“Granite is an exceptional melody. And in this universe of glitch and white noises, it's still a catchy tune which survives very well”
1 Granite (AES Static) 8:33 2 Granite (Esko Barba) 8:16 3 Granite (James Murray) 6:13 Ultimae Records | inre091 (Vinyl/DDL/Spotify 23:02) (V.F.) (Psybient & Electronica)
The at the same time lascivious and vampiric melodious shadow of Granite was the real 1st imprint that Martin Nonstatic left in the eardrums of the fans of the fuzzy and soft rhythms of the attractive world of Psybient. And according to this wave of remix offered in vinyl by Ultimae Records, Granite is revisited by 3 artists who breathe these ambiences of glitch, of white noises, of granular and movements of statics atmospheres in a universe where the sounds never have borders. And it's to AES Static which goes the privilege to throw his artistic vision in the small sonic arena of GRANITE REMIXES.
Azure hoops, which are transformed into celestial chants, and brief knocks of percussions machine-gunned from far-off are diluting their perfumes, while this monstrous bass line, which attaches this fascinating melody of Granite, resounds in the 4 corners of our head. Here, the ambient Techno is king. It stretches the steps of its slow pace, one would say this dance of Zombies in Thriller, in a universe of perdition where the noises and the effects of a parallel world flirt dangerously with ours. Granite (AES Static Remix) leaves sometimes its stellar energy in phases of rather psychedelic moods, which are often illuminated by the mutation of the bluish hoops into a spectral choir, before haunting our 2 hemispheres with a livelier tempo and always so heavy of resonances. In spite of the efforts of AES Static, the melody of Granite is at the top of his impressive carpet of sound effects. And it's the very opposite of Esko Barba's visions which is rather in the kind Deep Dub Techno. If the rhythm is more lively, the fauna of micro-organic tones is of the most attractives with a plethora of strange noises and of glitch which get melt in these immense hoops of sounds and these effects of percussions from which the charming echoes disappear in this pond of psychedelic moods. Not my kind, but my ears were sniffing a start of addiction! Always very ethereal in his approach, James Murray transforms downright the roots of Granite to make it a long moment of pulsatory frolics, kind of Ambient House, beneath a sonic great wall where these azure hoops which forge the inmost atmospheres of Granite mutate into seraphic choir. Different and it’s not also my cup of tea. So, I let the care to the fans of the genre to write down their reflections. But as for me, GRANITE REMIXES passes the test with 3 remix which add a lot of depth to this music piece of Martin Nonstatic. And it’s very pleasant to re-hear this melody which haunts you some hours later in a universe which does not belong to it but whom it fits pleasantly.
Sylvain Lupari (December 17th, 2016) *****
Available at Ultimae Records Bandcamp