REVIEWS

Buy this album from CD Baby

Various Artists
Emerging Organisms: Hidden Forms Compilation Series Volume 1

Tympanik Audio

Posted: Thursday, January 31, 2008
By: Ilker Yücel
Editor

Tympanik Audio is a relatively new label, but is already steadily building itself up as a driving force in modern electronic music. Their first release, in conjunction with Hidden Forms Radio, is a mammoth of a two-disc set featuring a cornucopia some of today's most exciting artists in the fields of IDM, dark ambient, and industrial noise, presenting a package that is sure send the listener into spasms of simultaneous serenity and frenzy. Of course, with any compilation - especially one as packed as Emerging Organisms - there are bound to be a few tracks that don't quite measure up to the same standard, but that should never dissuade one from taking the chance of discovering some great new music along the way; and great new music does Emerging Organisms have.

The whole collection begins with the hollow ambient drones of Architrav with "Bewagungsspielraum," in which scuffling effects fade in and out of the mix like insects, evoking the compilation's title. The same can be said of "Porous Dreams" by Mnemonic featuring Qasot, where clicking beats gradually pick up over shallow shuffles of burrowing sounds before warm pads and piano-esque pings come in to provide a melody, reminiscent of early Autechre. There are also the croaking and chirping synths like animals at twilight in "Circle of Memories" by Ab Ovo and Flaque, all set to a bed of swirling ambience and energetic breakbeats. A distant stomping sound leads us into the crunchy beats and jazzy keyboard tones of Urusai's "Slow Forward," eventually settling on a slightly more danceable rhythm, and the scraping drum & bass breaks and cavernous synth stutters of "Night Vision" make Lucidstatic's track one of the best in the compilation overall. Also impressive is the Displacer remix of Architect's "Cain in the Brain," where a creepy melody floats amid echoing beacons and layers of atmospheric synths over some rather excellent IDM beats, and Distraub's "Motion Sensor," full of washes of ambient piano melodies offset by frantic drum & bass beats that eventually lead to some deep bass synths that are sure to cause a heart murmur or two.

Some tracks showcase a sense of classical drama, such as in the orchestral progressions of Talvekoidik's "Hymn" and Freeze Etch's "Irrotator," both pitting lush strings against noisy beats and rubbery acid synth lines, and Displacer electrifies with "Witching Hour," a track reminiscent of Barry Adamson with its overlaying of jazzy hip-hop beats with whirring orchestral samples like a record going out of tune, as spooky samples and subtle touches of fluttering synths race by. Tracks like these would be perfect for film soundtracks, while others like Atomatik13's "Traffic Lights" and especially Hecq's "Moonkissed" focus more on a heavy helping of frantic glitch-laden drum & bass. Some songs like N0nplus' "In Your Wake" and Phylum Sinter's "Shadow Codex" balance the two extremes as violins are interwoven with percolating synths and straightforward drumbeats, and Stendeck's "Like Falling Crystals" sounds like Deep Forest remixed by The Crystal Method as tribal breakbeats mix with lush tropical ambience and hints of heavily manipulated female voices. And then there are those unfortunate misses like Freeze Etch's "Stalwart" and Nebulo's "Reverse," both of which begin promisingly enough though they never take their own experimentations to any sort of satisfactory conclusion.

As with any compilation of this size with such a plethora of assorted artists and styles presented, the only downside to Emerging Organisms is the excessive length. Almost 30 tracks make up this collection, full of virtually every imaginable style of modern electronic music one could ask for, leading to a bit of sensory overload for the listener. Obviously, it's up to the individual to pick out those tracks that he or she will enjoy most, while also having the benefit of being exposed to those others they might not otherwise pay attention to. For this, Emerging Organisms fulfills its purpose as a wonderful sampler of what Tympanik Audio has to offer us. May future releases from this young label be as exciting!