2011 - Magnetic Fields & Zero Dimensional Planes [Consouling

MAGNETIC FIELD & ZERO DIMENSION PLANES (CD by Consouling) – Although quite active, not all releases by Belgium’s Consouling label are reviewed in Vital Weekly, which is a pity. From [Multer] I received these new releases. The compilation has mostly new names from the field of dark ambient, perhaps except the well established [Multer]. The other names are not necessarily new but despite various years of activity not well-known, such as Monotonos, Mirko Uhlig, Blindhead, Simulacra and Tzesne, or the new kid on the block Premonition Factory. I never heard of IAM, Soundsketching, N-16, Nihilium and someone who may be taking the piss out of Dirk Serries: Distant Fires Burning (well, perhaps he’s very serious, who knows?). Twelve pieces in total, about the entire length of a CD filled with music that walks the otherwise thin line of ambient, drones, field recordings, minimal electronics and all such like. If there is an umbrella name needed, I would say ‘all things atmospheric’. It works out in different ways. Some use monolithic blocks of sustaining synthesizer sounds with hardly any air between them, some use guitars tinkling away, other allow small melodies to happen. Tzesne closes down with a bit of suppressed noise, but that’s really the only one in its kind. For the uninitiated of course these differences might be small but there is surely a difference between the melancholic organ drones of [Multer], the very extreme filtering of Blindhead, the processed field recordings of Distant Fires Burning,  the synth/guitar/field recordings drones of Mirko Uhlig, the delicate monotony of Monotonos, the sweetness of organ drones of N-16, the guitars of Soundsketching and Premonition Factory sound both different and the aforementioned ‘noise’ of Tzesne. Only Nihilum and Simulacra fail to impress and stay closely to other pieces. Not bad at all for compilation.

[MULTER] – BERGE IM BUNKER (CD by Consouling) – On their ‘Berge Im Bunker’ CD, [Multer], a duo of Hoeschen and Neidhardt, have two pieces that ran for over a year during an exhibition of Barbara Meisner in Dortmund. They came from ABGS and play music that can be described as atmospheric, also, but they do not always choose the easy route of endless sustaining and buzzing analogue synthesizers and chirping birds. On these two pieces, together just over thirty six minutes, they use guitars, effects and small percussion. It evolves and revolves in slow, but mildly changing cycles. This is, in a way, also ‘drone’ music, but [Multer]’s sound is quite open, spacious and desolate. Spacious as in ‘outside’ but also as in ‘inside’ – it floats elegantly in your private space. Eno-like ambient music that has a bit more development in each of these pieces that in much of the work of the master. The two pieces are linked together in the way they sound, using elements of eachother, the sparse two note guitar, the dark drones that swells and disappears – flowing like a calm sea. A most delicate piece of music, in two parts. A gorgeous work. (FdW)
Address: http://www.consouling.be

Source: http://www.vitalweekly.net/778.html [FdW]