There was a wave of so-called "IDM" that rushed in like a tsunami in the late 90s and early 00s that mined heavily from the sounds pioneered by Autechre with their mid-period albums Tri Repetae and Chiastic Slide; while a lot of young producers drew inspiration from those melancholy, non-dancefloor sounds, Autechre moved further and further into abstraction with a series of albums that sounded at times like they were generated by an algorithm, sometimes alienating the fans that had fallen in love with their more obvious and emotive records. Labels like Neo Ouija and City Centre Offices carved a niche for themselves with a series of introspective, instrumental electronic albums from a range of producers all working in tandem within a sort of IDM zeitgeist. I speak for myself and perhaps others as well when I say that the initial fascination with these sounds waned in the mid-00s, emphasized by labels like Morr Music altogether shifting focus toward a vague shoegazer revival, Planet µ switching gears into a dubstep authority, and Autechre continuing to shapeshift in new ways that confound categorization.
San Francisco-based producer Tim Arndt's third release as Near The Parenthesis is my first exposure to his music... I stumbled onto it by chance and am glad that I did. At the risk of sounding generalist, one might say that the music of Near The Parenthesis subscribes to the post-Autechre school of electronic listening. However, I'd venture that it's something slightly beyond that... That is to say that I suspect he's been influenced possibly by those seminal sounds as well as what's come beyond it. But as I write this, I think perhaps this all sounds a bit presumptuous or condescending, as it takes a lot away from Arndt's own musical talents, which should not be underestimated — IDM, post-Autechre or whatever you want to call it, L'Eixample is an achingly beautiful album.
Many of the nine tracks found on L'Eixample ebb and flow with a ponderous grace, with an emphasis on an understated melancholy and lushness that complement its textures, arrangements and melodic sensibility. It is in this shimmering warmth that L'Eixample shakes away many of the immediate comparisons to artists like Arovane or Autechre; many of the more angular or mechanical sounds to be found in those artists' work are completely absent here, or at least dialed down considerably. There is more in common with Cliff Martinez's Solaris score than anything on City Centre Offices; Arndt flaunts a similar knack for repetition and cyclical patterns that are at alternate times hypnotic, moving or insistent. Because of this, the tracks heard on L'Eixample don't feel overly distinct to me but parts of a whole, and this is why it succeeds as an album. While sometimes that homogenous quality can undermine an album, here it strengthens it. There are still some truly gorgeous specific moments on here: the opening melodic phrases of "Guell" are equally gloomy and lovely, while the closing sequence of "A Brief Walk In The Sea" is triumphant in its elegance. The disembodied voices underneath "Empty Square" and "Departing Gate" might make you turn your head a bit just to make sure it's on the album and not somewhere else in the distance; the latter also is built around a nice piano arrangement that builds over its five minutes into a layered beauty.
L'Eixample is a really nice piece of work that comes highly recommended for any fan of emotive, instrumental electronic music. For this listener, it's helped revive an interest in IDM and electronic listening music, proving that you don't need to reinvent the wheel to create something inspiring and moving.
mp3s: Guell | Departing Gate
more info: Official artist site | Myspace | n5MD artist profile
buy it: n5MD download shop | Emusic | Boomkat | Amazon | iTunes
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