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Tegma, " Lo-Fi adventures", Tribal Vision 04/2008
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pedrordep
Started Topics :
0
Posts :
1
Posted : Jul 8, 2008 21:56
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I think this is a very decent release - unlike Ticon's latest, which I found very uninteresting.
Although different from the Tegma's previous releases, this is recognisably progressive trance and quite enjoyable.
Pedro |
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klaxer
Koan / Vacuum Stalkers
Started Topics :
11
Posts :
380
Posted : Oct 13, 2008 19:27:18
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Jason Orfanidis and Omar Chelly (Tegma / Homer & Lazon) are two childhood friends from the Swedish town of Malmö. The musical career of an ordinary mechanic and a foreign language teacher begun from a hobby called “Melomania”. The starting point of their collaboration could be placed in 1994-1997 - “the Golden Years” of psychedelic trance and hamburg trance. Jason and Omar managed to immerse themselves in the spirit of that distinctive subcultures of the electronic underground while it was in all its glory.
At the time Jason Orfanidis was getting back to his Greek roots. For that reason every summer he visited sunny Athens where psy-trance was just gaining momentum. He also collected relevant vinyl records and played his favorite tracks at small parties, while working as an assistant at the local "Danceswitch" radiostation. Jason was not taking his work seriously and got on the air just for fun.
Omar Chelly came to psychedelic trance only by the end of ‘97, when he found and listened to the releases by California Sunshine and Transwave that Jason accidently forgot. Up to that point Omar was more attracted to hip-hop (Public Enemy, Ice-T, Cypress Hill etc) and instrumental electronic music (Vangelis, Kraftwerk, Jean-Michel Jarre). Having developed a passion for charisma of psy-trance Omar mastered the Reason sequencing software and by the end of ‘98 the project Epsilon is born. It was an amateur level project with a repertoire of melodic Goa. And quoting Omar it was horrible. Due to the low quality of sound and apparent mixing errors Epsilon tracks were never released to the public at large. The project was closed after existing a year exactly.
Experience gained during programming tracks for Epsilon made the duo revise their attitude towards the sound quality. After purchasing pro quality hardware required for the further work the friends started a new project. The Tegma moniker was adopted from the car medicine chest by the eponymous American manufacturer. It came to them as a surprise when years later Omar and Jason learned that the abbreviation stood for Transportation, Elevator, and Grain Merchants Association (T.E.G.M.A.).
The ideas of laconic minimalism were gaining root all over the non commercial techno-trance dancefloors by the end of the previous and beginning of the current century. It came as a result of decline of musical Goa-experiences. It was natural and expected that they gained hold as a starting point of something new: Atmos, SBK, Son Kite and Ticon in Sweden. Beat Bizarre in Denmark. XV Kilist appeared in Switzerland. Lish in Israel. In New Zealand Antix brothers collaborated and Aran Gallahaer (FREq) proceeded to realize his ideas. Yumade and Three Point Turn started mixing minimal-techno with hard house in France. As for western Germany during that time Midi Miliz / Spirallianz were trying to intercross the experimental sound with abstractions of IDM. Most releases lying in that musical sphere concentrated the attention of the listener upon cyclic, mechanical concepts: moving sound-joints, hydraulic presses, vacuum couplings etc – all of that sounded and moved with intrinsic automatism over one or two tonal bass lines.
There were several ways for Omar and Jason to evolve their music: continue following the declining Goa-trance, going the way of experimental psychedelic (Quirk, Benza, Lotus Omega etc) or joining the progressive-scene. Impressed by the early Spiral Trax and Naja releases Tegma chose “minimalistic” progressive-trance; coincidently the minimalistic sound was gaining popularity in Europe at that time. Having recorded their first tracks under the new name in fall 2000 Swedish duo sent them to big-name labels hoping for a release. First offer came shortly after from the Danish label Creamcrop Records. The Folded View compilation featured Tegma and stirred up a serious response from listeners and musical critics alike. Everyone started expecting a new and promising top class act. With help from Frederick of Ticon, Omar and Jason sent their new tracks to Digital Structures and got a positive reply. After staggering success of their Werewolf / What's Akabar 12” they got an offer from a legendary Swedish label for the release of the first Tegma album.
Lack of self-repetition is one of the hallmarks of their project. That is the reason why all of Tegma albums are as different as the hardware and software used for recording allowed. Cold techno-minimalistic Encoded / Decoded with a touch of house and Goa-trance in the aftertaste. Light hearted and varied Around the World in 80 Minutes with echoes of international folk music. Hasty and high-strung 002: Avant.Garde. All of them are completely different not only in content but in sound quality as well. The unifying things present on them all are native percussions (congos, bongos, tablas etc). Quoting Omar this is an influence of ethnic music. Interaction and exchange of useful experience with other acts also played an important part in forming certain musical train of thought and way Swedish duo presents their material to the listener. The success of Tegma in Europe, South America and Japan solidified their reputation as classy and influential participant in the non commercial progressive-sound scene.
Current 2008 comes with the triumphant march of electro-boom across Europe. It revitalizes slowly deflating progressive-trance scene with new energy and new ideas. A lot of respected artists and labels started adding electro elements into their releases, mixed also with other dance music genres (techno/electro + house/tribal). They also remembered the nostalgia for the old good times (disco/NRG + demoScene/chiptunes). New works by Ticon / NDSA, FREq / Nyquist, Jaïa / Kama, Peter Gun, D-Nox & Beckers are a proof of that. As well as compilations by Iboga, Tribal Vision, Blue Tunes, Spiral Trax and other less popular labels.
The release on the Czech label Tribal Vision Records with the Scandinavian internals “Lo-Fi Adventures” is both an ode to technology of the contemporary dance music and tribute to retro styles. Album has menacing techno-marches (East Block (Cccp Mix)), and boisterous mix of disco and electro (What the Fuzz, Twister), and somewhat exhausting in its obtrusiveness bits of club techno-trance (Computer Disorder). In the new Tegmatekk release there is something distinctive from fresh dance-retrospectives, it is a clear idea of Sound Rotations. In Lo-Fi Adventures those rotations exist in almost every track: rotary sound pressure systems (Monday Star), whispering fx gyros and rattle of percussive blades (Who Stole My Oscilator), peeling turbo splashing of the synth parts (Circles) and magnetized vortices of growling transforming basses (Crank Up).
It is notable that the booklet from original CD says: musicians spent more time repairing and replacing broken equipment then recording material. The results of coping with technical problems like burned out processors, sound cards and hoarse sound speakers for a whole year of uninterrupted work are 16 tracks, 10 of which ended up part of the album.
Overall sound picture of this release is quite immaculate and is of rather high level. Collection of stereo events is quite common for current Tribal Vision releases and is pleasing to the ear. Layered compositions, trigger-based delays and filtering of the main instruments are also applied very tidily and with no audible flaws. For some the sound may appear somewhat dirty with all the hissing, whispering, crackling and samples distorted by vocoder. However, as Omar explained to me all those sounds are a tribute to the Lo-Fi aesthetics, which permeates the whole atmosphere of the album. In other words this is an aural mini-trip to the world of analog retro-culture, which was created using computers and high-end technology.
Alas, like any other monotonous process rotation could get boring rather quickly. That is why this release seemed a little bit too pushy to me, personally. But more attentive and aesthetical listener would certainly find the zest in this album and would return to it time and time again. In any case Lo-Fi Adventures deserves careful attention.
Tracklist:
01. In All Ears
02. East Block (Cccp Mix)
03. Circles
04. Computer Disorder
05. Who Stole My Oscillator
06. Monday Star
07. What The Fuzz
08. Twister
09. Crank Up
10. Lo-Fi Adventures
[c] & [p] 2008
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el presagio
Started Topics :
9
Posts :
312
Posted : Oct 14, 2008 13:17
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Quote:
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On 2008-10-13 19:27:18, klaxer wrote:
The ideas of laconic minimalism were gaining root all over the non commercial techno-trance dancefloors by the end of the previous and beginning of the current century. It came as a result of decline of musical Goa-experiences. It was natural and expected that they gained hold as a starting point of something new: Atmos, SBK, Son Kite and Ticon in Sweden. Beat Bizarre in Denmark. XV Kilist appeared in Switzerland. Lish in Israel. In New Zealand Antix brothers collaborated and Aran Gallahaer (FREq) proceeded to realize his ideas. Yumade and Three Point Turn started mixing minimal-techno with hard house in France. As for western Germany during that time Midi Miliz / Spirallianz were trying to intercross the experimental sound with abstractions of IDM. Most releases lying in that musical sphere concentrated the attention of the listener upon cyclic, mechanical concepts: moving sound-joints, hydraulic presses, vacuum couplings etc – all of that sounded and moved with intrinsic automatism over one or two tonal bass lines.
There were several ways for Omar and Jason to evolve their music: continue following the declining Goa-trance, going the way of experimental psychedelic (Quirk, Benza, Lotus Omega etc) or joining the progressive-scene. Impressed by the early Spiral Trax and Naja releases Tegma chose “minimalistic” progressive-trance; coincidently the minimalistic sound was gaining popularity in Europe at that time.
Current 2008 comes with the triumphant march of electro-boom across Europe. It revitalizes slowly deflating progressive-trance scene with new energy and new ideas. A lot of respected artists and labels started adding electro elements into their releases, mixed also with other dance music genres (techno/electro + house/tribal). They also remembered the nostalgia for the old good times (disco/NRG + demoScene/chiptunes). New works by Ticon / NDSA, FREq / Nyquist, Jaïa / Kama, Peter Gun, D-Nox & Beckers are a proof of that. As well as compilations by Iboga, Tribal Vision, Blue Tunes, Spiral Trax and other less popular labels.
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Briliant defenition Klaxer. you are a wise man!! |
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