Interview and review | Words about Eyes to the Height
James Murray’s new album is getting excellent press coverage and feedback ; click on the links below to read reviews and the Interview given to Ron Schepper at Textura.
James Murray’s new album is getting excellent press coverage and feedback ; click on the links below to read reviews and the Interview given to Ron Schepper at Textura.
Dutch artist Martin Nonstatic, whose musical creations you may have discovered on the Granite album, the Remixes recently released or The Nebulae Live session talks about his composition process, inspiration, previous works and more with Johan Giglot from Da Music.
The Green Kingdom is Michael Cottone, based in Michigan. His compositions blur the line between soundscape and structure, utilizing a variety of processed acoustic and electronic sources, sampled textures and field recordings.
“With his latest album, Harbor, Cottone has refined his palette to create one of his most focused and charming albums to date. And for a guy who releases consistently strong material, that’s saying something.” – Brendan Moore | Fluid Radio
Many would argue that Roman Flugel has been making All The Right Noises for the best part of two decades. Certainly, the prolific German producer’s vast catalogue boasts way more hits than misses, with this latest full-length – his third for Dial – being amongst his strongest work to date.
After beginning with the slow burning, late night ambience of “Fantasy“, the former Alter Ego producer gently raises the tempo throughout, moving from the off-kilter, experimental techno hypnotism of “Dead Idols” and sparse, out-there dancefloor moodiness of “Warm & Dewy“, to the ghostly house shuffle of “All The Right Noises“, and John Carpenter-meets-Black Dog creepiness of “Planet Zorg“. Throughout, it’s hugely thoughtful and atmospheric.
Tri Repetae, the third album from Autechre finally made available again on vinyl, having been out of print on vinyl since 2001.
On reflection, Tri Repeate stands tall as one of the most out-there (and if you know what that means…) and boundary-pushing releases from Ae ever. Going back to the group’s roots as b-boy’s, Tri Repetaefeatures ten variations on street sounds from hip-hop and techno to industrial and jungle. Released at a time when producers were ripe with ideas for cosmic breakbeat experimentation, Tri Repetae mixed the glitchy twisted dynamics of EPs such as the criminal justice bill protest Anti and sculpted a long player that resembles some of the most ‘floor friendly’ Ae to ever grace a packed nightclub soundsystem.
The ten tracks pulled influence from previous outings, from the glacial Amber chug of Overand to the Incunabula acid of Leterel. But the overall sound is one of mixing influence from the avant-garde of Iannis Xenakis, Edgard Varese & Tod Dockstar with the mid 90’s post-hardcore sound of jungle. For anyone looking to get to grips with Ae but wanting something that bridges the gap between the early analogue escapism and the latter deconstructionist stance of elseq, Tri Repetae is the perfect point to dive into. Mixing elements of groups such as Coil at their most industrial, the austere techno of the Downwards crew and the cold yet funky electro of Man Parrish, they composed an album that still, twenty one years since its release, has one of the most singular sounds for anything resembling electro techno, and what other group can you think of who have you can say have ever managed that?
Expect a glitchy blend of granular electronica, deep dub techno, ambient, a double dash of floating atmospheres and a zest of breaks. Serve anytime !
Discover MARTIN NONSTATIC | Granite Remixes (Ultimae)
Discover MARTIN NONSTATIC | The Granite Pack (Ultimae)
Delicate rhythms, blurred atmospherics and crystalline melodies gleam and glisten on the many facets of this modern ambient gem. This is a considered, heartfelt collection of sonic poetry from one of electronica’s most unusual voices – entrusted and dedicated to ears and hearts in this world and beyond.
Available on CD & Digital formats.
Discover JAMES MURRAY | Eyes to the Height (Ultimae)
Discover JAMES MURRAY | Ghostwalk EP (vinyl) (Ultimae)
Discover JAMES MURRAY | The Ghost Pack (Ultimae)
The mix features three new original Avery productions including a track from Rote, a project with BleeDboss Volte-Face. It follows three years’ worth of studio experimentation in-between a life spent on the road touring the enormous success of debut record, Drone Logic, released in 2013 on Erol Alkan‘s wildly psychedelic Phantasy label.
With club culture again being attacked and many familiar nightlife institutions closing their doors, Avery is a strong proponent of its crucial role in society and remains encouraged by a current audience hungry for the new. “For me as a DJ it’s the most exciting time I’ve lived through in over twelve years of doing this,” he enthuses; “This is important to people; the noise from the world today is deafening. Looking out from the booth is a reminder that what we do together is worthwhile. This is worth fighting for.”
This DJ-Kicks album stands as a testament to the strength of the current state of affairs in underground electronic music, borne out of one of its most original talents.
This deep into the 21st century, it’s not easy to create ambient music that sounds vital and untainted by hackneyed tropes. Monadh succeeds in this difficult task, through a combination of his field recordings from the Pacific Northwest and meticulously chosen samples mostly lifted and pitch-shifted from library records of a pastoral and romantic bent. He also cites Andrew Pekler‘s Sentimental Favouritesand Biosphere‘s Shenzhou as inspirations. Right from the first track, “Ammophilia” you can feel your tensions dissolve as Monadh coaxes a gentle whirlpool of dark-blue drones with an undertow of poignant melody swirled into the mix with utmost subtlety. “Calanque” seems to be emerging from a fathomless cave, like a palliative gas, a calming ether. It’s the chillest of chillout cuts, inducing a peace beyond peace. And so it goes throughout Muara, with slight variations in intensities and moods, but overall maintaining a watery tonal float on which listeners can glide into mentally stimulating relaxation. By the time the final track “Convection” surfaces, you feel perfectly centered… for a change.
The original concept for Council Estate Electronics was for Justin K Broadrick (Godflesh, Jesu, Final, JK Flesh, Techno Aniamal, Pale Sketcher) and Diarmuid Dalton, via analog synths and electronics, to pay tribute to the synthesizer music they were influenced by in their youth : Tangerine Dream, Throbbing Gristle, Kraftwerk, Cluster, etc. Set to the imagery and geography of the council estate in Birmingham in which they were both raised; Shard End and the surrounding areas. Once the duo set to work on the music they found other influences seeping in – seventies dub like King Tubby, Scientist, etc and early dub techno founders Basic Channel, Maurizio, Chain Reaction label, etc, thus expanding the sound palette and the geographical environment that was to be the theme for the project.
The Arktika, launched in St Petersburg, is the first of a new class of ships known as Type LK-60YA, ordered by Russian state nuclear agency Rosatom (eventually there will be three vessels). Its task will be to smash a path through the ice of the Northern Sea Route. Raw power counts for a lot in icebreaking, and by bringing 80,000 hp (60 megawatts) to bear, Arktika will be able to break through floating ice almost ten feet thick. The icebreaker will lead convoys along a route that otherwise would be impassable.
Konstantinos Soublis and Subwax Bcn have decided to pick up the banner and release Vibrant Forms III as a CD as well as four individual 12” records under 2016.
It contains everything you could hope for and more: The massive, booming basses, the clicks and hisses, the atmospheric thunderstorms, the opium smoke-scented streaks of reverb and dub echoes. The warmth. Yes, above all else the warmth: Sometimes moist and dripping as in Safe Harbour, sometimes blisteringly dry as in Variant. It’s no easy task, giving cold, dead machines warm breaths. And no-one quite does it like Fluxion.
Featuring:
Liya | First stage appearance of our adorable Léa who joined the team
Pierre Paris
A.Silentio
Come early for an exclusive discovery of “Eyes to the Height“, James Murray’s new album.
As usual the entrance is free, we welcome donations, chocolate, champagne, good wine, good company and good food.
See you there!
We created a very special playlist with all records Ultimae ever released, that’s 685 tracks and 90 hours 27 minutes of Panoramic Music!
Also included the albums from Solar Fields, Carbon Based Lifeforms and SYNC24 now available on their respective labels.
Les Dominicains de Haute Alsace in Guebwiller have been a long standing Ultimae partner.
We started back in 2007 with the first Nuit Hypnotique in the old cloister’s nave.
Since that first collaboration, we created events, AES Dana has been an « Artist-in-Residence » to compose pieces for « Perimeters », « Le Jardin Magnétique », or more recently « Icebergs ».
Some of you know about them, their work, their passion, their delightful and out of this world venue in the north west of France, many don’t ; yet…And so we share with you this extra-ordinary video which shows and relates what goes on…With Lysistrata from Leylines as the soundtrack.
Enjoy, share and go see for yourself.
Watch the video
We are delighted to announce the release of « Eyes to the Height », British composer James Murray‘s full return to Ultimae Records, a tender and intimate ten chapter story reflecting the fragile beauty of life and loss, memory and function.
We welcome Cromlech Records in our shop with their first release Arc by Solemn Embrace.
Solemn Embrace is the side project of Arne Weinberg, whose main project Valanx focuses on dark, eerie and apocalyptic soundscapes and experimental drone music. Solemn Embrace still features a definite darkness but tends towards more experimental and colder electronic sounds.
Vladislav Isaev a.k.a. Scann-Tec created the soundtrack and sound effects for the virtual reality game “InMind 2” by Luden.io. Mastering of all audio was done by Ultimae Studio.
InMind 2 is an adventure game about a scientific journey inside the emotions chemistry of human brain. You’ll take part in the process of one teenager named John becoming an adult, and help shape John’s future self, while experiencing an exciting journey inside the human brain.
• InMind 2 Video Teaser
• Listen to the soundtrack from the game
• Play InMind 2 on Google Android
• Play InMind on Apple iOS platform
• Discover Unyt album from Scann-Tec (Ultimae)
This game also will be available on Steam platform very soon.
Sardinian hypnotic techno maestro Ness is back on his always reliable The Gods Planet imprint which he runs with partner in crime Claudio PRC. Served up on the A side is the tunnelling psychedelia of “Noumenon (Object)” which borders on near Mike Parker moments, while Noumenon (Aspect) will trance out any dancefloor with its strobing and atmospheric qualities. On the flip we have “Hybrid Discovery” which is undoubtedly the most stomping affair on here, with its gutsy kick supporting some droning and nefarious activity while “Disclosing” flipping the script via some broken beat mind games.
The sounds on this record were captured at various places throughout Europe, namely Morehall Dam, Broomhead Dam, and the strines in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, Park Poniatowskiego, Lódz, around Ulica Piotrkowska, Lódz, and at the Westom chemical plant, Tomaszów Mazowiecki.
“This is the one of the ambient styles I enjoy most, pastoral and organic sounding. Nice tones and textures, varies pacing, lots of nuances.” – Stationary Travels.
“Delicate interplay of musical sounds and manipulated field recordings” – Ambientblog.
Playing with total freedom from any predefined structure, Covarino/Incorvaia entered a studio in Granada, Spain, with just one rule – to play strictly live, not use any studio trickery such as overdubs or editing, and just see how the music would evolve. The result is an instrumental ambient-rock album that takes influences from artists such as Tortoise and The For Carnation.