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32 of 35 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Stunning minimal dance debut, April 15, 2007
As I mentioned recently in a review for Gui Boratto's Chromophobia album, it's sometimes difficult to distinguish the exact reasons why one minimal electronic release is better than another one, due to similarities in production and overall sound. Of course, in the end it usually comes down largely to personal perceptions that can't be explained, but other defining characteristics (because of the constructs of the music itself) are nearly always very, very subtle in and of themselves.
From Here We Go Sublime is yet another release on the Kompakt label that is nonetheless completely stunning, and for reasons mentioned above, it's difficult to explain why. The debut release from Sweden's Axel Willner, it drifts somewhere between minimal dance music and repetitive ambience, with beats that clomp along fast enough to fuel movement, but with enough ethereal qualities that you could simply put it on and trip out on the couch with it easily enough as well. Essentially, it's trance music of the highest quality, veering completely leftward of the cheeseball Global Underground crowd, and falling somewhere between the work of Kaito (also on the Kompakt label) and Wolfgang Voigt (aka Gas).
Willner actually has a few things in common with micro-sample sculptor Akufen, but instead of trying to wow you with his cutting ability and a frantic hand, he has pulled out hundreds of little heavily melodic snippets and stutters and scatters them across gorgeous expanses, building tracks slowly and letting them peak subtlety. The release opens with "Over The Ice," a single that was released last year to great acclaim, and for good reason. The piece is a perfect introduction to his sound, with micro samples of vocals that flutter over a relentless 4/4 thump, building basslines, and all kinds of subtle spacial effects.
With ten songs running nearly exactly an hour in length, it's also a remarkably consistent release. "Good Things End" is constructed as many other tracks on the release, with jittery vocals samples over a rambling, rolling beat and some sudden bursts of tweaked noise. Even though the aforementioned "Over The Ice" got his foot in the door, there are actually a slew of tracks on From Here We Go Sublime that are even better. "Everday" is a perfect example, again building with spiraling upward beats and slippery programming while bright, overlapping vocal samples push things higher and higher until the stunning ending.
At ten minutes "The Deal" is the longest track on the album, but doesn't feel a bit weary as it pushes forward with devastating low-end bass and sprays of overdriven noise. It's the closest thing to Gas (who was supposedly one of his biggest musical inspirations) on the release, and manages to sound both hazy and clear as day at the same time. An outstanding debut, From Here We Go Sublime is yet another excellent album from the Kompakt this label and a release that has gotten some of the most play of anything I've heard this year. If you like minimal electronic music at all, you must seek it out.
(from almost cool music reviews)
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17 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Overpraised; enjoyable, not earth-shattering., December 27, 2007
More than any other album in the past few years, From Here We Go Sublime reaches back to the "artistic" style of techno that was associated with Warp Records in the early nineties. Like the work of Autechre and Aphex Twin, it's very minimal. The music doesn't really have much forward development, and instead alternates between two or three different phrases for five to seven minutes at a time. Also like the work of Warp artists, the album as a whole seems designed for quiet contemplation, even though many of the individual songs are upbeat. The title gives away Axel Willner's ambition -- the album wants to be more than merely danceable, energetic or fun, it wants to be "sublime."
On the first side, it succeeds to a large degree. The first six tracks are very listenable and make for excellent driving music. Willner's secret weapon is the hazy production, which puts a slight hissing echo on the rhythms while keeping the volume low, so that they sound distant and mysterious. This technique appears on the first track "Over The Ice" and then is repeated exactly on "Good Things End." The piano in "A Paw In My Face" and the keyboards in "Everday," which might have sounded fit for some loud rave track in another context, are similarly treated. The effect is very hypnotic, drawing one into the rhythms.
But there's a big difference between Aphex Twin and The Field. Willner doesn't have the ability of Richard D. James to write simple but inventive and easily memorable instrumental melodies. In fact, he can't really write an original drum track either. Instead, he relies on the most recognizable, generic dance beats, which he then gives the foggy echo treatment. You've probably heard all of them before in popular dance songs. The unvarying pulse of the backbeat makes many tracks seem very similar to one another. For its entire duration, "Over The Ice" repeats the exact same rhythm in different ways. A cut-up vocal sample is brought in, but again, it just follows the beat. There are no melodic lines, nor does the track build up to anything.
And that's actually one of the best parts. The very insistence of the rhythm can be bracing, and after each occurrence of the vocal sample, there's a well-timed break with a chugging counter-rhythm that raises the danceability factor. Under the right circumstances, it's an enjoyable track. But it is limited. Even at its best, the album doesn't have the evocative power of the best techno albums, since it avoids so many of the techniques that make electronic music appealing in the first place, without really substituting anything in their place. Even Willner's use of samples results in less variety than one might think. "A Paw In My Face" uses a sample of a guitar from some disposable pop song, but then the sample is manipulated into a very simple two-note guitar line. As an earlier reviewer observed, the second it sounds like the guitar is about to really do something, the song ends.
The one exception to the ultra-minimalist rule is "Silent," which starts out very similar to the other tracks, but introduces a cooing flute-like melody (possibly a manipulated vocal sample) halfway through. All of a sudden, the track really does come to resemble Aphex Twin's best work. Instead of repeating the rhythm, the melody gently snakes around it. The end of the melody flows seamlessly into the beginning, and the unhurried repetition induces a blissful trance. It's also placed quite well in the album, as the culmination of the strong first side and as an airy contrast to the shimmering, processed keyboards of "Everday."
But as the album goes on, the music becomes even simpler and more repetitive, and comes to rely entirely on the echoing production for its effect. "Sun And Ice" goes back and forth between two different keyboard notes in the background, both set to a straightforward house thump. Pleasant as background music, but wearyingly long as a main focus. "The Deal" is a ten-minute succession of repetitions of one sample of airy female vocals, singing one note. Again, unintrusive and airy if kept in the background, but tedious if unaccompanied by some other activity. The title track is a confident demonstration of Willner's method of composition -- after playing a simple loop made out of a sample from some sixties song, he abruptly changes from the loop to the original sample, almost unchanged -- but the fact is, its sole value is as a demonstration. Once you get past the surprise of the old song's sudden appearance, the fact remains that there's nothing of particular musical interest going on. Shortly thereafter, the song ends with a bunch of spastic and not very graceful bleeps.
So, overall I tend to agree with the reviewer who suggested that the album could best serve as a repository of techno "templates." The album can be fun to listen to if you're in the right mood, and it's good as a complement to a setting. If you have something else to concentrate on while you're listening, and you tune into focus only periodically, you might then feel like the album lives up to its name. But if you concentrate exclusively on the music, it may be difficult to sit through the whole thing.
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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
So good it puts me to sleep!, October 10, 2007
Please don't misunderstand my review title! I use music through headphones to unwind before going to sleep. I have yet to get through three tracks (starting at various tracks on the CD) before going to la la land. It is both sublime and redundant, but in the best possible way. Music like this used to come with a warning..."do not drive while listening". Not only is this musical statement hypnotic, it's down right as good as a sleeping pill to me!
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