Album Review: Motion - Koen Holtkamp

Koen Holtkamp is one half of Mountains and this solo album - a standalone four-track release - reflects his work within that duo.

Motion is cinematic and somewhat overwhelming - the kind of blissful music that will surround and envelop you in warm electronic bliss, seemingly full of nothing in particularly and yet simultaneously constructed purely out of detail.

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Motion - Koen Holtkamp

I've recently been conducting guided meditation on my morning commute - the idea is that by clearing your head of distraction and focusing only on 'the moment' you become calmer and less distracted generally. Listening to Holtkamp's music feels a little bit like taking part in one of those sessions - you reach a point where through concentrating so much on the detail you can end up is a strange heightened state. This is music to become lost within.

Holtkamp's synth work is quite mesmerizing, the spectral syncopated melodies of Between Visible Things underscored with a contemplative series of bass line chord progression to offset complexity from some full of emotional resonance. It is in this chaos that the album's title makes most sense.

Vert is a similarly shifting moment of frenetic chaos fronted by aggressive electronic guitar work that placed here amongst all the other noise feels strikingly raw, and yet ultimately make from the same stuff: all this electricity. Crotales is a little more relaxed than anything else on Motion, placing 'pure' synthetic noise alongside synthetic versions of real instruments (those titular percussive crotales, an upright bass).

The entire second side of this release is taken up by Endlessness, a track more than 21-minutes long on which Holtkamp allows his mind to run riot and yours to expand. Expect a cacophonous and layered ambient piece that somehow still manages to remain somewhat listenable. It is unlikely to get much radio play but as a experimental and sensory experience Motion delivers.

Motion is released through Thrill Jockey on 24 March. You can pre-order the album on LP, or the extended Motion: Connected Works CD, both on Amazon.co.uk [affiliate links]. Check out the video for Endlessness below:

EP Review: Afternoon & Afterhours - Flowers & Sea Creatures

Flowers & Sea Creatures have previously released on both Compost and Buzzin' Fly but Afternoon & Afterhours is their debut release on My Favorite Robot.

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Afternoon & Afterhours - Flowers & Sea Creatures

It is a release that boasts the kind of sophistication you would expect from alumni of such labels. The EP opens with The Very Next Day, which features Wrong Jeremy, and combines them with a throbbing, cinematic groove. The track packs plenty of menace - an alienated soundtrack that lets those vocals provide an additional lens of humanity, but it is the low rumble of the bass and percussion that provide much of the atmosphere. So Far The Star is similarly threatening, with cold and metallic music combined with a sparse vocal and some dark, distorted bass.

Alternate Endings is less busy and represents the start of the stronger half of this release - an ambient, beat-free piece that makes much of gently strummed guitars and vocals enveloped in echo. The EP's closing track, Citadel is a nine-and-a-half-minute long epic piece that takes the maudlin feel of much of that which it follows but expands into epic proportions. It is somewhere between the beat-led sound of the opening half of this EP and the minimal sound of Alternate Endings - shuffling rhythms provide a momentum that sees the introduction of rough synthetic melodies and ultimately some Latin guitar. It's an epic conclusion to a heartfelt EP.

Afternoon & Afterhours is out through My Favorite Robot on 24 February. Preview via Soundcloud below:

Video: Reach You On The Phone - Blank Realm

Loving the slacker rock of this new single from Brisbane band Blank Realm. The video is directed and produced by Joshua Watson of the band Sewers and it apparently features a range of guests stars from the Australian underground scene singing karaoke style... I have to admit I don't know the Aussie music scene enough to recognise any of them but the list of guests includes:

Marriah Geles (Runs Negative Guest List records), Matt Kennedy (of the band Kitchen's Floor, runs Eternal Soundcheck), Bobby Wonderfuls (of the band Wonderfuls), Harry Byrne (of the bands Per Purpose, Sewers) Makeda Zucco (runs All Day Breakfast records), Matt Ford (of the bands Thigh Master and Black Vacation, runs Tenth Court Records), Sarah Werkmeister, Natalie Hanna.

Reach You On The Phone is taken from the album Grassed Inn, out now on Fire Records.

Stream: SWIM - Fickle Friends

Serendipity brought Fickle Friends to my attention courtesy of Soundcloud and I had to share. Fickle Friends are a Brighton based five piece and SWIM has a sunny 80s new wave pop sheen that I'm enjoying. Check out both the original and the slightly bouncier Paperwhite Remix below:

Video: Oasis - Alpines

This new video is directed by Tom Beard, who recently directed the trippy video for FKA Twigs Papi Pacify. The video for Oasis is also shot in black and white and inspired by French New Wave cinema, with particular reference to the movies of Jean-Luc Goddard.

The track itself is a funky indie-R&B number taken from the album of the same name. The single comes out on 3 March, followed by the album on 26 May, both on Untrue Records.