Фирма Denovali Records

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Robin Schlochtermeier is an Anglo-German composer who has written the music for several award-winning broadcast documentaries and features. Classically trained, his music often combines organic sound design elements (and occasionally synthesis) with more traditional instrumentation (piano, orchestra).Most recently Robin composed the music for 'The Spy Who Fell to Earth', an international espionage documentary which was released on Netflix worldwide in 2019. Robin, among others, also scored 'Virgin Queen's Fatal Affair' (Best Specialist Factual - Royal Television Society Awards), the features 'Queens of Syria' (Black Pearl Award - Abu Dhabi Film Festival), 'Retreat' (Premiere at Screenplay Shetland Festival, curated by UK film critic Mark Kermode), 'Oh No, Not Rudy Again!' (Cannes film festival 2015), and 'Strings' (British Independent Film Award).""Spectral"" is the first solo album of Robin Schlochtermeier. It's a set of slow, sometimes ambient pieces that function like distant echoes of childlike experiences of the natural and material world."My inspiration for the album is tied up in having become a father recently," says composer Robin Schlochtermeier. "As my daughter's consciousness was forming I would often catch an amazed look on her face or notice that she stopped and stared at some small detail in her environment. This would frequently evoke a profound sense of mystery in me, and I grew curious as to what was causing her to react in such ways."The pieces on Spectral are attempts to capture some of this mysterious, nebulous spirit of bafflement and wonderment. "Seeing the world through my daughter's eyes reminded me of the experiences the world can produce in our minds when we are open, receptive and boundary-less", says Robin. "I started to wonder if I was half-remembering my own experiences of the world from when I hadn't yet been trained to carve it up into neat concepts." The result are pieces like "Lapping", which in its slow, circular motion points to a rhythm of life unaffected by expectations of busyness, while rooted in a sense of grandeur and timeless wonder.Spectral was recorded using a British upright piano from the 1950s with original worn strings, which are occasionally dampened with poster putty. The other elements are all forms of electronics and sound design, including a software synth (Retrologue) and custom programmed sounds generated from the composer's bank of original sample recordings.One of the aims for the album was to explore a limited palette of sounds. Some pieces only contain 3 layers of sound, while some are a little more complex. "The intention was to create space and openness in the arrangements", according to Robin. "This principle also led me to explore longer and longer forms. As I went on I felt increasingly drawn to longer emotional arcs, resulting finally in Sonnenstaub.

There is harmony, geometry, metaphysics everywhere and, in a way, morale as well"" Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz // Everyone knows these moments, hours or days, where one is feeling cornered, it is like running in circles or one is just trying to see something from a different angle. The new album by Sankt Otten - ""Lieder für geometrische Stunden"" (""Songs for geometrical hours"") - offers tracks for these kind of scenes. It's the soundtrack of the ups and downs of life and everyone's entirely personal geometrical hours.A very gentle and meditativ sequence introduces us to this new creation. Is it a synthesizer or a guitar? Whatever! A floating pad passes and returns, layers and shapes are rising. At the end the interaction of man and technology merges into perfect harmony. We are heading monumentally towards a futuristic world, which is frigid and surreal with a monotonous, sometimes gloomy and dark mood. Also beautiful. ""Du hast dem Schicksal die Show gestohlen"" (""You upstaged fate"") by contrast comes along with a minimalistic attitude. To some extent, sounding like rock music without being rock music. It's the perfect intersection of Minimoog sequences, acoustic drum sounds, ebow guitars and synthetic strings. Conny Plank would approve. ""Wer trifft schon immer den Ton"" (""Who always hits the mark""): A rhythm of nested patterns, a subtle arrangement, gentle choirs, pauses, compaction and thinning. Is this already jazz? Greetings from the echo chamber. The machines are trying hard. They deform the beat into geometrical forms, the bass jumps in circles, covering the tracks with ghostly choirs, creating an illusive, cuddly dreamworld. By the way, it's a long time ago, that rototoms have been heard in electronic music. Great! ""Dann doch lieber weisse Wände"" (""I'd rather have white walls""), the secret hit on the album? ""Die Blumen darfst Du behalten"" (""You can keep the flowers""): The pause is breathing, constantly wrapped in the elapsing tone of the night. A guitar in a slow-motion dialog with a synthesizer. Finally both burned up within the interstellar space. That shoud be a title for the next Blade Runner movie.This exactly 45 minute-long album fits on a C90 cassette side and thus closes properly with warm, analog 80's electronica. Man and machine are going hand in hand, infused by a hypnotic, motor function 808 beat, encouraging everyone to head-nodding by being almost danceable. Again, the central theme of this release is definitely the minimal, repetitiv drum play of Stephan Otten, whereas Oliver Klemm's ebow guitar drones hovers the tracks through this album. Sankt Otten do not disappoint. Founded in 1999, the duo from Osnabrück releases since 2009 on Denovali. With their 11th release, they give us a gem of timeless instrumental music. The holy trinity of krautrock, ambient and contemporary electronica, but always sophisticated and unique Sankt Otten. The mastering of the album was made by New York-based Rafael Anton Irisarri. Also the cover layout shows their great taste once again. This outstanding punch artwork was created by graphic designer Daniel Castrejón. Sankt Otten: Stephan Otten: Drums, Programming, Synthesizers / Oliver Klemm: Guitars, Synthesizers, Bass

Coloured vinyl!

Colored vinyl edition

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Terry Waite was taken hostage in Beirut in the late 1980s, before ISIS, before smartphones, before the Internet as we know it. He endured a mock execution during the first year of his five-year captivity, which was spent mostly in solitary confinement. Years later, during a Q&A session, he was asked to identify the main thing he had learned from his ordeal. The answer, came as a shock_it was not the excruciatingly hard-won appreciation for life and loved ones that one expects to hear. "Contemporary humanity," declared Waite, "has lost the ability to engage in productive solitude."""Content"" is the 9th album of the US based producer Ricardo Donoso.

Colored vinyl edition

Coloured Vinyl

Experimental

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