ALBUM REVIEW: GAS - NARKOPOP

GAS
NARKOPOP
Ambient, Minimal Techno, Electronic.
Kompakt.
Listening Format: CD














Gas is the performing name of Wolfgang Voigt, producing his signature style of Ambient music. He is also the founder of Kompakt, one of the most well respected Electronic music labels and often considered a showcase of the "Berlin Minimal Techno" style. 'Narkopop' is the first release of brand new Gas studio material in 17 years now, and this comeback wasn't even really an anticipated thing, as it pretty much appeared relatively out of the blue earlier this year. The last Gas album 'Pop' came out in 2000 and the project went silent ever since. This isn't to say that Voigt himself has been silent, as he has continued to create music in different styles, including frequent releases under his own name and other pseudonyms. However Gas still remains his most popular and critically acclaimed body of work.

For those not familiar with Gas, his music very much takes many of the blueprints of Ambient music as pioneered by Brian Eno, but he puts his own signature spin on it. He often manipulates samples from orchestral works, particularly favouring dissonant and long drawn out chords, that he combines with synthesizers. The result is usually a slow moving, eerie and pulsating hum reminiscent of artists such as Angelo Badalamenti, the frequent David Lynch collaborator nicknamed the "master of the suspended chord". Gas often showcases a mixture of purely beatless Ambient washes, and tracks that feature a very minimal four-to-the-floor kickdrum often found in Minimal Techno. However this kickdrum is usually always drowned in reverb and pushed so far to the back of the mix that it sometimes passes through the awareness of the listener completely, like a ghost haunting the composition.

After 17 years away, Gas brings back those signatures in full force. The title 'Narkopop' suggests to me that this album has a direct connection to his previous album 'Pop'. Whilst 'Pop' could be considered a relatively sunnier and more uplifting album in the Gas discography, 'Narkopop' is very much the darker sister album. The album sleeves seem to correlate this, with 'Pop' having a bright, sunlit image of a tree branch, and 'Narkopop' in contrast looking like a walk through an eerie forest at night.

Essentially nothing has changed in Voigt's approach to making Gas music. We have another ten untitled pieces of music represented by numbers, using those trademark drawn out synths and sparse kickdrums. The pieces float between four and seventeen minutes, but the way they are sequenced makes it hard to pinpoint the exact moment where one track finishes and the next begins. It is very much an album experience that should be heard from start to finish. 'Narkopop' has a timeless feel to it because you can't really distinguish if this was recorded in 2017, 1997 or anywhere in between. This isn't to say that 'Narkopop' sounds exactly like his previous releases though, but it is very similar in concept, approach and performance.

What I love the most about 'Narkopop' is how genuinely dark, moody and melodramatic it sounds. The synths or samples are really dominant throughout this album. Whilst there are plenty of droning, drawn out sections that leave the listener feeling hypnotised, when the string and synth sounds do start to express themselves it sounds so doomy, almost angry even. Although Gas is German, I can't help but think of dark Scandinavian mystery dramas like The Killing, or perhaps the works of Lars Von Trier or Thomas Vinterberg when I hear this album. It has that stark, moonlit, winterry feel that I just adore. Everything sounds melancholic, isolated, and at times really chilling. Whilst it doesn't quite verge into Horror or Industrial territory, you could argue that this record verges on Dark Ambient at times. For an Ambient recording, I feel like 'Narkopop' expertly walks that difficult line where it keeps the details of composition and production relatively simple and sparse, yet manages to be completely enthralling and interesting the whole way through.

I feel like the only possible way a Gas fan could possibly be disappointed in this "comeback" record is in the fact that it doesn't do anything new. Even after 17 years, Gas sounds EXACTLY like Gas should. He hasn't changed his winning formula one bit. But that is a good thing too. Maybe fans would have still been disappointed had he gone out and changed things up too drastically. I think it is just a great treat for Gas fans to finally hear another record, that is really good and fits very comfortably among his already well established discography. In a time where Ambient music is still very much cutting edge, and where soundtracks new and old are being highly praised in the vinyl market, the return of Gas just feels very well fitting. 8/10.

#337: MAX RICHTER - LIVE IN MANCHESTER

Performing this evening at The Royal Northern College of Music was German born, England raised Modern Classical and Ambient composer Max Richter. In tonight's sold out performance, he played with a string ensemble and soprano vocalist. The performance was divided into two sets, opening with his 2004 album "The Blue Notebooks", and closing with his most recent epic "from SLEEP".

THE BLUE NOTEBOOKS

Before launching into tonight's performance, Max Richter spoke to the crowd explaining that "The Blue Notebooks" features readings from Kafka's "The Blue Octavo Notebooks", and when he originally recorded the album it was a musical response to seeing media coverage of the Iraq War. On the original album, actress Tilda Swinton narrated, though another woman sat in a chair on stage and occassionally narrated in time to the music tonight. Compared to "from SLEEP", "The Blue Notebooks" leans further towards traditional orchestral music. Richter began the performance with his trademark minimalist piano arpeggios, drawing equally from Eno, Glass and Part. His ear for melody evokes a natural, and stirring beauty. He was backed up by his string ensemble who in some respects, stole the visual focus of the show. The strings would build in layers, coming in one by one adding swirling crescendos to the music, lead by Richter's wandering piano. "On the Nature of Daylight" in particular was incredibly moving highlight of this performance. Richter also added subtle electronics into the mix, with field recordings of wind and thunder as well as small atmospheric touches. Unfortunately there was a small technical issue in this performance, where a second synthesiser player could not produce any sound. Although the sound engineer ran on stage trying to fix it, the others carried on performing regardless, leading to only a small loss in the sound. Fortunately it did not impact very heavily on the performance, which managed to combine electronics and orchestral ambient music in a sublime way.

from SLEEP

In 2015, Max Richter released the epic 8 and a half hour long album "SLEEP", after studying the human body's psychological processes during sleep and composing music to compliment the human shutdown sequence. To coincide with this 8 disc behemoth, was a singular disc 70 minute journey, condensing the main melodic phrases down into new variations that also featured the string ensemble, as well as a female soprano vocalist.

Though tonight's performance only featured 3 unique compositions, hearing the subtle variations of "Dream", "Path" and "Sleep" was very exciting. Richter opened with the beautiful piano driven "Dream 3". The lengthy compositions of "from SLEEP" are far more minimalist and ambient than anything on the performance of "The Blue Notebooks" beforehand. However I found these compositions to be far more moving and beautiful. The compositions of "SLEEP" are written in cycles, made up of slow moving arpeggios. Though it is about 5 minutes into "Dream 3" before a violin even makes its presence, Richter's grand piano playing is so soothing and richly melodic that it is impossible to get bored. Of course when the strings did gently start to come in, the sheer emotion of the performance ratcheted up as a full body of sound began to envelop the RNCM concert hall.

With the second movement, "Path 5 (delta)", female soprano vocals were added, giving a very gothic and haunting tone. Through only a couple of repeated vocal phrases, the magnitude and emotion of the performance increased tenfold in what was the most stunning piece of the evening. "Space 11" saw Richter retreat into true ambient territory, with an extremely minimalist atmospheric hum that escalated in density through the use of subtle electronics. The ensemble then ran through the 3 pieces of music once again, adding subtle variations. Most notably, "Path 19" added a more stripped down piano melody to the mix, with the soprano vocals once again stunning the sold out crowd. The finale of "Dream 8" reprised the opening motif of "from SLEEP", but with much more involvment of the strings. This climaxed in a loud and epic crescendo that sent chills down my spine. The sheer richness of the music was overwhelming and intense. Though at times I tried closing my eyes during this music to take in the feels of the music, it would have been near impossible for anyone to feel sleepy through such a stunning performance. I left the concert feeling more awake than I had felt all day! 9/10.

May 21st 2016 @ RNCM, Manchester.