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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 |
open
record, open mind
by jon craig canavan - this day 16/01/04
no doof-doof
techno thumps. no heartland-of-america rock ‘n’ roll. no
generic south african jazz twiddling. no angry-at-nothing limp bizkit
clones. no kwaito, no hip-hop and certainly no pop idols or pop stars
or world idols. open record just ain’t interested in that kind
of twaddle.
in fact, open record, a new cape town-based independent record label,
releases music that sounds like nothing you’ve ever heard before
and although it will not just be a cold day but a frozen year in hell
before the likes of benguela, enkeleen and brendon bussy become regulars
on the nation’s radio waves, open record’s non-commercial
stance and insistence on musical individuality makes them one of the
most important labels in the land.
the reason is simple: without experiments new musical paths will never
be uncovered; without musicians willing to explore the boundaries of
their art we risk losing our identity in a morass of analogous international
product; without a label willing to support these brave, singular artists
we will never get to hear anything truly new again.
even if you are not the adventurous sort and prefer your music to be
comfortable and familiar, experimental music will still have a bearing
on your listening pleasure. one musician’s experiments can lead
to others being inspired to create something in the same vein but with
a more commercial slant. just imagine if no-one experimented by combining
spoken-word poetry with brassy, ballsy funk and jazz samples…no
hip-hop (bliss for some, i’m sure, and if you feel that way stop
reading right now).
now before you dismiss any of the artists released on open record as
tuneless, pretentious prats, let me hasten to add that although they
make music that would not go down well at your next big neighbourhood
bash – unless, of course, everyone’s on acid and wants a
really odd trip – the music of alex van heerden, derek gripper,
enkeleen and, especially, benguela, can be exquisitely beautiful if
one has the patience to really listen with ears open, prejudices locked
away and the brain fully engaged.
the still-crawling baby of albert du plessis from rhythm records and
ross campbell, former drummer with urban creep and fetish and now the
man behind the skins for benguela, open record began life as a critical
review site for local music. as good with the critical pen as he is
with the sticks, campbell has been reviewing all sorts of south african
music on his open record website and in sl magazine for several years
but it was the relative success of benguela that led to the formation
of the open record label late in 2003.
“after sending the last benguela album (digital inability) overseas
and getting a great response i thought we as a band needed to be part
of a more complete catalogue rather than just a lone album for international
distribution,” ross explains. “basically my idea was to
create a stable for artists who are experimental by nature, who are
challenging both themselves and their listeners, who are looking beyond
the established musical boundaries.
“and once i had made up my mind to go forward with the idea, i
received overwhelming support from like-minded people who, like us,
really did not want to compromise artistically.”
compromise is most definitely not in the open record vocabulary. their
most “commercial” release to date is benguela’s own
sui/chopsui, a double album of rhythmic rebelliousness that scratches
and jitters its way across your consciousness, combining the off-the-cuff
improvisational textures of jazz with scintillating layers of fuzzy
guitar, deep bass and metronomic percussion. it’s the most darkly
atmospheric release of last year and this writer’s pick for album
of 2003.
delve deeper in to their growing catalogue – five full length
albums, with more due soon, along with a number of tunes and various
doodlings available only on the internet – and things get weirder
and wilder.
the most intriguing of open record’s current crop is enkeleen’s
ek is legio, the brainchild of former blackmilk and lithium front man
ian watson.
a remixed collection of blackmilk tunes, the album is a motley blend
of odd beats and distorted electronica that is, by turns, fascinating
and disconcerting. not what one would expect from a man who used to
be a member of the hard-rocking lithium although blackmilk’s post-rock
musings did show he had a lot more to offer than just hard rock. and
one should always expect the unexpected from this label.
then there’s the bizarrely off-kilter sagtevlei from the duo of
alex van heerden and derek gripper, an album that takes as its starting
point the vastrap music of rural cape coloureds – the album contains
both original material and traditional folksongs although no-one would
recognise the latter as such - and proceeds to do the oddest things
to it.
“alex is a mad man,” laughs ross, “who’s completely
involved in exploring the music of the cape through his work with the
band gramadoelas and now also with derek. and derek is a classically
trained violin and guitar player who has also studied the rhythmic cycles
of indian music. it’s quite a combination.”
gripper goes solo for the excellent blomdoorns, an album that celebrates
the music of the cape via the guitar – in this case a specially-made
eight-string contraption that is played upright, much like a cello,
and brings a slightly off-kilter sound to the slightly off-kilter compositions
that combine the vastrap vibes of the cape coloureds with classical
composing techniques and a fairly large dash of experimentalism.
finally, and least successfully to my untrained ears, is brendon bussy’s
diesel geiger, a work that is so at odds with what i know of music that
it’s impossible to describe. ross lends a helping hand: “it’s
a mixture of classical, african, street samples and mandolin, all stuck
through a computer, but with no beats. it’s truly different.”
and then some! but even though i fail to find much to appreciate musically
on diesel geiger, i do appreciate bussy’s willingness to explore
and that, as has been mentioned, is the beauty of open record.
“music these days tends to be more about how much money is spent
on marketing rather than the actual content of the album,” says
ross, expanding on the open record philosophy before he departs. “if
the public at large had better taste they would demand better product,
but, unfortunately, they are quite happy to buy crappy house remixes
of crappy old rock tunes, so that’s what gets shoved down everyone’s
throats.
“we need to learn to ignore the mass media and get on with making
real music through different channels. with a bit of luck open record
can establish itself as a sustainable, left-field record label. and
if we all survive this project without a visit to the valkenburg mental
hospital then i'll be truly amazed and very, very grateful.”
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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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all content © open record cc.
all rights reserved.
CONTACT
ross campbell
iliketea@iafrica.com
cape town
south africa
distributed
in south africa by
kurse music distribution
contact alastair
tel: +27 21 424 1959
fax: +27 21 424 4051 alastair@kursemusic.co.za
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