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 | Various Artists:Apokalypsis Explicata (Multimood - 1998) The Swedish label Multimood really lives up to its name, by releasing a broad spectrum of ambient and experimental electronica. |
| In celebration of
ten years of plugging away on the geographic periphery, it has just
released this 2 CD collection, featuring twenty pieces which prove that
artistically at least, there is no periphery anymore (and, it thus
follows, no centre). Contributions are drawn from Sweden and Continental
Europe, the States and Australia, and all the cuts save Shinjuku Thief's
receive their premiere here, though a number of them were composed and/or
recorded as far back as 1995 (though the tooth of time has been kind).
Hans Fahlberg is Multimood Records. With admirable discernment and vision, he has built up a small but quality catalogue of disparate artists (which can be viewed at the Multimood website). The other scarlet thread running through all Multimood releases is the distinctive artwork in which they are clad. This new release is no exception: the design bluntly and humourously reminds the reader of the above-mentioned geographic location by featuring the famous "Swedish Match" matchbox, a view of the port of Gothenburg and toy hockey players. Apokalypsis Explicata opens chaotically with a fourth world run-in by M'Lumbo, and then gets bogged down in some industrial-strength abstract noise/sound expeditions. Welcome and beaty relief is offered by Oil in the Eye's "Callipers" (Oil in the Eye is one Manuel Puyo, btw, and last year's solo debut _Within_ on Malpractice Records was a gem). After one Gregorio Bardini treats the ears to a dark Romantic flute piece (floating uneasily over a bed of menacing, subaquatic sounds), a nifty segue is pulled off by the "altered clarinet" sound of Tween Deck 2 from Sweden, which rapidly degenerates into something more grating and even more gratifying. A quiet beat provides orientation through a fascinating aural collage. Robert Rich checks in with the grandiloquently-titled "A Flock of Metal Creatures Fleeing the Onslaught of Rust" - the type of completely beatless, subterranean drone that he does so well; but which Michael Winnerholt then succeeds in topping with his track, by moving it above ground and allowing the drone to shimmer. The first CD ends with an unassuming but interesting piece by Hans-Joachim Roedelius and friend, that teases the listener at the outset with a little ethnic flavour, before slowly deconstructing itself into a groaning din and disappearing. CD 2 opens ever so quietly with Shinjuku Theif ("17/21") and Vidna Obmana ("Shaking the Surreal" - a beauty), and maintains that amorphous tone with a track by Tonal, before the German composer Peter Frohmader's "Mission X" opens up. This is a twelve-minute tour-de-force that begins ever-so-quietly with some introspective electronica under sampled snatches of radio, before a funky jazz band muscles its way onto the stage. At around the six-and-a-half minute mark it gets even funkier as some Laswell-wannabe cranks up the bass. About two minutes later the funk starts wearing off, a muted coronet assumes the lead, the band starts to fade out, and a denouement of rumblings slowly takes us away from this remarkable place. It's just not what you expect on a compilation like this,...which is what you should expect from Multimood! Jeff Greinke gets things back to "normal" with the lovely "Ketembe" and an American act called CC: Dome checks in with a wonderful, rolling and echoing number called "Dr. 1 (Molasses Mix)", adding layer upon layer to a very simple and very lovely melody. The last fifteen minutes of the CD is marred by a noise collage by Mark Kirschenmann which really loused up my mood, before Asmus Tietchens rows the thing home with a routine entry.
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| 20 artists, nineteen original cuts - this is an exceptionally varied and successful compilation. Four thumbs up (two for each disc)! (SF) |  |
This review posted April 7, 1998
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