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Reviews 350: The First Minute of a New Day

In addition to their archival rescue and restoration work, Séance Centre have been increasingly curating contemporary music…things such as filmic fourth world and cozy cabin ambient of Muldrew by Shabason / Gunning or the deep droning expanses and ritualized walls of minimalism found on Oren Cantrell’s Kobzir…and for their most recent foray into new and original artist material, the label has teamed up with Lars Bartkuhn and Jan Hennig for The First Minute of a New Day. On this LP, the duo’s combined interests in ambient jazz fusion, pastoral kosmische, and ritualistic folk music coalesce into a understated journey of post-rock adventurism, forward thinking new age, and soft focus psychedelia, wherein hand drums from around the world guide mutating rivers of synthesis and subsonic basslines walk across a virtual fretboard while acoustic guitars strum softly…alternating between sunshine jangles and esoteric spells of forest folk urgency. Pianos both acoustic and electric smear out into impressionistic blurs, alight on polychromatic jazz dances, or lock into ceremonial chord mantras while ever-mutating tapestries of interstellar drone suffuse the background and as they progress, the extended and organic compositions often evolve in surprising ways, with stretches of meditative magic and horizontal wonderment giving way to unexpected climaxes of cinematic majesty and balearic radiance, sometimes even featuring wordless vocal refrains that carry the spirit towards paradise skies. At the edges of the mix lurk futuristic dancefloor and soundsystem textures calling to mind Bartkuhn’s and Hennig’s respective works in the worlds of deep house and drum’n’bass…as tribal tinged rhythms filter into acid bass sequences and extasy-laced pad formations evoke a 90s braindance fever dream. And perhaps best of all, Laraaji appears on closing track “July 14th” to bathe Bartkuhn’s and Hennig’s sonic environments in a spiritual glow of phased zither.

The First Minute of a New Day - The First Minute of a New Day (Séance Centre, 2020) In “June 15th,” reversing layers of birdsong swim in a quivering synthetic cloud as piano and acoustic guitar join together for prog jazz ascents, with chords climbing the fretboard and ivory keys glowing in darkened hues. Synthetic reed instruments move in the distance and the background swirls with ever-evolving machine fogs and black smoke swells while elsewhere, during moments where the guitars disperse, ambient piano motifs float upon reversing ebow leads, smears of solar fuzz, backwards moving bird wing flutters, and blooming cascades of distortion. Eventually, the regal prog chord ascents return, with lounge jazz basslines now walking in support, and after a understated flourish of Berlin school sequencing, acoustic guitars rain down with strummed riffs of psych folk splendour as shakers and slapback clicks generate a propulsive glide. All the while, pianos journey through mysterious melodic shadowlands, sensual basslines move deep in the undergrowth, and kosmische sequences filter in and out focus. And nearing the end, we return once more to the pastoral jazz chord progressions, with guitar and piano moving as one while rainforest percussion layers and streaks of electro-galactic mist push ever outwards. Next comes “July 9th” and its fingerpicked webs of acoustic guitar spraying off silvery echo hazes and generating receding fractal structures built from string slides and pick clicks, with my mind drifting to the work of James Blackshaw until a maniacal sub-bass brass sequence fades in from the darkness. Epic piano chordscapes generate currents of smoldering sustain while the acoustic guitars increasingly disperse into infinite curtains of sparkling crystal and as the song progresses, textured e-piano accents morph and mutate amidst the anthemic ivory chord thunderstrokes. The stereo field progressively fills with alien chitters, dissonant clouds of guitar drone, synthesized seagull screams, and whooshing swells of interstellar foam that sizzle and sputter into showers of neon light and as the marauding sub bass sequences continue moving the body with sinister intent, crystalline new age guitar melodies push through the surface, only to be reduced to a distant glow of starlight.

“Nov 3rd” begins quite far away from the pastoral fields of ECM jazz and Windham Hill new age of the preceding tracks, as acidic rhythms move through industrial siren storms, with everything transmuting and filtering into shadow. An electronic drum ritual slowly resolves through spiritual blasts of sci-fi rave and space trance ethereality and gentles twirls of woodflute add airs of forest folk mysticism, but soon, the vibe starts to transform as soulful and smokey blues piano chords temper the darkness with a sense of shades drawn coolness. The heady licks and stoned chord strokes bop on an ultra chilled groove of hand drums and acid bass, with the mix subtly ebbing and flowing…its slow and unseen cycles creating a narcotic sway. Somewhere near the center, there’s another dramatic change in vibe, as the ivories alight on post-classical arpeggios and romantic refrains while acoustic guitar brushstrokes caress each ear. Pounding bass synths support the cycling piano reveries and occasionally, shining six string riffs break through the feathery chordscapes, resulting in gorgeous ambient jams built from guitars and effervescent trance lines and seeing pianos journey through cluster chord fantasias and dreamscape solos. Later, the track changes tact once again, as otherworldly vocal cut-ups join in with the mutating rave bass electronics from the intro while percussive accents vaguely recalling bossa nova move all around the mix. And after a void of minimalism and sonic darkness, acoustic guitars return to jangle in the sunshine…their seaside psych riffs helping repurpose the aforementioned vocal cut-ups into a sort of lounge jazz scat. The colorations of coastal pop balearica are only heightened as island drums ride in on a salt-soaked breeze, joining with the swaying six string strums to induce visions of paradise beaches and cinematic sunrises. E-pianos generate dawn colorations and glowing melodies of ocean romance as the climax continues soaring the heart, but as quick as it arrives, it fades away, with everything slowly backing down into a panoramic glow of string synthesis and e-piano while tropical percussions dance amidst decaying gong splashes.

Side B opens with “June 23rd,” which sees bongos and congas drunkenly falling over themselves while anchored to a synthbass thud. Twirling telephone tracers and filtering blasts of star ocean sequelch surround reverb scrapes and fx-generated ghost screams until seed shakers join in with the rhythms, which increasingly blur between electronic and naturalistic. E-pianos are effected into pearlescent gas clouds and at some point, a bouncing fourth world sequence fades into being…as if a modular synth is trying to imitate a gimbri. As a result, the track lands somewhere at the intersection of Tkil, Natural Information Society, and Gwakasonné, with haunted choirs surrounding reverberating piano percolations, shining streaks of string synthesis fading in from darkness, and three-dimensional whalesong resonances threatening to overtake the mix. Suddenly, the rhythms grow urgent and energetic as they work into mystical rainforest gallop, which sets the stage for a climax of mantric chanting…like a sun-soaked hook of surfy vocal psychedelia repurposed into a druidic incantation. Floor toms introduce the ink black drone environments of “Dec 15th,” wherein reedy synths merge with swells of orchestral radiance to battle agains the subsuming darkness. Empty wooden drum beats move through the void before revealing themselves as a pounding alien bass mutation and mysterious psalteries work through waterfall cascades and fragile koto folk accents. Cosmic aquatic gases surround everything in a rippling glow, breathing chords swell in reverse, and colorful psych folk conversations proceed across several instruments while computronic rave tracers work against the flow. There’s also a magical moment where propulsive percussion joins in, with shuffling seed shakers, rolling hand drums, and heatwave piano chords revealing influences from Afro-beat and futurist jazz. But the rhythms eventually fade away, leaving pianos to sustain over layers of electro-tribal shadowbass, and by the end, all that remains are these psychotic synth strikes…like the crack of a whip decaying quickly, only to fade back in as a massive wavefront of whooshing deep space miasma.

“July 14th” begins with industrial string plucks decaying into cavernous spaces and throat singing cyborgs leading some unknowable religious ritual. Acoustic guitars and Laraaji’s zither cascade together as they fade into being, with melancholic reveries evoking arcane mysteries and touched by airs of Romani folk. Twiddling ivory leads and muted chord brushstrokes work into the stereo field alongside electro-acoustic drum patterns that soon delve into sub-bass acid sequencing and at some point, our first taste of the song’s epic and affecting melodic hook is teased out on piano. The background swells gently with the sounds of some angelic symphony…as strings and choirs drone together far in the distance…and as the bass sequencing grows ever more physical, chiming pads join the enigmatic piano refrains to realize the main melodic theme in full, which results in a mystical shadowfolk progression in the style of Current 93, or perhaps Popol Vuh at their most esoteric. Whipcrack drone strikes reverberate through pools of primordial fluid, pianos occasionally devolve into single note cycles that threaten to obscure the entire mix, and Laraaji’s zithers climb through murky layers of ethno-tribal ambiance to sparkle like starlight…all as the bass sequences flow between popping beat patterns and melting subsonic slides. As the liquid rhythms of a tabla join in, the mix sheds several layers, leaving a brief respite of Indian classical rhythms and blurring piano chords before the atmospheres of darkness finally recede, with the ivory playing breaking free of its mantric riffing and alighting on spellbinding adventures awash in the glow of a balearic sunset. All around, creaking loops and drunken string scrapes disturb the stereo field and the basslines grow ever more technoid as they snake alongside the percolating tabla rhyhtms. And eventually, the pianos and synths again lock into a glorious fantasia of Eastern European folk and filmic post-rock, with hazy choirs adding layers of fantasy magic, tambourines shaking out clouds of golden glitter, and intertwining threads of six string and zither evoking a sparkling webs of gemstones seen far below the ocean’s surface.

(image from my personal copy)

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Goodbye Dancing Hello God - Lars Bartkuhn

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Lars Bartkuhn ‎– Tokyo Burning

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Astral Walkers- Passage (Astral Stroll)

A colourful whirling vortex, the true embodiment of an astral stroll.

Quite often you’ll be able to find decent music among the recommendations on various streaming platforms. Sometimes you’re met with gold, which is exactly I’ve found in this entrancing Deep House with vibrantly painted with jazz. The Astral Walkers are a collaboration between the artists AYBEE and Lars Bartkuhn of Berlin and Frankfurt respectively. While this is my first encounter with either of these artists, each has a reasonably lengthy back catalogue there to be explored.

The Passage (Astral Stroll) is the second side of the Passage E.P. released in 2017. The E.P. as a whole is a magnificent journey through different textures, feels and instrumentation held together by a the consistent mixture of primally charged rhythms and swaggering jazzy lead instrumentation.

Rhythmically this track is hypnotic. Arpeggiated bass, melodically proficient drum parts and rhythmically whispered vocals intermingle through a fog of synthesisers to create a vibrant soundscape for the lead instrumentation to shine through. The organic tones and jazz chording of the piano add a particular warmth and colour to the piece. It is a great melding of styles that makes this so attention grabbing and worthy of recognition.

If you enjoyed, the check out the whole E.P. on the link below.

http://deepblakmusic.bandcamp.com/album/aybee-and-lars-bartkuhn-are-the-astral-walkers-dbr-v031

#aybee #lars bartkuhn #the passage #astral stroll #astral walkers #deep house #jazz #deep blak