- 11 july 2021
Avant Music News
New State Of Flux V/A
Diskrepant - Seance Monday
Some people collect seashells and others collect sports memorabilia. Raffaele Pezzella collects labels. More specifically, labels that focus on dark ambient, drone, and experimental noises from around the world. Reverse Alignment joined Pezzella’s stable in early 2021 and this compilation is its first release since the merger.
Initially operated by Kristian Widqvist out of Sweden from 2007-2020, the label features a number of well-known dark ambient artists as well as a handful of lesser-recognized acts (e.g., Jarl, Taphephobia, Ajna, Diskrepant, VelgeNaturlig, Dodsapparaten). New State of Flux consists of mostly unreleased material from these artists as well as others in the ambit of Unexplained Sounds Group, Pezzella’s parent label.
The sounds on the album vary accordingly. Jarl provides oscillating and shimmering drones, while VelgeNaturlig offers up pulsing waves of synths. On the other hand, Henrik Meyerkord combines layered ambiance resembling an organ with prickly electroacoustics. Derelict Relay and Joao Sousa’s Claustro em Ruinas (Cloister in Ruins) is a slow-building set of thick walls with a haunting bell-like melody.
One of the most interesting pieces is from B*TONG, and is an amalgam of walled noise, static, and recorded voices. At only two and a half minutes, it is one of the shortest tracks on the album. Diskrepant also provides one of the stronger efforts, with wordless vocals, rumbling bassy sounds, tectonic crackling, and synth. Another high point is the dissonant, vibrating drones of Brian C. Short.
Nonetheless, the discussion of these particular pieces is for reference. There are no weak or even medicore recordings on New State of Flux. Each track exists in its own ecosystem and context. This makes the compilation a must-have for newcomers to experimental dark ambient as well as experienced listeners. Bravo to all.
---------------
- 17 may 2009
Heathen Harvest
Diskrepant - Ex Machina Libertas
Friday, May 01 2009
This is Swedish dark sound experimentalist, Diskrepant’s first release
on the new Fractured Spaces label but fourth full length overall. “Ex
Machina Libertas” shows fine employment of organic samples and industrial
ambience to create oneiric lulls and claustral chaos that succinctly work
together as drum, bass, and guitar. The crater of sound that Diskrepant
fills is immense in “Ex Machina Libertas” and is replete with
dark steel embedded in the deep and human sediment scumming the surface.
Diskrepant’s sonic nadirs are inverted summits of bass, their peaks
lost in darkness yet bouncing echoic, scattering against roughly hewn
walls latticed in steel architecture. The ceiling above such a bounded
landscape writhes with a fresh organism, as if the pieces of natural world
were being re-ordered, created in an ethereal primal sea. Strange liquid
sounds pepper in unpredictable patterns, squelches burst in the protoplasm,
but such animation does not take long to integrate with the steel bourne.
A word that best sums up the album would be interaction. Disproportionate
and incongruous sounds fuse attachments to each other as the natural and
mechanical unite deeper into each track. Not that it is all crescendo
or unionisation, rather the album serves as the full audio (sans David
Attenborough) of a BBC documentary of the (un)natural world, complete
with a well scored soundtrack relevant to the visuals... here being Diskrepant.
It is an engaging journey and the camera is always moving to new scenes.
Sounds never repose to stagnate and drone but accrete and then transmogrify
after interaction, crafted to keep your attention.
“Ex Machina Libertas” is the first jewel-case release from
Fractured Spaces, one that is elevated from the ranks of jewel-forgetfulness
with its argent cover. A black fractured background sets the scene for
the symmetrical right-angled design with windows into vistas of gore and
bone, ocean and sky, but all illuminated with silver embossing on top
of the gloss: sublime. A three-panel gatefold opens up with the inverted
fractured art background within and scant liner notes.
www.heathenharvest.com
By: symbolique
---------------
- 02 dec 2010
Ex Machina Libertas by Diskrepant
[FS0408CD]
THIS release contains some very impressive artwork and the cover is an
odd graphic fusion in which something resembling an iconic frame is used
as a transparent vehicle for the ethereal imagery that is attractively
positioned between the silver rectangular lines, spherical circuitry and
equilateral crosses. Other images remind me of those old Spirograph sets
that were kicking around in the early-1970s, but we won't go into that!
The man behind Diskrepant is a certain Per Åhlund, a Swedish artist
who is known for two previous releases on the popular Fin de Siècle
Media label; most notably the 'Folie À Deux' EP (2003), '33-12'
(2004) and 'Into Sleep' (2007). Elsewhere, Åhlund has also released
an album under the name Child Patrol, entitled 'Come Now Little Ones'
(2005). The theme of the present work is centred around the coming-together
of flesh and machine, a topic pursued elsewhere by the likes of Kraftwerk
and Tubeway Army.
The opening salvo, 'Post Homo Habilis' - a reference to what many scientists
consider to have been the first human - drifts in like a radioactive breeze.
Crows screech, waves crash and a dense wall of sound is pierced with a
high-pitched tone. The thunderous rolling sounds like an endless stream
of coal trucks making their way down the thirty-degree slope of a mine
shaft and into the subterranean depths below. This is accompanied by more
creaks and taps than a Victorian washroom.
'Unhappy Valley', which runs to over eighteen minutes in length, constructs
another solid wall of thick ambience, its impenetrable surfaces scuffed
by metallic rustles and a throbbing hum. Further industrial effects provide
a stereophonic Samadhi: the gentle shunting of carriages, doors that open
and slam, slow groans and sharp grunts that sound like a slumbering beast
with sore testicles and machines that rise and descend more times than
a whore's drawers.
Moving on to 'Flesh And Synthetics', a hard-working little track which
begins with a hollow ringing that blossoms into a cornucopia of percussive
rattles and throttled frequencies, the atmosphere really sustains the
listener's attention until you find yourself becoming completely absorbed
into the mix.
'Partenogenesis', which - with its slight spelling variation - relates
to the development of an unfertilised egg without the intervention of
a male, oscillates like a blob of raspberry jelly in an earthquake. Faint
whispers, occasional beeps, distorted croaks and an erratic rhythm all
make for an unholy cafuffle.
Finally, the title track, 'Ex Machina Libertas', suggests that the reproductive
process is complete and now something wicked this way comes. This is easily
the best track on the album and its range of deep tonal scales leads us
towards a lurching monstrosity of tingling chimes and a wild aural eclecticism
that sounds like Frank Spencer playing hopscotch in a furniture shop.
But then we emerge into a new dawn of beautiful ambience and mellow sound-scapes,
disturbed only by the razor-sharp tones and whatever baleful colossus
Åhlund has unleashed upon the world.
A great album and very highly recommended.
---------------
- 07 apr 2009
Diskrepant - Ex Machina Libertas
Right from the off it needs clarifying that the extent to which this release
qualifies as music is as open to debate as the quality of its vision is
not.
The opening track entitled Post Homo habilis, meaning after Homo habilis
(the earliest human) sends us on a dark voyage holding on to the mast
of a ghost ship as it sails through night mist in the graveyard of industrialised
society, the posthumous moans and groans of an extinct way of life slicing
through the biting holocaustwinds and making a mockery of an attempts
to deny the cold.
The second track, the rather quaintly titled Uncanny Valley is no less
forgiving, yet Per Åhlund’s composition here carries a different
germ, one that reeks of suspense and mischief, so that parts of it could
easily have been used in the scene in Star Wars when Obi Wan Kenobi is
deactivating the shields so that Luke and co can exit the space station!
The third exercise includes a repetitive hammering sound that really sets
the nerves aflame, inducing fatal cardiac arrhythmia with its 440 beat
per minute attack.
The album as a whole is a rewarding study in space, sound and environment
and those of you prepared to devote your time to it in the same way you
might an Ingmar Bergmann film will reap the rewards – especially
given the beautiful ending. If, however, even remotely traditional song
structures are a prerequisite for your musical diet then avoid this as
you might avoid a Marmite sandwich – then again, you might love
it.
73/100
Geoff Birchenall
www.myspace.com/asgardroot
---------------
- 07 apr 2009
Ex Machina Libertas is the fourth album of Diskrepant, the Swedish one
man project of Per Åhlund.
Theme of this album is the vision of future mankind wherein the boundaries
between flesh and machine are deliberately and slowly fading away. The
slogan Ex machina Libertas means 'Technology will set you free'. Or, in
other words: only rationally applied technology can fundamentally improve
the human condition. Without it, we would be pathetic animals. With it,
there is no limit to what we can do, and become.
In a sense this may sound positive or optimistic, yet the auditive picture
Diskrepant has painted, drags you straight into the overwhelming effect
of this possible future reality. Straight from the the first track until
the very end, you are drawn into the intense atmosphere of a mixture of
nature and technology. One moment you find yourself comfortably surrounded
by the sound of ducks on a pond, or amidst falling raindrops, however,
a few seconds later the volume of soft mechanical background noise (deep,
rumbling sounds of mechanical parts, shifting and colliding) increases,
and technology is, although never provocative, all around you in all its
fascinating and nightmarish shapes.
In a sense the atmosphere on Ex Machina Libertas reminds me of the 1989
album Heresy by Lustmord. Although it is very clear that recording techniques
have improved enormously the last two decades. Besides that, the technological
aspect of Ex Machina Libertas can hardly be found on Heresy, which has
a more or less earthly approach to sound.
On Ex Machina Libertas Diskrepant has put a lot of effort in moulding
analogue sounds and recordings together with electronic sounds into in
a convincing complete picture, that constitues a perfect symbiosis of
these elements. The resulting landscape of sound is an overwhelming eperience
you'll hardly ever forget.
8/10
Drakengaas
www.gothtronic.com
---------------
- 16 mar 2009
DISKREPANT - EX MACHINA LIBERTAS
- CD
(FracturedSpacesRecords)
Diskrepant is a Swedish unit that seem to have 3 releases out on various
labels such as Fin de Siecle Media. This will be their fourth and they
seem to like the darker, organic side of deep drones and musique Konkret.
It
sounds like something that would be very much in tow with Muslimgauze,
Daniel Menche or even Steve Roach at times.
There is a very haunting other-world feeling to all the recordings. If
you like the creepier side of Schloss Tegal then you're going for the
right direction. Cold Spring, Soleilmoon or Malignant records fans will
find this amazing and magical in the layers of field recordings and minimal
builds. Though it
never become a noise release there are very noiseish moments.
If the dead can talk to the living I do feel this is the soundtrack they
would
communicate with. Fantastic release for FracturedSpaces and a genre
improving release ....
Clint Listing
Absolute Zero Media
http://absolutezeromedia.us
---------------
- 24 feb 2009
DISKREPANT - EX MACHINA LIBERTAS
(CD by Fractured Spaces Records)
Over the course of four years Per Ahlund, also known as Diskrepant has
released four albums, of which 'Ex Machina Libertas' is the last one.
The start, a split release with Des Esseintes was a pretty noisy one,
but he quickly turned to more quieter music on '33-12' and 'Into Sleep',
which get a following on this new one.
Like its two predecessors, the sound here is based on field recordings,
analogue and digital sound synthesis, concrete sounds, which are melted
together. Moulded perhaps is a better word. This music of AI - ambient
industrial as well as artificial intelligence. Music from a darker corner
of the world, the word underground where a laboratory of aliens create
sub humans. Dark rumble in this dark laboratory - why would aliens need
light - and some repeated action, which forms a rhythmic loop at one point.
Excellent dark atmospheric ambient music, with nothing much new under
this particular black sun, but it makes a fine listening round. Very Swedish
in packaging, and in terms of dark music, one could say this is the more
intelligent brother of some of the Cold Meat Industry bands.
Vital Weekly (FdW)
---------------
- 18 feb 2009
DISKREPANT - EX MACHINA LIBERTAS
A nightmaresque dream sequence of fractured, digital technology overpowering
and overwhelming nature with synthetic relentless all-consuming inevitability
– the sound of desolate cyber-humanity and a dying once verdant
world. In "Ex Machina Libertas" we are ushered into a world
bereft of breath, imagination, emotion or impulse… instead the inexorable
rise of ‘the machine’, soulless, endless, repetitive, stripped
of any spark of identity or individuality has decimated anything natural
or ‘living’. This truly is the sound of a dying world, ravaged
by nanotechnology, forgotten by any deities, where only the microchip
is law.
This is the sound of construction and deconstruction… of digitised
immortality, of nature re-birthing itself in a cyber-ouroboric fashion.
Again it’s an album that raises the question of what defines or
separates noise or music? Even to my fairly acclimatised and musically
‘open’ mind, this clearly falls into the dark ambient noise
category/genre, it is jarring, mechanical, desensitised, dissonant, the
sound of pure synthesis, and would drive a ‘traditional’ music
fan to distraction in minutes. Personally I both ‘get’ and
enjoy this – but it is not for the faint-hearted.
The artist behind Diskepant is of course Stockholm’s own Per Ahlund,
a man behind many outstanding sound-art and experimental music projects.
His becoming a part of Simon Marshall-Jones’s FracturedSpacesRecords
roster is indeed a "marriage made in machine hell" and proves
to be a potent and devastatingly brutal aural assault. If you love the
sound of dark ‘music’ future…then this astonishing album
will be right up your network cable! (appalling pun I know). The future
is bleak, the future is Diskrepant…the future is FracturedSpaces.
80/100
Satanic Muttley
www.hierophant-nox.com
---------------
- 05 feb 2008
Sunday, 03 February 2008
If countries and regions were to be judged solely on the kind of music
emanating from within its borders then Scandinavia would be deemed something
of a bleak and minimalist place what with all the dark ambient acts it
harbors. This disc, from Sweden's Diskrepant, adds further disquietude
to the country's musical reputation with a foray into a strange, exotic
but sparsely inhabited and twilit world rarely trodden upon by human feet.
Per Åhlund, the moving force behind Diskrepant, creates extremely
pared-down soundscapes utilising both analogue and digital sythesised
sound sources in alliance with acoustically- and electronically-sourced
audio recordings, which have been further enhanced, looped, distorted,
processed, and stretched through effects modules.
The resulting minimalist textures give the impression of a world not quite
properly formed or still in the stages of creation, where the edges are
still fuzzy and what shapes there are haven't quite achieved solidity
or dimensionality. Trying to get a firm grasp is often impossible, as
everything seems to be composed of mist and insubstantiality; sounds fade
in and fade out again just as quickly, constantly shifting and metamorphosing.
Some of the sounds are obvious while others are barely on the verge of
audibility, creating layers of abstract complexity that manage not to
actually clutter up any of the spaces.
Indeed these pieces are subtle, very understated, and quietly insistent;
what's here almost seems to live in the apparent void between musical
notes, in other words if you took any example of music apart this is what
would be found existing in the spaces between the crotchets, the quavers
and semi-quavers.
Abstract these three pieces may be, but nevertheless they seem to be peopled
by both the familiar and the eerily exotic, the whole dyed with colours
as yet unnamed and unseen, and composed of substances as yet undiscovered.
This is a hypnotic dreamworld where the impossible is entirely possible
and whatever reality impinges itself on the listener is nothing but plastic
mirage which can be readily molded according to desire and inclination.
Diskrepant's music appears to be more about potentialities and possibilities
than actualities, and almost requires an active form of interaction in
order to fully engage with it; nothing has taken on its final unalterable
form yet and there is still room for the introduction of new elements
to help give it shape.
If I was to apply words like 'formless' and 'shapeless' to Into Sleep
then they must be seen not in a negative context but rather as a means
to express the fullest extent of those potentialities and possibilities
noted above – any potential listener can stride through these sonic
landscape paintings and can make of them whatever he/she wants; the forms
just need to be called forth and with that it's made real. In this sense
then the formless and shifting world portrayed here by Diskrepant is nothing
more than an invitation to participate in an act of creation, to give
form to possibilities and to bring forth the potential seeded throughout
the three pieces; and that, for me, is the unique beauty inherent in this
music.
Brainwashed
http://brainwashed.com
Written by Simon Marshall-Jones
---------------
- 06 sep 2007
The Wire, June, 2007
Working under his Diskrepant alias on a label that mostly seems to
specialise in 1970s Italian trash movie soundtracks, Per Åhlund
presents a
thoughtful collection of arresting studies in entropy for those with the
time to listen.
On "Apparatus Like Womb", softly polarised beats conjure up
the sound of a human heart heard from inside the body, while "Awaking
Amygdala" derives its haphazard rhythms from the muffled cadences
of human speech. Closer "Paradoxical Sleep State Ends" suggests
the inner workings of some sublime circuit board entering its final moments.
Of course, quite what the makers of Il Dolce Corpo Di Deborah and Adolescenza
Perversa would make of it all is anybody's guess.
---------------
- 27 aug 2007
Artist: Diskrepant
Title: Into Sleep
Label: Fin De Siecle Media Sweden
Genre: Electronic / Experimental / Drone
01 Apparatus Like Womb – 16.00 min
02 Awaking Amygdala – 14.00 min
03 Paradoxical Sleep State Ends – 11.07 min
Simple and straight, this is highly hypnotic. Since I'm trying for hours
to organize thoughts and start write something logical based upon in what
im currently listening, and all fades away each time Diskrepant's "into
sleep" mini-work develops through my senses channelling me into a
tunnel of almost numb unconsciousness , I can not get any other conclusion
than the previous one. Ok folks I confess my self , my brain isn't a raw
model of wealth and strength due mainly to the countless hours of sleep
absence and other abuses, but even here I can judge this record as a powerful
pro-active mind control, specially for those who so bad treat the neuron-machine
as me.
Per Ahlund (a well known Swedish artist inside the alternative electronic
spectrum, also collaborator with projects such martial-ambient Sophia)
solo work , really knows how to deal with the influence of the sound inside
a creature senses. Using strongly a experimental pattern that runs over
this 3 track transfixed compendium, Ahlund use and abuse from sounds manipulation
and electronic lunacy which creates in a first approach a dense and psychedelic
system of images that come and go under deviant will.
In the 16.00 minute "Apparatus like womb" open-track, all that
mass hypnosis wave is structured to somehow induce us in a spiral of mental
disjunction. You can actually feel your brain being sometimes scratch
by intermittent and irritant metallic loops (even a occasional doped bells
seems to announce the funeral of all reason), and the emotional wounds
opened due to this annoying assault are filled next, with a wide variety
of eerie and organic samplers that thick a growing madness, and with non-sensed
reversed melodies that also helps to increase that sensation of psychic
dissolution.
What comes next it is not a very different projection of the referred
above eccentricity. However, "Awaking Amygdala" and "Paradoxical
Sleep State Ends" seems to develop now a more concrete atmosphere.
Less rough and more relaxing, more sleepy , acting as a anaesthesia to
prepare our perception to dive deeper and deeper into a unconscious state.
All the components stated before still appear, but now instead of lead
us to a world of soul degeneration , they enhance a trance-like acuteness
that is almost impossible to connect with reality immediately, while we
are listening this. Drones and binary impulses reverb and echoing suddenly
and coming from void, can prove to you how easy it is make your eye-balls
fix to nowhere while you are drift away, lost inside your own mental labyrinths
and inner shades. Psycho active drug sound if you hallow me.
Be sure and secure of your mental wealth before spin this record inside
your stereo. I don't know if it is the real purpose of him, but Per Ahlund
can easily take your soul and strip you down from reason. And that is
way this record is so thrilling and amazing. Try it if you dare.
Sunday, July 01 2007
Contributed by: komah11
---------------
|
Diskrepant
Into Sleep
CD | Fin de Siecle
2007-06-01
Per Åhlund, som är mannen bakom Diskrepant, är knuten
till EMS, ett välrenommerat svenskt centrum för elektroakustisk
musik. Och det är inte svårt att förstå när
man lyssnar på det nya alstret 'Into Sleep'. Till skillnad ifrån
splitplattan 'Folie a Deux' där Diskrepant samsades med Des Esseintes
är den nya skapelsen inte inriktad på skärande noise utan
är en tillbakalutad ambient-platta full av drones och akustiska ljudloopar.
'Into Sleep' tar vid där föregångaren '33-12' slutade
och är ytterligare en förfining av det koncept Åhlund
lade grunden till för något år sedan. Det är en
smakfull och stillsam skiva som uppmanar och passar utmärkt till
nattliga aktiviteter.
Dark ambient är en mer eller mindre passande benämning men i
Diskrepants värld får den en något annan innebörd
än i skolan som bland annat representeras av Kammarheit, Svartsinn,
Northaunt och andra Cyclic Law-akter. 'Into Sleep' känns till skillnad
ifrån ovan nämnda kollegor inte fullt lika inriktad på
massivt mörker utan är av något mer experimentell och
minimalistisk karaktär. Mer eftertänksam om man så vill.
Skivan består av tre stycken som alla ligger på över
tio minuter, den första 'Apparatus Like Womb', är en sextonminuters
skapelse som är som gjord för mig. De övriga två
spåren landar i samma territorium och är av samma höga
kvalitet.
Då Fin de Siecle ämnar fortsätta verksamheten med att
endast ge ut filmmusik är 'Into Sleep' sannolikt det sista vi hör
av Diskrepant på detta skivbolag. I en rättvis värld tar
någon annan etikett över stafettpinnen och fortsätter
att forma Diskrepants produktion. Plattan, som i dagsläget går
under arbetsnamnet 'Burial Lake', skvallrar om att det åtminstone
finns planer på nya utgåvor.
Jag kan förvisso vanligtvis somna till både skrammelrock, trancetechno
och dödsindustri men 'Into Sleep' lämpar sig ypperligt till
att även under småtimmarna försiktigt vrida upp volymen
och stilla försjunka i djup sömn. Inte för att Diskrepants
musik är tråkig, tvärtom. Plattan ger mersmak och manar
till noggrann lyssning men är samtidigt tillräckligt repetitiv
för att man ska kunna koppla bort världen runt omkring en stund.
7/10
www.metica.se
Författare: Martin Engström
---------------
- 30 maj 2007
Diskrepant - Into Sleep [Fin De Siecle Media - 2007]
Into Sleep's title is very apt title as you're lowered into a subtle electronic/noise
sound world that seems to exists between realities of dreamscapes and
real life. Sound elements and half heard melodies dance by but nothing
is ever 100 per clear- giving the whole album a hazy slightly blurred
feeling, almost making you feel like you want pinch your self to see if
your asleep or awake.
The just over forty minute album is split into three tracks or audio dream
zones- each lasting around the 15 mintue mark. Each seemly taken you into
a different dreamscape or reality, at times it brings to mind been curled
up inside a vast womb & hearing elements of the strange out side world-
church bells, strange voices, weather elements, water bubbling, bizarre
sound uncurling -all mixed into three deliberate foggy or ill defined
sound worlds.
An interesting project, which really managers to bring to life strange
half realties to swim into and get lost with-in.
Rating: 4 out of 5
Roger Batty
http://www.musiquemachine.com
---------------
- 12 apr 2007
Per Ahlund makes minimal ambient with an avantgarde touch with his soloproject
Diskrepant. I have two earlier releases of him, which are a noise-like
release together with Des Esseintes and a very minimal release entitled
33-12.
On Into Sleep again electronic experiment to which he integrates digital
as well as analogue elements with acoustic sounds and effects resulting
in dark and slightly melancholic soundscapes and abstract sound collages.
This cd has 3 compositions of around 15 minutes each of which the first
one is more experimental and the second two are more dark ambient and
drone centered. The atmosphere in the first track goes from minimal and
icy to experimental and chaotic with fascinating sounds processed as loops,
constantly changing and making place for new developments in the sounds.
The other two tracks are drone centered with voice experiments added.
This is an original and subtle piece of music, but certainly not one to
rock you asleep.
Band: Diskrepant
Label: Fin De Siecle Media
Genre: ambient (ambient / soundscapes / ritual / drones)
Grade: 8
Review by: TekNoir
---------------
DISKREPANT - INTO SLEEP
(CD by Fin De Siecle)
Music by Diskrepant, also known as Per Ahlund, is pretty rare. So far
we
encountered two released by him, one being a split with Des Esseintes
(see
Vital Weekly 396) and a much less noise related '33-12' (see Vital Weekly
456). This new one, perhaps two years in the production process, sees
a
continuation of '33-12'.
In many ways Ahlund is like a classical electronic
composer. Taking digital and analogue sound synthesis, along with concrete
sounds, acoustic sounds
and many sound effects to create long pieces of
highly composed electronic music. Yet there are also elements that do
not
lump him into the serious posse. One of that might be his extensive use
of
loops. All sorts of sounds are looped around, filtered, processed and
what
have you. Certainly in the opening track 'Apparatus Like Womb' this brings
him closer to Pan Sonic than to Pierre Henry - if you get my drift. But
Ahlund keeps his own track and cleverly avoids to copy.
The other two tracks are much more drone based, more like the previous
release. Here he moves into the well-known areas of the UK drone meisters
and things become less original - and originality in the drone field is
not an easy task. But again, Ahlund adds some of his own ideas, such as
processed voices which make these tracks not bad. Again he avoids the
'magick' connotations, which is always a good thing. Throughout 'Into
Sleep' is a fine album, which does a lot, but never makes his title become
reality.
Vital Weekly
---------------
- 08 jan 2007
Review, Live
SHINJUKU THIEF + DES ESSEINTES + DISKREPANT
LONDON CORSICA ARTS CLUB
"...For the menacing, monolithic expanses that his ambient drone
project
effuses, Diskrepant's Per Ahlund demeanour is one that, by contrast, is
decidedly frigid. Here he is, sat squarely behind a labyrinth of decks
and
wires, still scarved from the freezing cold outside, like a commissar
from
a former Soviet satellite state, soulless yet efficient.
Not a lot of 'Folie A Deux' ear-splitting feral material tonight, Diskrepant's
brooding, spiritual gloom excursion keeps the faith in the Cold Nord Ambient
tradition to the letter..."
RICHIE RUCHPAUL
---------------
Digital Vital 05 - [05-04-23
Oljud ligger rätt i tiden
"...Kvällens andra akt, Per Åhlund och Julian Sanchez
Ojanen, har ett litet mer melodiöst anslag. Som soundtracket till
någon slags posttraumatisk väntsal i väntan på ingenting,
genomsyras konserten av en genomgående känsla av uppgivenhet.
Även här visualiseras ljuden av filmprojektioner. Men i fallet
med Per Åhlund och Julian Sanchez Ojanen handlar det om mer abstrakt
grafik.
Torsdagens Digital Vital-kväll känns mest som en introduktion
till helgen, även om både Olle Oljud och Åhlund/Sanchez
Ojanen imponerar..."
Betyg: 4/5
Håkan Durmér
---------------
- 08 jan 2007
Funprox
artist: DISKREPANT
title: 33-12
label: Fin de Siècle Media
format: cd
details: 2 tracks, 2005 [FDS10]
On the split cd with Des Esseintes, Folie à Deux, Diskrepant showed
a harsh and noise experimental industrial side of itself. How different
the sound on this record is.
33-12 consists of two long tracks with mostly very tranquil and spiritual
music. The drones have a sacred feeling. Due to the bells, gongs and chants
the music also has an oriental touch.
This record is perfect music for meditation and psychedelic journeys.
Simply the best soundtrack while reading The Tibetan Book Of The Dead
or studying the writings of Timothy Leary
Like the recent Moljebka Pulse album on Fin de Siècle Media, this
record is a must for fans of intense drones. A great piece for relaxation
and going beyond The Self.
MvG | |---Vital Weekly:
---------------
MOLJEBKA PULSE - THE LEAVES OF THEIR SONGS (CD by Fin de Siecle Media)
DISKREPANT - 33-12 (CD by Fin de Siecle Media)
The name of Moljebka Pulse is probably by now a settled one, with
previous releases on Eibon, Cold Meat Industry and Segerhuva. The
latter released 'Tamon' (see Vital Weekly 436) and there it seemed
that Moljebka Pulse went into the world of noise, after a long career
of highly drone related works. Nothing such so.
On his 'The Leaves Of Their Songs', Moljebka Pulse returns to his older
style of deep electronic ambient drone works. Apperentely guitars and
electronics lie at the basis of this music and things are heavily processed
into these long, stretched and pitch black atmospheric tunes. In 'Chorei'
there is a rhythm to be detected, but in general these are kept to a
minimum. Sometimes the music is a bit gritty and raw but that
certainly is quite nice. Only six pieces to be found here, but
lenghty as hell, with 'Anzan' even almost twenty-eight minutes. If
you the rawness of Troum, then I'm sure Moljekba Pulse is something
that would go down well too.
The other new release by Fin de Siecle Media is the first full length
of Diskrepant, who had a split release with Des Esseintes (see also
Vital Weekly 396). There is however a great difference between that
release and this new one. The previous was a loud, vicious noise
beast, but here Per Ahlund, the man behind Diskrepant, goes into
drone music. "33-12" deals with the spirituality of man and
to that
end he uses electronics, gongs, bells and chanting. That may sound a
little bit too esoteric, but the result is actually quite nice. The
chanting part is remotely hidden away in the corners of the album,
and the processed gong and bell sounds are there, but do not sound
like anything 'magick' (as some people want to write it).
This Diskrepant recording is of course dark atmospherical and highly drone
related, and fits the likes of Mirror, Jonathan Coleclough, Ora and
Paul Bradley. If they are your cups of tea than check this out too.
(FdW)
Gothronic.com
---------------
The last release of Diskrepant was a split EP with Des Esseintes. There
it was ear shredding noise the main factor of what was presented. On 33
.. 12 Diskrepant, a project led by Per Ahlund, takes a different route.
The cd counts two long tracks, of which the first one is, yes, 33 minutes
and the second one clocks in at 12 minutes. The music consists of minimal
dark ambient.
Thematically this cd deals with the spirituality of men. The sparse electronic
sounds are accompanied by gongs, bells and the occasional monk chanting,
though which you get the feeling you are listening to a Tibetan death
ritual exercised with the most modern methods possible.
33 .. 12 is timeless yet modern and a recommendation for the lover of
the better dark ambient and drone music who can appreciate a bit of a
ritual feel in the music. Yet this record misses a few things regarding
variety of sounds. This however could only get better in the future.
Band: Diskrepant(int)
Label: Fin de Siecle Media
Genre: ambient (ambient / soundscapes / ritual / drones)
Grade: 7
Review by: TekNoir
http://www.auralpressure.com
---------------
When I was 22 years old I had the misfortune to wake up next to a fat
lass. In fact fat is being very complimentary. Perhaps hippo is nearer
the truth. A one night stand gone badly wrong. I wanted to creep out of
her house and never see her again but a little voice kept nagging me to
give her a second chance. Looks aren't everything I kept saying to myself.
She's possibly got an intellectual side that will stimulate mundane conversation.
Or her personality is so outgoing that she'll make you laugh.
Likewise I've tried to find something in "33-12" that makes
it raise above all the other samey sounding minimal dark ambient pieces
currently released but couldn't. I desperately wanted something, in fact
anything, to stand out and make me catch my breath and nod sagely that
here was a CD that was a bit special. Desperate is as desperate does.
I wanted to feel the energy..the vibe even..that the artist was trying
to convey through his approach using chants, bells and gongs. Sadly I
never quite understood or grasped his methods. As the electronic music
faded in and out, forcing me to up the volume to hear the sounds more
clearly, I still wasn't as involved in the two pieces that made up the
recording as I should have been. There were undercurrents of an oppressive
nature prevalent throughout but not enough to sustain my desire for all
things ominous.
Perhaps I'm being far too picky for my own good and maybe someone else
less jaded than I would welcome this recording. If you think I'm being
harsh then so be it. I have far more substantial recordings in my collection
of this ilk that are more worthy of your consideration. As they say..you
pays your money etc.
---------------
Diskrepant:33-12-CD
(Fin de Siecle Media)
The 2nd CD I've gotten by this label and now by a Band I know Nothing
of.
This 2 long tracks of Drifting ritualistic Dark Industrial with many many
ambient sound-scape and ethereal elements going on. There are occasional
chanting and spoken invokations going on as well.
The feel of this release works very well its calm and distance but always
in the back of your head you know something isn't right. This is they
way good dark experimental music is suppose to make you feel. As it builds
it unnerves you more and more too. Fans of the old school CMI sound will
love this release. Definitely one to dig deeper into.
ANM
www.absolutezeromedia.us
---------------
Artist: DISKREPANT
Title: 33 - 12
Format: CD
Label: Fin de Siècle
Rated: 4/5
I honestly wasn't impressed by Diskrepant's recent split with des Esseintes,
harsh old school industrial noise which I found a tad too primitive. On
the contrary, this new full-length is an entirely different story, and
a very positive surprise.
Per Åhlund seems to be deeply inspired by Eastern spirituality (the
inner cover states that "religion is a thing of the past - spirituality
is not"), and this is evident at least in the musical aspect of the
work: "Preparing for the fourth stage" heavily relies on treated
and untreated recordings of ritual instruments (gongs, bells, rattles,
etc.), vocal mantras etc., which are carefully mixed with minimal electronic
drones.
The second and shorter track, "Entering the Fourth Stage", is
even more subdued and static, with barely recognizable (often reversed)
samples and low-end currents.
The whole work is surely dark and at times brooding, but not in a tipically
"dark ambient" vein - rather conveying the feel of both meditative
detachment and mind-altering vertigo that is indeed typical of Buddhist
chants. A very soulful and respectful work, from this point of view. Along
with Halo Manash's "Syoma", this is my favourite ritual-ambient
work of 2004.
www.chaindlk.com
Review by: Eugenio Maggi
---------------
Gonzo Circus
Diskrepant: 33-12
(Fin de Siècle Media)
Moljebka Pvlse
The Leaves Of Their Songs
(Fin de Siècle Media)
You wanna talk ear crushing noise? Try the debut split 'Folie à
deux' with
des Esseintes, a Per Ählund aka Diskrepant piece of art. Only this
time,
he takes it slow. 'Preparing For The Fourth Stage' is an easy-going half
hour pièce de résistance, which inspired him to evocate
his ideas. It
takes you on a reconnaissance tour to possible spirituality for mankind.
Isn't that sweet. Radiant electronics, flavoured with gong beats and the
sound of bells twirling around, it creates an atmosphere kinda like a
Tibetan chime. It's a monotonous excursion with ritual industrial input,
much like Organum. The finishing second track does practically the same,
but in lesser time.
Moljebka Pvlse is Mathias Josefson from Stockholm,
Zweden. He's an example of the new ambient focussed musicians, who produce
records on Cold Meat Industry, Segurhave or Eibon. Predecessor 'Tamon',
was more a preliminary research to all possibilities of Distortion, while
this new cd brings us back to the earliest work, luring into hypnotic
atmospheres. Minimalist drones floating through space, wither away the
distant guitar sounds. The long pieces know a variation of restful sounds,
woven together. The disc holds 6 tracks, capable of competing with the
best of Troum and Thomas Köner. (pb)
---------------
Diskrepant on yhtä kuin Per Åhlund, joka on aikanaan toiminut
mm. Sophian liverumpalina. Diskrepantia on aiemmin kuultu ainakin split-levyllä
Des Esseintesin kanssa, jolla Diskrepantin osuus oli kovaa noisea. Sen
pohjalta onkin varsin yllättävää että nyt ilmestynyt
esikoislevy sisältää ritualistista esoteerista ambientia.
Artisti: Diskrepant
Formaatti: CD
Levy-yhtiö: Fin de siécle media
Julkaisuvuosi: 2005
Kokonaiskesto: 45:06
Kappaleita: 2
Levy sisältää kaksi pitkää kappaletta, kylmän
minimalistisesti toteutettuna. Kylmän steriilejä droneja yhdistetään
säästeliäästi käytettyihin mantroihin ja mm.
tiibettiläisiin kulhoihin. Levy ei jää missään
vaiheessa toistamaan itseään tai junnaamaan paikalleen, mutta
on toisaalta niin hienovarainen että muutoksia tuskin huomaa. Levyn
alkupuolessa on jotain saman tyylistä kuin I.Coraxissa, vain äärimmäisen
minimalistiseen ilmaisutyyliin vietynä. Se pystyy kuitenkin pysymään
mielenkiintoisena - tiettyyn pisteeseen saakka. Levyn puolessavälissä
sen vähäeleisyys saa väkisinkin mielenkiinnon lopahtamaan,
ja eritoten 12-minuuttinen kakkosraita tuntuu lähinnä turhalta.
Lupaava alku johtaa tylsään loppuun
---------------
http://www.freemusic.cz
Diskrepant - 33-12
2 skladby, 45:05, Fin de Siecle Media
Druhy´ dule..ity´ clovek, ktery´ stojí za vydáním
práve recenzovany´ch desek, je Per Ahlund z laboratore [inhospitable].
Jeho dvouskladbovou dlouhohrající prvotinu predcházelo
splitEP s projektem des Esseintes, kde se Diskrepant predstavil jako nesmlouvany´
industrialista "japonského ra..ení". Ov..em s
novou deskou prichází novy´ ideovy´ koncept,
primerenej..í, více umírnená muzika. Album
je toti.. venováno osobne pro..ívanému duchovnímu
..ivotu v jeho neorganizované podobe ("religion is a thing
of the past, spirituality is not"). První skladba, tricet
tri minuty dlouhá tichá, temne ambientní litanie
je plná "duchovních" odkazu. Do puvodne hlukové
skládanky ála Mirror ci Jonathan Coleclough postupne priby´vají
tématické odkazy (buddhistické mantry, zvony, gongy),
a.. dojde k priblí..ení k hudbe umelcu, kterí se
propojování vlastního, na vy´chodní
Asii obráceného, duchovního ..ivota s ambientem venují
"na plny´ úvazek" (David Parsons, Steve Roach).
Druhá skladba se stopá..í dvanáct minut (viz
rozlu..tená hádanka, co znamenají císla v
názvu alba) je pokracováním naznacené cesty:
zpívání liturgicky´ch písní -
porozumení - ticho - presvedcení. Cesty, která vede
od hromadného k individuálnímu, niternému.
Tiché, ambientne alternativní meditování je
plné zpetne pu..teny´ch sonicky´ch vazeb a zpevu v
pozadí, jen.. je vydareny´m obrazem spletité duchovní
cesty ka..dého cloveka. Zde mu..eme pripomenout dal..í,
zvukove príbuzné particky - Mirror, Organum ci "anglickou
tichou partu" Ora, Colin Potter nebo ve ctvrtém dílu
recenzovaného
Andrew Lilese.
75%
---------------
Diskrepant "33-12"
Format: CD/Album
Online date: 9/4
Label: Fin de Siècle Media
Genre: dark ambient
The first time I heard Diskrepant was on the split CD "Folie à
Deux" together with Des Esseintes, also released on Fin de Siècle
Media a while ago. On that release Per Åhlund presented us with
some truly harsh and punishing noise. This album is probably as far from
that one can get. "33-12" is an album that deals with spirituality,
and silence is actually one of the more prominent elements in the music.
In fact, it takes a while before you realise the CD is actually playing
because it starts with silence followed by barely audible sounds that
slowly gains intensity. The two tracks, 33 and 12 minutes long respectively
(hence the title of the album), are mainly built by extremely soft and
muted drones coupled with reverberated chimes. Often, the music fades
into a moment of silence, before re-emerging with a slightly different
arrangement of sounds. Sometimes, gongs, bells or muted chanting appears
for a while, always incorporated in a subtle manner.
"33-12" is a very tasteful and delicate album. It stays clear
of all the numerous clichés of the dark ambient genre in the most
simple and effective way: if it's not necessary .. don't include it! Consequently,
only a few sounds are used on these recordings! This results in a very
minimal and mature album. The only thing that speaks against it is that
it can become too anonymous if you do not pay it attention. If you do,
however, you are treated to the most soothing and contemplative album
I've heard in a very long time. This album excites me far more than the
noisier side of Diskrepant and I hope to hear more ambient music from
this project in the future.
/Anders Eklund
http://www.movinghands.net
---------------
Marco
ambient > ambient rituelle
A l'opposé des titres qui composaient le split avec des Esseintes,
'Folie à deux', ce nouvel opus du suédois Diskrepant s'abîme
dans la spiritualité. Le leitmotive inscrit dans le livret est
d'ailleurs sans équivoque : "La religion est une chose du
passé, pas la spiritualité". Ainsi '33-12' est dénué
de tout artifice religieux proprement dit, si ce n'est des samples de
chants s'apparrentant à des mantras. Le premier titre long de plus
d'une demi-heure est un long périple minimaliste, alternant ambient
épurée façon Zero Kama ou le Current 93 rituel des
débuts et plages plus denses à la limite de la rupture.
Des sons de cloches et de percus accompagnent cette longue séquence
digne des travaux des groupes cités plus haut. Le second titre
est dans la même veine, en plus dépouillé et plus
calme. Ce genre d'album requiérant la plus grande attention, je
vous conseille de l'écouter seul (comme souvent me direz-vous avec
ce type de musique) et de préférence le soir. Un album qui
tranche avec ce que l'on aurait pu attendre du suédois après
'Folie à deux', mais réussi.
April 2005
note: 4/6
http://www.gutsofdarkness.com
---------------
phosphor@xs4all.nl
http://www.xs4all.nl/~phosphor
moljebka pvlse: the leaves of their songs CD
diskrepant: 33-12 CD
Mathias Josefson, aka Moljebka Pvlse, has made a name for himself over
the past years due to his guitar-based drone releases. To me, what makes
truly great drone music stand out, is the ability for this kind of music
to be
elusive, intangible. These qualities lead to a kind of music that may
be
described as evaporable, which may seem like a contradiction in terms,
but
only serves to underline the importance and necessity of submerging
oneself in drone music. The experience of drone music that is somewhat
unattainable, but does not necessarily involve the ethereal in terms of
the existential or spiritual. What have I just listened to? Compositional
developments blend in such a way that the moment of intertwining, the
instantiation of envelopment, distances itself as much from cessation
as
possible. The Leaves of Their Song is a fantastic exercise in this
non-development. Its layers veil one's experience in a majestic, almost
celestial, manner.
More explicity in terms of meditative content is Diskrepant's 33-12.
Religion is a thing of the past, spirituality is not we are told in the
accompanying sleeve notes. The title of the record refers to the length
of
the tracks of which the release consists.
The first track, Preparing for the fourth stage; chanting - understanding,
contains drones, chanting, processed instruments, bells and other less
identifiable sounds. Diskrepant slowly creates a vast ritualistic environment
reminiscent of Exotoendo's music, which walks on a thin line between a
recognizable and a more processed vocabulary. After eloquently preparing
a ceremonial setting, the second track, Entering the fourth stage; silent
- accepting, kicks off in a more subtle way. The piece is relatively quiet
compared to the first one, and evokes an eerie calmness. A fine monotonous
and ritualistic work.
Paul
(mvk)
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