“A good blend of deep ambient space EM with a good sequencer à la Berlin School”
1 Antimatter Resonance 19:44
2 Machine City 20:26
3 The Harvesters 14:12
4 Planet Niyrata 7:53
5 Shiftspace 7:02
(DDL 69:19) (V.F.)
(Ambient Berlin School)
It's a good thing to follow Martin Stürtzer's numerous activities, both on his Bandcamp page and on his YouTube platform where he offers his home concert evenings from which the sublime Dyson Sphere Alpha was released at the end of 2021. There is good electronic music (EM) that flirts with both the Electronica form and the Berlin School model, as with this new album-download offered under the Echo Elberfeld Release banner. ANTIMATTER RESONANCE regroups recordings from concerts 38 and 36. And if the lively and catchy Berlin School appeals to you, I strongly recommend concert 39. Here is the link! And like it is often the case, we are talking about improvisation sessions that are recorded directly in stereo to be offered in HQ 24Bits format. ANTIMATTER RESONANCE offers almost 70 minutes of an elaborate EM according to the concept of ambient, cosmic and atmospheric music with good structures of Berlin School in it. Minimalist and hypnotic structures that lull the decor of a meditative music certainly, but not necessarily without rhythmic life.
It's with the sinuous shadow of an orchestral synth that the long title-track connects itself to our earlobes. Barely audible voices complete this dark setting where stars like to make bits of lunar harmonies sparkle. Slender and sewn in the whinings, the arcs of synthesizer take blurred forms with an apocalyptic scent which would be appropriate to dystopic movies in the styles of Blade Runner or the Resident Evil series. Such is the destiny of Antimatter Resonance's first 6 minutes of which the first sketches of the ambiences stick rather well to the images that one can make regarding the meaning of the title. A first wave of rhythm bursts about 20 seconds after this 6th minute. The sequencer weaves rhythmic filaments that fuse one after the other in an ambient pattern but whose driving effect modulates a finely spasmodic texture. Gradually, Martin Stürtzer fills this section with sequences that gradually form the main framework of rhythms braided into a long minimalist journey, we are talking about a distance of more than 13 minutes, with a sequencer zigzagging languorously in a musical corridor that reminds us some good old Ashra's rhythmic riffs. Machine City keeps us dreaming with our eyes open and ears well-lit with another long repetitive structure that offers a slightly bouncy rhythm in a delightful cosmic as well as orchestral haze. A bass-sequence line, sometimes resonant but mostly musical, gives more relief by structuring an ascending movement near the roots of a hypnotic Berlin School. This line works behind the scenes and winds its way through this series of anesthetic leaps, creating a harmonious counterweight that gradually loosens the rhythmic framework, which becomes slightly more spasmodic. The impression of hearing nuances is more than tangible, mainly in the tonal setting of the track.
The Harvesters is a Dark Ambient track with an intense palette of emotive sound colors. This ambient track takes us into the depths where sounds from the ocean floor echo in a metallic way and serve as a backdrop for a tasty dance of slow synth layer formations. Some are musical with a piercing tone while others radiate that dark ambient texture that surrounds this long journey propelled by implosive spasms. The synth laments have that dystopian color unique to Vangelis. They are confronted with emotive charges of drones as sinuous as the deadly approach of a huge boa constrictor, while at times they fragment into abysmal laments. In between short wistful synth jeremiads, Planet Niyrata offers an excellent Berlin School with an ascending rhythm line running through a cosmic structure sewn in haze and lunar orchestrations. The sequencer is very good with a slight delay effect in the rhythmic flow, creating a tasty zigzag pattern in a cosmic setting made melodic by a keyboard approach that substantially follows the sequencer's pace. Shiftspace is the jewel of ANTIMATTER RESONANCE! This beautiful lunar melody hangs on a sequencer that releases its bouncing keys like a leapfrog sequence describing a long hypnotic circle. The sequencer's chords are like Bambi's paw on a frozen pond, barely scratching the surface of this melodious rhythm to which metal hoops are grafted that hesitate to dance together. A great track that is the ultimate reward for this habit I have of visiting Martin Stürtzer's activities. On Bandcamp, as on his YouTube channel.
Sylvain Lupari (May19th, 2022) ****½*
Available at Phelios Bandcamp