ARTICLES
Ten Questions: Fat Jon
MUTEK 2006

ALBUMS
65daysofstatic
A Cloud Mireya
Ambarchi and Ng
Another Elec. Musician
Derek Bailey
Band Ane
Barzin
Black Gold 360
The Blow
Boduf Songs
Childs
Darc Mind
Dosh
Duopandamix
Fat Jon & Styrofoam
Liam Gillick
Shuta Hasunuma
Tim Hecker
Ilkae
Jack's Son
Richard Jäverling
Jazzkammer
Junior Boys
Last Days
Hanno Leichtmann
Luomo
Mandelbrot Set
Mountaineer
N.Phect & Dizplay
Part Timer
Karsten Pflum
Benoît Pioulard
Plus Device
+/- {Plus/Minus}
Relay
Saroos
Seht
Shedding
So Percussion
Sybarite
Trio Vopá
Marshall Watson
Weather Report
Donato Wharton
Christopher Willits
Xela

COMPILATIONS/MIXES
ESL Remixed
Four Tet
Garnier & Craig
Ginglik Saturdays
Michael Mayer
Henrik Schwarz

3"/7"/10"/12"/EPs
Colleen
Delano and Xpansul
Detritus
Ed Devane
Eskimo
Feathers
Goldmund
Ezekiel Honig/Graphic
Ezekiel Honig
Eliot Lipp
Robert Lippok
Alejandro Lopez
Evan Marc
Porter & Carr
Sebastian Russell
Somone Else
Spaceships & Pings
SplitEP3
Simon Whetham

Karsten Pflum: Idhax
Rump

Idhax, electronic producer Karsten Pflum's third album, contains no shortage of fidgety noises and scratchy beats but one broaches it wondering if there's anything that distinguishes it from the innumerable other releases competing for shelf-space. Not a whole lot, to be honest, but that doesn't mean his follow-up to 2005's Flugten Fra År 2000 isn't solid enough, with Pflum refining a former ‘kitchen-sink' approach into a more sophisticated style. Those listening for influences might hear Autechre in the congealing “Fullbright” (certainly “Sv_Gravity” pitter-patters like a more disciplined Autechre, even down to the abrupt, mid-song tempo shift) while something like “Notarget” sounds kin to the music produced by Spezial Material artists like Intricate and Solarium. Since Pflum began making tracks with old synths and sequencers in the mid-‘90s, his music has moved through ambient and drill'n'bass periods (the latter anomalously revisited on the closing “God”) to the current mercurial style. All told, it's a spacey affair, not least because Pfulm scatters distorted voice edits throughout, thereby intensifying the music's alien character. Offsetting unsettling moments like the soundscape “Draworder,” where blasts puncture the writhing atmosphere, and “Impulse 11,” where a loping pulse reigns in shards of atonal fragments, are “Noclip” and “Fly” which exude a placid restraint that's not unappealing.

November 2006