Giuseppe Ielasi – Aix 8.4

Giuseppe Ielasi had dealt with drones up until this point. Most of them he showed a particular knack for, not just being engaged in the technical details of it, but the emotional core. With Aix, he continues down this road. 

Born in France, the album comes across as a more random version of Jan Jelinek’s “Loop-Finding Jazz Records”. Unlike Jan’s work, this isn’t as smooth. Noises of zips, aerosol cans, pieces of piano, cut up drones, and whatever else he could get his hands onto are thrown into the mix. Despite this apparently odds and ends collection of sounds, it comes across as a spry little album.

Looking at the album cover, you get a sense of what is in store for you. The bright colors and patterns should prepare you for the music. It is playful, fun, and even includes rubber bands. A rhythm does exist through most of these tracks, though it may be a bit more syncopated than expected for electronic music.

None of the tracks are titled. All are anonymous but each one has its own distinct texture. The opener is great, offering the barest of ingredients; it presents its soul out flatly to the listener. Other songs use even quieter songs to get the point across, it helps to have quiet surroundings and good headphones for this stuff, like for most 12K stuff. Track 8 in particular is beautiful, including a harp, guitar, and horns from far away.

I enjoyed this. This proves how academic exercises can bear fruit emotionally. Even though the sources are vast, there’s not Matmos-like showing off at any point. Rather than having the sounds as gimmicks, they are pieces of the whole.

Jan Jelinek - Loop-Finding-Jazz-Records 9.3

Rarely does an album combine a concept and listen-ability with such ease. Loop-Finding-Jazz Records is just one of those records. What could have come off as just another “clicks n’ cuts” generic nonsense comes off sounding so positively lush. 

Even with zero previous experience to the whole “clicks n’ cuts”, glitch movement, this is instantly enjoyable. Mixing jazz records with more modern mixing techniques, he creates a warm atmosphere. At no point are you subjected to any loudness, each sound has been edited to perfectly blend in with the environment.  I’m a bit of a sucker for this kind of sound, but it is also very rare for an electronic musician to incorporate multiple music-making aspects. Generally speaking, the kind of promotion he does of both the old and new, in the very ultra-high tech glitch field was treason when this came out in 2001. Back then, that wasn’t so much a thing, and even now, it rarely is done with the class or style that Jan uses here. 

Along with SND, Jan Jelinek made one of those few glitch albums that get better each time I hear it. Obviously the introduction tracks works well, sounding like some Red Norvo track completely blurred into near oblivion. “They, Them” is probably my favorite on here. Building up on the suspense it lets loose and creates probably one of the smoothest moments in German techno (and that’s really saying something). Looking for a favorite on here is pretty hopeless; they all have a certain quiet groove that bridges the gap between dance and lounge. 

I’ve been fortunate enough to see him live once, at Tonic (still my favorite now-closed music venue). Wearing a black and white striped shirt, he looked like a nihilistic Charlie Brown. His dance movements as he hovered over his equipment could only be described as “heavily autistic” and how he handled his liquor was terrible. A very attractive blonde woman had to finally escort him to a waiting Taxi, since he appeared too incoherent to figure out how to walk down a straight hall. Nonetheless, he put on a great show, considering the lackluster nature of live electronic acts. 

Please find this however you can. I highly recommend such a well thought out album, completely perfect and so smooth.