This CD was one of the albums of the year in The Wire (UK), 2003
Grooves (USA):
While Fennesz fans anxiously await Venice, his follow-up to the justly heralded Endless Summer, they can tide themselves over with this majestic recording of a February 9, 2003 performance at Shibuya Nest in Tokyo. While apparently some listeners have described it as "the greatest laptop live show in music history," music of this potency and textural richness hardly requires such hyperbole to argue in its favour. It begins with a churning, industrial haze of electronics and continues for forty-three raw minutes in a stream-like fashion. While snippets of Plus Forty Seven Degrees 56' 37" Minus Sixteen Degrees 51' 08", Endless Summer, and 'Codeine' (Fennesz's remix of the Ekkehard Ehlers and Stephan Mathieu track from the duo's superb Heroin) do surface, most appear briefly before being sucked back into the volcanic brew Fennesz concocts. Recognizable elements like the melancholy guitar strummings and vibes of Endless Summer and the organ of 'Codeine' are shredded by an astonishing and relentless array of processing treatments. Yet even when such effects are at their most extreme, Fennesz's unique sensibility ensures that melodic traces will be heard straining towards the surface. At the very moment when the sound threatens to become wholly engulfed by static and noise, the familiar strumming of an acoustic guitar breaks through to provide a stabilizing reference. Presumably he used a predetermined 'set list' to guide himself through the performance, but the feel is definitely organic with ideas unfolding in a natural manner. In conjuring this stunning set, Fennesz maintains a level of invention and intensity from beginning to end that is both exhausting and thrilling. The seeming ease with which he shapes these transitions into a cohesive, grand design is masterful. Conspicuous by its singularity is the brief interlude of silence near the end, after which Fennesz ends this remarkable set with the gorgeous 'Caecilia.' [Ron Schepper]
The Wire (UK):
Running parallel to his excursions on the international improvisors' circuit, Christian Fennesz is also developing a career as laptop abstractionist of choice for more orthodox musicians. First he turns up applying texture to David Sylvian's recent return to form, Blemish. Next, he's set to work with Sparklehorse, arguably one of the more openminded outfits to have emerged from the alt Country boom in the mid-90s. Listening to Fennesz's latest solo release, Live In Japan, it's easy to hear why he has become so popular. Essentially, he offers all the puzzles and adventures of experimental music, but with a more assimilable grasp of melody - and a prominent role for the guitar - than most of his Viennese contemporaries. Live in Japan is a new piece, around 40 minutes long, recorded at the Shibuya Nest, Tokyo, this February. The sound, though, will be familiar to fans of Endless Summer, his studio album from 2001: great fields of soft-edged static; rearing symphonic drones; fragments of balmy guitar melody; unsteady digital editing that, at odds with many of his contemporaries, enhances the aesthetic qualities of his music rather than sabotaging them. The last, especially, is critical to Fennesz's appeal. Rather than succumbing to the multiple disruptive possibilities of Improv, Live In Japan evolves serenely from an opening burst of granular noise towards bucolic resolution. As a result, it often recalls a canny update of the bliss-out chapter of avant rock - My Bloody Valentine circa "To Here Knows When", AR Kane, perhaps even The Cocteau Twins - as much as it does to more obvious contemporaries like Pluramon. The result is quite lovely, and oddly radical in the way Fennesz manipulates pop and rock classicism with affection rather than selfconsciousness. Of course, he's not averse to pranks, as the two Fenn O'Berg CDs with Jim O'Rourke and Peter Rehberg testify. But when he revisits the watery vibes and smudged harmonies of "Caecilia" from Endless Summer - which is more reminiscent of The Beach Boys than his cover of their "Don't Talk (Put Your Head On My Shoulder) - as an encore, what's most striking is the unashamed sentimentality which underpins it. The press release claims the show "has been praised by many as the greatest laptop live show in music history". That's a big call, but it's hard now to imagine one that could be more engaging. [John Mulvey]
Brainwashed (USA):
There are three kinds of human, as you call them. There are the poor doomed huddled masses who are yet to hear Fennesz, cowering in ignorance of the F-able; there are the enlightened who recognise him as a gloriously original experimental musician orbiting spheres way beyond mere progression; then there are total morons who probably waste their time listening to Britpap for lack of any clue whatsoever. The Austrian entity who has totally defined and redefined the interface between overgrown hedge cutting laptop mutation and pick'n'strum guitar beauty played for around forty-six minutes in Japan in the second month of this year. As the summer hit too hot to move, this CD fell into my lucky ol' player on the fifteenth and shimmered with utter perfection. If you didn't dig Endless Summer you are not worth a flick of my fag ash, and I don't even smoke. Chrissy F as his friends almost certainly never call him (I mean have you seen the guy? He looks so serious no one could call him Chrissy F, except maybe that utterly punchable dillweed who tries tosing for Blur) would doubtless not approve of such an irrelevant sentance with parentheses appearing in what is after all supposed to be some kind of description of his latest triumph. Hip Nips (the Jap chaps who clap quiet) hailed the master of cracklepops as the finest laptop performer they had witnessed. Reviewed, it seemed that this was the inevitable hype of the press release, but the disc is ample amplified evidence that this was one sweet shimmer burn of a unique event. Familiar fragments and refrains from Endless Summer are repositioned amongst ever more sundrenched light too bright. Fennesz has shifted his whole unmistakable shtick up a gear here, and made the magnificent Endless Summer seem like a mere rehearsal. If you are one of the enlightened then you know you need this. If you want to elevate beyond the bilge this is the disc to pick, yellow obi 'n' all. Bob Geldof has not been hailing this as the greatest thing he's heard since the Pistols, and Fennesz has never tried to feed the world. How can you tell them it's Xmas time when the summer is endless? - [Graeme Rowland]
City Pages (USA):
Like Falco, public health care, and Roberto Benigni's Pinocchio remake, the European phenomenon of the live PowerBook performance hasn't taken very well on American shores. Perhaps in these war-torn times, audiences need a little more shock-and-awe onstage than a guy sitting in front of a laptop can provide. Or maybe the new broken equipment craze that's propelling bands like Wolf Eyes and Nautical Almanac has made it uncool to buy pre-built, unmodified gear. Who knows? All I can say for sure is that at a recent house show here in Minneapolis, New York headliner Chuck Bettis spewed the kind of heart-thrilling noise Merzbow would kill for--and five minutes into his set, there was barely anyone left in the room to hear it. Sure, it was the crowd's loss. But perhaps those deserters afflicted with live-laptop bias should listen to Fennesz's new Live in Japan, which is the most compelling argument for them to shut the fuck up and listen that I've yet to hear. Austrian-based artist Christian Fennesz has already established himself as a preeminent computer musician, meticulously splicing shards of sound and processed guitar into the hazy future-pop of his classic Endless Summer. But where his albums are marked by precise editing and meticulously layered washes of fuzz, Live In Japan captures Fennesz in an improvisational mood, flitting through melodies with the kind of dynamic, turn-on-a-dime shifts that characterize the best that live improv can offer, laptop or otherwise. This shouldn't really be a surprise, since Fennesz regularly takes his PowerBook on the road for solo performances and collaborations with acts like Polwechsel and Fenn O'Berg. Even so, his performance here (presented as a single 43-minute track) is remarkable both in its scope and its consistency: Building up looped melodic phrases into a mass of sound, he then subsumes the whole thing with harsh screeches and crackles. Though the process may sound simple, it takes some skillful manipulation to simultaneously tug those heartstrings and poke them with tiny pins. Each of the several mini-narratives that arises within the set repeatedly pitches melody against noise, order against entropy. The grunting noise that opens the performance slowly unfolds into a pulsing wall of guitar. The hiss of reverberating tape-decayed synthesizers ply themselves against flickering sample-strobes at the 20-minute mark. And at my favorite point in the album, lush organ-drones and finger-picked guitar cap off the first part of the set, variously recalling Ry Cooder, My Bloody Valentine, and early Aphex Twin ambience. There's a marked playfulness throughout the set, as Fennesz drops in teaser samples from his early albums before twisting them into entirely new shapes: It's a knowing wink to the audience, followed by a stealthily concealed middle finger. Toward the last quarter of the record, Fennesz brings things to an emotional pitch, fades entirely to silence, and slowly works back into a splendidly noisy recap of Endless Summer's hauntingly catchy "Caecilia" before fading into quiet fields of pop and crackle. It's a heartbreaking ending that makes a damn good argument for the laptop's rightful place on center stage. And if Fennesz still can't convince the doubters, then it's probably time for the laser light show. [Nick Phillips]
Drowned in Sound (UK):
Christian Fennesz has been ploughing a lonely furrow for quite some time now. I say lonely only because of the stunning uniqueness of his work; while laptop musicians are now a dime a dozen, Fennesz' music transcends the usual pitfalls of such a genre, eschewing technical gimmickry in favour of a distinctly human approach to digital sound. When Fennesz uses a laptop, he does so not to show off his no doubt impressive collection of hardware, nor to create sounds that are deliberately, self-consciously, difficult or abrasive. Instead, he uses the micro-editing possibilites of his technology to expand the emotional pallette afforded him by more traditional instruments. On Fennesz' last original solo release, 2001's Endless Summer, he combined dense, manipulated digital static with calm washes of broken guitar and the occasional stab of warm, breathy organ; it's a fantastic record, certainly one of the best of the recent slew of laptop-based releases, and it achieves its greatness with nary a regular rhythm in sight. Live in Japan, however, goes some way to exceeding the emotionally sharp Endless Summer, protracting that records oscillations to a single, 45 minute ocean of sound. It's impossible to convey just how dense, how thick, this tangle of living, breathing sonic threads really is; in the space of a mere 20 seconds, Fennesz seems to reference Ambient, the radio music of John Cage, his contemporaries, while simultaneously creating a deep sense of space within the fizzes and the crackles. More than anything, Fennesz seems interested in the fallability of technology; his music explodes the innocuous digital sheen that micro-processing is often prone to, allowing error, disassembly, and the odd aural double take to permeate his set. It's quite easy, of course, to forget that this was all conjured during the space of one 45 minute live set in Toyko at the beginning of this year; not one electronic shudder has been tampered with since. It's an incredible achievement, a genuine plethora of sound, fury and fragility, by turns haunting and exultant. Fennesz seems determined to show us the ghost in the machine, and in the process he may well alter our perception of what "experimental" and "popular" music can be. Live In Japan is available by mail-order only at the Touch website.
Pitchfork (USA):
Rating: 8.5
David Berman tosses off an image in his poem "The New Idea" that hasbeen stuck in my head: "beauty blew a fuse." Pulled from the context of the poem, this line gets me thinking about things like Icarus flying too close to the sun or steel driving man John Henry pounding his way through that mountain to his death. It's a line about power, reach, and limitation. I read Berman's words and imagine an aesthetic experience as an electrical impulse carrying so much energy that somewhere, a breaker is tripped, natural limits are exceeded, destruction ensues, and the resulting jumble shows the opposing forces of, well, life. If I had to describe the music Christian Fennesz is making now with a single line, I could do worse than "the sound of beauty blowing a fuse." He started off with other goals. Early Fennesz wound a path through electronic abstraction and then rounded a curve around the time of the "Plays" single that led to his 2001 release Endless Summer. That record was a breakthrough that pointed the way toward a new fusion of guitar melody processed with the limitless textured noise made available via computer. Listening on the bus home from work today Endless Summer sounded even more pop than I remember; once again I was humming the title track, which is actually based on some pretty effective changes. I'm told that on his hard drive Fennesz has a version of his recording of "Don't Talk (Put Your Head on My Shoulder)" with Brian Wilson's vocals added on top; someone should write a vocal song to lay over "Endless Summer".
Live in Japan documents a single show recorded in February 2003, and it contains several chopped and processed segments of "Endless Summer", but Fennesz does a lot more here than just cue tracks. Bits of Plus Forty Seven Degrees 56' 37" Minus Sixteen Degrees 51' 08" stream past, there's a remix in there along with some scattered Endless Summer quotes, but Live in Japan is Fennesz in freeform mode, floating from one idea the next and finding the common core of energy in his varied approaches. You really could chart the emotional pitch of this set on a graph, as it begins in the middle, climbs to an early, intense peak, slopes down for some quiet contemplation before starting for another crest. The word "symphonic" comes to mind. Japanese label Headz is billing this particular performance as one of the greatest laptop shows of all time. I am not qualified to address that hyperbole, but I can say that Live in Japan is a very good Fennesz album regardless of how and where it was recorded.
Though the prettier aspects of Fennesz' sound appear with some regularity, Live in Japan generally leans toward noisier territory. It's a thick, heavy mix, and there always seem to be spikes of static bouncing against the floating organ chords and acoustic guitar picking. Fennesz has a way of teasing out unexpected sounds from his gear and creating unusual emotional effects. About 2/3 of the way through his set, he constructs a mountain of drone that sounds like the orchestral sweep of Sigur Ros fused with Merzbow, and then in the shadow of this monolith he inserts a plucked guitar processed to sound like a harpsichord, imparting an odd medieval quality that feels completely unplugged from time. That this towering and heroic mass slowly decays into the comparatively stark and desolate "Coedine," his remix of a track by Ekkehard Ehlers and Stephen Mathieu, is a testament to Fennesz' emotional reach. He wisely concludes his set on this high note and breaks for a moment before plugging back in and working noisier bits of "Endless Summer" back into an encore. Fennesz' approach with previous records has been to explore a small number of discrete sound ideas in each track and then assemble the varied results into an album. A lot of the fun of Live in Japan comes from hearing how he moves from one sequence into something completely different (surely time spent improvising as part of Fenn'o'berg was an influence here.) Live in Japan is mastered as one 45-minute track, and though I've never been crazy about this kind of listener coercion (first foisted upon the world with Prince's Lovesexy), it has forced me to
consider Fennesz' set as a whole. This record is a finely rendered laptop suite by a master of dynamics and pacing. There are (too?) many people making similar music on their laptops at this moment, but very few are as accomplished as Christian Fennesz. [Mark Richardson]
VITAL (The Netherlands):
Let's hope that Christian Fennesz doesn't need an introduction. Many of his works are landmarks in the world of laptopmusic, maybe with 'Endless Summer' being the biggest one of them all. Fennesz is also a person who plays live a lot and is among the best ones to improvise freely on his laptop. A live solo album was to be expected. Here it is. It was recorded in Japan, in February of this year and released on the Headz label (run by the same guy that did Meme some years ago, let's hope this label is somewhat better organised), of course with permission of Touch, the UK label to which Fennesz is exclusively signed to. The press blurb raves about the best laptop concert ever given. Maybe that is a bit too much, but I must agree we are dealing with not just a very good recording, but also with some great music. Guitar plays a major part in these recordings, with long passages of untreated guitar playing, to which Fennesz adds little bits of his special layerings of processed guitars. Fennesz has his own style of playing (and I mean laptop here), which is not really about cracks and clicks, but rather psychedelic patterns of sounds, fields, more or less aggressive drones, which are real-time filtered and collaged together. In the encore we even are offered a xylophone and Fennesz comes close to the Beach Boys here. Maybe not the best laptop CD ever made, but certainly for a live CD, one of the best around. (FdW)
Matiere Brut (France):
Christian Fennesz est de retour avec cette fois, non pas un album mais l'enregistrement complet d'un concert donné le 9 février 2003 à Shibuya Nest dans la ville de Tokyo. Fennesz a une rare aisance à improviser en live ce qui légitime grandement la sortie de ce disque, très emprunt de son album studio Endless Summer sorti en 2001 sur le label Mego. Les guitares "non ou peu traîtées", qui ne cachent pas leurs racines pop, jouent un rôle majeur ici, se reposant sur les fines couches superposées de drones et de clics digitaux manipulés en temps réels. Le tout est comme d'habitude finement mis en place, l'évolution du morceau faisant preuve d'une grande sensibilité. Bref, cet enregistement est une brillante démonstration des possibilités de la "musique laptop" en live. [Yann Hascoet]
Geiger (Denmark):
Christian Fennesz had his big artistic breakthrough in 2001 with the album Endless Summer. The release, that with an extreme fine touch for combining cut-up electronic elements, noise and accoustics, that set new standards for how laptop could be utilized, have since almost obtained something near classical status. Since the release, Fennesz has among other things taken advantage of his popularity, working with an amount of musicians within amost all genres. As from his involvement in the improv trio Fenn O'Berg, with Jim O'Rourke and Peter Rehberg, to AMM's Keith Rowe and at last participates Fennesz on David Sylvians latest album. According to the rumors, the latest cooperation should be with the american indie-group Sparklehorse. Lately Christian Fennesz has concentrated on finishing the follow-up for Endless Summer - Venice, as the album is called should, according to the rumors contain contributions from David Sylvian and is set for release later this year. Untill then, his growing audience would have to pass the time with this live-album, that has been recorded at his lates concert in Japan the 9th of February this year. In a way, the fact to release a live album, particulary with his already huge level of activity, can seem a bit like an idea, driven more from greediness than artistic will. On the other side, the music on the album actually shows something different. Live in Japan contains one long piece, that constantly supplies elements from pieces from earlier albums, as well as new material. In this way, space for a much more simple and less noisy version of the original accoustic-founded title piece from Endless Summer is given. In all, Fennesz has turned down the more aggressive part of his noise-layering, that has been replaced by as well noisy, but much more fluent background of tiny skips. The more fluent result is at the same time confirmed from that a much bigger part of the music are supported by either small accoustic melodies or wide blurry guitar-feedback layers. In spite that Fennesz few places gives away for small passages with white noise, is the atmosphere he creates on Live in Japan much more restrained and melodious than Endless Summer. The cd seems with it's greater simplicity immediately more easy-listening than one is used to - a fact that without doubt will give Fennesz even more listeners - but without artistical compromises are taken. His music works simply just great under these premisses. Live in Japan works, despite the fact that it is a live album, not just a cd with live-recordings of what Fennesz earlier has produced. On the contrary part the music here gets a much more fluent and organic touch, and the well-known tracks here get new blood with more improvised sequences. That Fennesz with the more improvised pieces gives the music a more free and floating touch, the music adds an extra dimension in relation to his studio albums. Live in Japan is in that way a really well done live album, that on the face of it can be compared with his studio album. Wheter it can bear to stand as an independent work, or if this is just a station between two great studio albums, will Fennesz's next album without doubt reveal. Untill then, Live in Japan will undoubtly give us plenty of vitamins for many listenings. [Translated by Jacob Kirkegaard]
Disquiet (USA):
Laptop Concert in a Tokyo Nest: At a club called Shibuya Nest in Tokyo, Japan, on February 9 of 2003, Christian Fennesz, who records under his last name, took the stage with his laptop and let loose three quarters of an hour of sublimation and noise. The event is now available as full-length CD, Live in Japan, from the Tokyo-based label Headz. Aside from one fadeout half an hour in, it's a single continuous piece of music - continuous, but not homogenous by any means. What is beautiful in a familiar way about the recording (the occasional spurts of guitar, the squawking of birdsong, various lyrical samples) is often muffled by layers of static and fuzz. And that static and fuzz, in turn, is often shaped into its own musical material - repeated, for example, until what sounds like interference becomes a riff; the experience is a bit like seeing enormous and threatening clouds overhead come to resemble faces and forms. (Throughout the record, various segments might be recognized by anyone who has heard Fennesz's previous Endless Summer and Field Recordings albums.) His music thrives on its proximity to chaos, which is what makes it sublime. In contrast with cathartic work that openly embraces chaos, his has the detailed beauty of a carefully produced song, though that song may take several listens to hear, and the production several listens more to appreciate. Almost seven minutes into Live in Japan (the disc contains one single track, 43 minutes in length), after a flurry of fuzz has settled down, an acoustic guitar surfaces tentatively to provide a distinct signal. The digital hubbub subsides, soothed like a pack of digital beasts, rabid robot scouts lured to the campfire by the promise of a lullaby. The hisses and crunches that had previously defined the recording seem to coalesce around the guitar, echoing or otherwise complementing the melody that's being plucked and strummed. There's an extent to which these fluctuations and irritants are welcome, since some of the guitar playing sounds like second-rate singer-songwriter mush. Twenty minutes or so in, as an electric guitar emerges, again it's downright enticing how peculiar particulate sounds - bleeps like terse foghorns, scintillate like amplified fireflies - mesh with the guitar. On first listening, the noise can be little more than a distraction. But Fennesz has the unique ability to suggest an interplay between what is foreground and what is background, and how those two merge into one thick moment is what makes Live in Japan worth sitting through repeatedly. So heat up some sake, dim the lights, and sink in. [Marc Weidenbaum]
XLR8R (USA):
(Belgium):
Hij was lang aangekondigd maar het bleef maar wachten op de nieuwe van Christian Fennesz. Eerst zou die in het voorjaar uitkomen, dan in het najaar en dan was er niks. Naar het schijnt is hij nu al in omloop en te beluisteren ergens op het internet en naar het schijnt is hij heel goed. Weten wij veel! Om de leemte op te vullen, was er dan toch die zeer succesvolle samenwerking met ene David Sylvian. Deze Japanse liveregistratie was ook niet mis. ‘Live In Japan’ klonk een stuk agressiever en pittiger dan de studioalbums, die voorafgingen, maar steeds melodieus. Fennesz op zijn best dus! [Peter Wullen]
The New York Times (USA):
Fennesz is an Austrian producer and guitarist who makes sublime, stately compositions out of hovering melodies and white noise. This disc gathers rare and unreleased music from the last seven years; there's plenty of variety here, but the mood of blissful tranquillity remains, even when Fennesz is manipulating jagged shards of sound. "Menthol" juxtaposes a deep, glimmering drone with little eruptions of static on the surface. And on "Codeine," the disc's final track, the sonic cobwebs part slightly, and you can make out the soothing sound of a guitar being strummed. [Kelefa Sanneh]
The Sound Projector (UK):
A very useful and desirable comp of diverse cuts by the Fennery fellow, some of which are hard to come by - covering a five year period (astonishing to think he's been around that long, eh?) this includes the Instrument EP in its totality, plus Christian's contributions to other compilations, film soundtracks, along with remixes and what are laughingly called 'special projects', plus an unreleased cut from the vaults called 'Good Man'. This is a long-overdue goodie and a real treat for fans. Despite the title of course there are no 'field recordings' by way of environmental documents made in the middle of a countryside meadow, but the conceit reminds us that although all flesh is as grass, Fennesz's work has not aged and still comes up smelling as fresh as a bale of new-mown hay. Jon Wozencroft's cover images of a tractor, wooden fence and field of crops does nothing to contradict this notion. After the exceptionally powerful opener 'Good Man', we have all four tracks from Instrument, a belter of a disc which I think was Fennesz's first record and one of the earliest MEGO 12" releases. Wow. It exhibits CF's sharp genius right upfront - everything we have since associated with him seems to have been in place from the start. Here it is in the raw, wild buzzsaw drones and crazy distorted guitar noise - only back then he used a fairly conventional drum track, an element which has since been ditched in favour of his far more unrestrained approach, free-flowing fields of arrhythmic free noise.
Well, so much for the first five cuts. The rest of the comp can seem a bit disparate and throwaway after that strong opening. 'Betrieb' is a remix version by Ekkehard Ehlers for a Mille Plateaux release of that name, and Ehlers performs a small miracle by softening the overall range of frequencies and making Fennesz sound positively romantic. Maybe not a major miracle; there's always been this altruistic side to CF (the nice guy out of the meanie Mego gang) and Ehlers somehow cultivates it electronically. Both 'Stairs' and 'Odessa' are soundtracks plucked from a movie called Blue Moon, the former a short episode with a glutinous, cloying atmosphere, the latter a subterranean exploration suggesting pearl divers in the ocean. 'Codeine' finds acoustic guitar joining the laptoppery confections - very pleasing effect indeed - mingling with that powerful distressed surface which CF has made all his own, like musical notes being blown away in a strong wind. 'Ivend00' is punchier, with a controlled explosion of nasty static splinters and other micro-blip events, all combined in the mosaic style, instead of with the usual broad well-charged electronic paintbrush.
For some reason this is one of the strongest Fennesz sets ever released - maybe he works best with short, single tracks, where he can pour everything he's got into one intense burst of layered energy. Live recordings, and the much vaunted Endless Summer are great things in their way, but even they can seem slightly dissipated and washed-out in comparison to this. Hear Fennesz at his muscular best on Field Recordings! [Ed Pinsent]
City Pages (USA):
Call it the Prince-Alone-in-His-Studio Syndrome: Electronic musicians, when confronted with a panel of shiny knobs, tend to spend more time twiddling with them than using them to actually express something. Sure, it takes a clever studio engineer to wire a mixer together so that it amplifies its own feedback into a bevy of screeches and hums. But, as Toshimaru Nakamura proved with his classic No-Input Mixing Board, it takes a true artist to sculpt said screeches into a gorgeous wash of primordial pulsations. Which explains why Austrian laptop mangler Christian Fennesz is such a precious commodity. Though his basic songwriting method (upsetting pop structures with woozy computer processing) has remained essentially unchanged over the course of three albums and countless collaborations, his music's emotional returns continue to build, culminating in the stunning melancholia of last year's Endless Summer and the surprisingly adroit tonal studies of his recent FatCat 12-inch. On his newest CD, which collects his earliest songs alongside later film scores and compilation contributions, Fennesz assembles a portrait of the artist as a young man that's also a blistering work of art in itself. Anyone who came to Fennesz's music through the Beach Boys-refracted lens of his Endless Summer is in for a surprise. In place of that album's meticulously fractured xylophones and synthesizers is a refreshingly epic take on My Bloody Valentine's wall-of-sound blast-off. The four songs collected here from Fennesz's long out-of-print 1995 EP Instrument layer dense, almost industrial guitars over hectic drumbeats, all to dizzying effect. But fans of Fennesz's later work can rest assured: The more recent selections from Field Recordings veer from glitched-out academic pop to minimal sound design to the almost bombastic film score for Andrea Maria Dusl's fairytale love story Blue Moon. Within these tracks is the blueprint for Fennesz's fragile, blunted lyricism. For instance, "Good Man," an unreleased song of unspecified age, is like a collision between academic sound design and tremulous pop. With a bed of soft pops and fizzes that gradually give way to waves of processed synthesizer and hissing guitars, the song shows its Iannis Xenakis-inspired experimentalism. And yet it still has an emotional tenor that could bring lesser men - like me - to tears.
Echoes (Germany):
Ah, Fennesz. Mag ich sehr gern. Schön, dass der wieder mal was von sich hören lässt. “Field Recordings 1995:2002" also. Mhm. Feines Cover-Artwork von Jon Wozencroft. Compilation, so wie's aussieht. Outtakes, Raritäten, die vergriffene “Instrument"-EP, Stücke von dem Film “Blue Moon", na ja, mal anhören. Mhm, ja, sehr fein. Gewohnte Kost, nix wirklich Neues. Aber was er macht, das kann er halt, der Chris, na ich werd' mal die obligaten 7.5 Punkte vergeben und ein paar Zeil... Moment! Was war DAS? Muss mal lauter drehen. Der letzte Track. ’Codeine'. Noch mal. Das ist ja... unglaublich. Unbeschreiblich. Großartig. Und noch mal. Ich muss mich hinlegen. Die Augen schließen. Genießen. Diese wunderbaren Akkordwechsel auf der Akustikgitarre, die so schwerelos zwischen den Nebelfetzen aus dem Powerbook driften, ruhig, entspannt und mit unendlich viel Raum, um sich auszubreiten. Wahnsinn. Ein tiefer, dunkelblauer Bergsee, inmitten einer hellgrünen Wiese über der sich die Morgennebel lichten. Sieben Minuten, die endlos so weitergehen könnten. Ein unbeschreiblich schönes Stück Musik. Wahrscheinlich das beste, das Fennesz je aufgenommen hat. Die akustische und die elektronische Kontinentalplatte driften aufeinander zu. Kollidieren. In dem Gebirge, das sich an der Bruchstelle aufzutürmen beginnt, ganz am Gipfel, sitzt im kalten, klaren Nachthimmel Christian Fennesz und hat Gitarre und Powerbook auf seinem Schoß. Der nächste Frühling kommt doch bestimmt, oder? [Tobias Bolt] 10.0 Punkte
Boomkat (Web):
As the title suggests 'Field Recordings 1995-2002' is a compliation of works from the austrian wunderkid Christian Fennesz and in a similar way to Hrvatski's 'Swarm and Dither' it succeeds by digging deep to bring you tracks of serious quality and unbelieavble rarity. Kicking of with the previously unissued 'Good Man'. A full on sonic blast which manages not to mangle the senses but rather envelop you in blue warmth and hidden melodic rushes. Then for the first time on CD media is Mego 004, Christian's 'Instrument' 12" from 1995 in it's full glory. Four parts from 'Instrument 1-4', '1' gives a injection of muffled techno amongst the forward drones and clipped guitar feedback noises. '2' adopts intense feedback before the calm is brought. '3' chops the intensity up while micro beats dance to a motorik jungle tempo. '4' adopts Phillip Jeck traits, crackle loops driven by a hardrive rather than a belt driven Dansette motor. Incredibly moving and haunting. Other tracks come from his appearances on Mille Plateaux, Ash International, Keith Hrvatski's RKK label and Orthlorng Musork via his incredible rework of Stephan Mathieu & Ekkehard Ehkers' 'Heroin'. Twelve tracks from a modern day master. Incredible.
ei (USA):
Christian Fennesz's music is a lesson in human-computer interaction. Playing acousticmusic through digital filters and processors, and getting it to sound emotional and rich, is something many laptoppers have tried to accomplish with very little remarkable success. WShen Fennesz dropped Endless Summer on Mego in 2001, an alarming buzz surrounded his name. The soulful cyborg digitally crooned his way through a miniature binary symphony, Pet Sounds fore the Y2K. Since Endless Summer, Fennesz has been collaborating with some of the finest metalmen around, with little new solo material. Enter Field Recordings 1995:2002, a hulking slab of Fennesz history in the form of tracks distilled down to a lucky thirteen, including "Instrument," his debut twelve-inch for Mego, remixes for Ekkehard Ehlers and Stephan Mathieu, some soundtracks, compilation fodder like "Menthol," from Clicks & Cuts 2, Mille Plateaux's magnum glitch opus. By far the most inspirational material comes from the four parts of "Instrument." Densely layered and richly textured, we see Fennesz all over the canvas: dance beats, noise loops, acoustics and electronics in every hue and flavor, freely flying from the hands of the young visionary. In 21 minutes, Fennesz destroys these 'fields' with diamond-sharp audio bling, loosing captor and victim at the same time to startling ends. On "Betrieb" and "Codeine," Fennesz is at his electroacoustic best, collaging the already-collaged tracks of Ellers [sic] and Mathieu. The balance of the recordings are fact-finding missions about the power and presenhce of noise. The findings? Droning static, clipped squelch rhythms, bursts of dub bass and upside-down melodies. Collections like this tend to be solipsistic and lopsided, but Field Recordings avoids both, mostly because every single track is torn directly from the reified flesh of the mutant computermensch himself, and he only has beauty to share. [Michael Bernstein]
Phosphor (The Netherlands):
"Field Recordings" brings together a range of material Christian Fennesz has contributed to compilations, special projects and film soundtracks (for the movie "Blue Moon") between the years 1995 and 2002. Also, for the first time on CD, it includes his debut 12' for Mego, the awesome "Instrument", remastered, and a new track recorded specially for this release, "Good Man". This is his first release since "Invisible Architecture 02", together with Mika Vainio) and a prelude to his next studio album, which will be released on Touch in January 2003. After "Hotel Paral.lel" (Mego), "Plus 47 degrees..." (Touch) and "Endless summer" (Mego), Fennesz is mentioned in a lot in reviews as a reference. This album makes clear why. A rich variety of styles has been presented here. Every track is progressive, well-balanced and beautiful mastered. The uptempo, almost danceable "Instrument 1", the more industrial and repetitive "Instrument 2", "Betrieb", a beautiful sensitive floating remix from a song by Ekkehard Ehlers and the Click & Cuts track "Menthol" with lots of reworked digital sounds and crisp fragments are just a few examples presented on one of the best albums released lately...
Flux (UK):
Austrian Christian Fennesz has become someone to reckon with on the international processed-sound scene, his rise parallelling that of the label, Mego, with which he is most associated. He is good because his work still sounds like music while being challenging, gritty and abstract. He began as a guitarist, and most of the pieces here still sound like guitar playing, though with many extra layers of distortion and repetition. Hear this and most rock music instantly becomes pointless. [Andi Chapple]
Muzik (UK):
Fennesz's computer-processed guitar music is like listening to The Stooges or Velvet Underground with the words, tunes and rhythm track removed. Which seems perverse unless you remember it's the sound of that music - the fuzz, feedback, roar and drone - that makes it so exciting, not just Iggy's ereliner or Lou Reed's barbed observations. Some of the earlier tracks here are rooted in techno, but by the time you get to 'Codeine' - a cunningly titled remix of Stephan Mathieu & Ekkehard Ehlers' 'Heroin' - you realise this is the future of rock 'n' roll. [Tom Mugridge] - (There is also a photo and interview in the Dec 2002 edition)
Other Music (USA):
While so many indie bands have been toiling endlessly to follow up My Bloody Valentine's "Loveless" LP and fail, Fennesz manages to do it seemingly by accident. Unlike other Fennesz releases, "Field Recordings" has a grittiness that allows us to actually seem to hear the hand stroke upon the guitar strings, but still ends up being totally inhuman. Wave upon wave build, break down and surge beyond expectation repeatedly. A one man Glenn Branca orchestra (see track three: "Instrument 3"). Chords and notes fall through the cloud wall in unnatural yet beautiful patterns. Remember at the end of MBV's set when Kevin Shields planted his guitar upright in the middle of the stage while it fed back an unbelievable, countless amount of hypnotic sound waves through the audience? This album is full of moments like that except it's way more sculpted. "Guitar bands" take heed -- better than Van Halen. Necessary music. [SM] ("Field Recordings" collects material created between 1995 and 2002 for compilations, soundtracks and special projects. Included is "Instrument," Fennesz's first 12" for Mego, plus a brand new track.)
The Wire (UK):
Review can be read here
Stylus (USA):
overheard by tobias c. van Veen
dear Christian Fennesz, (a love letter):
letters of tenderness to your particle caresses, to your subconscious synaesthesia that runs fingers down my spine. I realised I could only write you a love letter when, after licking my words, and readying those wounds (love bites from that fateful night I took you on the subway!), I could not come without your consent. You held me ready, and in waiting, your throbbing sound coursing through my body... Because here, you play your Instrument (remember that long lost night on the Rhine? when we sung in Italian to a wall of water?). Yes, that ancient-1995!-Mego 004 12", so desperately desired by so many, you have finally given it over, percussive swellings, staccato over your moaning guitar, processed through erotic warmth of laptop circuitry... it was just a breath of what was to come, wasn't it?
dear Fennesz, it's all about feeling. About feeling you and you feeling me. About sound playing a layering of so many parts, so many melodies in that noise, deep in rubbing textures, that the sonic itself thins itself out into feedback, hitting the repetition that draws blood from skin. Here, and like Nietzsche told me late one night through the whispers of Derrida, my whole body becomes an ear.
I think I've heard you, Fennesz. But I still don't understand you. That picture I keep of you on the mantlepiece, with your sunglasses and open white shirt, that night after we painted the tones in multicolours and your acidic smile turned sour-you're dangerous, Fennesz, and I love you for it. Even when the ocean rears its ugly hydra-head behind your back, even then your lovely fingers will keep plucking. "Fennesz is a composer of electronic music for electric guitar," I read in the Saturday morning papers. But you're so much more than that. You're mysterious. And they got it all wrong, anyways (they always do). They said that everything prior to Endless Summer was just philosophical treatises, and that Endless Summer was the poetic exploration...but it's really just the opposite, isn't it? Philosophy, philo sophia, has always been about love. With Endless Summer you just had to spell it out a bit more clearly for those still not getting it-that love can also involve being a little tied up.
I dreamt about us swimming in that processed ocean of echoes and feedback chambers, of sound so thick and warm that you could breath it in. And we do breath it in, don't we? Sound is air-waves, afterall, and with your compressed carbon copy close to my mouth I suck in all you have to offer. It's all there in the "Surf," when the delay closes in, like when you tumble in the white and get pounded down into the wash, body broken and huddled in the foreign water and then, propelled up and out, towards air, breathing the roaring of the ocean: you're alive I am alive you yell...and out for the next wave "rock" "electronic" – such silly terms, aren't they, as I hold you close-as we all do, out here, grabbing your sonic body and ripping it to shreds, carne vale, throwing of the flesh . I'm sorry, Fennesz, that it had to come out this way. And you are too, at the end, when you left for Stephen and Ehlers to make beautiful Musork. But we'll always have our memories of those days spent 'in the field,' those wonderful recordings from the hotel, and that unforgettable summer lost in the surf...
yours,
VITAL (The Netherlands):
About 20 years ago, the CD arrived. I never thought that so many of the obscurities of my vinyl collection would be on CD. Since I move houses too often, I am so delighted to get rid of my vinyl and replace them by CDs. So a collection of Fennesz is most welcome, even when one can get rid of one piece of vinyl after that... This collection has the famous 'Instrument' 12" - the first statement of Fennesz as a guitarist working with samplers and computers (after his initial career as a rock guitarist) and what a great relaunch of a career. Besides this we find a whole bunch of compilation tracks that might be hard to get or which are deleted (and in a most curious case, also one that will be released next year, his remix for Mathieu/Ehlers 'Heroin' project). It's interesting to see Fennesz work evolve over the years. 'Instrument' is still a fairly 'normal' piece of music, with rhythm machines and gliding drones. Compare that with 'Odessa' or 'Codeine' - pulsating drones in which electronics celebrate (with a guitar strum never far away). But in all it's aspects, Fennesz slightly fuzzy electronic sound, which is warm most of the time, the musical element is never far away. He never drowns in letting the plug ins wander freely, but limits himself to composing a small, yet definte composition. A rare quality not often seen among the glitchtoppers. Fennesz is still the best! (FdW
Brainwashed:
Kicking off with the previous unreleased track "Good Man", Christian treats us to a taste of what's to come: warm, earthy textures in the digital whirrs and purrs, handled with his usual careful composition. This is followed by the four pieces from the out-of-print "Instrument" 12", released by MEGO in 1995. Created using guitar-based sounds, these early tracks are marked by unusual juxtapositions of mood-switching from swift, controlled grittiness to bassy, dreamy, brittle washes. Among the tracks culled from various other compilations is "Menthol" from Mille Plateaux's 'Clicks and Cuts Vol. 2', which is slightly uninspiring, standand glitchy fare. This, however, is the only low point on 'Field Recordings'. Other standouts include "Surf" from the Ash International compilation 'Decay' with its epic walls of sound and Fennesz's remix of a Stephan Mathieu and Ekkehard Ehlers track from their collaboration 'Heroin'. Those hungry for a follow-up to Fennesz's acclaimed 2001 album 'Endless Summer' will have to wait a bit longer, but in the mean time, this compilation serves as an excellent appetizer. - [Jessica Tibbits]
(Belgium):
Op een korte termijn brak het laptop en -gitaarwerk van de Oostenrijker Christian Fennesz bij een groter publiek door. Zijn output centert zich rond de labels Mego en Touch. Het Britse Touch heeft de naam reflectief en 'serieus' met hun artiesten en uitgaven om te gaan en het bundelen van Fennesz' moeilijker te vinden materiaal ligt dan ook in die lijn. 'Field Recordings 1995-2002' is geen verzameling van veldopnames die Fennesz nog in de kast had liggen, maar een compilatie van werk dat eerder op andere bloemlezingen verscheen, remixes (voor ondermeer Stephan Mathieu en Ekkehard Ehlers) en composities voor (kort)films. Het werk steekt van wal met de eerste uitgave die de dertiger bij Mego in 1995 bracht: de uitverkochte single 'Instrument'. De vier versies werden aangelengd met 'Good Man', een werk dat Fennesz recentelijk met de geluidsbronnen van 'Instrument' componeerde. Hoewel de Oostenrijker over de laatste zeven jaar voornamelijk in de diepte evolueerde, valt het op dat hij vroeger meer naar ritme en repetitie zocht: 'Instrument 1 & 3' bevatten een uitgevaagde breakbeat en verwijzen naar de destijds boomende drum 'n' bassesthetiek. De overige tracks gaan volledig horizontaal en schilderen - zoals gebruikelijk - traag evoluerende kleurlandschappen waar bijtijds een melancholische kilte doorwaait. In januari 2003 verschijnt bij Touch een nieuwe soloplaat van Fennesz, ondertussen is hij ook vertegenwoordigd op de compilatie 'Star Switch On'. Daarop zijn veldopnames van de Britse geluidsman Chris Watson door een keur van populaire geluidskunstenaars onder wie Mika Vainio, Philip Jeck, Hazard en Biosphere onder handen genomen (de originelen werder eerder bij Touch als de albums 'Stepping into the Dark' en 'Outside the Circle of Fire' uitgebracht). Fennesz levert een nogal statische bijdrage: op enkele loops na lijken Watsons registraties van dierengeluiden nauwelijks behandelt. Wel erg intens is het werk van Vainio en dat van Jeck: met respectievelijk elektronica en vinylmanipulatie tillen ze het griezelige basismateriaal naar het niveau van driedimensionale, beklemmende en fascinerende luistertrip. [Ive Stevenheydens]
[trans:
%Array (UK):
Not field recordings per se, rather an attempt to cast the spotlight onto some of Fennesz' other, perhaps less well known, activities - particularly his remixes - and cast a backwards glance over several notable contributions to compilations that might otherwise have slipped beneath the radar. The reproduction of his critically acclaimed 'Instrument' EP (originally released on 12" vinyl on Mego in 1995) is reason alone to own this compilation. As if that weren't enough, Touch have generously drawn together a host of remixes and contributions to a number of compilations making 'Field Recordings' an indispensable release. 'Menthol', from 'Clicks & Cuts Vol. 2', shimmers and throbs in true Fennesz fashion - heat haze electronics, scattered tonal fragments suspended in molten glass. 'Betrieb', remixed from Ekkehard Ehlers' album of the same name, is four minutes of swirling chords, distended and set atop low end buzz. 'Surf', from Ash International's 1997 compilation 'Decay', a shuddering cascade of multi-timbral hiss unwinding slowly but surely... Fennesz' restrained electronics are the digital equivalences of Morton Feldman's gently-unfolding aural soundscapes or Mark Rothko's captivating canvasses. He resists the urge to over-produce, building careful compositions which are beautifully understated. His light touch, nuanced ebbs and flows, and distinctive voice unquestionably seductive. Closing with 'Codeine', his contribution to the remix/version album accompanying Stephan Mathieu and Ekkehard Ehlers' 'Heroin' re-release on Orthlorng Musork, is perfect. Musical narcotic you'd willingly become addicted to. [Chris Murphy]
also Field Recordings 1995:2002 appeared in the top 10 albums of the year in the folowing magazines:
humo 17.12.02 [belgian weekly tv mag]
The Wire - electronica section, Jan 2003 edition
%Array (UK):
Not field recordings per se, rather an attempt to cast the spotlight onto some of Fennesz' other, perhaps less well known, activities - particularly his remixes - and cast a backwards glance over several notable contributions to compilations that might otherwise have slipped beneath the radar. The reproduction of his critically acclaimed 'Instrument' EP (originally released on 12" vinyl on Mego in 1995) is reason alone to own this compilation. As if that weren't enough, Touch have generously drawn together a host of remixes and contributions to a number of compilations making 'Field Recordings' an indispensable release. 'Menthol', from 'Clicks & Cuts Vol. 2', shimmers and throbs in true Fennesz fashion - heat haze electronics, scattered tonal fragments suspended in molten glass. 'Betrieb', remixed from Ekkehard Ehlers' album of the same name, is four minutes of swirling chords, distended and set atop low end buzz. 'Surf', from Ash International's 1997 compilation 'Decay', a shuddering cascade of multi-timbral hiss unwinding slowly but surely... Fennesz' restrained electronics are the digital equivalences of Morton Feldman's gently-unfolding aural soundscapes or Mark Rothko's captivating canvasses. He resists the urge to over-produce, building careful compositions which are beautifully understated. His light touch, nuanced ebbs and flows, and distinctive voice unquestionably seductive. Closing with 'Codeine', his contribution to the remix/version album accompanying Stephan Mathieu and Ekkehard Ehlers' 'Heroin' re-release on Orthlorng Musork, is perfect. Musical narcotic you'd willingly become addicted to. [Chris Murphy]
Disquiet (USA):
Best of 2002:
Fragile as they are visceral, Christian Fennesz's compositions often sound like instrumental approximations of everyday noise filtered through a pop sensibility -- what seems like distant traffic could just as easily be a guitar symphony, and what seems like a distant industrial hum is more likely a precisely constructed experiment in rhythm and sound.
Tyden (Czech Republic):
can be read here
review can be read here
Side Line (Belgium):
First there's the funny cover of this album, showing a picture of an old tractor in the midst of a field. It more than probably represents the title of the album by Christian Fennesz. His "Field Recordings" are a selection of contributions to compilations, special projects, film soundtracks, his debut 12" and a few previously unreleased tracks. Diving into the universe of Fennesz is like a trip through diversified ambient impressions. The opening cuts are real attention grabbers for showing an elaborated writing process in the ambient style! He recovers his textures with a wealth of sound, adding several industrial ideas to the whole work! The "Instrument 1" and "Instrument 3" pieces are both real pearls! It's a while ago that an extreme form of ambient has caught my attention that much. Especially the 2nd cut is remarkable for the cold and sterile atmosphere that has been reinforced with a sort of space bleeps! I just regret that the entire album doesn't sound the same direction! Fennesz also experiences with acoustic guitar soundscapes, opening a door to pure experimental form! I realize that the main part of his oeuvre comes closer to the real soundtrack composition, but I can only hope that this artist will ever create a pure opus in the style of of the debut songs! Anyway, a worth to listen! (DP:6/7)DP.
Dusted (USA):
Blitz (Portugal):
In "Field Recordings" there is a game of ironies which is not circumscribed to the relationship of the CD title and its cover. Contrary to what one is led to think, the album is not made up of field recordings, but rather of a compilation of Fennesz's studio works. It comprises a period between 1995 and 2002, and includes tracks previously scattered, namely remixes, new versions and themes only available on compilations or vynil. However, despite such disparate origins, despite the wide time length, there is a link between the tracks which confirms Fennesz's aesthetic coherence. On the other hand, the intrinsic quality of each track reaffirms Fennesz as one of contemporary electronics' most interesting exponents. But this edition is, foremost, a perfect opportunity to deconstruct his method. It hits stridently, it dissecates coldly, it performs autopsies on the borderline of maximum voltage. the parisitism that sustains the endemic systems reveals its granular progression, it offers itself in calculated corrosion. It's the noisiest side of Fennesz, the one in which acidity acts more explicitely upon the melodic surfaces. "Field Recordings" resists against any ambient context, it slowly thunders its back against tranquility. It is an album that which opens space with hypnotic precision, absorbs the air in a crawling progression. The idyllic cover is, therefore, misleading. But that is part of the game of ironires - this one is simply one more. (8/10) [trans. Heitor Alvelos]
nthposition (web):
Having made a considerable splash with last year's 'Endless Summer', Fennesz has gone back through his catalogue and put together this compilation of small projects from the last seven years. Much of the material here is similar in feel to 'Endless' - powerbook click and cut combined with guitar producing curiously pastoral drone-based soundscapes. Given this kind of palette, it is easy for musicians to become complacent and just loop a few samples, sit back and let the laptop make the running. Christian Fennesz is not one for the easy option, however; every piece here is carefully thought out and structured, giving even the simplest-seeming drone an absorbing structural complexity. Pieces included here range from the ragged roar of Name with no Horse, an energetic deconstruction of America's Horse With No Name, to two tracks from the soundtrack of the film 'Blue Moon, Stairs' and 'Odessa', which quiver with low-key microtonal subtlety. Here, in its entirety, is Fennesz's first 12" single, Instrument - four tracks, Instrument 1-4 which first appeared in '97. Going back to the roots of the Fennesz sound, some of the inspirations for his music become clearer, with Instrument 2 having strong overtones of Cabaret Voltaire circa 'Red Mecca'. The CD opens with the one entirely new track here, Good Man, which takes a simple guitar piece and pulls it apart like one of those exploded diagrams of aircraft etc that used to front The Eagle, abstracting the elements into buzzes, clicks and hums. The whole album is consistently strong, with curiously tuneful elements emerging from the drone and rumble that makes up the core of these pieces. Fennesz is proving himself to be a subtle worker within the limited paramaters he sets himself for his work. He shows confidence, dedication and an impressive imagination, The music that results is curiously beautiful in a way one would not expect, given the source material. This is also much stronger than one usually expects from a stop-gap archive-trawling album and has thoroughly whetted my appetite for Fennesz's next proper album, due in early 2003. [Ian Simmons]
super45 (Peru):
Sin pecar de fanatismo, hay que decir que Field recordings es lo que cualquier artista o banda requiere para enfrentarse a un nuevo público: una compilación de trabajos para películas, remixes y el hoy descatalogado EP de 1995, Instrument. El disco se abre con la genial e inédita ‘Good man’ en la que Christian Fennesz demuestra lo grandioso que resulta el ruidismo con toques melódicos y tintes sonoros guitarrescos. Quizás sea la gema del disco junto con lo que viene a continuación: el hoy buscadísimo Instrument EP que en este compilatorio aparece en su totalidad. La primera parte del disco acaba con Instrument 4, que debe mucho a Brian Eno por sus ambientes y sus teclados. La segunda parte empieza con la genial 'Betrieb', tema de un ruidismo y paisajes sonoros puros con toques finales similares a latidos; en 'Menthol', extraído del compilado Clicks and cuts vol. 2 (para el mismo sello), se aprecia la complejidad del sonido del vienés. 'Surf' remite a sonidos casi shoegazing, mezclados con la ambientación, ruidos y la música progresiva alemana de décadas atrás – krautrock, que le dicen. 'Stairs', 'Odessa'(de la película Blue Moon del 2002) e 'Ivendoo' son ambientaciones de minuto y medio. Los dos minutos de guitarra y ruidos a los Merzbow de 'Name with no horse' casi se acercan a la versión original de America. El disco acaba con otro buen tema: 'Codeine', el remix para Heroin de E Ehlers y Stephan Mathieu, con los ya conocidos sonidos electro-acústicos de guitarras acopladas a sonidos paisajistas. Field recordings rescata para el "gran público" una excelente parte del catálogo de Fennesz que, de otro modo, habría sido patrimonio exclusivo de los coleccionistas. Más que recomendable. [Reynaldo Gonzales Ágreda]
and a review from Turkey can be read here
fakejazz.com:
SETTING: It is New Years Eve and I am having dinner at a friends apartment.
PARTICIPANTS: Me, Pete Spynda, Ken Camden, Paul Groper, Ang Gagnon, Christie Gagnon, Portobello Mushrooms, Salad, Water, Vegetable Pie, Chocolate Chip Cookies
STORY: Dinner is about to begin when I suggest that we should put on the new Fennesz CD. I had already told Ken and Pete how much I liked it so it was agreed upon that Fennesz would be our dinner music. I turned the CD on and sat down at the table. I began by pouring myself a glass of water. The music begins with a quiet, rolling, scraping sound, smooth distorted tonal patterns begin to evolve slowly under the rolling. I pass Ang a mushroom and take one for myself. Pete comments on the progression, something to the extent of "I like this, it really pushes forward without really going anywhere." He passes me the vegetable pie. I can see that Christie is beginning to look anxious. Ken comforts her with his hand on her shoulder. The music continues to grow, raising frequencies and constantly enveloping itself sometimes being interrupted by electronic glitches. Paul comments on the fact that my glass of water is beginning to shake. The progression continues building in intensity. Time begins to slow down for me. I am completely lost in the sound. Pete begins to choke on a piece of vegetable pie when the tones fade into what I will consider to be the meanest gangsta rap beat I have ever heard. This only lasts for a short while as the beat subsides and morphs into a new static tone. Pete gives himself the Hymleck against a chair. He pours himself a glass of water and tries to relax. A small digital rhythmic pattern begins to develop. Ken stands up screaming, "I feel like Darth Vader is serenading at me from the bottom of my fish tank." Ang gets a look of fear in her eye and tells Ken it is just the music. He settles but is obviously not well. Everyone seems to be getting a bit edgier. Paul begins to twitch. Clicks, pops, and glitches begin to have small conversations between short computer tones slowly dripping together into a digital popcorn. We are all looking for a pattern here. I begin to talk about my love for early video game sound while eating a cookie, suddenly I spit the cookie out as the greatest wall of distorted sound this side of Merzbow takes over. No one can eat. No one can speak. We are all in the midst of the wild harsh drones. We are no longer in the apartment. We have entered into a laptop computer consciousness. I feel like my nose will bleed soon. Finally the distortion fades into a beautiful wave of slow morphing tones, "sound", and mild skipping interruptions. A sense of structure begins and dinner continues. Pete says something about the simple rhythmic complexities being static like rain after thoughts. It is obvious to me at this point that this music has made us all insane. We continue to eat slowly and the music continues to morph into itself creating a tonal symphony between distortions, low end hums, scratches, and pops. Dinner is silent as the music fades. Only sixteen minutes and thirty three seconds had past but we were all different by then. Ken was convinced that his metabolism had changed. Pete just wanted to listen to Folke Rabe. Ang decided to go to sleep but complained of machine-like bugs tearing at her feet in her dreams. Christie tried to wash dishes but dropped three of them on the floor. I drove home and wrecked into a fire hydrant. When I awoke in the hospital the doctor told me that the tumor I had been diagnosed with the week before had miraculously disappeared. Thank you Fennesz!!
RESULTS: Don't just worship Fennesz because he is from Austria. Worship him because this record is incredible
The Wire:
