Flanger

Flanger - Templates - 1999 - Ntone

Call it neo-jazz music. Call it avant garde futuristic jazz. It doesn't matter. Don't let any of these somewhat pretentious descriptions deter you from listening to this enjoyable, experimental music. It may be abstract, but it's very listenable, never gets boring, and is full of surprises. A well produced, and unusual album

TRACKS

1.Music To Begin With (9:05)
2.Options In The Fire (3:28)
3.Endless Summer (5:13)
4.Short Note With A Few (6:28)
5.Studio Tan (6:08)
6.Full On Scientist (6:00)
7.Lata (5:48)
8.Quicksilver Loom (8:19)

CREDITS

Atom Heart (Guitar),
Atom Heart (Keyboards),
Atom Heart (Sampling),
Atom Heart (Vibraphone),
Atom Heart (Fender Rhodes),
Flanger (Arranger),
Flanger (Main Performer),
Burnt Friedman (Percussion),
Burnt Friedman (Drums),
Burnt Friedman (Sampling)
Arranged By - Flanger

Special Thanks to John Pain, David Franzke and Marcus Schmickler.

REVIEWS

Flanger's Templates collects the two EPs of the same name into one album of avant-garde electronic music that balances techno and jazz elements in a minimalist, experimental approach. Though the ideas are progressive, tracks like "Full on Scientist" and "Studio Tan" are witty, organic workouts that are as friendly as they are challenging. © Heather Phares, All Music Guide

Imagine a straightforward jazz album. Now filter that jazz album through a 65 Mustang's radio system. Now step on the recording--smash it into your shoes. Now play it again. That's Flanger. This ain't acid jazz. This isn't even Sun Ra. This is jazz that is sampled and cut-up to the point where the traditional jazz drum, bass, keys and horns are obscured with feedback and noise--jazz so confused that it actually sounds interesting instead of monotonous and out-of-date (which is what I usually think when I think about jazz). Apparently, Flanger recorded this album on traditional instruments--drums, bass, piano, vibraphone, etc. But then they "edited" it in the studio, and turned those very familiar instruments into something so unusual that you can barely recognize the original sounds. I've never heard anything like Flanger: an album that starts out blue and ends up red, that starts out traditional and ends up more experimental than even the most experimental of performance artists. From the first track, "Music to Begin With" and its list of musical styles that turns into a cacophony of musical blends, to "Short Note with a Few" and its piano interlude that turns into a time-bomb of muted filter effects, to the end, Templates is filled with surprise after surprise. Once you think the album will settle down into a nice, happy but incredibly boring jazz number, it throws your expectations away and you are left wondering what you'll hear next. In a world where even the most abstract and "fucked-up" beat can render our cynical ears dead, that is high praise indeed. © 1998-2006 Michael Heumann & Haunted Ink

BIO

Atom Heart's and Bernd Friedmann's Flanger project is produced by the combination of traditional jazz elements with experimental filtering and editing techniques. For the 1999 album Templates, Flanger used drums, bass, piano, and vibraphone, then put the product through their own editing process with the end product of unrecognizable instruments. The June 1999 release was hosted by the well-respected Ninja Tune Records, home of artists including Kid Koala, DJ Food, and Funki Porcini. Midnight Sound followed in fall 2000. © Diana Potts, All Music Guide