“This compilation is a feast of tones, from analog and/or modular synths, but also a feast of rhythms as odd as quite lively”
1 Pavane K4816 7:03 (Lyonel Bauchet) 2 Crossing The Range 13:00 (Ian Boddy) 3 After the Rain 10:39 (Ian Boddy) 4 Monument 10:22 (Ian Boddy) 5 The Basement 11:40 (Boddy, Smith & Molloy) 6 Prime Blue 8:04 (Ian Boddy & Erik Wollo) 7 Arclight 11:47 (Arc) 8 Cantata 11:23 (Ian Boddy) 9 Stay 9:11 (Ian Boddy & Markus Reuter)
And if I told you that there is a way to discover contemporary progressive electronic music without breaking the bank, would you believe it? That's the bet of Ian Boddy who year after year pushes the limits of his creativity by innovating on several fronts. DinDDL is a virtual record company which is in parallel with the activities of DiN Records. Aware that EM is an art whose engine resides in research, Ian Boddy has set up this division to expose works where the craftsmen of analog and modular synths carry the fruit of their research available to everyone. Experimental and progressive EM, yes! But there are always filaments of harmonies which are hiding there. Harmonies as elusive as the patterns of rhythms and the textures of vibes. SUBMISSION Vol 2 is built following the same ideology as Submission Vol 1, either by choosing a title among the albums 11 to 19 which have been offered for download since the very good The Secret Society from Lyonel Bauchet. Apart from this album, the nine other titles of SUBMISSION Vol 2 put spotlights on Ian Boddy and the progression of his solo career with 4 of his albums, or in duet where we also find 4 albums. Ian Boddy has edited this compilation on last May and concocted an album which fills our ears with a feast of tones, from analog and/or modular synths, but also a feast of rhythms as odd as quite lively. In the end, it's an nice compilation of an amazing EM.
The album opens with a title from The Secret Society, Pavane K4816. According to my tastes, this is not the best title of this album, I would have preferred Dawn, but Ian Boddy doesn't necessarily choose the best title on each of these albums, he wants to create a heterogeneous mosaic that meets the criteria of the label's creativity. Pavane K4816 is a slow track. A kind of experimental ballad that is rather melodious in its colorful cocoon and evolves slowly on its ascending structure decorated with dark breaths, ominous buzzing, Tibetan percussion and other unidentified tones. A Mephistophelic mist envelops chords and synth riffs that seem lost in this avant-garde setting that remains astonishingly melodious and alive. The Secret Society was a revelation for me in 2011. Subsequently, one dives into the evolutions of DiN's boss. It's only missing 2 minutes at Crossing the Range, a title from the album Strange Attractors that was released in 2012 and which is the recording of a magical concert that Ian Boddy gave in the framework of the Awakenings festival in April 2011. Superb and built on a rhythm that will explode like the best of Arc, Crossing the Range evolves slowly by throwing between our ears a panoply of elements worthy of the hallucinatory decorations of Arc and Redshift. This is a big track here, as well as Arclight, which are actually 2 albums of pure England School. After the Rain also comes from a live album that Ian Boddy has performed at Berlin's Basic Electricity in June 2012. This is an excerpt from a long experimental title of more than 40 minutes where Boddy pushed the limits of his Serge Modular system. The proposed excerpt flirts between atmospheres and industrial rhythms and fits very well to this mosaic whose primary purpose is to introduce you to the new horizons of EM and of the Modular systems. We can't extract more beautiful harmonies of crumpled and twisted metal than here!
Then come the first 10 minutes of Monument, a monumental title that comes from the album Sepulchre and whose music comes from a concert, more intimate, given in the studios of American university radio, University of Pennsylvania, WXPN 88.5 FM. We hear a totally unlchained Ian Boddy who proposes a furious rhythm, woven by heavy and organic sequences, which rolls under synth spectral breezes. Heavy and attractive, this is the pinnacle of an album released at the beginning of 2013. The Basement is a title of sound experimentation which, placed in a context of this compilation, comes right on time in order to rest the ears which bleed in front of so much tones' aggressivity. Recorded at the very beginning of his career, with his friend Sid Smith, the album Other Rooms offered a dark and experimental universe where the sound experiences of the analogous years ended in sound cocktails as much astonishing and strange as well as sometimes strangely mesmerizing. Prime Blue from the album EC12, also recorded in concert, proposes an electronic rock which evolves on a good pattern of sequences and electronic percussions and where Wollo & Boddy exchange solos from a biting guitar and other dreamier synth solos. Erik Wollo is fiercely convincing here. Arclight is some solid Arc on stage in Liverpool 2014. Cantata is one of the first titles of Ian Boddy which has appeared on a cassette format, entitled Images, at the beginning of the 80's. It's an electronic rock which is very The Doors with its layers of organ tones. We recognize the essence of the England School style debut with a constant and hypnotic rhythm on which get accumulate multi-lines of synth and/or keyboard in a dark and Chthonian texture. Stay is the title-track of a more contemporary album released last year and made with Markus Reuter. The music concluded the album with a dark texture full of heavy buzzings which cross an area of tranquility.
Here we go! You have most of the last 7 years adventures of the DiN-DDL label. As you can see, there is everything in this compilation which exceeds 90 minutes of a creative and appetizing EM for those who still want more. It's also the best way to initiate the ears to a universe of disparate and unidentifiable tones which are not just floating. No! There are heavy and lively rhythms in this compilation which is also a superb trip in the electronic years of Ian Boddy and of his label. Available in download format only, starting this Friday, June 15, 2018.
Sylvain Lupari (June 12th, 2018) ***½**
Available at DinDDL Bandcamp