2350.org - Move D/Namlook XIV

Montage 1 starts off with staccato echoic panning plonks. Without delay an Exploration beat and bass squiggles are brought in. Call it Exploration Lite. The melody comes in and it feels, again, like Exploration. There's those 1994 FAX noises again in the background (around 4:00)! I don't know how they do it, but this song is simultaneously ominous and dark yet perky and uplifting. Just after the 5 minute mark and this montage really takes off. A supporting synth chord is introduced and the beat strengthens. Trademark Move D squelchies squiggle every couple of bars. Each layer introduced is significant and other layers come and go: so many it's hard to keep track. A true musical montage! This song is just so groovy. Try not nodding your head.

At 11:00 the bassline goes bouncy and things become more defined as layers are faded out. 13:00 comes and suddenly we're into harder minimal techno territory. 16:00 and all the techno elements coalesce into a driving, dark, bouncy climax. The signature distorted voices and samples appear occasionally in the background. Surprisingly, there really isn't a melody per se, though you really wouldn't know it from the way this track grips your attention. An amazing soujourn into outer space, and one of their finest ever. On par and possibly exceeding Exploration as a single track.

Montage 2 finds you floating without power in deep space. Reverbed chimes and spacey synth dervishes spiral around your head. Beatless. Sinister. A worthy ambient interlude.

Montage 3 is heralded by a sole alien horn. It's actually Namlook's Art Of Love distorted horn but it's much more evolved, subtle and pleasant here. A plucky supporting line begins and a simple techno beat. The horn continues as it welcomes the returning exploration mission. 2350 Broadway comes to mind, but with a beat! By 4:00 we're into a full-fledged techno romp. An simple acid line hearkens back to the good ol' days, with various filters playfully applied. A superb, fun track for sure, but not as good as Montage 1.

Montage 4 welcomes us with a lone, simple, latin beat. It starts morphing, randomizing. Simple, pleasant chords fade in. Strange alien voices announce their presence. There's plenty of filter and mixing tricks going on in this song. It's a nebula full of jaunty games! This would be at home on an Air series album as the "fun" track.

Overall Montage is only one notch below the stellar Exploration. Track 1 is the clear winner and I wonder why it was put first as usually they save the best track for position 2 or 3. However, it's not all downhill from 1 as the entire album is strong and cohesive. In fact, cohesiveness is the key element of Raumland so far. Brilliant!

(review by Trevor Cordes)

Another excellent Moufang/Namlook collaboration, even better than the first installment. The tracks on this disc are different in length (on the previous release, the hour-long disc was pretty much divided in four equal parts). On Montage, the first, 20-minute track is a beautiful spacey, mid-tempo piece with a repetitive synth line (repetitive in the good sense of the word) that disappears about halfway, giving way to an emptier, more dubby aspect of the music. The second part is just over 7 minutes long and is a floating, drum-less synth-organ workout, a little reminiscent of DSotM. Part three brings back the bass drum and ups the tempo, coming closest to a techy, almost acid-like groove. Part four carries a laidback groove and could be a DSN track; Little evidence of Namlook here, but wonderful all the same. All in all, four separate but strong, melodic and engaging tracks.

(review by Autonomy)