Pop Ambient 2010 - Kompakt

Review

Kompakt's Pop Ambient compilation series was first started in 2001, at a time when the 90s hype surrounding ambient music had already faded away somewhat. With a line-up of almost exclusively German artists, 'Pop Ambient 2001' managed to invigorate the genre by exploring Kompakt's classic themes of nature vs. technology and avant-garde vs. pop.

Once again Kompakt has assembled an all-star line-up, including genre-defining The Orb and Thomas Fehlmann, Kompakt masterminds Reinhard Voigt and Jürge Paape, and current dub(techno) hotshots Bvdub and Mikkel Metal.

The tracks on display mostly explore the tension between acoustic and synthetic sounds - plucked guitar strings and fragile piano notes are a recurring theme, and Wolfgang Voigt goes as far as using the traditional zither as a main instrument in his track 'Zither und Horn'. More outstanding efforts come from DJ Koze, whose 'Bodenweich' most closely resembles a melancholic pop song, and City Centre Offices artist Marsen Jules, whose great opening track 'The Sound Of One Lip Kissing' is a to the point exercise is contemplative arrangement.

All in all, Kompakt has put together a great anniversary edition for its influential series that should not be missed by any means.

Track Listing

01 Marsen Jules: "The Sound of One Lip Kissing"

02 Brock Van Wey/BVDUB: "Lest You Forget"

03 Triola: "Shildergasse"

04 Wolfgang Voigt: "Zither Und Horn"

05 Andrew Thomas: "Clouds Across Face"

06 The Orb: "Glen Coe"

07 Mikkel Metal: "Blue Items"

08 DJ Koze: "Bodenweich"

09 Jurgen Paape: "864M"

10 Dettinger: "Therefore"

11 Thomas Fehlmann: "In the Wind"

12 Popnoname: "Deutz Air"

13 Brock Van Wey/BVDUB: "Will You Know Where to Find Me"

Bill Brandt

Photographer

Bill Brandt was born in London in 1904. The family moved to Germany but Brandt, suffering from tuberculosis, attended a sanitarium in Switzerland. Leaving the hospital in 1929, Brandt went to France where he studied with the surrealist artist, Man Ray in Paris.

Brandt took up photography and his work first appeared in the Paris Magazine in 1930. During the Depression he returned to Britain and his photographs appeared in the Daily Chronicle. He also published books of photographs including The English at Home (1936) and A Night in London (1938).

During the Second World War Brandt recorded life during the Blitz and became one of the world's leading photojournalism. In 1948 he published The Camera in London.

After the war Brandt lost interest in documentary photography and developed his ideas on expressionism and surrealism. His photographs were often strangely lighted and were printed for high contrast with the elimination of middle tones. His subjects included nudes, landscape and seashores. Bill Brandt died in 1983.

Even Dwarfs Started Small - Auch Zwerge haben klein angefangen

1970

Werner Herzog

The inhabitants of an institution in a remote country rebel against their keepers. Their acts of rebellion are by turns humorous, boring and alarming. An allegory on the problematic nature of fully liberating the human spirit, as both commendable and disturbing elements of our nature come forward. The film shows how justifiable revolt may be empowering, but may also turn to chaos and depravity. The allegory is developed in part by the fact that the film is cast entirely with dwarfs. Written by djtet@conncoll.edu

Antonio Gaudi - 1985

Direced by Hiroshi Teshigahara

Released in 1985

Hiroshi Teshigahara's camera takes us over, under, around, and into buildings and a park designed by Antonio Gaudí (1852 - 1926), Catalan architect, ceramist, and sculptor. Teshigahara suggests the influence of Romanesque churches and monasteries on Gaudí and the influence of the caves and crags of Montserrat, close to Barcelona. Every line of Gaudí's seems curved, and no surface is without textures. With little narration, the film takes us through Casa Vicens, projects for the industrialist Güell (including the Crypt of the Colònia Güell and Park Güell), Casa Batlló, Casa Milà, and Barcelona's landmark, the unfinished Templo de La Sagrada Familia.

 Written by <jhailey@hotmail.com>  

Download Torrent - Size 2.61 GiB - mkv

Marcin Czubala & Catz N Dogz – Never Give It Up

Artist: Marcin Czubala

Title: Stay Close

Label: Mobilee Records

Cat#: MOBILEECD1201

Video By Audio Braille

(Taken from Fritz the Cat)

Track Listing

1 - Marcin Czubala – Stay Close : 5 15

2 - Marcin Czubala – Zoo Comunale (Lemos Remix) : 6 48

3 - Marcin Czubala & Catz N Dogz – Never Give It Up : 8 08

Tideland

2005

Terry Gilliam

A lonely girl gets trapped in an eerie fantasy world after her irresponsible parents die.

Conrad Schnitzler, Jorg Thomasius - 1992 - Tolling Toggle

Review

With his founding memberships in both Kluster and Tangerine Dream, Conrad Schnitzler requires little in the way of introduction. Here, he\’s collaborating with one of his frequent sparring partners from this period of his work, former DDR resident Jorg Thomasius, whose excellent Tomato LP is featured elsewhere on MS. This one\’s a follow-up on from my recent post of their three way split CD together with Propellor Island\’s Lars Stroschen and is a very fine example of this era of Schnitzler\’s explorations. Together, these two construct unsettling environments in which arctic blasts, dense electronic wedges and concatenating links of tintinnabulating clatter float and writhe over beds of moody minor key synth themes over eighteen episodes of unresolved tension, explored as an end in itself.

Track Listing

01 Lamentino 3:35 

02 Flangi 2:55 

03 Laborharmonie 4:30 

04 Fagofuck 3:10 

05 Rotari 3:24 

06 Im Strudel 2:15 

07 Cacopicci 3:00 

08 Geflugel 2:47 

09 Wechselstube 5:25 

10 Memo 3:26 

11 Hippopotamus 2:20 

12 Gazza 3:12 

13 Animato 2:25 

14 Tra 2:40 

15 Analer Aufstand 6:05 

16 Johu 2:25 

17 Trommel, Rotz & Geige 2:55 

18 Saki 3:20

Or

Jan Saudek

Photographer

Czech photographer. He studied at the School of Industrial Photography, Prague (1950-52). He worked as a reproduction photographer for various firms in Prague until 1980, when he became freelance. Saudek's Jewish origins meant that during the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia he was interned in a children's concentration camp with his twin brother, Karel. These terrifying experiences of early childhood were instrumental in shaping his photography. In his 'theatre of life', as he called his work, he focused on the basic relationships of members of the family. He depicted the problems of childhood and adolescence as tormenting phantoms, and his work seems a quest for love, liberty and emotional reassurance.