Reviews

Angry Ape

Sublime artist sampler from up-and-coming Sheffield label Audiobulb, following on from the recent ‘Exhibition #1’, here we see more stripped down, minimalist offerings from the diverse roster.

With an overall industrialised sound and approach to the songs, each track is based on mechanical samples and static rhythms. Coming across like a follow up to the infamous ‘Click ‘n’ Cuts’ series, the eleven pieces boast an impressive sound for a label so early in it’s stages. Each track is a slow builder, using the tiniest of developments and focusing mainly on subtle structures and compositions.

The crudely named ‘Diagram Of Suburban Chaos’ opens with a sampled typewriter, before morphing into a low key version of Pedro’s ‘Seven Eight’. It’s all cut up vocals and rapid percussion, fusing hip-hop production with ambience. If Kid606 stopped being so pretentious, he could create something as lovely as this.

For a farely downbeat release, Build are fun and fast-paced in comparison. Part Isan, part Boards Of Canada, they offer a refreshing contrast to the clinical feel of the other artists. Surely Build should be the first solo ep release of the label. Marion comes across like a slightly goofy Aphex Twin, circa ‘Richard D. James’, cartoon synths and bouncy percussion isn’t the most intelligent pairing but works well.

Without relying on ‘big drums’ or simple melodies, the artists have achieved the difficult task of creating a wonderfully infectious, hypnotic album that manages to remain interesting and enjoyable throughout.

A blissfully chilled-out collection and a lovely incite into the world of Audiobulb, certainly a label to keep an eye on for the future. Gorgeous artwork too. 8/10.

Disquiet

ILLUMINATED MP3 ALBUM: On October 20, Audiobulb Records uploaded a new various-artists electronic-music collection in MP3 format. Titled Exhibition #2, it's currently highlighted on the label's website, audiobulb.com. The set features 11 tracks, ranging from gentle stereoscopic play, Claudia's "Sleepyhead (Roomix)," to vaguely disturbing vocal mishmash. Disastrato's "2 Orgasms Before Each Suicide + A Deformed Smile = Ixtab" uses what seems to be the voices of children; Autistici's "Tiny Machines Engaged in an Unsuccessful Vasectomy," judging from its layered moans, may better deserve the Disastrato title. Also using a vocal cutup is Build's "A Protective Plastic Coating," which has the abstract-rap feel of Amon Tobin's nonsense "Verbal" single and the more chaotic songs by the UK techno outfit Underworld. Many of the record's tracks emphasize elastic, seemingly autonomous rhythms and light, pleasing melodies. David Newman runs Audiobulb from Sheffield, England. He describes Exhibition #2 as follows: "This album provides compositions based on subtleties, attention to the little details and a non-reliance on repetitive rhythmic structures. Within the album you will find the sound of minimal ambience, micro clicks and deconstructed samples."

The album's shortest piece, at less than two minutes, features renowned the renowned Tetsu Inoue working with Daimon Beail on a series of brief elements that shift by as if someone's switching stations on a radio with faulty wiring. By far the most restful entrant here is Erik Schoster's "Study No. 1 (For Chris Penrose & Eric Lyon)," which is truly ambient: absent of a downbeat, ethereal even as it develops texture. If you're low on bandwidth or disk space, or otherwise want to limit your downloads, be sure to check out the album's first track, "So Gone" which is credited to Diagram of Suburban Chaos. The song starts with exactly the sort of stuttered snippets that have you checking whether your speakers are on the fritz, or your laptop's motherboard is overloading. As a result, you'll find it doubly centering when a gentle tune wafts in and, around the one-minute mark, a drum beat arrives to steady the track's course.

Static Beats

To understand the premise behind Exhibition #2 you must first grasp the Audiobulb philosophy and concept. Visit the website, take some time to admire the excellent site design and fine attention to detail. After your first visit you should get an idea what Audiobulb is about; electronic meets organic where digital finds acoustic, with an adherence to the push and pull between the contrast of the soft inviting world of nature and the harsh and sometimes abrasive world of electronics. The importance of the design and presentation are especially apparent when visiting the website. Audiobulb is not solely about one specific concept or another but rather about an entire approach to creative output and delivery. In addition to the audio releases you will find exhibitions of digital artwork as well as audio samples for downloading into your own creations. With an appreciation for the importance of education, Audiobulb offers a page dedicated to the sine wave, with a selection of tracks derived from the 440 khz tone, and short quotations from such noteable contemporaries as Albert Einstein, Pablo Picasso, and Oscar Wilde.

The philosophy of Audiobulb is to "embrace uncertainty, flexibility and creative risk taking". Exhibition #2 embodies this philosophy with a balanced selection of challenging beatless noises, digitally effected meanderings and structured rhythmic interpretations. Standout tracks come in the form of the more beat-oriented tracks from the likes of Diagram of Suburban Chaos, Bllix, and Build, while the more experimental tracks by Marion, Claudia, and Autistici are equally welcome alongside the others. The mixture and selection of such tracks makes for an engaging listen.

Exhibition #2 is a fitting title for this approach as the album is quite obviously a work of art. These days, more studios and galleries are finding the beauty and purpose of audio works that are presented on their own or alongside traditional pieces. Imagine stepping inside a seperate box for each song and allowing yourself to completely accept what you hear. Take each track as a journey and as a work of art on it''s own and you will find the significance behind the exhibition as a whole. This is an album that may be listened to several times over for a different experience each time - much as a museum can be visited to appreciate a work of art from a fresh perspective on a new day. Try playing the tracks in a different order, listen in the morning or at night. Find a dark place to contemplate or a well-lit office to disengage from. Just as in art, there is no wrong way to approach this music.

Exhibition #2 is freely available for download from the Audiobulb website along with CD artwork and desktop wallpaper. Recommended for seekers of a wholesome experience.

Igloo Magazine

Exhibition #2 is the second release from Audiobulb Records, an MP3 music label that will begin to release CD's in the next month. According to the label's banner, Audiobulb presents Exploratory Electronic Music, and this release does not stray from the mission statement. Of the eleven cuts featured, Diagram of Suburban Chaos, Build, Henry Leo Duclos, and Bllix lean more towards the IDM realm and definitely demonstrate more musical structure. The other seven tracks firmly reside in the land of minimalism and experimentalism. The obtuse clicks and blips dot the spacey hum in the background while an acoustic thread is sawn from beginning to end. Remaining true to its abstract tendencies, Exhibition #2 is a great template for those interested in delving into the audio oddities of layered electronic sound.

A pronounced appreciation of the experimental branch of electronica is certainly an advantage while absorbing the frequencies of Exhibition #2. Adding to that, none of the tracks on this compilation provided a difficult listening experience, in fact, most of them rely on found-sound digital experiments forming a thorough signature for this newly formed record label. The four less-experimental tracks were all good efforts, especially the Bllix and Diagram of Suburban Chaos.

Exhibition #2 is definitely recommended for fans of minimal and experimental ambience, but it likely will not find an audience outside of that niche.

Exhibition #2 is OUT NOW as an MP3 release on Audiobulb Records. (Audioulb recently tied for 2nd Place as the Best Indie/Label Collective at the Electronic Scene 2003 Music Awards)

Link to original review > HERE

DE:BUG

Definitely one my Lieblingsnetaudioreleases this week. The still rather fresh label from Sheffield arranges a Compilation from clickernden experimentelleren TRACKS, of people their name one to dearest all would note (to stand on the web page, no, I copy those now not here), because there is always TRACKS, which transform either a good simply idea condemned conclusively into music, which works erfrischend coolly and very charmingly, or, the one completely around the mental category finger windings organize experiments with sound. Thus, Clickerkoepfe and everyone that gladly to surprise leave themselves. downloaden, bookmarken, in new type character register, and in the north believe.

Loop

Audiobulb is netlabel from Sheffield that bets by the abstract and melodic electronica. About 15 young artists from Europe and the USA belong to the roster of this imprint of which it is possible to download the music and albums covers. This compilation precedes previous "Exhibition 1" that was also released last year. Diagram Of Suburban Chaos has a deep bass and keyboard melody lines that suggest an ambient piece in the likes of Boards Of Canada. Effacer suggests clicks & cuts and anxious atmospheres, while Disastrato shows a sample of children voices that makes foretell a naïve track, and soon it is taking more organic forms and quirky rhythms by the action of cut-up. Claudia, aka Justin Varis, and Tetsu Inoue and Daimon Beail follow the glitch. In as much, Marion, aka Loren Holyoke-Hirsch from San Diego, unfold beautiful ambient near the atmospheres of the English disappear O Yuki Conjugate group. Build, aka Damon Zucconi from New York, invites us to listen to a gorgeous track with sampled voices of some hip-hop tune while drops of an electrical piano fall down. Eric Schoster from the city of Wisconsin shows a very nice ambient piece. The young person Eric Schoster of the city of Wisconsin shows to an exquisite piece ambient to us and Henry Leo Duclos, from the city of San Diego and Bllix, aka Meagen J. from Portland, suggests that twisted electronica between Plaid and Mike Paradimas. Finally Autistici that dismisses this compilation proposes a disquieting ambient.