Minimal techno is generally dank and subterranean. But Danny Kreutzfeldt‘s Periskop project takes both those virtues and goes deep with them. How deep? Ocean-deep. The tracks at his kreutzfeldt.dustopper.dk/periskop page are exercises in attenuated beats, casually extended reverb, and immersive atmospherics.
As Kreutzfeldt explained to me in an email, “the idea is to make a netrelease in a perpetual beta state with monotonous dub and submarine aesthetics.” The result, as evidenced by the equally blissfully murky first (MP3) and second (MP3) releases this year, is very promising. Also promising is the structure of the project itself — a musical performance played out as a serial of free individual tracks, issued one at a time, each exploring a fairly narrow swath of musical territory, but exploring that swath with vigor and imagination. The format alone is worth celebrating.
Netlabels in general tend to release electronic music. The netlabel named Test Tube releases its share of electronica for free download, but it also ventures into pop and various experimental realms more often than do many of its online peers. Still, the label’s roots are in atmospheric electronic music, and those roots often make themselves shown, even where they’re not expected. Take the recent instrumental-pop set The Door by Multi-Panel (aka Dutch musician Ludo Maas). While most of the songs are nostalgic, lilting melodic lines above gentle percussion, the title track is a beatific, clouds-opening expanse of glimmer; the closest thing in it to a percussion element is a set of chatty little vocal samples that cycle through, all chopped and blended (