2350.org - Move D/Namlook V

I've been listening to this one since 2 days now uninterruptedly.

Recorded live on April, 19th 2001 at Pete's Klanglabor and post-edited by Move D.

1 "Softwired" - Slow laidback breakbeats, noises, mighty pad sounds, moody bleep melodies, modulations... After 12 minutes a break, and the strings emerge... Then the beats are in again, and finally it's time for Pete's guitar with some dreamy jazzy themes. This reminds me of "Dub In" from Jet Chamber III with the sounds from Move D & Namlook II "A Day in the Live". This 27mins track grows the more I listen to it...

2 "Short Return of the Astrogator" - ...from Namlook I. A short interlude with that alien sound... We know Pete is always good for a jolly backlink

3 "Hardwired - Tangent" - breakbeats again, different style than on Softwired though, with spacey atonal sound explorations in the beginning, then after 3 mins the warm deep pads are back, wrapping up the listener in some seriously deep ambience.

4 "Hardwired - Hypotenuse" - same sounds and atmosphere, but now with straight bassdrum. Lots of "micro" elements swirling all around... subbasses rising from the deep...

5 "Hardwired - Asymptote" - ...is the continuation of the last track. now there's more room for the space drone sound, the density of the elements ends in smoke...

6 "Wear Your Love Out" - another (the?) highlight of the album. An intense fusion of Mille Plateaux' Clicks'n Cuts style with FAXed Two-Step! A microcosmos of clicks and crackles immersed into omnipresent warm pads, and then.. singing (Move D? the booklet says nothing about the singer), only the words of the title.. simple, and so emotional. Marvelous!

7 "1969" - this could be called "the aftermath" alternatively. Reminds me of the beginning of Shades of Orion "Biotrip"... a bit darker and with broken beats, and simply more mature! It just ends too early in my opinion... it is like the great presentimental intro for something even bigger...

Overall, this is a really profound release! Combining sound experimentation with groove and harmony in an excellent way. It also seems more complex than previous Move D/Namlook collaborations. To use Pete's recent words about upcoming sublabel releases: Super-exceptional stuff!

(review by Wolfgang Röttger)

I think it's the best Move D + Namlook album so far. With the exception of a few tracks on Retro Rocket, I think it's definitely the best all the way through. Of course, it's another of those "produced and recorded in under 30 minutes albums." So here we have the fast food of IDM. But it's good.

I wonder what would happen if these guys would get together and (gasp!) PRODUCE an album. You know, spend two or three months like a lot of artists, and just tweak the hell out of it. Have an idea of what you're going to do before you do it.

"Softwired" is another epic story from Fax. Fortunately, it's quite interesting through its entire 27 minutes. It dorks around for a while at the beginning, but I really dig the porn groove from about 4.00 to 11.30. The next theme is pretty cool too. A swishy, swirling melody takes hold and the groove returns. Really nice stuff. The chords are unique and evocative. Around 15 minutes, Namlook's pleasant guitar enters. Honestly, I think his guitar playing, while certainly not Hendrix-caliber, makes his keyboard skills look naive. He's got a nice jazzy flair that's very easy to listen to. More indecision from 19.30 to about 21.00 and the porn beat is back. Variations on this theme last until the song's close. Overall, it's a good track. It has lots of ideas and definitely beats anything on The Audiolounge.

"Short Return of the Astrogator" is a 20-second farce. Nothing more to be said.

More funky beats on the "Hardwired" series. The "Tangent" section is pretty cool...it's got the signature Move D + Namlook percussion. Not a lot of variance here, but cool nonetheless. "Hypotenuse" is really interesting. If I hadn't known better, I'd swear they stole this from Basic Channel, specifically Monolake. It's got that glossy house feel that I love about those guys. The "Asymptote" portion simplifies the beats a little and has some cool, long, drifty chords in the background. The drums exit, leaving the spare, spacious background sounds, which are really awesome. They evoke feelings of a foggy scene, with wind blowing leaves around. Sorry if that sounds dumb. That's what it was like outside while I was listening to this. :)

"Wear Your Love Out" is pretty much schlock. It does basically nothing, and worse, it has singing. More proof that IDM does not need vocals. Sorry.

"1969" isn't all that either. I think they ran out of ideas by this time, and it shows. Not sure what the title means, since they both would've been toddlers at that time.

Anyway, it's a good album. Parts of it has that haphazard sound, like it was thrown together quickly (which it was). But a lot of it is refreshing, new music. Like I said, I think it's their best so far. While listening to this, I can't help but wonder why there hasn't been a solo album from Moufang for so long. I really like his solo work, and the Deep Space Network stuff, which is also extinct.

(review by Jonathan Osborne)