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following on from his two previous critically acclaimed albums, 'dark days exit' reflects felix’s forays into classical instrumentation whilst still audibly remaining true to his unique style, walking a thin line between lush and disconcerting beat scapes. felix describes it as his first “true album”, where he feels the music represents his vision alone. the result is a truly beautiful electronica album, mixed and arranged with absolute genius – each track has distinct character, never slipping into the wallpaper monotony of current lounge fodder. TRACKS: dark days exit is available on itunes worldwide (compost records release) PRESS
QUOTES: "an inspired and deep album of esoteric kindness and warm technology" - peter kruder / g-stone "miss teardrop is a sublime brill supertune.. sneaking carefully into your ears and remaining there for a long long time... excellent" - richard dorfmeister "stunning album" - laurent garnier "dark days exit’s all-round unabashed loveliness could possibly convert even the most misanthropic marilyn manson fan" – bbc collective’s paul clarke "it has the dark sparkle of air`s `moon safari`, random trippy flashes of pink floyd´s earlier sounds, and if david lynch had based `twin peaks` in cape town´s city bowl, then this would work as the soundtrack." - sa / rockdigest "he's clearly an architect, a visionary, and his ongoing musical creations bear testament to this. his tunes — a collection of collages, textures interwoven with lucid melodies and twisted, yet simple, beats — stand tall in an industry which all too often rewards the followers rather than the innovators." - stephen timm / iafrica.com "laband's music reminds one of modern classical composers like reich and glass, leftfield electronica artists like boards of canada, aphex twin and the audio pranksters at ninja tune. it is head music which makes your foot tap. it is delicate, yet earthily funky.." xxxxx charles leonard 48 hours "the latest offering from mr laband is a real alice in wonderland soundtrack; surreal but wonderful. ..a melodic overture of good sounds with an off-beat melancholy which reminds me of autumn." - cape etc "though both laband's previous albums were superb in every respect, they pale in comparison to his new masterpiece - an album so far removed from the usual electronic fodder that it is impossible to categorise. most great albums are." - jon craig canavan / SL magazine "the soundtrack for sensitive people's lives - very recommendable." - martin gretschmann / the notwist / console “sometimes dark and sinister, always a little melancholy, infused with a retro hipness that is entirely cocktail inspiring. felix´s greatest quality must be his use of space – the music breathes with space around the beats, fresh fresh fresh. infinitely listenable, especially outdoors.“ - world online “an insane swirling ambient dub glitch freak show.“ - dazed & confused magazine “the album is a warm space of melody and rhythm that lets you move through colours of nostalgia and déjá vu with endless possibilities of hearing something new.“ - philippa cameron “laband´s superbly-layerd, multi-tiered soundscapes are tantalizingly tranquil and intriguingly unique – they amble like ambient and slip into the bloodstream like liquid lsd.“ - rage.co.za “...if you have too less money to travel to south africa, no problem, just listen to “dark days exit“ and close your eyes...“ - nat queen cool / sounds good inc. “kraftwerks´s autobahn might have been a prelude but this is the omega! fur sure!” - helene ramos galagarza “the new album takes felix's music deeper than before. 'whistling in tongues' is a hypnotic tune perfect for late-night driving.“ - ennio styles |
avant
goema
mail
& gaurdian 8/8/03 by julian jonker
out of the crop of sophisticated, accomplished albums with which independent label open records has recently opened business, alex van heerden and derek gripper’s sagtevlei is the most consistently fine and immediate. it is a fragile, ‘seductive’ recording that captures the conviction that one would ask of a contemporary classical music born of the south african landscape. the collaboration captures the timelessness of vastrap and goema liedjies in arrangements for string quartet, trumpet, voice and accordion.
the two composers’ musical backgrounds shed light on the attitude and aesthetic of the recording. derek gripper, who once played with the legendary but now defunct gilgamesh ensemble, is a composer schooled in both the classical music of 20th century europe and the carnatic classical tradition of south india. he is more interested in finding commonplaces between these classical traditions than in being bound to either one.
van heerden has led an equally hybrid musical career. he came from port elizabeth to the cape to play jazz with leaders like mac mackenzie, winston mankunku and robbie jansen, was diverted by electronica, and before long was plotting convergences between the hypnotic trance of goema music and the machine-hypnosis of psychedelic trance with his band gramadoelas. he has more recently immersed himself in the stockholm minimalist electronica scene, collaborating with producers hakan lidbo, klas baggstrom and jonatan axelsson.
the music on sagtevlei was written at the beginning of 2002, when the composers spent four weeks on a farm on the outskirts of tulbagh soaking up the soul of the boland landscape. the results, arranged for a string quartet that included kerryn bailey (violin), fiona grayer (cello) and brydon bolton (double bass), were performed almost immediately for afribeat.com’s wonder gigs series. it is from the recording of that performance that this album has been produced.
the outcome is an honest meeting of centuries-old traditions, the vastrap and goema of the cape and the classical traditions of europe and india. the points of confluence are apparent from the recording. both composers wished to move away from the ‘manufactured’ timbres of european instruments to more naturally produced sounds that are rich in overtones, and reminiscent of the sound of the khoisan uhadi mouth bow. moreover, the cyclic nature of the music on sagtevlei is founded in both indigenous music and the minimalist movement of european classical music.
there is a fragility in their music that relates to ‘invisible’ sounds, sounds which can be heard even though they are not played. when gripper describes the relationship between indian and european classical music, he explains that “the two distinct musical cultures are doing a very similar thing, they’re just using different tools.” that point of convergence is an aesthetic which some might refer to as ‘avant garde’, but which gripper refers to as a ‘silent aesthetic’ and van heerden names a ‘seductive aesthetic’.
the collaboration promises to bear fruit in the future. gripper and van heerden recently collaborated on swedish producer magnus bank’s hemisfar, exploring vastrap within a contemporary scandinavian aesthetic. they have also been working on material for a second album. meanwhile, taking gripper’s performance at the open records launch on july 15 as an indication, his upcoming solo work with 8-string guitar will be an equally seductive fusion of cape melody and classical traditions.
sidebar:
ross campbell's cape town-based open records launched this month, its stated purpose being to release “artists who are actively questioning their influences and looking beyond the established boundaries conceived to create music of beauty and worth”.
while sagtevlei is the most significant of these recordings, brendon bussy’s diesel geiger is probably the most inventive and finely-tuned of open records’ four new releases. it is a quietly moving and accomplished work, that at times occupies that strange space on the classical/popular continuum shared by kronos quartet. a reviewer recently likened his performance at the open records launch party to john cage, perhaps because of the vast silences during the beginning of his performance. yet bussy on record is anything but cage-like, leaving nothing to chance.
an enchanting sound world is created on sui, benguela’s third album, and another exploration into the world of hypnotic cyclic improvisation. the release is a double cd, including remixes by the likes of burnt friedman, felix laband, paul riekert and james webb.
afrikaner industrialism takes a new twist with enkeleen, the latest project from ian watson, whose strange career includes playing guitar with grunge rock band lithium and post-rockers blackmilk. enkeleen’s twisting beats and synth-pop is at times less convincing than its label mates (but more digestible than anything battery 9 have ever done, if one wishes to make facile comparisons between afrikaner electronica acts).
the albums are all beautifully packaged, but more importantly, represent a fearlessly uncompromising wave of south african musicians. not only do the open records artists push boundaries, they make genuinely moving music.
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open
01 enkeleen ek is legio full details buy online |
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open
02 alex van heerden & derek gripper sagtevlei full details buy online |
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open
03 brendon bussy diesel geiger full details buy online |
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open
04 benguela sui full details buy online |
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open
05 derek gripper blomdoorns full details buy online |
ARTISTS |
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alex
van heerden |
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CONTACT
ross campbell
iliketea@iafrica.com
cape town
south africa
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in south africa by
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contact alastair
tel: +27 21 424 1959
fax: +27 21 424 4051 alastair@kursemusic.co.za
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