambiences continue to find their way to Entity, and this one in specific sums the whole variety of approaches up in an extraordinary manner.
The mixture of mysterious ambient, glitch/errorism, shifting drones, detuned instruments, voice samples (and more) is fascinating and Dotkràz captures all of these perfectly in their nameless 4 track debut. Let's give them a warm welcome shall we?
Back to Russia, where Nikita Golyshev (CD-R) and Evgeny Novikov performed an impressive live session (13/03/05, Moscow), which formed the building blocks of this quite experimental album.
The unique approach of this duo allows for the most distant elements to be combined in something that sounds at times like a (sur)real environment, and at other times more like a guitar thrown in a trash compactor (if you've enjoyed NTT014 - Universumix, you realise that this isn't necessarily a bad thing).
The intruiging thing is that their music effortlessly jumps from laidback electric guitardrones and field recordings to distorted walls of dark processed noises, without affecting the overall coherence of the album. The real beauty in this work though lies in the fine use of some very elusive electronic processions and recordings which blend perfectly into their gloomy canvas.
While CD-R has always been somewhat of a peculiar brand of its own, this album proves that their ability to find new aspects in music is very much underestimated. So hopefully, you will be convinced in the same way.
In "The Calm of the Suns", Mathieu Ruhlmann (also known of labels such as Mystery Sea and S'Agita) gradually intrudes your perceptions using subtle and faintly recognisable recordings, while luring you into a dualistic mirage that's calm and haunting at the same time.
It shows that Mathieu has extensively dwelled on the borders of pure phonography, as his recordings are crystal clear, unnoticeably emerging and disappearing, inherently drawing attention away from itself.
In parallel, and perhaps distantly originating from the very occasional instrumental recordings ("Summerfall"), tonal drones form the foundational layers, providing a deeper harmonic additive and at times reaching a height in carefully crafted melodic textures ("Hares Honey Blood").
Whereas the beginning of this journey consists of more minimal elements, "The Calm" evolves towards a thicker and more pronounced ambience. This work requires several listens to hear just how nicely balanced the tracks are, and how well they fit into the whole. Rest assured you will discover new things every time.
Russian composers E. Voronovsky (music, synths, tapes, drones) and A. Tzarev (sound construction and digital editing) are responsible for our 24th release, which has been previously released as CDR on the Insofar Vapour Bulk catalog in 2000. Regardless we are very proud to make this material available to you, as its content is utterly timeless.
Landschaft is an epic work of deeply emotional/dramatic drones, carrying with them the Cisfinitum trademark which successfully combines electro-acoustic sources with a wide arsenal of Soviet analog effect processors. Eugeny Voronovski is also a professional violin player, which has undoubtedly contributed to the fact that "Landschaft" is nothing short of mindbending.
Expect more Cisfinitum in the future, but if you can't wait, you could always check out their other (highly recommended) releases on Waystyx and Drone Records.
Yannis Kyriakides, who is also the mind behind the electro-acoustically oriented "Unsounds" label, delivered us his full-length "Highly Coloured Places" album which was crafted with an astonishing soundquality.
The abundance of precision and refined techniques makes one wonder about the time it must have taken to put these lengthy tracks together.
Yannis travels a path in between electro-acoustic music and manipulated field recordings, allowing him a lot of artistic freedom. You will find him orchestrating beautiful and rather classical compositions, but the contrasts with abstract, sometimes rhythmical electronic influences truly bring the listening experience to a much higher potential.
The sound recordings which he has captured in numerous exotic places effectively invoke the settings of a kind of fantasy geography. Places that by all means you should come visit some time.
Many thanks to David (aka Affective Disorder/Ronny Ragtroll) for the nice artwork.
Fabrice Planquette (fp), who has released a lot of his fantastic stuff on Entity since its conception (as element.act, acta, a.s. and in most XE Phalanx projects) and quite recently also on Enough Records (fp - Traces), has returned with another great 13 track album!
His newest work is again an example of perfect production and a variety of contrasting styles.
Interestingly enough, "Fiuk & Csajok" stays remarkably coherent as exotic rhythms, infectious melody, field recordings and filmic passages constantly take your emotions for an unusually intuitive ride. It's obvious that Fabrice has been long enough in the game to have established a range of recognisable styles which he executes better every release. And we couldn't be more proud to unleash this multitalented artist upon the world over and over again.
Next up is Sedarka, soundconstructor extraordinaire from our very own Belgian soil. Having appeared on labels such as Divine Comedy and Mirex, at least some of you must have heard this phenomenon in action before.
If not, you're in for a nice surprise. The music of Sedarka is as unpredictable as it gets, tumbling from one cataclysmic collision into the next. Unidentified soundscapes support the countless arrhythmical bleeps and squeeks that sound like malfunctioning processing devices from the future.
Add to that the abrupt transitioning between alien moods and some very unorthodox beatprogramming, and you've got yourself a real delicacy of in your face synthetic experimentalism.
More Belgian soundcompilers - by the names of SATKA and Atomhead - add some extra turbulence through their remixes, which attempt to find a balance between intense abstract and beatdriven composition.
Beatwife is a unique collaboration between Mark Allan and Richard Wilson who tackle both live soundtweaking and visual performance on a technically highly-evolved level. Virtual Love Cell features fast and constantly morphing beats, accompanied by interesting atmospherics and vocal outbursts!
In terms of flow, it's quite amazing how their work - while edging so close to complete randomness - never ceases to entertain the listener. Chaotic, infectious and very energetic, there's no way around Beatwife.
Entity co-founder Kaebin Yield tossed in a remix too, finishing off in a similar though darker kind of relentless chaos.
And what better way to top off this 20th release with a really nice (divx) videoclip!
It's time for rhythm, and we're sure a lot of you will be delighted to hear that Ohio-based Scott Wehman (BLÆRG) has come to enlighten us with a very fresh sounding ep, packed with frantically broken beats and persuasive melodies of all kinds. In this ep he established a quite ambivalent style, in which he plays out cleverly used vocal or instrumental samples against unpredictable rhythmic assaults.
The result is something that will undoubtly leave not only a lot of breakcore fanatics yearning for more.
Our own staffmember Jan Robbe (Erratic/UndaCova) decided to release his albumlength of sonic adventures in space on Entity. His casual interest in the fields of astronomy and consciousness have driven him to the production of "Activation Fields". Expect a varied succession of short electronic experiments that will have you floating in between swirling abstract shapes and erratically changing landscapes.
21 tracks, which includes 4 original retakes by Affective Disorder, m__, Plagasul and Tirriddiliu.
Original artwork was made by Renascent for the track "Fe Advection" (www.audikt.com), and got photoshoptennissed by Erratic for the complete album.
Continuing Entity's recent exploration in darker realms, Italy's Tirriddiliu and Hackeronte have teamed up to bring us their musical version of Sophocles' classic tragedy, Electra. In three movements they successfully depict the intense atmospheres that surround this epic tale of murder, hatred and vengeance.
Elettra is an ep that will drag you into a vast world of detailed abstract ambiences and surprising, evolving scapes. A very skillful production that should not go unnoticed!
Michael Todd aka Transcendent Device (or Marspiter on labels as Somnambulant and Foreshadow) brings us 4 deep droning fragments of nightmares. Covering mainly the lower ends of the soundspectrum, he keeps things simple but precise. With sparse though effective reverberated melodies, meshed in what could be percieved as ritualistic chanting, Transcendent Device paints a dark minimalist landscape of interesting outworldly textures.
After being under construction for over 8 months, 8 artists from around the world have finally finished yet another XE Phalanx chapter, this time in a veritable David Lynch fashion.
Not only have they created a lengthy work (9 consecutive parts) that goes along quite well with the concept of "auditory movies", they have at the same time composed a soundtrack for it, and all this by using mainly self-recorded sounds as a source!
Everything was linked together like a chain of thoughts, which draws the listener to an uncomparable creative thinking experience. Much is left to the imagination, and the borders between real and surreal will fade by each listen. As a whole, "Revery" is destined to raise some eyebrows.
Enormous thanks go out to acta, Chango Feo, Ellende, Erratic,
Kaebin Yield, no Xivic, Plagasul and sig~int for all the hard work that they put into this, so please do an effort to check out their individual music as well because it is very much worth it!
In this release, you'll find Say My Lovehole (Sami Louhela/Ceniq) on the tapedeck and Hanga Gallon (Henkka Kyllönen/no Xivic) throwing an enormous diversity of samples at it. In a virtually random matter, they improvised "Universumix" on the spot - disregarding any common musical tendency. It resulted in what is arguably our most controversial release to date.
Expect something quite raw, hard to digest, maybe even a listening endurance test, but nonetheless also an interesting excursion into sound. You've been warned.
As this stuff seemed great sourcematerial for remixing purposes, we've asked EOF, Hackeronte, Tirriddiliu, ps and Erratic to bring us their personal reinterpretations, which turned out surprisingly unique and different.
Once again we are honoured with another one of Fabrice Planquette's projects. Having previously released on Entity as Element.Act and Acta (and multiple times as part of XE Phalanx), he's by far the most present artist on our label, and with good reason! The current project (A.S.) is the result of his collaborations with artists such as Repeater, Rym Hakiki, ***
and jsld.
After some audio sessions with those respective persons, Fabrice reconstructed the various recordings into the 4 great tracks that each seem to have their own distinct approach. His interesting use of voices and surprising samples, his feel for dramatization in relation to sounddesign and the unsurpassed soundquality make this artist one that shouldn't be taken for granted. Featuring artwork by Cecile Attagnant (who also did the designs for Element.Act and Acta).
And who do we have here? It's Ronny Ragtroll, who proves that there is something seriously
wrong with the drinking water in Belgium. David has been
roaming electronic genres from the beginning of his musical
journey, And this release will show you that strange things have
happened since his ambient collab with UndaCova on Autoplate
as "Affective Disorder".
4 tracks with addictive melodies and
complex beats, very interesting technical setups and a great
humoristic and determined feel make this ep an instant gratification
of the senses.
From Austin (TX) comes Chango Feo, who may already
be known to you through his highly acclaimed "Alaska" release on Hive Records. Not as new, but by no means
less intriguing, he offered us a collection of live recordings
that had never seen daylight, until now!
The first 3 tracks on this ep were taken from
the "San Francisco Sound" tv-show (July 2000), where
Lenny (guitar/sampler) was accompanied by friends such
as Jen Lilith (vocals) of Red Right Hand and XSX,
and BrYan GlosemeYer (sampler/bass) of Relapse Trigger.
The 2 following tracks were recorded at a show that he did
with a butoh group called "Flesh and Blood Mystery Theater" (San Francisco, March 2000).
In short, here's another 34 minutes of compelling mystery,
expressed through both ambient and rhythmic textures,
intense vocals and profound electronic manipulation.
Pandemia is a very occasional cooperation between Hackeronte (who recently released his first work for Nishi) and Erratic (Entity).
This time the occasion was the transit of Venus, which occurs June 8th 2004 (for the first time since 1882).
In an attempt to capture a fitting sonic environment for this event, 5 slowly progressing ambient tracks emerged in which glimpses of countless contrasting frequencies are coming to gently oscillate your brain with moving textures.
Elín Anna Steinarsdóttir (Reykjavík, Iceland) was introduced
to her father's analogue equipment at the early age of 6, and she quickly gained intuition for it. Raised in a family of
musicians, she was since then determined to continue
the age-old tradition.
In Impressions, her first public appearance, she brings tracks of abstract, unusual guitarexperiments, as well as persuasive minimal electronic sequences and tweaked recordings of everyday objects, acoustic instruments and environments. The result is a very detailed and interesting combination of
dark ambient and deep, catchy, improvisationally evolving rhythms.
XE Phalanx, a variable group of electronic musicians is back, this time featuring (alphabetically): element.act, Kaebin Yield,
Subskan, Tirriddiliu, UndaCova, vteb/DiE and Xanopticon. Whereas the first XE Phalanx release was based on freefloating abstractions, "Pulse" explores the world of complex rhythms and beatprogramming in an intense 14 minute odyssey that builds up slowly from innocent
spacey idm-like constructions to merciless experimental breakcore in 10 consecutive parts.
Thanks again to all the artists for their cooperation,
and especially to Squarepix for the remarkable artwork!
From Madrid we welcome m__, who offers us a very controlled 5-part
post-digital tweaking session that has a surprisingly wide variety of carefully timed minimalistic interactions, that are sometimes rhythmic, and always very ambient coated.
The many microscopic elements not only give it a strange organic feel, but they also allow this excursion to grow by the listen. With tone and texture hinting to interesting post-industrial landscapes, we gladly start 2004 with "Ilion".
After NTT002 - an 80 minutes long album called "..." by French mastermind element.act, you may have thought that you've seen the last of him for a while.Well forget that, there's more sides to this artist than you can imagine, and this release is another piece of the puzzle.
As "acta", in close collaboration with post-rock guitarist Pierre Fruchard (also present in groups such as "Innocent X" and "Tanger"), he has created 3 tracks with great emotional depth, while exploring different ways of working together. This ep starts from pure acoustic guitar and evolves with sampled film fragments and increasing electronic manipulation. In the end, acta will have either nullified or encouraged all your frustrations, depending on what kind of person you are. Both ways, this is music for reflection.
U.S. based Bret Truchan (d.compose) is an extremely talented experimental artist that shows how far dark electronics have evolved to this day. Detailed morphing soundtextures combined with a great sense of chaotic compositional subtlety bring the d.compose listening experience to a uniquely high level, as only fortunates that have heard his groundbreaking album "Seed" (out on Unmediated Productions) already know.
Seamlessly and most of the time unconsciously transforming from one obscure passage to the next, it is hard to keep up with d.compose's overwhelming mental projection, and in that way he doesn't only urge you to forget what just happened and enjoy the moment, but also to have you listening over and over again since this stuff hardly gets boring.
Next, none other than Exclipsect, who has already earned his respect as an artist in the rhythmic noise scene, took on one of d.compose's tunes and turned it into a hard industrial noise track.
To wrap it up, Duncan Avoid approached d.compose's soundsources through strange timbre shifts and infinitely self-combusting objects in abstract "Cybernetics" style.
Created as a solo project in '98 from the ashes of projects such as cLEAN and Synthetic Gods, ][en Michael (White Nois Stasis) articulates many styles, from ambient soundscaping to grinding ethereal industrial noize, and hybrids it with an atmosphere of madness, disgust, seclusion, and a glimmer of hope.
"The Garden of Unearthed Machines" is a thriving and addictive industrial oriented assemblage with the clean compelling rhythms and immersive atmospheric elements (such as piano, sitar and electric guitars) that make WNS stand out in the styles that have trademarked him over the last 3 years - through albums like "To Dismantle Insects" (abhnt) and "Corrosive" (Liquid Binary Recs).
7 unmissable tracks, including a windowshattering reinterpretation by UndaCova.
Serving as a soundtrack to Wim Bontjes' (deceased co-founder of the Ellende group) "Book of Illusion", Ellende's release on Entity is - much like their other netreleases (Ti Con Zero (No Type), Mini Madness (Fukkgod) and The Delegation From Nowhere (Tinnitus)) - a very thoughtful and conceptual piece of work which came to us in handmade mini-cdr packaging.
Both "Ten Years a Second" and "Sleepsoup" urge you their creeping catatonia, leaving your thoughts in between illusion and reality. Infinite drones come haunt you from all sides like a nightmare, bringing with them nearly uncontrastable layers of muffled recordings, detuned instruments and echoes from forgotten memories. Assembled at the Plantation (2003).
Element.Act doesn't only manage 2 electronica record labels (Optimum & Centrum) but is also an experienced musician himself. Every one of the 16 tracks on "..." has flawless production and oozes in originality, while staying true to intriguing structures with densely timbred percussion, beautifully contrasted melodies, and occasional repeating and unusually addictive vocal samples.
Combining the better aspects of both electronic and more traditional/orchestral sounding instruments, element.act seamlessly covers a wide range of emotions without ever losing his remarkable stylistic versatility.
Danny Kreutzfeldt, ps, Tirriddiliu, Kaebin Yield and UndaCova
put their heads together to make a stunning 21 minute abstract experimental piece by continuously passing tracks on to the next musician. The result is a very captivating listening experience and serves its right as the first ever of many more Entity Records releases.
