Locd39r - Phon°noir - No more sad dreams (limited 100 cdr)

Phon°noir is Matthias Grübel playing the guitar, the piano and singing over layered loops of found object sounds along warm electronics - arranging all of it into athmospheric buildings. Almost pop but not quite. His debut album putting holes into october skies was released in April 2006 on Brussels-based experimental indie label Quatermass. "Imagine the solitary singer hunched over a beat-up acoustic guitar beneath a highway overpass with a rack of digital processors at his feet. As he strums through his wounded songs, a mic routes localized noises through the bank of filters and turns this industrialized junk into scattered glitch accompaniment," wrote Igloo Magazine about this first record and Almostcool.org stated that "the oft-fragile disc injects some new life into the genre with a unique style." The follow-up record the objects don’t need us is to be released in october 2007. Both albums were written and recorded in a room in Berlin, matthias' hometown for almost 5 years now.

For Lona Records Matthias focuses on the more experimental side of his work, putting together previously unreleased older material and tracks recorded in the course of 2007. Whereas usually phon°noir tracks include sketched lyrics and mantra-like vocal patterns, these 4 tracks have all been left instrumental to match the philosophy of the 3” series and highlight a less well-known facet of phon°noir’s work. “Embryo” is a remix of a recent live-favourite in the phonofix stage sessions. “From time to time we change our minds” has been around for a long time, being a left-over from the very first recording sessions in winter 2004 - just like “No more sad dreams”, which now lends its name to the entire release. “Airplane traces in the sky” is a new track, recorded in just one night, with the piano of a friend. Its more elaborated structure in the arrangement and the beats functions as the bridge between this release on Lona Records and the more song-orientated album work phon°noir has done for Quatermass.

TRACKLISTING:
01. Embryo
02. From time to time we change our minds
03. Airplane traces in the sky
04. No more sad dreams

www.myspace.com/phononoir
www.phononoir.de

Review on Angryape.com (United Kingdom)

This 3" disc is an intriguing proposition, pairing Berlin's electronic-pop maestro phon°noir (aka Matthias Grübel) with Hong Kong's experimental Lona Records, which has previously housed releases from the likes of Alok, Fm3 and The Painful Leg Injuries.

Grübel's recently released "The Objects Don't Need Us" (review link) opus sparkled with its levels of invention, blending everyday sounds into an off-beat style of melancholic electronic pop. The way Grübel built his arrangements reminded of an ingeniously constructed piece of machinery or electronic equipment.

That being the case, "No More Sad Dreams" finds him at the experimental stage of his developments, where all of his 'objects' are strewn across his work table as he finely tunes his plans. It offers a fascinating insight into the way Grübel's tracks come together. The four compositions here feel less rigid than his tightly woven album work, as he places different sounds through alternating sequences and experiments with different rhythms.

Featuring previously unreleased material, "Embryo" is a remix from his alternative Phonofix project that almost veers into avant-jazz territories. The alluring "Airplanes in the Sky", recorded in one late night session, meanwhile, finds the perfect balance between this experimental edge and the melodic side of things, merging glacial piano interplay with his inventive revolving beatwork.

Withdrawing his haunting whispers that colour his full releases, the work on "No More Sad Dreams" aligns itself closely to what's being going on over at the Anticon label. Grübel certainly retains the fragility of his previous releases, but now he has added an abstract edge. It is simply yet another string to his bow, another facet of his ever-evolving creations.

http://angryape.com/reviews/2007/12/phonnoir-no-more-sad-dreams