Articles
2007 Top 10s and 20s
2007 Artist Picks
Meissner Interview

Albums
7 Hertz
Aarktica
Alka
Axiotronic
Dale Berning
BJNilsen & Z'ev
John Callaghan
Cousin Lou
Dif:use
Disrupt
Domink Eulberg
Donna Regina
Eedl
Erstlaub
FF Burning & BC Motel
Fibla
Figurines
Fond Of Tigers
Freescha
Brian Grainger
Inhabitants
Klimek
Liquid Stranger
Low Res
Mlle Caro & Franck Garcia
Northern
Adam Pacione
Part Timer
Steve Peters
Phreakon
Pig & Dan
Pinch
Rechenzentrum
Sebastien Roux
Sciajno & English
The Seasons
Slow Dancing Society
Steinbrüchel
Talvekoidik
Translations
Ulver
Uusitalo
Tony Wilson 6Tet
Wilson/Lee/Bentley

Compilations/Mixes
15 Exitos Grandes
Steve Lawler
Pole
Sven Väth

3"/ 7"/ 10"/ 12"/ EPs
Ada
Alland Byallo
Formication
Tim Hecker
Hybernation
Karoshi Bros
Lilienweiss
Move D
Tor Lundvall
Shreber Harber Mole FW
Sun Electric
Amon Tobin
Gez Varley

Dif:use: Mandrake
Symbolic Interaction

Dominic Sciajno & Lawrence English: Merola Shoulders
Phono-Statique

Almost defying belief, Don and Roel Funcken appear in yet another guise, this one called Dif:use, in concert with third member Cor Bolten. The brothers, already familiar to electronic aficionados under the names Funckarma, Quench, Cenik, Cane, and Shadow Huntaz, largely eschew beats in the case of Dif:use, something that may surprise, given how central beat-making is to their work in general (beats do surface in “Padrone” but briefly). Which doesn't mean that Mandrake is devoid of rhythm; there's propulsion for sure, just of a kind that's less straightforwardly delineated than usual. One could describe Dif:use as the Funckens in ambient mode, though naturally it's a viral strain that's refracted by their customarily restless sensibility. Like a huge colossus that metamorphosizes in slow-motion, Mandrake weaves ghostly voices, guitars, synths, organs, strings, and multiple other processed sounds into a delirious and viscous stew for seventy uninterrupted minutes. The production style is dubby, as sounds endlessly echo and ricochet within the mix, and the overall effect rather psychedelic and very trippy (especially on the penultimate “Venous” which sounds like the downest trip imaginable).

In October 2005, Brisbane-based, ROOM40 head Lawrence English and Italian Domenico Sciajno initiated work on a set of four DSP explorations—two long-form pieces framing two shorter—that now comprise Merola Shoulders, so-titled in reference to the Neapolitan singer, Mario Merola, who performed just beyond the studio's location during the recording sessions. Much as one might expect, the album's pieces are episodic, subtly mutating tapestries, with the opener, “Falling Away From the Surface,” fairly representative: fifteen minutes of simmering crackle and fizz, field recordings, muffled voices, prickly textures, eruptions, and insectoid murmur. “On Mirror and Reflection” presents a more animated and aggressive stream of churning industrial machine noise which eventually deflates, allowing the crackle of a dying fire to appear. The softly percolating, aqueous drone “A Frank Discussion of Ruins” is followed by the more intense “Moments Before You Go” which features swirling smears and bruising noise patterns that morph into scrabbly percussive clatter and electrical patterns before dissipating to a ghostly, near-microsound level and then dying out altogether.

January 2008