This week is going to be 1997's -273c by NEWT
Not content with being the current kings of the Industrial underground Daniel Meyer (of haujobb) and Andreas Meyer (of Forma Tadre) got together to do an album of progressive ambient. Interviews from that time period call NEWT "dynamic and structural elements from different sources, trying to envision our own musical conception which has to do with small and great spaces, empty rooms, electricity, flow of energy."
I found it to be an amazing soundtrack for an unmade sci-fi film. The environmental sounds of that record and it's stark isolation were touched upon in Biosphere's album Substrata from that same year, though this album suggested the reaches of a deep dark space many years from now, and not a winter tundra. While it's influences are worn almost like a badge of honor (Aphex Twin being the most obvious ) this album stands very much on it's own sounding like an alien transmission that somebody recorded and mass produced on CD.
I can't say that this album would be everybody's cup of tea, but for somebody like me it is one of the most mind-numbingly amazing record I had heard up until that time, and I will maintain that it had more influence on the current music I both listen to and produce than any other single album ever had.
The accompanying Phaseshifting EP is not to be missed either. The reconstructions of these tracks are simply amazing. (Especially the Architect mix of Abyss, and the new song Patina. Perfect for a night in an off world bar.
download Testone from -273c
download Abyss (Architect Mix) from the Phaseshifting EP (fair warning. this song is a 9 minute long beast... might want to go put on a pot of tea while it's downloading)
Planet Myer home to Haujobb, NEWT etc
Andy Maya dot com home to Forma Tadre
Amazon dot com search for -273c
273c search on Ebay
2 comments:
It took me a little bit of time to fully "warm up" to this album, as it is a GREAT deal more minimalistic than either Haujobb or Forma Tadre's seminal works...but, man, once I started getting into it, it proves to be FANTASTIC. This is one of the few albums I've ever heard whose title is absolute fitting. For those not Scientifickally Inclined, -273c is Absolute Zero (0 K), and this album is incredibly cold, distant, and leaves one with a curious stillness after a good listen. It's the audio equivalent of a Bose-Einstein Condensate! So, yeah...it's hard to "warm up" to it--heh--but, man, when you do....
DAMN i am listening to this literally right now (i'm on "ostad" at this point). there are a few things i have fault with in the album (one or two of the tracks seem filler-ish), but i can definitely say there is almost nothing like it at all. easily one of the most cinematic records ever.
i've unconsciously recreated sections of "motive one" and "abyss" in my own tunes, too.
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