A MISHMASH OF CHANGING MOODS //
APPLESCAL // TRAUM //
After being hailed as one of the
break through artists for 2010 by De:Bug magazine, international press and DJ´s such as
DJ Hell, Laurent Garnier and more, we are happy to say that Applescal has snug back into his Igloo to record this second full length album for Traum. Applescal began playing live raw acid sets before he started to fulfil his stated ambition to bring I.D.M. to the Netherlands. His live sets are famous there and by some UK journalists he is called the Nathan Fake from the Netherlands.The 22 year old boy from Amsterdam is known as a reclusive electronic musician who loves to stay in his self built "cave like" studio. His 13 new tracks are cinematic with moods ranging from uplifting and joyful tracks to dark, melancholic and claustrophobic ones. Applescal featured various styles on his debut album "A Slaves Commitment", now his new album, although called a "A Mishmash Of Changing Moods", has much more of a strong directive and last but not least has
evolved in a true masterpiece of storytelling! Working stronger on a conceptional level has allowed him to pull all the tricks out of the bag. The whole album feels more classy and is one piece of music which pushes you back in to your seat and does not let you go until the very end. Miracley crafted, it swings between different moods but keeps the boat on course. Starting with "The Curle In Me". This is a driving, quirky drum and bass sort of track that works with a disturbing deepness and melancholy which gives room to speculate how the album will evolve and what kind of direction it will take. The follow up, "A Former Curse", is a short interlude which comes across like a falling star, tumbling and spinning around it's own axis hysterically until it is burned out. "Dialeague" is a heavy and mighty grinding caterpillar of a track, still almost shy. It steadily discovers fairylike melodies which are pushed through a tiny hole. Whatever it really does, Applescal skilfully builds up a dynamic which is determined by repetition and a great deal of unbelievable uplifting moments. "The Key Of Genes", picks up this uplifting spirit but exaggerates it to an extend that defies our expectations. The superb composed melody which creates a feeling of fairylike beauty and detachment is unearthly...
putting Applescal next to a musician such as the Aphex Twin. "MC Iron" is a kind of "breeding" track which feels like a trip through an impenetrable jungle, a soundtrack for sure, haunting and full of beauty and tension. "IB Ok" is full of droning noises, engine like, heavily spinning until it gives up it's life... another interlude. "In Theory" is somehow a beat that you would not venture to think could work for more that 10 seconds, but somehow by magic Applescal pulls the strings with so much elegance it makes you cry. "Roofs Of Heaven" is a piece of heavy psychedelic rock. Sounds as if Detroit's MC´s were on a mission to conquer the world. But suddenly the tracks turns it's direction and goes all psychedelic with great organ parts and feedbacks. May The Doors be with us with this tune... Morrison would sound great in this track. "The Flop" feels like a hard and edgy piece of metal and it's beat is like a smack in the face. Hard to imagine that it turns toward an almost Krautrock flavoured sound! When it changes it's beat constantly that is when we really give up.
This guy from Amsterdam is a hell of a musician! "The Storm Is Yours" is a fantastic- avant-garde- "hurdy gurdy" piece of music and we really think these emotions and styles clashing are phenomenal! "Observing Enlightenment" is true to it's title, a kind of observation of a phenomenon which articulates itself in a humming sound that trembles and shakes slightly underlined with a jazzy percussion loop. Superb. "Black Spirals" is a dark planet of a track, slowly moving as in slow motion and later reveals it's earthly desires! Almost a piece of easy listening with very sweet moments and hilarious changes of patterns and dynamics. "Her Foreverness" feels like a goodbye song, a kneeling down, paying tribute to a higher spirit. It is playful and at the same time mysterious and haunting. "Door Weer En Wind" consists of two "parts", both come with a cinematic-soundtrack feel... almost classic electronica a la Terry Riley or whoever phrased the term "minimal music "in the seventies... Applescal has for himself put his foot in the door also in this genre. "A Mishmash Of Changing Moods" has the fresh and lively spirit of "handcrafted electronica" and even if a lot of it might be made by digital software Applescal insists that his music should always sound analogue.
http://www.kompakt.fm/releases/a_mishma ... ging_moods
Register
