novisad: Seleya novisad: Seleya (tomlab - 2001) Don't know much about novisad (other than that his real name is Kristian Peters) but I do know that his murky rather-lo-fi take on sound construction entrances me. The 13 pieces of short, sweet and scruffy Seleya exist in a shadowy world of half-forgotten memories, obsessively replayed again and again lest they be lost forever... The slow, repeating rhythmic theme of regen (4:03) vaguely hints at micronoise, groovelocked into a streaming cloudbank of glare. The thin, looping haze of piaa gains additional strength from low drone power. Quavery musical essences seem to seep from the past as schateenmelodie (1:29) evokes some Euro-provincial nostalgia, much in the same way that mutedly jangling sitar (?) strings of the title track echo from more-Eastern exotic climes. Dulled by a cover of low-fidelity, guitar strums emerge to be scrawled upon by faintly squealing squigglies in verlauf. The subtle stringed acoustics of einsam are counterpointed by a light touch of squeaky-wheel effects... strangely beautiful. Slurry piano and who-knows-what descend like closing curtains when vorbel concludes this not-even-39-minute session of alluring eccentricity. novisad's almost-abstract snippets transcend my personal dislike of overt repetition. Each tonally subdued track replicates its core theme, just doing its own often-rather-melancholy thing while the world around it changes. Obliquely compelling, 9.0 Seleya is only one of the many eclectic listens you'll find at Dutch-East India. This review posted December 5, 2001 AmbiEntrance © 2001-1997 by David J Opdyke (except CD cover art, rights retained by original owners).