DiN33 - Dervish by Markus Reuter & Ian Boddy
Release Date September 15th 2009
Having first worked together on the enigmatic ambience of Distant Rituals (1999) and the melodic complexities of Pure (2003), Dervish is Markus Reuter & Ian Boddy's most challenging studio collaboration to date. Recorded in England and Austria, the album contains a guest appearance by King
Crimson's drumming and electronics wizard, Pat Mastelotto. Inspired in part by the musical theories of 20th Century composer Olivier Messiaen, there's a terse angularity to the compositions whose unexpected textures feature the appearances of a string quartet and a recorder player.
At a personal level, the music of Dervish and the creative methods used in its composition, have pushed both Boddy and Reuter into markedly different places, forcing each one to change their usual approaches. At a 2008 recording session in Austria, having sampled Reuter's Touch Guitar
loops, Boddy then effectively "plays" the notes. The result is a mirage of shades and colors in which it is impossible to determine the respective roles of the players. At times Dervish occasionally flirts with playful but punchy dance beats, off-kilter funk and stabbing percussive blasts that manage
to be both unsettling in their apparently anarchic deployment whilst also providing a startling focal point. Their microscopic attention to the album's sound design ensures every track sparkles with intriguing detail that include the spiraling patterns of the Hang (a hybrid steel drum).
Enthusiasts of vintage electronic instruments will also appreciate Boddy's recreation of the theremin-like Ondes Martenot via a modern keyboard equivalent and his modular synthesizer by way of an oblique tribute to Messiaen who famously included it's eerie tones in his Turangalia Symphony.
Dervish's sound-world is constantly evolving and always in motion. Atmospheric loops, cross-picking arpeggios, unresolved sequences that hang in the air, and some metallic-edged soloing that carves its own unique space.
All add extra layers of momentum and tension to a music already brimming with invention and mystery. The muscular dynamics on this recording were achieved by acclaimed engineer Clemens Schleiwies, who translated the digital recordings back onto analogue tape. These were then run through a vintage
sound desk that was used by the likes of David Bowie and Brian Eno during their legendary sessions in Hansa Studios, Berlin. This "new meets old" approach with its combination of 20th Century post-production techniques and up to date tech-savvy gives Dervish some of its a freshness and
undeniable presence. Across its seven tracks, Dervish pushes way beyond the usual comfort zones of electronic and ambient music. You may have heard Boddy and Reuter before but you've not heard them sound like this.
Written and recorded by Markus Reuter and Ian Boddy at The Atelier, Innsbruck, Austria, May 2008.
Engineered by Ian Boddy and Markus Reuter.
Strings and recorders arranged and conducted by Markus Reuter. Recorded by Frieder Zimmermann at Quohren MPG, Dresden, Germany.
Mixed by Clemens Schleiwies at The Private Room, Munich, Germany.
Mastered by Denis Blackham at Skye Mastering.
Produced by Ian Boddy and Markus Reuter.
In April 1999 Ian Boddy formed the DiN electronic music label and the first 3 releases were released simultaneously. Prior to this Boddy had established himself as one of Europe's best known melodic synth artists with a string of albums and concerts to his credit. He had also begun to colloborate with other musicians such as Andy Pickford, Ron Boots and Mark Shreeve (as ARC) and during the 90's was releasing his albums on his private Something Else Records label. By the mid-90's the electronic music scene was evolving rapidly into many different new forms of expression and Boddy felt that he wanted to expand his sonic palette and collaborate more extensively with other musicians from other genres of music. With this in mind he set about establishing DiN as a fresh new label that could not only release his own solo and collaborative projects but also showcase other musicians who he admired and felt had something important to contribute to the world of electronic music. Much care and attention to the design philosophy of the look of the label, the cover designs and to it's identity was spent in establishing DiN as a recognizable brand that would appeal to collectors of quality music over the years. Indeed all the releases on DiN are of a strictly limited edition with no on-going represses further enhancing it's collectability.
It is now April 2009 and the latest album Shade by Parallel Worlds has just been released as DiN32. During the intervening releases Boddy has produced 5 solo albums and collaborated on a further 13 with musicians from a diverse range of styles ( Markus Reuter, Nigel Mullaney (as Dub Atomica), Chris Carter (of Throbbing Gristle), Mark Shreeve (as ARC), Robert Rich & Bernhard Wöstheinrich. There have also been 11 releases by other artists - Protogonos, Centrozoon, Surface 10, Subsonic Experience, dbkaos, Tetsu Inoue, Radio Massacre International, Hoffmann-Hoock & Wöstheinrich and Parallel Worlds. As part of the "DiN plan" every tenth release is a sampler disc containing a continuous mix of tracks from the previous 9 releases and thus there have been 3 of these iNDEX compilations so far. In fact the first one iNDEX01 (DiN10) was featured on the cover of the June 2001 issue of the well respected music magazine The Wire and helped DiN establish an international reputation. These sampler albums also see the DiN graphic style change for the next batch of releases so an evolution of the DiN albums is easy to follow.
DiN has thus established itself as one of the most innovative, interesting UK electronic music labels over these past 10 years. One of Boddy's main aims was to allow DiN to act as a bridge between the analogue sound world of the early 70's synth pioneers and the digtial soundscapes of the more experimental modern exponents of electronic music. DiN continues to embrace new technologies and with the download revolution in full swing has established a sub-label DiNDDL (DiN digital download) to produce a series of download only albums that will run alongside it's regular CD releases. There have been 5 of these so far and furthermore these and all of the DiN catalogue are also available on iTunes, EMusic and MusicZeit. Undoubetdly these are challenging times for independent labels but by continuing to evolve and release high quality music DiN is looking forward with relish to the next 10 years.
In celebration of the 10th anniversary of DiN the first sampler disc iNDEX01 (DiN10) that was featured on the cover of The Wire magazine in May 2001 is presented as a free download (256kbps MP3). The CD features 15 tracks covering the DiN1 - 9 releases, many of which are now out of print. The continuous mix features the music of Ian Boddy, Markus Reuter, Protogonos, Dub Atomica, Chris Carter, Centrozoon, ARC, Surface 10 & Nigel Mullaney. To get this free download please click on the cover of DiN10 above - the files will come to you as a Zip file - simply unzip to get the 15 MP3 tracks and enjoy the music.
Shade is the studio album follow-up to Obsessive Surrealism (DiN26 - 2007) and is the fifth CD release by Parallel Worlds (the main musical project of Greek electronic musician Bakis Sirros).
Parallel Worlds employ a vast arsenal of both vintage and modern analogue modular synthesisers with extensive use of classic sequencing techniques to produce a sonic world that combines modern electronica and ambient music styles with the feel of retro electronic music. His attention to detail is astonishing and his careful sculpting of sounds and textures produce an organic, ever evolving atmosphere full of half glimpsed meanings and subdued emotions. The purely electronic rhythms and beats seem to have a life of their own and showcase a musician who is a virtuoso with these types of instruments that are the antithesis of the quick fix pick-a-preset mind set of much of todays society. Musically he likes to explore various states of mind, no doubt influenced by his medical background and this adds a tension and darkness to his compositions that are punctuated by disarmingly simple and wistful melodies.
With Shade Parallel Worlds show a musical maturity and command of sonic atmospherics that takes the music on a journey, moving through dreams and shades, aiming for the light.
Track Listing:
01: Frightening Frontiers (05:42) Play Excerpt
02: Entities (06:30)
03: A Moment Frozen (02:16)
04: Mutating Realities (10:32) Play Excerpt
05: Compulsive Mechanics (05:38)
06: Not Being Mirrored (08:25)
07: Shade (06:02) Play Excerpt
08: Urgency (08:25) Play Excerpt
09: Towards (05:09)
10: Ungreat Certainty (03:48) Play Excerpt
Total Time: 62:45
Ian Boddy : 2009 Concerts
AD:2009 Electronic Music Festival
Date: Saturday 5th September 2009
Venue: The Guildhall, Derby. UK. ( Doors Open 13:00 hours )
Ian Boddy wil perform a solo set and in collaboration with David Wright & Klaus Hoffmann-Hoock. Please visit the AD Music web site for more details and ticket sales.
Electronic Circus Festival
Date: Saturday 12th September
Venue: Movie, Bielefeld, Germany. ( Doors open 12:30 hours)
Ian Boddy wil perform a solo set and in collaboration with David Wright & Klaus Hoffmann-Hoock. Please visit the Electronic Circus web site for more details and ticket sales.
The Gatherings : performing as ARC (Ian Boddy & Mark Shreeve)
Date: Saturday 14th November Venue: St. Mary's Church, Philadelphia, USA.
On the 27th September 2008 Ian Boddy & Bernhard Wöstheinrich performed together for the first time at a concert in the Bochum Planetarium, Bochum, Germany. They had previously collaborated on Moiré (DiN18 released in 2005) and Wöstheinrich has also appeared on two other DiN releases (DiN6 Blast by Centrozoon & DiN13 Präposition by Subsonic Experience). The event was organised by the Schallwende Club and featured some stunning projections on the planetarium dome as the duo performed a double set of music. This recording has been mastered by Ian Boddy and released as a download only album on the DiNDDL label. The 90+ minutes of music is served up as two seperate sets each with 5 tracks. The two musicians played what sounds like a sonic journey through deep space modulations and legato chordal flows via classic Berlin sequencer workouts and IDM melodic tracks finally landing at restful spaced out atmospheres. A perfect recipe for this form of live planetarium show and one that can be enjoyed by all via this DiN download release.The launch of the DiN sub-label DDL now sees a perfect opportunity to release this as an album that can be downloaded in full, lossless FLAC audio with full res artwork from the DiN download store @ http://www. downloadplatform.com/din
The music is available in DRM free high quality MP3 (256kbps) or lossless FLAC files together with hi-quality printable artwork. The majority of Ian Boddy's non-DiN releases, other DiN artists and many more musicians and labels can be found at this excellent new site. Please go to http://www.musiczeit.com
