music for dreamland
The venerated ambient Fax +49-69/450464 imprint had a number of new releases added to its catalogue on eMusic this week. What’s that number, you ask? Most people believe it’s their fax machine address. Me? I’d put my money on that being the number of releases that Pete Namlook has been involved in over the past 15 years since its inception.
I kid, but it’s not that far off. Namlook’s Wikipedia page probably tells the story best. He’s had a hand in more than 130 albums since 1992. Of course most of these have been limited edition – pressed in numbers hovering between 500 and 2,000, but the demand for these things is sometimes stunning. Pristine copies of some of his earliest solo work fetches tidy sums on eBay all the time.
So, the age-old question: Where should I start? Honestly, I have no idea past the five or so releases I’ve digested in the past few days. (The best of which are collaborations: a recent one with Move D, appropriately titled Sons of Kraut and a classic 1993 collabo with Geir Jenssen (aka Biosphere), called The Fires of Ork.) But I can point you to a particularly great resource to try before you buy. Some Fax fanatics maintain a website entitled 2350.org in which every release by the label is catalogued and, more often than not, reviewed. So, for those who need music to fall asleep to, dig in. You’d be hard-pressed to find a better label devoted to dreamland.
hey hey, go FAX. i’m a huge FAX fan – even though i already own them, i’ll have to check out what the new arrivals are. it’s great, because i’ve been curious if they were ever going to add any more…
…wow, a bunch of good ones. here are some thoughts, feel free to pass them on:
virtual vices is a rather jazzy series, lots of vibes and rhythms. v is quite good, though not the best in the series (which is iv, sadly not on the site).
evolution of dark side of the moog is a great place to start with the DSOTM series, one of FAX’s best. (my personal favourites in the series are v, vi, vii, and ix.)
the move d/namlook series is a bit hit or miss. wired and the audiolounge are both pretty consistently great, but the newer material is pretty spotty. it really degenerates into cheeseball soft jazz with lovey croons on top (?!) sometimes, but wagons-lits and let the circle not be broken are fairly decent (i hear sons of kraut is good, but i haven’t heard it yet).
at any rate, i’m glad these are here, because now i can hear some of them. recent releases have been cd dvd, and intended to be heard in 5.1. i don’t have 5.1, so i haven’t heard these really. i’m not too motivated to pay the steeper price for a release i can’t fully appreciate.