Hello, well the Tour De France has settled, the youngest competitor won, born and bread in Columbia up in the Andes, for him oxygen at 2,5km is normal, he made that edge count as this last week the Tour went well beyond 2km several times. Bernal winner at 22years. However it was the tour of Alaphlippe and French pride, everyone knew he wouldn't be able to hold on to the yellow jersey, in the end he lost it on a stage that wasn't completed and today he dropped to fifth overal, an amazing achievement for a non-climber. Ineos took place 1 and 2 with Bernal and last years winner Thomas but didn't really impress, no real stage win, almost an hour behind teamwinners, Movistar and in the end the closest podium ever with #3 Kruiswijk just 91 seconds behind Bernal or 0.0031% slower, btw # last was about 5 % slower, small margins indeed. Extreme small margins can be found in the F1 midfield, a hundredth here and there can make a big difference, but then there's the driver skill, and tomorrow the 2 best drivers are side by side at the German Grand Prix, Hamilton with his Mercedes at pole and beside him Verstappen in his Red Bull expect those two to leave the rest behind, certainly should there be some rain (as expected). Ferrari that were fastest in training had a horrible qualification, they will have to find a quick way through the field to score some real points.
If most artists in contemporary electronica are like islands unto themselves, turning out tracks in relative anonymity, Pete "Namlook" Kuhlmann was a whole continent. A dizzyingly prolific composer who steadily built up an entire industry around his Frankfurt-based Fax label, Namlook's name was inextricably linked with the post-rave resurgence of ambient music, and many of his solo and collaborative recordings with the likes of Mixmaster Morris, Tetsu Inoue, Klaus Schulze, Bill Laswell, Richie Hawtin, Geir Jenssen, Dr. Atmo, Burhan Ocal, Atom Heart, Jonah Sharp, Charles Uzzell-Edwards, and David Moufang, among many others, number among the most lauded and influential in new ambient. "... ......N-Joy
xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx
Pete Namlook (born 25 November 1960 as Peter Kuhlmann [phon koolman] in Frankfurt, Germany, died on 8 November 2012) was an ambient and electronic-music producer and composer., the extremely prolific Pete Namlook (1960-2012) was one of the high priests of new-school ambient, ie. ambient techno, trance, lounge and other related dance-music spinoffs. In its 20 year history his record label Fax Records released some of the definitive albums in these sub-genres and Namlook stands alongside a handful of other names such as The Orb, Biosphere and Mixmaster Morris as one of the originators of ambient's resurgence and reinvention via dance music in the late 80's and early 90's.
Intriguingly, he often favoured the sounds of analogue synthesisers over digital and - alongside fellow German e-musician Oliver Lieb - was reputed to have one of the most extensive collections of classic analogue equipment in Europe. And although he downplayed the linage, like many of his new-school peers his music has some of its roots in old-school electronica as varied as Brian Eno, psy rockers Pink Floyd, and Krautrock icons like Klaus Schulze and Tangerine Dream.
But Namlook was no imitator. He deepened and refined the sound of his predecessors with an injection of fresh ideas from the dance world, coupled with fine musicianship honed from many years of playing rock and jazz. In a 2007 interview with e-music magazine Slices he actually made a point of distancing his music from the conceptual influence of Eno particularly:
"You have to differentiate quite clearly between ambient in a techno sense, and on the other hand Brian Eno, a purely conceptual thing. I only knew of a collaboration between Brian Eno and Cluster [the German band], and him with Roxy Music. I only bought his ambient stuff later. Ambient as Eno defines it...is more or less musical wallpaper. It stays in the background and serves the environment rather than saying something about itself. In my definition of ambient, which has nothing in common with Eno's definition, it's about a journey, intense emotions that need to be transported - environmental music, jazz, ethno - depending on what project I'm working on".
The genesis of Fax Records
Although he had long dreamed of making a career from ambient electronica, in Fax Records' early days he was mainly pursuing a dance floor-oriented direction and releasing 12-inch vinyl singles to a warm reception from sectors of Europe's club scene.
But Namlook soon became dismayed at other artists' appropriation of the Frankfurt "hard trance" sound (developed through his genre-defining 4 Voice project). Thankfully his ambient B-sides to these singles - in hindsight a brilliant strategy - were also creating plenty of interest. Within a few years of the label's inception he had set about focusing Fax almost entirely on ambient and downtempo styles.
Up to his death in 2012 Namlook released an enormous number of solo and collaborative albums of widely varying quality both under his own name and various other project monikers. Collectors should be aware that many CD's were very limited pressings and some will be difficult to find, even more so now that Namlook has gone and the label is no more. Certain key titles were re-issued on CD and download from time to time, however, and much of the Fax catalogue is now spread widely online.
The Silence series
Silence (1992) is the one that started it all, Fax's first album release and one which caught the ear of both seasoned electronic boffins and dance fans looking for a chilled-out tonic after a night among the thumping beats of clubland. Both this album and Silence II (1993) are collaborations with close associate Dr Atmo and despite being at times almost new age in their choice of themes (a voice whispers sweet cosmic nothings like "we are all part of the universe") the music is outstanding. These beguiling, shimmering, reverberant landscapes are sometimes beatless and sometimes gently beaty with subdued live pads and cymbals. The 20 minute "Garden Of Dreams" is a particular mesmerising blend of slow Mid-Eastern rhythms with sighing and crying electronic chords.
Continuing the series is the the Persian-tinged Silence III (1998) which features Namlook on his own. Titles like "Mirage" "Into The Desert" and “A Ship On A Sea Of Sand” are just perfect; his sense of place is quite stunning and he understands the visual qualities of ambient sound exceptionally well. His creative range across entire series is impressive: from stately progressions of warm, organic-sounding orchestral synthscapes to atonal, purely atmospheric pieces of pure texture. When it comes to sound design Namlook’s attention to detail is faultless, which makes hearing his music on good hi-fi equipment especially rewarding. Silence III is followed by two more superb albums in the series.
The surreal, innovative first volume of Dreamfish (1993) with collaborator Mixmaster Morris is another genre-defining release, still cited today as a favourite by fans of early post-rave ambient. The environmental sound effects are deployed in a quirky way amongst the textured, gently rhythmic landscapes and the music brims with surprises and quiet invention. The jazzy bass notes on "Fishology", for example, move along at a good clip yet are so subtle that the track's calming qualities are never disturbed. The first three volumes of the Air series are also high-water marks for Namlook. Like the Silence series they show some rich ethnic and neo-classical leanings, and they remain particularly effective examples of how he uses live acoustic instruments in an electronic setting. The delicate, tinkling cymbals and soft tom-tom beats on "Je suis seule et triste ici" from Air I (1993), for instance, are utterly refreshing because Namlook is able to maintain a deep electronic ambient feel while still expanding electronica's instrumental vocabulary.
Air II (1994) is deeply psychedelic. An eleven-part "trip" subtitled "Traveling Without Moving", it takes it's thematic cue from Frank Herbert's cult sci-fi novel and movie Dune. Herbert's story posited a strange universe dependant on a life-extending, mind-altering spice drug. On Air II Namlook subtly draws on the story's themes to create a beautiful, creepy, intoxicating universe of his own. Again he utilizes acoustic instruments: didgeridoo, sighing woodwinds, flamenco guitar, Mid-Eastern flutes, and swooping vocal textures that rise and fall to striking effect. They're all integrated seamlessly, proving that despite the club music influences he thrived by exploring outside the rigid structures of electronic beats and sequencing.
Other collaborations
Although as an artist Namlook's focus was far broader than just club-influenced sounds, when he did get into more squelchy or bleepy techy-trance territory the results could be just as stimulating. On the brilliant two-part title track from The Fires Of Ork (1993) that thumping 4/4 kick drum is there alright, but somehow Namlook and cohort Gier Jenssen (aka Biosphere) have managed to mute it just enough to create a truly "ambient" dance music: thunderous yet shadowy and eerie, built around a voice sample of Rutger Hauer from Blade Runner. Also beats-based is the the superb first volume of From Within (1994), one of the pinnacles of ambient techno that marries Namlook's warm keys and spiralling synth sounds with the sparse bleeps and beats of Canadian techno guru Richie Hawtin. Again, the rhythms don't drive you into the ground but rather lull you into a gentle if uneasy trance, particularly on "Million Miles To Earth" and "Sad Alliance". The third in this series, From Within III (1997) is also outstanding
Namlook after the mid 90's
While many aficionados would agree that the early to mid 1990's produced most of Fax's - and Namlook's - most enduring releases, it would be unfair to dismiss some of Namlook's work since then. Highlights from 1995-2001 include the final volumes in what is probably Namlook's greatest series, the magnificent Silence IV (2000) and Silence V (2001). The luminous piano notes and warm orchestral synths of "The Night Before I Left" from Silence IV might just be the most emotional piece of music Namlook has ever made, an elegy that's at once incredibly sad and jaw-droppingly pretty. From the same album is the extraordinary "Bedouin Love", a dark, swirling epic with thunderous Moroccan drums, a strange spoken Arabic monologue and chilling yet beautiful synthesiser chords. In the same sonic universe as the Silence albums is From Within 3 from 1997, again made with Richie Hawtin but this time quite different from earlier volumes due to its softer, warmer sound. There's feather-soft lead guitar lines, lush strings, jazzy improvising and warm analogue melodies, all held together by subtle, intelligent drum programming. It's a fantastic example of accessible, soulful electronica.
In the 2000's and beyond Namlook continued with a busy release schedule of solo albums and collaborations but rarely with the same impact his music made in the previous decade. Not that there's lack of variety; for hardcore Fax fans there's plenty to explore. Experimental releases like New Organic Life (2002) are scarily unfamiliar, experimental, arguably unlistenable at times. Some outstanding individual melodic tracks appear on otherwise less-then-great albums such as Resonate (2006) and Namlook Le Mar (2009). However, some of his other collaborative albums made after the mid 90's - not listed on this page - are highly recommended including recordings with Tetsu Inoue, Klaus Schulze and Wolfram Spyra.
Death and legacy
Aged just 51, Namlook died unexpectedly in his sleep of a heart attack on 8 November 2012. Maintaining his intense work rate right up to the night he passed away, some wondered whether Namlook simply drove himself into the ground, literally living and dying for his art. Yet his sister told UK music journalist Mark Prendergast that "he went to bed happy" that day. Who are we to judge? Namlook left behind an extraordinary and enormous recorded legacy, as well as a generation of underground electronic producers and composers inspired by both his talents and his uncompromising independence. Fax Records is no more, though for the moment a good deal of his discography remains available. Hopefully a sensible licensing deal with the Kuhlmann estate will enable another publisher take on the best of his catalogue and keep it available in the coming decades. He deserves no less.
The tribute: Die Welt ist Klang
A superb Namlook tribute album appeared in 2013, almost as essential as any of the work released by the man himself. Die Welt ist Klang ("The World Is Sound") was put together in 2012-13 via a crowdfunding campaign by Dave Wade-Stein from EAR/Rational Music, the longtime North American distributor for Fax and related labels. The album is presented thus: four volumes of mostly new or unreleased music by former Fax artists, and four volumes of new material by mostly unknown musician-fans.
It's only fitting that one of the most prolific recording artists in the history of music - in all recorded music, not just a genre - should be honoured with a sprawling 8-volume tribute. It would take pages to review so much music in detail; suffice to say the standard of contributions overall is very high. Interestingly, most of the former Fax artists here don't seek to recapture peak moments from their past works. They just do what they do - from beatless ambient to bleepy dance grooves, from lounge to techno, from gentle dissonance to sweet, tender melodies. As for the the 40 or so musician-fan contributions, they were chosen from a large pool of submissions by a blind vote. Although there are some easy-to-spot pastiches among them, here too there is much freshness and surprise.
Die Welt ist Klang is a massive treasure chest of (mostly) new ambient and electronica. Some of it is the sound of now and some of it wistfully looks back. All of it acknowledges the contributions and example of one remarkable man.
Namlook" is "Koolman", a phonetic rendering of his real name, spelled backwards.
xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx
A mini-'synthphony' featuring Namlook and Sharp. If you're expecting an effort that you'd think would e representative of these two synth masters on the great FAX label you'd might be a bit let down. Another collaboration that suffers from being too spontaneous and rushed but not as bad. It takes a while to get good, but about half of the album it does turn into something real neat. Sharp and Namlook crafted a classic piece of electro for the 90's....like eavesdropping on deep space communications...dominated by power surges, swoops of sound, rising and falling. Features a number of great sounds that border on the IDM genre, rhythmic yes, but no real beats until about 3/4 into the piece, certainly worth exploring multiple times.
Pete Namlook • Jonah Sharp - Wechselspannung ( 241mb)
220 V (47:04)
01 Part 1 5:00
02 Part 2 5:00
03 Part 3 5:00
04 Part 4 5:00
05 Part 5 5:00
06 Part 6 5:00
07 Part 7 5:00
08 Part 8 5:00
09 Part 9 7:04
xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx
After the somewhat unpopular first attempt at Psychonavigation, this follow-up sees a change in direction. "Under Heaven", which is more of a Namlook piece, delivers some of that lightly melodic space ambience that fans expect out of the FAX label, in order to open your mind up to the dark foreboding ambience of the droning "Blue Shift", which uses a nice subtlety of Namlook's sonar blips to keeps things interesting. "The Fate of Energy" is a tag team effort, Namlook setting you up with one of his dramatic themes and then 4 minutes in, dropping one of Lawsell's basslines backup back some of Pete's synth noodling. After that this record lose you with the rather formless "The Hell of the Same" even though it illustrates the idea behind Psychonavigation's usage of a wide variety of sounds in order to create a rather unique experience, narrowing down the purpose behind this budding project.
Pete Namlook • Bill Laswell - Psychonavigation 2 (flac 233mb)
01 Under Heaven 15:16
02 Blue Shift 13:13
03 The Fate of Energy 9:39
04 The Hell of the Same 14:14
05 Infinium 1:47
xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx
Since the Psychonavigation series seems to be reserved for Namlook and Bill Laswell's more deep-space-oriented collaborations (and often with a somewhat gloomy tone), it's not surprising that this third in the series is a shadowy, somewhat Geiger-esque affair. Sparse vocal samples accentuate Namlook's extended Synthi and Trautonium passages, with Laswell's deep, monochromatic bass textures providing an ample anchor point. With Psychonavigation 3, the duo finally decide to deliver ambient worthy of being described as 'music for the inner mind'. "Telepathy I" gets down to what FAX does best: fantastic space music. "Mind Tranceference Control" and "Mind Over Energy" make fantastic use of melody and even drums along with their synths to create something that sets itself apart from other things these two have done. Those who have been put off by the the previous two Psychonavigation releases should be sure not to miss out on this one.
Pete Namlook • Bill Laswell - Psychonavigation 3 ( 239mb)
01 Telepathy I 15:31
02 Trautoniolo 4:02
03 Mind Tranceference Control 16:24
04 Mind Over Energy 12:56
05 Vocal PSI 2:56
06 Telepathy II 4:52
07 Lights Out 1:00
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Pete takes a Polybreak.
Like several other unusual one-off collaborations, Polytime is more of a Namlook album. Karl Berger's performance at the xylophone isn't distinct enough to stand out compared to Namlook's signature synthwork. "Worldwide Roaming" opens the album as a pure Namlook piece then has Karl's xylophone sampled in later in. Compare 6:15 with "Insight" at 4:15 and you can tell its the same xylophone perfomance only now sans Namlook. The same trend follows with the rest of the album but the title track "Polytime" is most notable has you'll hear Pete get especially jazzy and funky, taking the opportunity to pull out every instrument he can as long as he has his xylophone accompaniment. Definitely for fans of the jazzy side.
Pete Namlook • Karl Berger - Polytime ( 252mbmb)
01 Worldwide Roaming 7:29
02 Insight 11:00
03 Polytime 15:57
04 Tina 5:43
05 True Blue 11:21
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.
Compilation of tracks from various Pete Namlook monikers - compiled & mixed by the man himself.
Pete Namlook - The Definitive Ambient Collection Volume 2 ( flac 388mb)
01 Escape - Trip To Polaris 8:04
02 Sequential - Duane Sky 5:42
03 Silence - Garden Of Dreams 22:24
04 Escape - Trip To Mars 5:46
05 Sequential - Saturn Cruises 15:29
06 Hearts Of Space - 70's Beauty 2:28
07 Air - 1st Impression 4:31
08 Minimalistic Source - Vibe 4:35
09 Dreamfish - Fishology (Remix) 12:31
xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx
If most artists in contemporary electronica are like islands unto themselves, turning out tracks in relative anonymity, Pete "Namlook" Kuhlmann was a whole continent. A dizzyingly prolific composer who steadily built up an entire industry around his Frankfurt-based Fax label, Namlook's name was inextricably linked with the post-rave resurgence of ambient music, and many of his solo and collaborative recordings with the likes of Mixmaster Morris, Tetsu Inoue, Klaus Schulze, Bill Laswell, Richie Hawtin, Geir Jenssen, Dr. Atmo, Burhan Ocal, Atom Heart, Jonah Sharp, Charles Uzzell-Edwards, and David Moufang, among many others, number among the most lauded and influential in new ambient. "... ......N-Joy
xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx
Pete Namlook (born 25 November 1960 as Peter Kuhlmann [phon koolman] in Frankfurt, Germany, died on 8 November 2012) was an ambient and electronic-music producer and composer., the extremely prolific Pete Namlook (1960-2012) was one of the high priests of new-school ambient, ie. ambient techno, trance, lounge and other related dance-music spinoffs. In its 20 year history his record label Fax Records released some of the definitive albums in these sub-genres and Namlook stands alongside a handful of other names such as The Orb, Biosphere and Mixmaster Morris as one of the originators of ambient's resurgence and reinvention via dance music in the late 80's and early 90's.
Intriguingly, he often favoured the sounds of analogue synthesisers over digital and - alongside fellow German e-musician Oliver Lieb - was reputed to have one of the most extensive collections of classic analogue equipment in Europe. And although he downplayed the linage, like many of his new-school peers his music has some of its roots in old-school electronica as varied as Brian Eno, psy rockers Pink Floyd, and Krautrock icons like Klaus Schulze and Tangerine Dream.
But Namlook was no imitator. He deepened and refined the sound of his predecessors with an injection of fresh ideas from the dance world, coupled with fine musicianship honed from many years of playing rock and jazz. In a 2007 interview with e-music magazine Slices he actually made a point of distancing his music from the conceptual influence of Eno particularly:
"You have to differentiate quite clearly between ambient in a techno sense, and on the other hand Brian Eno, a purely conceptual thing. I only knew of a collaboration between Brian Eno and Cluster [the German band], and him with Roxy Music. I only bought his ambient stuff later. Ambient as Eno defines it...is more or less musical wallpaper. It stays in the background and serves the environment rather than saying something about itself. In my definition of ambient, which has nothing in common with Eno's definition, it's about a journey, intense emotions that need to be transported - environmental music, jazz, ethno - depending on what project I'm working on".
The genesis of Fax Records
Although he had long dreamed of making a career from ambient electronica, in Fax Records' early days he was mainly pursuing a dance floor-oriented direction and releasing 12-inch vinyl singles to a warm reception from sectors of Europe's club scene.
But Namlook soon became dismayed at other artists' appropriation of the Frankfurt "hard trance" sound (developed through his genre-defining 4 Voice project). Thankfully his ambient B-sides to these singles - in hindsight a brilliant strategy - were also creating plenty of interest. Within a few years of the label's inception he had set about focusing Fax almost entirely on ambient and downtempo styles.
Up to his death in 2012 Namlook released an enormous number of solo and collaborative albums of widely varying quality both under his own name and various other project monikers. Collectors should be aware that many CD's were very limited pressings and some will be difficult to find, even more so now that Namlook has gone and the label is no more. Certain key titles were re-issued on CD and download from time to time, however, and much of the Fax catalogue is now spread widely online.
The Silence series
Silence (1992) is the one that started it all, Fax's first album release and one which caught the ear of both seasoned electronic boffins and dance fans looking for a chilled-out tonic after a night among the thumping beats of clubland. Both this album and Silence II (1993) are collaborations with close associate Dr Atmo and despite being at times almost new age in their choice of themes (a voice whispers sweet cosmic nothings like "we are all part of the universe") the music is outstanding. These beguiling, shimmering, reverberant landscapes are sometimes beatless and sometimes gently beaty with subdued live pads and cymbals. The 20 minute "Garden Of Dreams" is a particular mesmerising blend of slow Mid-Eastern rhythms with sighing and crying electronic chords.
Continuing the series is the the Persian-tinged Silence III (1998) which features Namlook on his own. Titles like "Mirage" "Into The Desert" and “A Ship On A Sea Of Sand” are just perfect; his sense of place is quite stunning and he understands the visual qualities of ambient sound exceptionally well. His creative range across entire series is impressive: from stately progressions of warm, organic-sounding orchestral synthscapes to atonal, purely atmospheric pieces of pure texture. When it comes to sound design Namlook’s attention to detail is faultless, which makes hearing his music on good hi-fi equipment especially rewarding. Silence III is followed by two more superb albums in the series.
The surreal, innovative first volume of Dreamfish (1993) with collaborator Mixmaster Morris is another genre-defining release, still cited today as a favourite by fans of early post-rave ambient. The environmental sound effects are deployed in a quirky way amongst the textured, gently rhythmic landscapes and the music brims with surprises and quiet invention. The jazzy bass notes on "Fishology", for example, move along at a good clip yet are so subtle that the track's calming qualities are never disturbed. The first three volumes of the Air series are also high-water marks for Namlook. Like the Silence series they show some rich ethnic and neo-classical leanings, and they remain particularly effective examples of how he uses live acoustic instruments in an electronic setting. The delicate, tinkling cymbals and soft tom-tom beats on "Je suis seule et triste ici" from Air I (1993), for instance, are utterly refreshing because Namlook is able to maintain a deep electronic ambient feel while still expanding electronica's instrumental vocabulary.
Air II (1994) is deeply psychedelic. An eleven-part "trip" subtitled "Traveling Without Moving", it takes it's thematic cue from Frank Herbert's cult sci-fi novel and movie Dune. Herbert's story posited a strange universe dependant on a life-extending, mind-altering spice drug. On Air II Namlook subtly draws on the story's themes to create a beautiful, creepy, intoxicating universe of his own. Again he utilizes acoustic instruments: didgeridoo, sighing woodwinds, flamenco guitar, Mid-Eastern flutes, and swooping vocal textures that rise and fall to striking effect. They're all integrated seamlessly, proving that despite the club music influences he thrived by exploring outside the rigid structures of electronic beats and sequencing.
Other collaborations
Although as an artist Namlook's focus was far broader than just club-influenced sounds, when he did get into more squelchy or bleepy techy-trance territory the results could be just as stimulating. On the brilliant two-part title track from The Fires Of Ork (1993) that thumping 4/4 kick drum is there alright, but somehow Namlook and cohort Gier Jenssen (aka Biosphere) have managed to mute it just enough to create a truly "ambient" dance music: thunderous yet shadowy and eerie, built around a voice sample of Rutger Hauer from Blade Runner. Also beats-based is the the superb first volume of From Within (1994), one of the pinnacles of ambient techno that marries Namlook's warm keys and spiralling synth sounds with the sparse bleeps and beats of Canadian techno guru Richie Hawtin. Again, the rhythms don't drive you into the ground but rather lull you into a gentle if uneasy trance, particularly on "Million Miles To Earth" and "Sad Alliance". The third in this series, From Within III (1997) is also outstanding
Namlook after the mid 90's
While many aficionados would agree that the early to mid 1990's produced most of Fax's - and Namlook's - most enduring releases, it would be unfair to dismiss some of Namlook's work since then. Highlights from 1995-2001 include the final volumes in what is probably Namlook's greatest series, the magnificent Silence IV (2000) and Silence V (2001). The luminous piano notes and warm orchestral synths of "The Night Before I Left" from Silence IV might just be the most emotional piece of music Namlook has ever made, an elegy that's at once incredibly sad and jaw-droppingly pretty. From the same album is the extraordinary "Bedouin Love", a dark, swirling epic with thunderous Moroccan drums, a strange spoken Arabic monologue and chilling yet beautiful synthesiser chords. In the same sonic universe as the Silence albums is From Within 3 from 1997, again made with Richie Hawtin but this time quite different from earlier volumes due to its softer, warmer sound. There's feather-soft lead guitar lines, lush strings, jazzy improvising and warm analogue melodies, all held together by subtle, intelligent drum programming. It's a fantastic example of accessible, soulful electronica.
In the 2000's and beyond Namlook continued with a busy release schedule of solo albums and collaborations but rarely with the same impact his music made in the previous decade. Not that there's lack of variety; for hardcore Fax fans there's plenty to explore. Experimental releases like New Organic Life (2002) are scarily unfamiliar, experimental, arguably unlistenable at times. Some outstanding individual melodic tracks appear on otherwise less-then-great albums such as Resonate (2006) and Namlook Le Mar (2009). However, some of his other collaborative albums made after the mid 90's - not listed on this page - are highly recommended including recordings with Tetsu Inoue, Klaus Schulze and Wolfram Spyra.
Death and legacy
Aged just 51, Namlook died unexpectedly in his sleep of a heart attack on 8 November 2012. Maintaining his intense work rate right up to the night he passed away, some wondered whether Namlook simply drove himself into the ground, literally living and dying for his art. Yet his sister told UK music journalist Mark Prendergast that "he went to bed happy" that day. Who are we to judge? Namlook left behind an extraordinary and enormous recorded legacy, as well as a generation of underground electronic producers and composers inspired by both his talents and his uncompromising independence. Fax Records is no more, though for the moment a good deal of his discography remains available. Hopefully a sensible licensing deal with the Kuhlmann estate will enable another publisher take on the best of his catalogue and keep it available in the coming decades. He deserves no less.
The tribute: Die Welt ist Klang
A superb Namlook tribute album appeared in 2013, almost as essential as any of the work released by the man himself. Die Welt ist Klang ("The World Is Sound") was put together in 2012-13 via a crowdfunding campaign by Dave Wade-Stein from EAR/Rational Music, the longtime North American distributor for Fax and related labels. The album is presented thus: four volumes of mostly new or unreleased music by former Fax artists, and four volumes of new material by mostly unknown musician-fans.
It's only fitting that one of the most prolific recording artists in the history of music - in all recorded music, not just a genre - should be honoured with a sprawling 8-volume tribute. It would take pages to review so much music in detail; suffice to say the standard of contributions overall is very high. Interestingly, most of the former Fax artists here don't seek to recapture peak moments from their past works. They just do what they do - from beatless ambient to bleepy dance grooves, from lounge to techno, from gentle dissonance to sweet, tender melodies. As for the the 40 or so musician-fan contributions, they were chosen from a large pool of submissions by a blind vote. Although there are some easy-to-spot pastiches among them, here too there is much freshness and surprise.
Die Welt ist Klang is a massive treasure chest of (mostly) new ambient and electronica. Some of it is the sound of now and some of it wistfully looks back. All of it acknowledges the contributions and example of one remarkable man.
Namlook" is "Koolman", a phonetic rendering of his real name, spelled backwards.
xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx
A mini-'synthphony' featuring Namlook and Sharp. If you're expecting an effort that you'd think would e representative of these two synth masters on the great FAX label you'd might be a bit let down. Another collaboration that suffers from being too spontaneous and rushed but not as bad. It takes a while to get good, but about half of the album it does turn into something real neat. Sharp and Namlook crafted a classic piece of electro for the 90's....like eavesdropping on deep space communications...dominated by power surges, swoops of sound, rising and falling. Features a number of great sounds that border on the IDM genre, rhythmic yes, but no real beats until about 3/4 into the piece, certainly worth exploring multiple times.
Pete Namlook • Jonah Sharp - Wechselspannung ( 241mb)
220 V (47:04)
01 Part 1 5:00
02 Part 2 5:00
03 Part 3 5:00
04 Part 4 5:00
05 Part 5 5:00
06 Part 6 5:00
07 Part 7 5:00
08 Part 8 5:00
09 Part 9 7:04
xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx
After the somewhat unpopular first attempt at Psychonavigation, this follow-up sees a change in direction. "Under Heaven", which is more of a Namlook piece, delivers some of that lightly melodic space ambience that fans expect out of the FAX label, in order to open your mind up to the dark foreboding ambience of the droning "Blue Shift", which uses a nice subtlety of Namlook's sonar blips to keeps things interesting. "The Fate of Energy" is a tag team effort, Namlook setting you up with one of his dramatic themes and then 4 minutes in, dropping one of Lawsell's basslines backup back some of Pete's synth noodling. After that this record lose you with the rather formless "The Hell of the Same" even though it illustrates the idea behind Psychonavigation's usage of a wide variety of sounds in order to create a rather unique experience, narrowing down the purpose behind this budding project.
Pete Namlook • Bill Laswell - Psychonavigation 2 (flac 233mb)
01 Under Heaven 15:16
02 Blue Shift 13:13
03 The Fate of Energy 9:39
04 The Hell of the Same 14:14
05 Infinium 1:47
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Since the Psychonavigation series seems to be reserved for Namlook and Bill Laswell's more deep-space-oriented collaborations (and often with a somewhat gloomy tone), it's not surprising that this third in the series is a shadowy, somewhat Geiger-esque affair. Sparse vocal samples accentuate Namlook's extended Synthi and Trautonium passages, with Laswell's deep, monochromatic bass textures providing an ample anchor point. With Psychonavigation 3, the duo finally decide to deliver ambient worthy of being described as 'music for the inner mind'. "Telepathy I" gets down to what FAX does best: fantastic space music. "Mind Tranceference Control" and "Mind Over Energy" make fantastic use of melody and even drums along with their synths to create something that sets itself apart from other things these two have done. Those who have been put off by the the previous two Psychonavigation releases should be sure not to miss out on this one.
Pete Namlook • Bill Laswell - Psychonavigation 3 ( 239mb)
01 Telepathy I 15:31
02 Trautoniolo 4:02
03 Mind Tranceference Control 16:24
04 Mind Over Energy 12:56
05 Vocal PSI 2:56
06 Telepathy II 4:52
07 Lights Out 1:00
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Pete takes a Polybreak.
Like several other unusual one-off collaborations, Polytime is more of a Namlook album. Karl Berger's performance at the xylophone isn't distinct enough to stand out compared to Namlook's signature synthwork. "Worldwide Roaming" opens the album as a pure Namlook piece then has Karl's xylophone sampled in later in. Compare 6:15 with "Insight" at 4:15 and you can tell its the same xylophone perfomance only now sans Namlook. The same trend follows with the rest of the album but the title track "Polytime" is most notable has you'll hear Pete get especially jazzy and funky, taking the opportunity to pull out every instrument he can as long as he has his xylophone accompaniment. Definitely for fans of the jazzy side.
Pete Namlook • Karl Berger - Polytime ( 252mbmb)
01 Worldwide Roaming 7:29
02 Insight 11:00
03 Polytime 15:57
04 Tina 5:43
05 True Blue 11:21
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Compilation of tracks from various Pete Namlook monikers - compiled & mixed by the man himself.
Pete Namlook - The Definitive Ambient Collection Volume 2 ( flac 388mb)
01 Escape - Trip To Polaris 8:04
02 Sequential - Duane Sky 5:42
03 Silence - Garden Of Dreams 22:24
04 Escape - Trip To Mars 5:46
05 Sequential - Saturn Cruises 15:29
06 Hearts Of Space - 70's Beauty 2:28
07 Air - 1st Impression 4:31
08 Minimalistic Source - Vibe 4:35
09 Dreamfish - Fishology (Remix) 12:31
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I'm loving the work of Pete Namlook and his many collaborations. Many thanks for introducing me to him.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much, love all the Namlook stuff
ReplyDeletecheers
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