Melodies & Structures vol.1 compilation CD __________________________________________________ ALIEN (Slovensko, 04.05.2003) > http://www.aliens.sk Nové vydavate¾stvo, ktoré sa podarilo založi slovákovi momentálne žijúcemu v Kanade, urèite osloví poslucháèov, ktorí sú naladení na experimentálnejšiu elektroniku a nechávajú priestor menej známym interprétom. Medzi najlepšie záležitosti tu urèite patrí slovenský elektro, ambient Abuse, ktorý sa tu prezentuje jak svojim kúskom, tak slušným remixom pre projekt Imiafam. Väèšina soundu v ostatných prípadoch je akousi novou generáciou elektronických kúzelníkov a medzi najpoèúvate¾nejšie patrí projekt ex clena Clik Clik - Paperhouse. Ostatná väèšina ma svojim hudobným plaštom moc neoslovila, aj keï ich sound je v prípade kompilácie ukážkou rozmanitej produkcie: Cabaret, Krelisys, Napalmed... 3 / 5 ryby ---------- ALIEN (Slovakia, 04.05.2003) > http://www.aliens.sk New releasing company, that has founded by slovak that is living for the moment in Canada, for sure will get listeners in their ears, that like experimantal electro and are leaving a place for not so famous interprets. Between best of them, here is slovak electro, ambient Abuse, that is presented here, like with their own song, also with quite good remix for project Imiafan. Most of the sounds in the rest of the cases is some sort of new generation of electro magicians and between most listened belongs project from ex-member of Click Click - Paperhouse. The rest of the projects didn't get me so much with their musical performance, although their sound is, in the case of this compilation, a show of variegated production: Cabaret, Krelisys, Napalmed... 3 / 5 ryby __________________________________________________ AMBIENTRANCE > http://www.spiderbytes.com/ambientrance With artists drawn from Sweden, Poland, Slovakia, Brasil, the Czech republic, UK and elsewhere, 4mg records, a small virtual label from Canada, presents a sampler platter of their global-offerings, beginning with the slurred baroque-tronic/samplespeak/rumblecloud of Kitten Majestisque's "Avoiding conversations About It". Sassy drumbeats spatter across playfully trippin' "Smackhead"'s drug-induced vortex of dubby experimental music, a la PaPERHOUsE. The crisp retrosynthsounds of Northern Electric bring back the danceable darkness of the late '80s, Gothy vocals and all, in "In The Night". "Cloud Poetry" and its moodily expanding, bass-powered nightmusic from Slovakia's Abuse catches my ear with its almost sinister slyness, as does label-head ImiAFan's buzzy "English Lesson (Abuse rmx)", until those weird voices start, anyway. KrelisyS injects her stealthy strutter, "Fear After Dark" with both atmosphere and nocturnal energies. Other acts includes: poptronic Cabaret, groovin' The Only Michael , darkbeat/dreamsynth Martin Burlas, hard-blipping Kraftwerkers Machinepop, aggro Sintetik and clatteringly experimental Napalmed. These 14 melodies and structures tend toward the dark-and-beaty end of the emusic spectrum. Hits and misses average out to a B-, but not bad for a fledgling label. David J. Opdyke __________________________________________________ CRATER TECHNOLOGY (USA) > http://www.cratertechnology.com For those of you who've always wanted to create a label and release of your own in the electronic genre, take note of an upcoming, and hopefully successful label, 4mg. Straight from the virtual underground of Canada, 4mg has been born and launched by its creator and founder, Imrich Vegh (Imi). The 14 track compilation features ambient electro works by the likes of Paperhouse (Adrian Smith, formerly of Click Click) and some additional artists from outside the borders of the North American continent. Northern Electric reminisces the late 80's synth electronic pop sound with In the Night while a couple of remixed ambient tracks from Imiafan provide a subtle release format for the creations of the label's founder. A nice intro track by Kitten Majestique of Sweden, blends into the first Paperhouse track, and if you know me you know I can't get enough of Adrian Smith's DOPE induced musings. Additional tracks from Cabaret, The Only Michael, Martin Burlas, Machinepop (BPM induced synth melody pop) , Abuse (fantastic ambient electro), Krelisys, Sintetik and Napalmed round out the release, providing a nice variety of sonic structure (hence the title) while blending well as a cohesive compilation. This digipak compilation is limited to 1000 copies, so get your hands on it if you like ambient electro works with a bit of drum 'n' bass flavor. It's well produced, well recorded and well worth your time. Be sure to check out the 4mg website at http://www.28brinkster.com/4mgrecords/ for more information on the tracks and the participants. in2it (John Hollis) __________________________________________________ DARK STAR (UK, april 2004) > http://www.darkstarorg.demon.co.uk This appeared in the DSO postbag from the previously undiscovered Canadian label 4mg. A limited edition (1000 copies) gatefold digipak compilation featuring twelve artists from around the globe. Its a refreshingly avant garde collection, featuring the likes of ex-Click Click vocalist Adrian Smith's PaPERHOUsE (which gets two tracks), out to the minimalist mechanical industrial genius of Napalmed's superbly-titled Raw Fabricunt II/22 (Inner Structure of the Machine) - which sounds... just like the insides of a working machine. Sweden's Northern Electric perfectly revive fond early 80s memories of bands like Telex with their In The Night. A synthesiser, drum machine and Atari ST is all they need to conjure up a delightful trip back to a time when basic songwriting ability was more important than the amount of technology at one's disposal. Compiler Imrich Vegh (originally out of Slovakia) also has a couple of tracks under the project name Imiafan. And worthy entries they are too. Kitten Majestique, Cabaret, with their stand out spacey, laid back groove Dawn Mist Glowing, The Only Michael's Dream Chamber, and Martin Burlas, who faintly reminds me of Henry Badowski, along with the aforementioned Napalmed and PaPERHOUsE, and more all have their own take on the electronic theme, meaning no two tracks sound even remotely similar. Thus ensuring that this compilation is never predictable. Countries represented by this fourteen track collection include the Czech Republic, Brazil, England, Slovakia, Sweden, Poland and more. Melodies & Structures then provides a broad and fascinating overview of the international underground electronic music scene. From that rare beast, respectable retro synth pop, through to experimental industrial, this not only delivers a thoroughly pleasurable aural experience but presents a compelling case for eclectic selection policies. 7/10 Rob Dyer __________________________________________________ ELECTRONIC BODY MUSIC (Germany) > http://www.electronic-body-music.com Man kennt das ja von Samplern, es gibt ein paar gute Tracks der Rest ist eher Mittelmaß oder wirklich völlig zum Vergessen. Various Artists setzt diesem Erscheinen jedoch locker noch einen oben drauf, im negativen Sinne. Der canadische Sampler ist im Onlinevertrieb über www28.brinkster.com/4mgrecords zu erhalten und bietet 14 Tracks, wovon nur zwei Stück wirklich wie Musik klingen. Northern Electrics "In The Night" und das Stück "Flicka Av Plexiglas" von Machinepop, welcher sehr minimal und cool klingt. Der Rest ist allerdings allem Anschein nach niemals aus der Proberaumqualität herausgekommen. Man könnte diese CD durchaus gebrauchen wenn man Samples sucht, aber nicht um sie anzuhören. Schade eigentlich. 1,5 / 5 Jürgen Duderstaedt __________________________________________________ FUNPROX (Holland) > http://www.funprox.com This compilation filled with electronic music from mostly unknown acts is the first release for 4mg records, based in Canada. The biggest selling point for this cd is the presence of two tracks by PaPERHOUsE, which is a new project by Adrian Smith, who is known for his work with the legendary act Click Click! As could perhaps be expected, his contributions are not very straightforward. 'Smackhead' is a midtempo track with complex rhythms, with some hiphop influences. I like his second track, the moody and somewhat tribal 'Engery & fire' better. As I said, most of the 12 project involved were unknown to me so far. Stylewise the music ranges from atmospheric tranquil pieces to modern breakbeat/dance-influenced stuff to cheerful synthpop. Absolute highlight is the uptempo, danceable electropopsong 'In the Night' by Northern Electronic, which can compete with the best 80's synth stuff. Entertaining is 'Flicka av Flexiglas' by the Scandinavian Machinepop, perhaps an El Aviador Dro pastiche, and reminding of other minimal analogue classics. some other quite worthwhile tracks are by Kitten Majestique, Cabaret, Martin Burlas and The Only Michael. This compilation is a nice way to get to know some new electronic acts, though there are no really innovative sounds present. I hope there will be a sequel though. Hans D. __________________________________________________ Jürgen (Belgium, 24.04.2003) As promised a little review of Imi's compilation cd. Most of the tracks are kinda ambient electro with here and there a drum'n'bass sound. If you like the Shadowblack album of Click Click, you will defenitely like this one. Here and there is an uptempo track (Northern electric (boytronic meets The twins), Machinepop (Spocky minimal meets Telex on speed),Sintetik) who give the compilation some breathingspace between the calmer tracks. Kitten Majestic is a good opener, PaPerhouse continues where Click Click stopped, cabaret is kinda UK indie electro ,the rest of the tracks are in the ambient-electro atmosphere and they're all quiet good. There is only 1 track that I don't like, that's the last one (Napalmed)(repetitive soft industrial... something like that:))... but then again, who am I... maybe I am not ready for this kinda music. My favourite track is still the Northern electric track, but that's cause i am really into synthy-electro pop :))... with the track of Abuse and the first track of PaPERHOUsE on place 2 and 3:) I think Imi did a good job... and i have to mention again that the lay out is sublime.... and the title "melodies & structures" is very well chosen, it describes the mood and sound of the album completely. 3:) I think Imi did a good job... and I have to mention again that the lay out is sublime.... and the title "melodies & structures " is very well chosen, it describes the mood and sound of the album completely. __________________________________________________ METICA (Sweden) > http://www.metica.se 'Melodies and Structures' är en samlingsskiva med experimentell elektronisk musik och det första albumsläppet fran kanadensiska 4mg Records. Med undantag för Northern Electric är samtliga band okända för mig. Om man kan prata om dragplaster sa torde det vara PaPERHOUsE, vars enda medlem Adrian Smith, är mer känd som sangare i det gamla engelska bodybandet Click Click. Pa skivan samsas monotona industrikollage och instrumental jungle med retrosynthpop och ebm. Totalt rör det sig om 12 band och 14 latar. Tyvärr är det nästan för manga instrumentala latar, det verkar som att en majoritet av banden saknar vokalist eller helt enkelt vill göra musik utan sang. De band som sticker ut mest är Cabaret, tidigare omnämnda Northern Electric och Machinepop. Som genom ett sammanträffande har just dessa bands bidrag sang, vilket i sammanhanget far dem att verka, om inte bättre, sa atminstone mer intresseväckande. 'Dawn Mist Glowing' med Cabaret är en ganska hyfsad lat och Northern Electrics 'In The Night' smakar Rational Youth och är helt OK, även om just Northern Electric gjort mycket bättre latar. Machinepop gör experimentell synthpop som närmast paminner om The Normal. 'Flicka Av Plexiglas' är dessvärre ganska pafrestande att lyssna pa. Inga spar pa 'Melodies and Structures' är egentligen särskilt daliga, men stora delar av material är rysligt trakigt och lider av föraldrad produktion. Mitt tips är att skivbolagsdirektör Imrich Vegh letar upp lite piggare band till 'Volume 2'. Joakim Fridsten __________________________________________________ MOVING HANDS (Sweden) > http://www.movinghands.net 'Melodies and Structures' is a compilation from the Canadian label 4MG Records. The first thing that I think of is that there’s a bunch of Swedish bands on this compilation and the second thing is that these artists are totally unknown to me and I was really looking forward to hear them all... but to be totally honest I must tell you that most of the bands on this compilation really need to grow a little bit more. There are highlights from artists like Northern Electric which delivers a really nice, retro 80’s synthpop song that makes me want to dance. If you’re a fan of Boytronic I’m sure you’ll like it. Other bands that qualify themselves to be mentioned are Paperhouse which has got two songs on the compilation. Worth mentioning is that Paperhouse is ex. Click Click vocalist Adrian Smith’s new project. The music is rather slow and gives you a calm impression and when you feel safe a hard electro rhythm, almost like drum ‘n bass hit you in the face. The final band that I really find interesting is the Brazilian EBM-band Sintetik. For starters I must say that it’s not ordinary EBM you’ll hear. The drums are more dominant than the usual bass lines that are so typical for that type of music. The other bands on the compilation really need to spend some more time in the studio to make a more even recording and not having samples sounding more than others and so on, it’s just small things, but when there’s a bunch of small things it gets really annoying after a while. Rating: 4/10 Anders Larsson __________________________________________________ Mr.Mike (New Zealand, 01.05.2003) "MELODIES & STRUCTURES" just gets better with every listen... all artists appear to blend together quite well, the music works hard, flows smoothly & meshes electronically as one, with each track retaining a certain unique bite, at times, punching through uncompromising territories! The Groups who have participated in this document, I guess are aimed at no particular, disernable market. (except for their underground fans..US!) There are 12 bands here who interest me, because of their music and their personality & some instances, their association with ANTLER/PIAS. I'm not keen on the way music is mass produced, prostituted the way it is, for uncaring pimps. Music isn't something that can play in the background, music is an art form, a thing of integrity; for these 12 artists, this is POSSIBLY the only common link! __________________________________________________ MNS [MUSIC NON STOP] (UK) > http://www.musicnonstop.co.uk With artists drawn from Sweden, Poland, Slovakia, Brasil, the Czech republic, UK and elsewhere, Fledgling label 4mg records, a small virtual label from Canada, presents a sampler platter of their global-offerings, beginning with the slurred baroque-tronic /samplespeak /rumblecloud of Kitten Majestisque's ''Avoiding conversations About It''. Sassy drumbeats spatter across playfully ''Smackhead'''s vortex of dubby experimental music, a la PaPERHOUsE (side-project of Luton based EBM band Click Click). The crisp retro-synthsounds of Northern Electric bring back the danceable darkness of the late '80s, Gothy vocals and all, in ''In The Night''. ''Cloud Poetry'' and its moodily expanding, bass-powered nightmusic from Slovakia's Abuse catches the ear with its almost sinister slyness, as does label-head ImiAFan's buzzy ''English Lesson ( Abuse remix)''. KrelisyS injects her stealthy strutter, ''Fear After Dark'' with both atmosphere and nocturnal energies. Other acts includes : poptronic Cabaret, groovin' The Only Michael , darkbeat / dreamsynth Martin Burlas, hard-blipping Kraftwerkers Machinepop, aggro Sintetik and clatteringly experimental Napalmed. These 14 melodies & structures tend toward the dark-and-beaty end of the e-music spectrum. __________________________________________________ PULSE "Melodies & Structures" is a compilation of international proportions put together by local musician, Imrich Vegh aka Imiafan. Electropop music, a loose title for a variety of more specific sub-genres of electronic music that are explored by 12 different artists including PaPERHOUsE, formerly a part of late ‘80s electronic cult band Wax Trax’s Click Click and Slovak artist Martin Burlas who switches between classical composition and hard techno with alarming dexterity. While the sounds are very modern, drum and bass, trip hop, electro and dark wave, there is a very distinct ‘80s synth pop and industrial influence to these excellent selections. This well produced, limited edition CD is available at Station to Station on James Street. M.J. __________________________________________________ SIDE-LINE #44 (Belgium) > http://www.side-line.com With artists drawn from Sweden, Poland, Slovakia, Brasil, the Czech republic, UK and elsewhere, Fledgling label 4mg records, a small virtual label from Canada, presents a sampler platter of their global-offerings, beginning with the slurred baroque-tronic /samplespeak /rumblecloud of Kitten Majestisque's ''Avoiding conversations About It''. Sassy drumbeats spatter across playfully ''Smackhead'''s vortex of dubby experimental music, a la PaPERHOUsE (side-project of Luton based EBM band Click Click). The crisp retro-synthsounds of Northern Electric bring back the danceable darkness of the late '80s, Gothy vocals and all, in ''In The Night''. ''Cloud Poetry'' and its moodily expanding, bass-powered nightmusic from Slovakia's Abuse catches the ear with its almost sinister slyness, as does label-head ImiAFan's buzzy ''English Lesson ( Abuse remix)''. KrelisyS injects her stealthy strutter, ''Fear After Dark'' with both atmosphere and nocturnal energies. Other acts includes : poptronic Cabaret, groovin' The Only Michael , darkbeat / dreamsynth Martin Burlas, hard-blipping Kraftwerkers Machinepop, aggro Sintetik and clatteringly experimental Napalmed. These 14 melodies & structures tend toward the dark-and-beaty end of the e-music spectrum. 6 / 7 DP __________________________________________________ WET-WORKS (, 30.8.2004) > http://www.wetworksezine.com This is the first compilation from new upstart label 4mg Records. "Melodies & Structures" features a wide range of different electronic genres, but mostly the focus is on soft electronics and Minimal Techno. Honestly, I haven't heard of any of these bands before but they all interest me. The tracks from PaPERHOUsE (Ex-vocalist of Click Click), Abuse, Northern Electric and Imiafan were the most interesting of the bunch. Northern Electric have a sort of 90s Electro-Synth sound, like something you would find on a Celtic Circle compilation. Imiafan's track "English Lesson" is very mellow, with minimal Techno beats and strange dialogue samples. The atmosphere of the track is very relaxing and the beat is light enough not to be distracting. Abuse offer up the darkest tune on the compilation with "Cloud Poetry." This haunting track creates a chilling mood through the use of microscopic beat patterns, piano, glitchy vinyl pops, demonic sound samples and dark intensities. I really enjoyed "Melodies & Structures" quite a bit. The light Techno sound and small minimal beats are perfect for when you just want to sit back and relax. Recommended to fans of Minimal Techno and strange Ambient Electronica. GunHed __________________________________________________