Your cart (0 item)

V.A. (VARIOUS ARTISTS) (COMPILATIONS) - NEW STATE OF FLUX

Format: do-CD Label & Cat.Number: Reverse Alignment RA51 Release Year: 2021 Note: the last release after 13 years of activity for the excellent label from Sweden, exclusive material from: JARL, TAPHEPHOBIA, AJNA, VELGENATURLIG, B*TONG, DISKREPANT, FREIBAND; RNGMNN, SONOLOGYST, etc..- 20 tracks in total, lots of new names, too.. - *a rare example of integrity and quality in terms of aesthetic choices, creating a collection of minimalist and isolationist gems by releasing a series of albums by musicians that have constituted a new paradigm in minimalistic ambient music* - lim. 200 Price (incl. 19% VAT): €15.00 More Info listen: https://reversealignment.bandcamp.com/album/new-state-of-flux New State Of Flux was conceived by Raffaele Pezzella, head of the Unexplained Sounds network of aural disorientation, after Swedish label Reverse Alignment became a part of the network at the beginning of 2021. The extremely fine work released by label founder Kristian Widqvist from its inception in 2007 and over the next 13 years is a rare example of integrity and quality in terms of aesthetic choices, creating a collection of minimalist and isolationist gems by releasing a series of albums by musicians that have constituted a new paradigm in minimalistic ambient music. The New State Of Flux compilation has been curated with the intention of continuing that tradition in the same spirit of sonic exploration and philosophy, and adding some new names that we hope will be appreciated just as their predecessors were. Many of them will be the launch-pad for a new Reverse Alignment trajectory. "I love a 2xCD compilation. Big compilations are a lot of fun, especially comps that exist to spotlight a particular label’s aesthetic, which is what “New State of Flux” is. (A quick aside: when I first read the title, I’d hoped that “New State of Flux” was a double-disc survey of 1980s Massachusetts cassette label A State of Flux… but no, it’s not. Someone should still do a reissue or comp of A State of Flux one day, though). This album was compiled by Raffaele Pezzella, who runs the Unexplained Sounds Group. A network consisting of several labels under one umbrella. There’s USG itself, which has put out important surveys of experimental music from Iran, Lebanon, the Balkans, China and more… and then Eighth Tower and ZeroK. This comp exists to spotlight USG’s newest partnership with the Swedish dark-ambient label Reverse Alignment, effectively now being run from Italy by Pezzella. The intent is to introduce Reverse Alignment to new listeners, which it certainly does. Evidence of the label’s clear curatorial vision is that all 20 of the pieces on this compilation are of a similar mood and seem to run into one another. It’s hard to tell one artist/track from the next. For me, that’s one of the album’s strengths, especially since most of the artists’ names are unfamiliar to me; I was able to put on my headphones, press play, then close my eyes and soak it all in as if “New State of Flux” were a single thought by a single person. The album opens with a track by Jarl (aka Swedish artist Erik Jarl of IRM, Skin Area, & Sharon’s Last Party), one of the names I knew going in. His piece “Chemical Mirror” is a sombre, subtly psilocybic drone with echo-laden sci-fi bloops that hint at a sinister something below the surface. Taphephobia’s “A Journey to the Outside World” leans worryingly towards Hearts of Space territory, but recovers well enough. Another highlight comes from VelgeNaturlig, whose “Raga in Height Dimensions” consists of an insistent electric tone that grows somewhat more abrasive and unnerving, eventually breaking into a passage of delay-saturated instruments. One might be a sitar, but It's hard to tell. RNGMNN’s piece is another strong entry, a lugubrious slather of percussion and ghostly moaning. Some other names that stuck out to me are B*Tong (whose foreboding piece features the voice of NASA controller, informing someone of something distressing about to happen…), Freiband (aka Vital editor Frans de Waard/Modelbau), SITKA (a tape-delay lullaby), Ajna (classic post-Lustmord dark ambient) and Equal Stones (whose lighter, heavenly-choir sound is a welcome change of colour). In all, a solid and enjoyable listen and a fine introduction to the label for anyone who likes this sort of sound." [HS/Vital Weekly] https://reversealignment.bandcamp.com/album/new-state-of-flux