P019: Swedish electronica and Kontra-Musik special.

New show is up and this week we are all about Sweden!!! We have a triple special: firstly Kontra-Musik, secondly female electronic artists and thirdly the late and great film director Ingmar Bergman. You can find all this only on Scanner FM and Cabeza de Vaca.

 

First some thanks: firstly, “tack” to Jimi Disco at Subwax BCN for putting me in contact with Ulf Ericsson at Kontra. Ulf duly put me in contact with Johanna Knutsson at Klasse Recordings who helped tracking down some female artists, some of whom I couldn’t get tracks for in time for the show, sadly.
 

 

Secondly, in an earlier, deleted take I gave a shout out to my old housemates Peter and Johanna who are in Malmö, but in a subsequent version I omitted to say hi. So “Hallä” to them and their family.

 

A few little points. Definitely worth looking at the videos of Andreas Tilliander aka Mokira and TM404. Here are two of them just to compare. New album was out too close to the show date to get a track in, but it looks killer.
 

 

I also mention Andreas previous foray into Ingmar Bergman territority with his Mokira moniker. His “Persona” album cae out in 2009 on the Type label and it somehow manages to mix influences as far afield as Bergman and Spacemen 3!
 

 

“Persona” is not only one of Bergman’s greatest films, but one of the best films of all time. So many levels of meaning and complication and also tricks of technique that are only possible in the medium of film. A true masterpiece.
 

 

The only other incidence of Bergman occurring in electronic music that I know was [Sebastian] Seidemann’s self-released “Ice and snow” album and the track “Moder och dotter” which featured a sampled dialogue from “Autumn sonata”
 

 

 

The Ingrid Bergman of the film is the legendary Ingrid of "Casablanca" fame, but no family relation to Ingmar.

 

In the radio show I erroneously refer to this film as a splendid example of one of Bergman’s colour works. It is a colour film and a good one, but the one I was meant to mention was “Cries and whispers”

 

Bergman’s other masterpiece and one that is less often mentioned is “The Hour of The Wolf”. An absolutely devastating and utterly paranoid and nearly delusional film with some of the greatest scenes and characters in cinema history.

 

 

Maverick noise/techno trio Frak have been around the traps since 1987 and there are plenty of archive videos on Youtube for the hungry. Here is one or two just for a teaser and to highlight their oddball stage presence and their synth pop origins. Masterful!
 

 

 

Finally, Johanna Knutsson has just made a nice mix for Discobelle:

 

 

And La Fleur is on the road as far afield as Sydney in the month coming. Show your support!
 

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Mokira

This week I did a lengthy review (that I am sure will be cut) for Resident Advisor about the new Mokira album "Time Axis Manipulation" on Kontra Muisk, which for me was a fantastic and dynamic journey into ambient dub techno. The artist in question is one Andreas Tilliander from Malmö in Sweden. He has been releasing music for over a decade under several aliases and was one of the earliest figures to play a role in developing the glitch sound with his album “Cliphop” for Raster Noton back in 2000.

His recent album however, finds him in ambient-dub techno terrain. While dub techno is rightly maligned for being formulaic, particularly where it approaches the dance floor, there is clearly plenty of new space to be found there for inventive artists. In particular, Mokira’s take on it was eschewing a more orgramming aesthetic for a more patient, modulated and indeed “shepherding” approach to the music. That is to say, Tilliander lets it wander, but in his case the music knows where the grass is greener.

These two videos are nerdy, but they make the point: banks of machines and Tilliander apparently doing nothing, just pushing buttons or twiddling knobs, but the gradual development of the sound is impressive.

Here, the sound seems in its infancy compared to what is on the album which is richly layered and highly organic, resembling more Vladislav Delays “Multila” album and perhaps also Rhythm and Sounds lengthy tack “Imprint”.

On a side note, Brendon Moeller aka the Echologist also just released an album of ambient dub techno called "Subterranean" on his own Steadfast imprint with quite differing results. Moeller comes from a more dance orientated background and his album sounds fighting and at times heavy, but cleverly resists the urge to drop in beats even if the music suggests the space for them.

Tilliander on the other hand comes from a more ambient/avant garde background, despite having dance floor and IDM roots himself, and works more the textures and evolution of the sound. In particular, his previous album “Persona” on the Type label has many of the same dynamic elements as “Time Axis Manipulation”, but without referencing dub techno. The palette here is smoother and warmer even when it strays into more industrial passages.

Two curiosities about this album are firstly its reference to Ingmar Bergman’s film “Persona”, one of the greatest films ever made, in the cover art particularly and perhaps in mood (not to mention that both are also obviously Swedish).



Secondly, "Persona" the album also pays homage to Indie rock, in particular Spacemen 3. Tilliander makes particular note of an encounter with Jason Pierce in the sleeve notes, whereas one track is called “Ode to the Ode to Street hassle” in reference to Spacemen 3’s “Ode to Street Hassle” itself a homage to the Lou Reed track of the same name (from the “Street Hassle” album). Similarly, another track is called “Octaves and Tremelos” a direct reference to Sonic Boom’s release of that name.

This is not the first reference to indie rock in Tilliander’s work. His 2007 album is entitled “Hateless” in obvious reference to My Bloody Valentine’s seminal album “Loveless”. The album features track names that replace “love” with “hate” such as “True hate will find you in the end” a reference to Daniel Johnston and again to Spacemen 3/Spectrum who covered the track. The 2004 album “World Industries” also sported a track called “Mary Chain” after the Jesus and Mary Chain.