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I just had to post having just received and listened to PNFA's album "Le Temps Perdu" ...
Now, the first thing to say is that this is something that Wolfram did a while ago, and that he has moved on and has covered many different styles and directions with his work. But this album is a fine example of work by someone who I consider one the finest production talents here or anywhere ... we have listened and enjoyed all his work since coming online last year, and to put it bluntly we are rather in awe of him musically ...
The reference to William Gibson is well made. Like the cyberpunk sci-fi movement of which Gibson is a leader, this music challenges established boundaries and expectations while attempting to redefine communication in an utterly modern context ; yet the same time, the universal standards are there - compositional balance, structural integrity, meaning, a sense of spontaneity, elegance and technical skill (craft) ...
I would summarise the amazing music of PNFA with three words - Imagination :: Clarity :: Resonance ::...
Imagination. Just listen to the innovative mix of textures and rhythms on his work - in "Schwarzes Eis" there are a number of progressions, from one rhythmic segment to another, linked by a deep and sinister ambience ... each part of the work is full of ideas and sounds, riffs and orchestrations ... yet as each passage fades away that distant haunting ambience remains, the binding force until for example, the dynamic drum roll and mute trumpet licks scatter your senses with excitement and movement. Across the piece, the repeated motifs act as a kind of loosely structured narrative, almost like the Wagnerian method of identifying an entrance or presence with a melodic theme, and this is no random rollercoaster ride, no trusting to luck or letting the program do the work. This is the creative force of PNFA - making what the mind conceives into a reality - a shimmering, dynamic hyper-reality ... now that's imagination
Clarity - this is more than just a technical issue. In production terms the use of sounds, frequencies and effects is so polished and clinical that every piece seems to sparkle ... listen to "Taxi Driving" as a great example - a mixture of seemingly acoustic chimes against pulsing ambient chords and a distant bass rumble ... yet each sound is not quite identifiable, there is something mysterious and mediated, and yet everything is crystal clear. The beat meshes perfectly with the vibrant mix of sounds, particularly in the second phase, where the percussive loop matches the other sounds for elegance and modernity ... the ability to create and mix such a range of sounds and flavours, which are so perfectly clear and delicately placed, is a true talent - no matter how many layers of the track there are, you can still hear each individual sound, and focus on it, and see that it follows a particular and designed path, yet remains part of the whole. This becomes a hypnotic and almost transcendent experience ... and this is clarity
Resonance. You can take this both ways - as a quality of the sound or sounds, and a depth (or power) in the work of PNFA. As an example, check out "The Symbiot". An almost Eastern percussive break throbs distantly, but the musical landscape is dominated by echoes and phasing noise, dripping with reverb and atmosphere ... like a post-apocalyptic cyber-chamber in which all distances are magnified, a darkly evolved perception which sees every path and conjunction through to it's most distant point ... and even as the industrial breakbeat returns and takes centre stage for a while, behind it other loops and sounds cross and fade in stereo patterns, and behind that fades, filters and flavours maintain the depth and haunting space. And as with all the songs, there are breaks and changes, builds and fills, until the loop itself is dipped in reverb and atmosphere, there are distant vocal sounds - and despite having no obvious melodic or harmonic progressions the piece becomes a cinematic experience, a blurred and exciting skyline ride into artificial, unreachable, scary yet beautiful horizons ... this music resonates
And, to hear all of these qualities in one recent piece, take a trip to the amazing "Wet Floors" radio edit ... uplifting jazzy chords, a catchy beat, and yet still that indefinable strangeness, a mediation by technology, an ambiguity and distance ... "and the rain comes down" ... all the memorable and personality traits are there - different rhythmic and texture "sets" within one piece, linked by haunting falling-aways or crescendos of ambient noise ; moments of complex drum loopery, crossing rhythms and exciting fills, hints of latin and eastern percussive influences ; atonality and filters upon filters to create a sense of the unreal ; deep jazzy chords, delicate chops or fills ; clean and bright production, effortless excellence - in short, what you always get from PNFA, it's expected - the unexpected. And it's brilliant.
All of PNFA's work is distinguished by the presence of these musical attributes, and others, and his product is truly outstanding. Le Temps Perdu and other nu-jazz work shows his innate musicality, rhythm and an ability to capture poignancy though delicate chords and glimpsed melodies, but that's another review, and I wanted to comment on his recent work. He is also a modest and friendly presence. But it's the music ... man, this music is amazing!!! - So full of depth, space, and executed with such craft. Beatifully constructed, gleaming artefacts of sound created by a truly impressive talent - Wolfram Gruss.
- Review by
Laura J. Bollé and Chris Kalessin
Also read an interview with PNFA at
beatmaka.com
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