Genre: Experimental Electro / Field Recording

Also released on Privatelektro, cataloguenumber PECD008

01: Yannick Dauby - Rana limnocharis
02: Parachute - 06 v 1.1
03: Costa Gröhn - 23.07.2006, 10h, Besalú/Catalonia
04: Igor Hax - Yellow Room in Sefton Drive
05: Daniel Knef - At the Stairway by Afternoon
06: Shintaro Miyazaki - Platines
07: Tobias Bolt - Dilatationsfuge
08: Nic Weiser - Platonisches Funier
09: Lasse-Marc Riek - Blässhuhn (Fulica atra)
10: triPhaze - Gletscher
11: Adriano Zanni - Summer Life on the Shorelines
12: Reverend Benn Schipper - Thun (RMX 053)
13: Roland Etzin - Abseits der Straßen
14: c:\ - Absentee Debate

Here we have a limited-edition (150 copies) international compilation from two German labels that can more or less be split into two categories : field recordings and experimental electronics. The way the disc is sequenced, the labels alternate contributions with all the tracks segued. Gruenrekorder seems to be responsible for the concrete stuff while the Privatelektro tracks provide some digital interludes. I'm going to break the review down by label beginning with the Gruenrekorder material.

French field-recordist Yannick Dauby gets thing started off nicely with a sparse piece that is highlighted by some bizarre animalistic sonorities. It tends to go on a tad too long as these sounds become abrasive after a few minutes. Costa Grohn's contribution pits some bird-song against a backdrop of pedestrian ambience to no significant effect. 'At The Stirway By Afternoon' by Daniel Knef may be exactly that : sounds filtering into a stairwell through an open window exploiting the natural reverb of the space. Happy accident or not, the piece has a great dynamic flow and compositional sensibility. Although I can't exactly translate his German notes, I believe that Tobias Holt's recording has something to do with being underneath the Autobahn in some capacity. It's definitely got a subterranean character and I suppose those recurring sounds could very well be cars speeding overhead. Lasse-Marc Riek's track features some squeaks, pops and water sounds that are captured brilliantly in stereo. It quickly begins to take on a rhythmic quality and is a pleasantly jaunty piece. Adriano Zanni's 'Summer Life On The Seashore' is a well-recorded audio snapshot of children playing, presumably on the banks of the Mediterranean Sea given the Italian speech snippets. The rise and fall of the tide provides a backdrop for what must have been a beautiful day; wish I were there. The last of the field recordings comes from Gruenrekorder co-founder Roland Etzin. A dense population of birds are busy as various motor vehicles traverse the microphone's panorama. The high-quality stereo recording really makes this piece work. I love the way that good field recordings force the mind to create a visual facsimile of the environment represented.

The Privatelektro label's contributions to this compilation contrast nicely with the recordings discussed above, although there is some overlap. Parachute turns in a glistening ambient soundscape with all the beauty of a clod-studded sunset. That may sound corny, but this is really gorgeous stuff. UK film and installation artist Igor Hax combines field recordings with his own brand of minimal electro on 'Yellow Room In Sefton Drive' where, presumably everything was recorded. The piece is static to the point of near tedium, but moves on to the next track just in time. In the notes for 'Platines' Shintaro Miyazaki declares 're-entry of disturbance !' Perhaps so, but this glitchy laptop-damaged disturbance is quite welcome in this context and really serves the release well as a sort of nexus. Bassy flutters and high-frequency whines dart in and out of audibility throughout this all too brief track. Theologist, painter and reverend of the Electronic Church (?) Nicolas Weiser turns in an interesting work of voice, electronic and concrete sounds.

In a sense, it combines all the best elements of every other artist on this compilation and compresses it into a three minute composition. This is excellent music ! Berlin's triPhaze deliver some granular synthesis on 'Gletscher.' There are some wonderful little microtonal turns here that really got my ears perky. Yet another reverend makes an appearance on track twelve. Reverend Benn Schipper's 'Thun' is a pleasant enough dissonant drone piece that features some tasty phase shifting to keep thing moving even though it never goes anywhere. 'A Private Shade Of Green' concludes with 'Absentee Debate' by c:\. This is by far the longest piece on the disc and an appropriate closer at that. It otherwise wouldn't really have fit in anywhere else. It has the beauty of Parachute's track, some old school sequencing and a certain gritty charm that I can't resist. The notes say simply 'I don't care.' That's too bad, because I certainly do!

All in all there is some great music on this compilation. If the purpose of such a collection is to generate interest in the individual artists then it only succeeds marginally. I prefer it as a single work due to the brilliant editing by its producer(s) bringing some rather disparate musical elements together so logically. In that regard, it flows more like a radio broadcast. My only complaint is that the disc wasn't properly mastered and has a few nasty digital peaks. That and the fact that the notes are not very informative (no contact info regarding the artists) and seem indiscriminately in either German or English. otherwise a beautiful package and some rewarding listening.