substanz-t
tripped experiences
released: 2001
cd
Label: hymen records
buy this record on
itunes
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emusic
tracklist:
1. nexus
2. really good
3. le contact de ta voix
4. new-u
5. was it god
6. unique
7. hypnotized by bee
8. solution
9. black
10. unite
Sideline Interview 4/01
Q.: Are you guys so perfectionist or have you just been busy with other things that it took you all this time to return with a new album?
A.:Both is true, altogether three years have passed since our last release. Out of this, we only used one and a half years for our new album Tripped Experiences. Before starting to work on the album we produced a variety of RMX's, among others for Front242, had different gigs at parties, and collected much yet unreleased material.
Q.: You also moved from the Trisol group to Ant-zen... Because the image of your new label was better fitting your sound or for other affinity reasons?
A.: Our new label is Hymen and we are very happy to release our material now on Hymen. Our sound fits very well to other Hyman acts such as Architect (aka Myer). As an experimental dance act we fit much better Hymen's sound philosophy than that of Trisol.
Q.: All we can say is that your music evolved a lot towards more trip-hop / drum'n bass tunes... This also confirms the unpredictable aspect of Substanz T I guess?
A.: It is true that, amongst others, these styles inspired us. Although, this is probably not a surprise for those, who followed our live gigs in the last time.
Q.: I suppose that the title of your new and 3rd album Tripped Experiences refers to your band name (drugs, etc.), as well as the new sonic direction you took on this cd?
A.: We would like to induce a psychoactive effect with our music. This is probably why we like these kinds of names.
Q.: The use of smothered spoken vocals on lots of tracks also gives a certain twist to your new compositions?
A.: With Tripped Experiences we tried to open ourselves and to incorporate other artist and musician friends who were in this case Christophe Demarthe (aka CO2) and MC Ronin (Precision) as guest vocalists.
Q.: Lots of words are by the way in French... A deliberate choice to add an exotic dimension to the tracks?
A.: Not at all, since Christophe is coincidentally french, we thought its best if he writes his lyrics in his mother tongue.
Q.: You must love the new album by The Young Gods who also blend French lyris and more ambient techno tonalities?
A.: Unfortunately, we don't know this band.
Q.: What were your influences and artistic intentions with this new cd?
A.: There are no special influences. Besides Drum'n Bass and Trip Hop we also like Progressive House, Ambient (ala Biosphere), and experimental Hip Hop (ala Ninja Tunes). With this record, as with most of our other records too, we were influenced by what happens around us. There was also no artistic intention in the record as it was created from the antipode bulge. We wanted to produce a relaxed home-listening record. For our 12'' release on Hymen we will produce more club-oriented material.
Q.: Is it easy to translate your weirdest dreams and hallucinations into electronic arrangements?
A.:Artistic work can not be done at assembly line speed and creativity can not be forced. However, to convert our ideas into music necessitates a certain amount of training, talent, and of course a lot of work.
Q.: What is your favourite tool for such an exercise?
A.: Our main tools for the production of Tripped Experiences were our two MPCs (Sequencer/Sampler), different analog Filters, and of course our good old ATARI. For future productions, however, we will use our new Apple G4.
Q.: Can we expect new live performances from Substanz T with new visual animations?
A.: New visual animations are not planned, but its mostly a question of money. We play mostly in clubs and on parties. That's why our live-set is more DJ oriented.
Q.: What do you expect from this new century?
A.: The manned flight to Mars and further investigation of the universe. Many wild parties and a live gig of Substanz-T on the ISS. Furthermore, a lot of fun, less work, and the abolishment of money.
reviews:
The New Empire - Online Magazine for Electronic Lifeforms 4/01.
They are back: I hold the
third album of Substanz T in my hands, put it into my
CD-player and celebrate the holy act of pressing the play-key.
The music of this project was from Frankfurt always was very
surprising and interesting, no category could be found to
judge about their sounds and with this new album they show us
again how Janus-headed this project is regarding their
music.
“Tripped Experiences” is a good choice of a title,
because the sensitive mixture of Trip Hop, Drum ‘n’ Bass, Big
Beats and Trance is a musical trip, an acoustical inducted
drug-experience.
The album begins with “Nexus”, a
track that gives you a direction for the whole album. The slow
rhythm with the druggy soundscapes and a powerful bass are the
background for French spoken words – better to say whispered
words – by Christophe Demarthe. The dense atmosphere of this
track is well created by floating sound-patterns and
subliminal melodies.
Track number two is called “Really
Good” and is also really good. With over 10 minutes duration
it turns out to be a very long track but the time is needed to
develop a psycho-acoustic tension over the whole track.
Boredom does not reign here and even the many loops and the
very slow rhythm are done well enough to make it an
interesting piece of music.
Those who felt asleep during
song two will wake up with the next track coming. The break
beats and the drum’n’bass elements make it one oft the louder
tracks on the album. It goes straight forward and offers some
excellent heights.
My favorite song comes next: “New-U” is
a slow breakbeat-track with offensive trance-elements,
spherical voice-fragments and very fragile sound layers that
spread like a fog across the whole rhythm-construct. The track
is even danceable but I would prefer to listen to it alone in
the dark. It can rise pictures inside your head when you shut
your eyes.
The drum&bass-fans amongst us will love “Was
it God with MC Ronin”. The song features a MC, yeah. Spoken,
fast-rapped vocals by MC Ronin over a confusing D&B-track
full of breaks and surprising hooks together with frightening
atmospheric elements and loud screams. An intense, excellent
track.
“Unique” has a ritualistic character with the loops
mangled together. A very slow rhythm carries this track and
dark sound layers create a threatening atmosphere together
with whispered vocals. The whole track is like a slow drive
through a tunnel, a frequency of lights that come closer,
disappear and come closer again, mixed in fear of being left
alone in the dark.
The next track has a funny title:
“Hypnotized by Bee” and continues at the point where “Unique”
has left you. It is also very atmospheric, some very quiet
drums and an ultra-slow piano are the main-elements and again
some whispered French vocals. Somehow this reminds me of the
great Phallus Dei with a very modern approach. After almost
two thirds of this drifting song a difficult break builds the
prelude for some more offensive beats that lead the song to
it’s melancholic end.
After this tracks “SOLution” offers
in parts some refreshing drum&bass-attacks but it is not
really an outburst of energy: ambient-parts are mixed in and
the rhythm plays together with the heavy sound-walls and
artificial choirs.
“Black with CO2” begins really black
with enormous basses. My flour is vibrating and I love my
subwoover more than ever. The bass is dominating here and
creates a stage for the narrative French vocals. Only some
cymbals and a snare are added to the minimal rhythm-section
and the silent, often repeated piano-loop is also not strong
enough to force back the hammering bass. A very good track and
really dark with an excellent end.
“Unite” seems to be some
kind of medley from the album, because it unifies all the
elements of the tracks before: break beats, soft
sound-carpets, ritualistic but not annoying loops and a lot of
weird vibrations.
“Tripped Experiences” is definitely
not a loud album. It live from it’s great atmospheric moments
and the many surprising breaks. It is an album for a warm
summer night, cruising in a convertible, a cold winter night
lying in a warm bed, a smoky drug-party or simply a relaxing
bath. The more often you listen to it the more details you
will discover and I am sure Tripped Experiences will alternate
your mind like a drug.
Toxin of NewEmpire
Release Music Magazine 3/01.
Substanz
T are a new acquaintance for me, and they make the kind of music I have
been longing to hear for some time: An atmospheric, ambient, minimalistic,
jazzy, laid-back and groovy kind of drum'n'bass. And although lots of
artists do just that, not many do it with this kind of finesse. The sounds
are really fresh and Substanz T almost always manage to stay away from the
common break beat loops that have been sampled to death. Substanz T are
really good at manipulating their equipment, and there are sweeps, bleeps
and samples all over the place.
Some of the tracks have vocals,
which mostly are unobtrusive. But sometimes they take the centre stage and
become the driving force of its piece. This happens in WAS IT GOD. Here
the vocals consist of monotonous rapping, and I think the music would have
been better without it. I also feel that some tracks never kicks off.
Somehow, they just sneak around without getting to the point, but perhaps
that is the point.
It is hard to find standout
tracks on this record, because they all blend together very nicely. But if
I had to do it I would probably pick SOLUTION and UNITE, as those are
a little more focused. I was pleasantly surprised with this effort, and if
you like similar music, give it a try.
JOHAN CARLSSON
music.reviews 3/01.
after a long period of silence substanz t resurfaced
on hymen with TRIPPED EXPERIENCES. this album is technically the
second full-length since release of INTERSOLAR back in 1997. this
album was an amazing exploration of dark complex trance, that even
now remains one of the best albums in this genre. his other trance
efforts - ESSENTIAL TRANCE MIXES and SIRIUS B KONTAKT were
stylistically similar to INTERSOLAR, yet a little
lighter-sounding. substanz t appeared a few times as remixer for
renowned industrial projects, and finally he got a whole disk to
himself on electronic lust v2 sampler.
TRIPPED EXPERIENCES falls somewhere in between hypnotizing low vibrating
frequencies off electronic lust v2 and his trance efforts. if you
slowed down his trance rhythms, added a little more structure to his
ambient works, the result would probably be very close to tripped
experiences. however from the very first moments something appeared
to be missing from this album that I could not exactly place. I
guess I was expecting something along the lines of intersolar, and
at first I failed to see any substance on this album; it appeared to
be overly amorphous, unstructured, and simply too
generic-sounding.
but at the same time there was something
in it that almost every night for a few weeks in a row made me play
this cd again and again. at some point this strange addiction called
for some analysis, and I guess the best I can come up with is the
atmosphere that the band creates that is both relaxed and at the
same time has vibrating subtle intensity that keeps you glued to the
headphones.
sound textures on every song are a
combineationof deep brooding basslines and simple yet very efficient
technoid percussion. it develops slowly (referencing its trance
past?), evolving and developing. distant strings and very sci-fi
sounds find their way through the sound layers and before you know
it, you are immersed in the same atmosphere that intersolar had,
but transformed, slowed down and mutated to the strange detached
state. it features a lot of technoid elements (I guess hymen *is* a
right label for this album) that you might find in traditional
techno, but on this album they are used in a completely different
way contributing to overall atmosphere.
after you listen to
the album for a few times, you start noticing all the subtle details
that build up in every track - from strange swirling noises, to
gentle key progressions; from deep orchestrated movements to rolling
percussion textures, reminding me of intersolar.
the sound
is very spacey, fluid; they build up similar to your normal trance
track, but at the same time it is not technically trance - it is
deeper, slower, more profound and diverse. it toys with atonal
strings, slowly building melodies, occasional exotic touch. on a few
tracks it even features disembodied vocals that only enhances the
atmosphere.
once again substanz t managed to build an
amazing deep atmosphere, that perfectly matches hymen's profile. it
is probably one of the most interesting combination of ambient and
technoid rhythms. the only comparable atmosphere was created by
early xingu hill on their nova zembla releases. my only
recommendation for this release will be a good set of headphones and
your undivided attention for a few minutes until you fully get
immersed into the album's
atmosphere.
submitted by anton on 23-Mar
Klangwald 3/01.
Substanz-T präsentieren ihr insgesamt drittes Album. Für
den normalen Klangwald-Hörer sicherlich kein einfacher Stoff, aber wer
unsere Rezensionsliste durchsieht, sieht auch, daß wir Releases von Netz,
Kraftwerk und The Galan Pixs rezensieren. substanz-t reihen sich hier
irgendwo dazwischen gut ein.
Präsentiert wird Trip-Hop, ambient und break-beats vom
feinsten. Die Frankfurter Formation hat auf ihrem Release 'tripped
experiences' insgesamt knapp 72 Minuten Minuten zusammengetragen, die sehr
perfektionistisch arrangiert sind.
Die Klarheit der Aufnahme und die filigrane Struktur
eines jeden Songs machen diesen Tonträger zum hypnotischen Erlebnis.
Das I-Tüpfelchen sind die als quasi-Samples eingebrachten
gesungenen Textsequenzen. Teilweise gibt es aber auch richtig gesprochene
und gesungene Passagen. Diese reihen sich nahtlos und unaufdringlich in
das Soundgefüge ein und komplettieren dieses. Ein Ohrenschmaus für den
geneigten Hörer.
Wie gesagt: Kein Synth-Pop, Dark-Wave oder Gothic-Stuff,
sondern trip-hop, ambient & break-beats. Dies aber vom Feinsten,
glasklar und hypnotisch.
In dieser Stilrichtung eine wahre Perle und mehr als
empfehlenswert.
Rezension von Nils Bettinger
recycleyourears 3/01
It's finally here! After four years of waiting and a couple of
vinyl releases, here comes the new album of Substanz T., this time
on Hymen,
which has never sounded more different from his father label Ant Zen. But "Tripped experiences" is
also a surprise compared to the rest of the Substanz T
discography.
Just listen to the very beginning of "Nexus": it all
starts with a jazzy, almost accoustic sound and a broken rhythm loop, on
which appears very quick the voice of the Christophe Demarthe (Clair Obscur / CO2).
So much for all of you who expected another trancey CD with A. Crowley
samples. Anyway, once you get used to it, the female choir in the second
half of this track, as well as the small, more flowing sounds at the
beginning of "Really good" remind of the origins of Substanz T: a soft,
gentle kind of techno with an emotional side, void of heavy beats and
rather full of small details and changes. Then, "Le contact de ta voix"
mixes some of these elements, the french vocals (Christophe sings on half
the tracks of this CD), and a somewhat more jazzy feeling. At this point,
one could be reminded of some parts of Xingu Hill's "Alterity"
by the warm sounds and "full" arrangement. But Substanz T's music is
still more structured like techno tracks.
And the whole album plays with this two aspects,
alternating between the more flowing tracks ("New-u") and those more
oriented toward the vocals and this lounge / jazzy atmosphere ("Black" or
the rapped "Was it God"). All in all, this is isn't as accessible as what
this duo has released before. A bit softer, maybe, this album is however
less straightforward and has fewer trance moments. One needs several
careful listenings to get a general idea of where Substanz T is going
with this CD: a sort of clear, echoed and soft electronic music that takes
its root in both techno and industrial to end up and adds to it
interesting, warm vocals. One could say the band reached quite well this
objective, but lost also a part of the catchiness and the flow that had
made its appeal.
Anyway, one last thing to say about "Tripped experiences"
is that this sounds a lot like an album in which a lot of time and efforts
have been invested. This has a lot of diversity (for example just in the
fact that 4 different vocalists are implicated) and should satisfy people
who like to listen to the same disc over and over for a long time. In
fact, I think that the biggest surprise will be for people who expected a
new "Sirius B
Kontakt" or a new "Intersolar". But this is still a CD of deep and
interesting electronic music.
(Text: Nicolas, March 6, 2001)
3Sat Kulturzeit 2/01
Science-Fiction Leser
wissen mehr und erinnern sich an das Buch von Philip K. Dick: "Do Androids
dream of electric sheep", auch unter dem Filmtitel "Blade Runner" bekannt.
Im Buch ist Substanz-T eine Droge, die die Kommunikation der beiden
Hirnhälften unterbindet und bei übermäßigem Konsum süchtig macht. Soviel
zu Vorbildern aus der Literatur und deren Übertragung auf die Musik.
Was die Musik anbelangt, ist Substanz-T ein Frankfurter Duo, über
das mehr Mythen als Platten im Umlauf sind. Nach einer langen Kreativpause
sind Alexander Lange und Arne Stevens nun wieder zurück. Ihre Geschichte
liest sich in etwa so: Am Anfang war der Einfallsreichtum. Substanz-T
hatten die Idee, den Frankfurter Underground mit ihren Spontan-Events in
Tiefgaragen, auf Baustellen, in Unterführungen aufzumischen. Eine Art
Musikperformance, die die herkömmliche Musiker-Zuschauer-Beziehung
auflösen und in andere Kontexte stellen sollte. Wer damals schon Mühe
hatte, das Erlebte in eine Schublade zu stecken, dem geht es heute auch
nicht besser, denn das Nachfolgeprojekt von Alexander Lange und Arne
Stevens lässt sich noch weniger einordnen.
Vom Industrial
ausgehend, sind Substanz-T über Ambient und Trance mittlerweile im Reich
der gebrochenen Beats angekommen. Nach ihrem zweiten Album "Intersolar"
von 1997 standen erst mal wieder eine Reihe von Konzerten auf dem
Programm, um neu programmierte Loops, Beats und Sounds direkt zu testen.
Das Ergebnis dieser Selbstversuche mit Publikum heißt "Tripped
Experiences" und ist jetzt erschienen. Meditativ-melancholische Beats,
kaum ein Loop ohne die übliche Verzerrung - und natürlich auch die
altbekannten schrägen bis düsteren Sounds. Mit von der Partie sind MC
Ronin (Vocals) und der französische Industrial-Star Christophe Demarthe
von Clair Obscur.
Wer vorher schon mal reinschnuppern möchte:
Livetracks zum Downloaden bietet die Homepage http://www.substanz-t.com
"Tripped Experiences", von Substanz-T, erschienen bei Hymen
Angelika Hoffmann (Kulturzeit)
Discover Musik u. mehr
Auf die Frage nach einem Weg, den zu gehen sich lohnt, sollte immer eine Antwort gegeben werden können, die die Maßgabe eines Soundtracks zur rhythmischen Unterstützung eines jeden Schrittes beinhaltet. Sollte es sich um ein freiwilliges Taumeln oder um die leichten Bewegungen einer schamanistischen Wegfindung handeln, seien die Tripped Experiences von Substanz-t aus Frankfurt empfohlen. Mit einem abstrakten Einfühlungsvermögen, das dem leicht verklärten Blick eines sich seines Zustandes vollkommen bewusst entrückten Zeitgängers gleicht, entwickeln sich hier die Wegweiser durch räumlich und zeitlich undefinierte Gravitationen. Man bewegt sich auf unbekanntem und doch tanzbarem Terrain, schwingt sich in divers verrutschte Coexistenzen und verweilt im Zustand befriedigter Einstweiligkeit. Die Gesänge, derer sich Substanz-t bedient, bebildern diese klaren Gradwanderungen mit diffusen Geschichtsmomenten zu einer Einheit aus Mellow und Trip, Break und Ambienz und verfügt den Wanderer als Teil allen Seins zum selbst ernannten Führer durch ein eigenartiges Universum.
Drum sei beflissen und wäge ab, welchen Weg du, Wanderer, zu gehen vermagst, bevor du dich in den Windungen deiner selbst verrennst und vergiss nicht zu tanzen, dich zu drehen, einfach weiter und immer fort... und dann bist du da.
Carsten Bäumer
Tentacles E-Zine (April 15th, 2001)
The name of the band, the look and the name of the album should give us an idea of what this music will be like. Tripped Experiences is light funky sounding drum n’ bass inspired music that metaphorically aches for drugs. Comparisons between Substanz-T and Haujobb’s Solutions for a Small Planet have been made, and I can kind of see where those people are coming from.. But, in theory, we all hate the idea of comparing one band to another, or a mix of several bands, and so should most likely avoid any such comparisons. Having said that, I’m not going to be a hypocritical ass and say that to me, at least, Substanz-T sounds sort of like a cross between Haujobb’s Solutions for a Small Planet and Wave Workers Foundation’s In The Whirlpool.
Generally I like the album. Its easy laid back nature makes it suitable to put on when you have anyone over to your house and you’re all smoking drugs. Often, some of my music is a bit intense, weird, creepy, dark, etc. for some people. Its always good to find something I enjoy that others will too. Its main fault in such a situation, however, would be that silence would overcome the room, as its not the sort of music to instill energy into the stoned.
Was It God w/ MC Ronin (track 5) is painful, however. Right smack dab in the middle of the CD, the mood changes, and MC Ronin’s vocal stylin’ gets all in my face and I press the track advance button. Ok. Everything fine now. Unnecessary and wrong, I wish that track didn’t exist. And either next time I will overlook putting this CD on because of that, or instantly skip up to track 6, which is really unfortunate, as tracks 1 through 4 are really good.
- Squid (April 15th, 2001)
Electroages for human kind
Tripped Experiences is a moody collection of smoky atmospheres, ponderous trip-hop layers and sweeping ambiences. In the vibe of Ninja Tune label's releases, Subtanz T is melting trip-hop with influences of drum'n'bass along slight forays into hip-hop structures (the poor Was it Good featuring the rap-vocals of MC Ronin) and strong acid-jazz washes. Nexus is a gloomy affair, with quietly echoing guitar strings melted with French speech-samples over languid beats and a superb orchestral grandeur; Tripped Experience is set to be a lush and sensual album.
Really Good blends together smooth drum'n'bass beats with ambient flavors along a sense of experimentalism and the excellent Le Contact de ta Voix focus on acid-jazz influences with dub intrusions. Unique reveals a ghostly atmospheric character for Substanz T with dark synths tones floating over saxophone samples and soft drum'n'bass rumbles, but can easily loose of its interest with its extensive length. As strong as the opener Nexus, SOlution is what have wished the album to be: mechanical beats, aural ambience mixed with skittering techno flourishes, rich and warm with a dark character. The colossal Black follows the late, this time Substanz T is accompanied by Co2 (the new Clair Obscur's project), a menacing structure made with jazz-like drums, gloomy washes of synths and an impressive French spoken-word performance by Co2.
Conjuring a gloomy warmth with light acid-jazz, moody trip-hop with dark drum'n'bass; Tripped Experiences is a solid album which sometime tends to get monotonous by its debut, which is rapidly catch up by the end though. Like all of the Hymen's releases, Tripped Experience is still a quality release that doesn't bring anything new for the genre but truly delivers something rather solid and highly enjoyable.
-Final Man
elektronicsurveillance
Substanz t have delivered their first full length cd to Hymen and have become a new and interesting addition to the roster. What makes Substanz t really different is the presence of vocals, since more idm acts tend to stay away from them. However they really work well with the dark grooves they craft.
Nexus begins the album with slow dark, trip hop flavor with deep vocals almost crafting a track similar to Snog or Black Lung actually. Maybe it's the addition of the wah guitar sample. Very cool and out of the ordinary for Hymen.
Really Good takes minimal funk technoid beats and fills them with drifting synths progressing with many interesting breaks and interesting subtle beats and sounds. Le contact de ta voix french vocals amidst slow breaks with nice analog bass lines and a hint of jungle influence giving way to interesting twists and turns. New-u warps heavy reversed analog keys, strong soundscapes, soft beats, a few female vocal samples creating a very spacey track throughout.
Was it good takes the urban influences of the album too far with the annoying MC Ronin rapping on it ruining the music completely. Do yourself a favor and skip this one to keep it from ruining a strong album. Unique brings back the deep, quiet French vocals with rhythmic loops, analog blurbs, and almost non existent beats making this track semi repetitious and leaning more toward the ambient/soundscape side. The beats do show themselves a little more by the end of the song though, but it does take time to build. Hypnotized By Bee begins with tribal ethnic influenced drumming with hollow dark background textures and whispered vocals eventually giving away to phasing breaks and bass lines. The strongest part of this track is the end where things get a little more interesting with more emphasis on the beat and the accompaniment of quiet piano.
Solution is a little more upbeat than the other tracks, hints of drum and bass with more high end and less dark sounds mixed with a little bass and eventually harder hitting kick drums to regain your attention. Black keeps to its name as it is a fairly dark track overall with a little more angry French vocals, dark analog sounds and a less techno influenced beat. Unite rejoins us with the urban down tempo drum and bass sound mixed with jazz piano and a few vocals to break it all up. This track ends the album on a much more laid back and funk influenced note.
Another interesting and well done album from Hymen. After listening to all three of their new releases I am really happy to see them expanding their horizons and releasing more diverse electronic music now than ever. I hope they continue to push those boundaries that most IDM labels are stuck in. If your tastes lean more toward trip hop and break beat with strong urban sounds, and you don't mind some interesting French vocals mixed in, this album is for you!
[kaiju]
barcodexl
3rd album from Frankfurt based Substanz-T, who provide a trippy, urban experience, full of trip-hop breakbeats and icy ambience. The compositions take shape slowly and deliberately before mutating into dreamy soundscapes that subtely unfurl and change direction, yet always keeping within the original framework of the song. Particularly striking are the opening track 'Nexus', with it's smooth break-beats punctuated by breathy vocals and flowing synth drones and the brisk drum patterns and cyber bassline of 'New-u', capturing the imagination totally with it's cool female vocals, astute melodies and clever, varying song fabric. 'Was It Good' leans towards a commercial rap style with drum and bass overtones while the remainder of Tripped Experiencest delves further into further, more soulful, trip-hop territory on 'Hypnotized By Bee' and the shuffling polyrhythms of the final track 'Unite'.
Platine le disquaire
Encore une fois la scène allemande de la musique électronique fait la preuve qu'elle est incontournable ces temps-ci, avec une nouvelle parution empreinte de créativité et de profondeur de la part de ce projet de Francfort. Je pourrais simplement décrire cet album comme étant à mi-chemin entre le style de Massive Attack et celui de Xingu Hill. Un genre de trip-hop très électronique et intelligent, tout en nuances et en ombres. Les synthés sont lents et aériens, les basses savamment sculptées, les rythmes modernes, les voix discrètes, les mélodies sombres et épurées, tout ça enrobé dans des textures à l'inspiration urbaine construites avec un souci constant du détail. Particularité à noter, quelques pièces sont en français. Une musique très actuelle mais qui peut rejoindre un auditoire élargi. De savoureux moments à vivre paisiblement en sirotant son verre. Un bijou qui nous est offert par l'incroyable étiquette Hymen (http://www.klangstabil.com/hymen) et qui fera partie de bons moments de l'an 2001.
neonyme
anti-statik.com
Yet another of my excellent birthday gifts from my wonderful lisa! tripped experiences is one of the most chill, relaxing cds i've ever heard. the material is extremely mellow and soothing, yet still very interesting and uplifting. in fact, this disc just puts me in a great mood. they've definitely mixed up a successful blend of technoid trip-hop, soft vocals, and loungey ambience. some of the keyboard rhythms throughout the album have that really relaxing retro/vinyl resonance to them. most of the vocals are in whispered french, with the exception of mc ronin's flow on was it god. personally, i find this rap a little hard to digest because it sounds like he's trying to squeeze too many words into one breath. in general, this musik just doesn't really mix well with rap, but i give them points for trying! on the whole, this album is very easy on the ears. calm and pleasant, ideal for background musik, and probably best when played at night. their style is somewhat reminiscent of massive attack, though slightly more experimental and not quite so vocal-oriented. i look forward to hearing more from substanz-t. so pick this cd up! it's definitely a pleasant time-out from the powernoise or harsh industrial in your collection. i've been listening to a lot of mellow electronic musik lately, and this is some of the best yet. (thanks again, sweetie!)
Andrew