8 Tracks Of Electronic Invention – Volte-Face

Let’s start with a true Daddy. Conrad Schnitzler, sadly no longer with us, is a bonafide pioneer of ambient electronics. I could choose just about any track, but this is one that’s had the biggest effect on me over the years. On the surface it can be heard as almost prosaic, but the simplistic beauty of the chords and genius of the arrangement really draw you in. This track functions equally well as workplace wallpaper, or small-hours DJ tool. I tried to ensure my ‘kinetique’ edit was as sympathetic as possible!

How could this combination have anything other than outstanding results? This track is a veritable gothic reverie, with a sublime balance between bliss and dread.

Outer Space formed from the ashes of one of my favourite bands of all time, Emeralds and have fortunately continued to release some incredible records. ‘Memory Bomb’ is just about the most evocative and uncanny of the lot.

Even without his beloved Roland drum-machines, Carl Craig is a masterful musician capable of creating a Beatles piece that just oozes Detroit. This track somehow simultaneously achieves feelings of introverted melancholy, relaxation and hope that a better future is just around the corner.

And now for something a little darker! A very close friend turned me onto Bohren some years ago, and I can’t think of an LP that I’ve returned to more in the last few years than ‘Gore Motel’. The record masterfully combines jazz virtuosity with a thoroughly smacked-out pace to achieve an overall feeling of true dread.

Two maestros of the TB-303 (to be specific, the famed Devilfish mod I gather) combine to impressive effect. In the right hands, the instrument is as expressive and enigmatic as any other and this particular piece creates a wonderful tension with a mood that verges on the new-age. I was lucky enough to play this at a particular ‘famous Berlin nightclub’ during this year’s CTM festival.

A mainstay of the famously lo-fi and abrasive L.I.E.S imprint may seem an unlikely source of transcendental ambient electronica but Gunnar Haslam is a favourite artist of recent times when it comes to creating moods that don’t necessarily depend on a dancefloor to exist. This particular track actually came out on Mr Saturday Night but is as good a calling card as any for his talents.

Another slice of dread this one, recently released on Bill Kouligas’ label PAN. The track really struck me as incredibly cinematic and emotional, not something I would have expected from an arbiter of a ‘weightless grime’ scene that I do not know enough about. It’s really testament to the malleability of contemporary ears that a track like this can even exist, and I look forward to hearing more from Logos and his peers.