MUSIC FOR EARPORTS

2001
Retroduction 002
CD-

Original tracklist:

1. Occultation 17.40
2. Kopernikus 13.30
3. Geological Justice 3.25
4. Terraforming 4.55
5. The Seer 3.55
6. Dazzling Shadow 5.20
7. Microcolony 7.00
8. The Launch 4.20
9. Talisman 13.00

Nemesis has always created also music that is more ambient in the accepted sense of the word. But the usual case has been that is has been unsuitable for the official albums and gig set-lists. Not that it has been of inferior quality, but it just hasn´t sounded right among the other material.

”Music for Earports” contains 9 previoulsy unavailable tracks, which have been recorded in 1996-2001. Most of the material is from 2001, but there are a few gems from the earlier years as well. Three tracks also showcase the first work of Joni Virtanen as a part of nemesis line up. He was a sort of ”permanent studio guest” at the time, much like Rihmasto´s Jarkko Lahti had guested on gigs. Joni is a Kurzweil K2500 sampler specialist and his finely melodic and cool ethnic touches add much to the tracks he is on (Occultation, Kopernikus and Talisman).

Music is not totally devoid of rhythms and retro-elements, but most of the time it´s very spacy and floats between dark and beautiful textures. The material is very varied in style, so it´s not that ambient 🙂

*****

Review from SMD
I assume the title of the album is a humorous tribute to Brian Eno but nonetheless this is an excellent album mixing both rhythmic and wonderfully dark tracks, many running into one another. We start off with one of the dark ones, ’Occultation’. This is an extremely cosmic piece.

Dark crashes echo away into the vastness of space. These are joined by rising and falling electronic whooshes and various other tinkling / bleepy and even watery effects. The whole feel is very sparse and uncluttered, each sound being heard in isolation. In the thirteenth minute shimmering pads come in and we are immediately transported from foreboding darkness into the light. It is as if we are coming to the end of some nerve wracking journey and nearing the familiarity of home. Atmospheric music really doesn’t get any better than this. An excellent 70s style very analogue sounding sequence propels ’Kopernikus’ forwards. A more contemporary rhythm then enters complimenting the sequence perfectly. We chug along at a steady pace with lovely little melodic touches skipping from beat to beat. It’s all so cool! We are back to the atmospherics for ’Geological Justice’. A drone, sounding like some vast engine or generator, provides a backing over which various spooky sounds warble and throb. Again this is quality stuff.

’Terraforming’ carries on in similar mood. Another sequence then starts up. This one has something of a menacing feel to it, the sinister mood being heightened by little percussive effects and half heard vocal samples. More pulsations are added but all then subsides to atmospherics in time for ’The Steer’. Things get eerier and eerier. All areas of the sound spectrum are used from bass so deep you can feel it rather than hear it and twittering runs that start low then become so high they are almost shrieking. A deep throb pulses out at the beginning of ’Dazzling Shadow’. Subtle rhythm comes in creating quite a moody atmosphere. ’Microcolony’ is another syncopated number mixing interesting loops and beats. Things get even better after the half way mark as a sequence is deployed alongside the existing rhythm. The first minute of ’The Launch’ features some narrative imagining what it must be like to be a bug on the top of a rocket during take off with appropriate sound effects in the background! We then get some cosmic bits as presumably the poor old insect finds itself in space.

’Talisman’ mixes dark drones, percussion and solar winds to create yet another extremely moody soundscape. Gentle, deep flute gives proceedings a slightly Easter feel. This feeling is heightened in the fourth minute when some slow, almost funereal, rhythm is added. Plucked string melodies impart that little bit of detail here and there. This is a very different album to ’Sky Archeology’ and ’Cyberiad’ being much more atmospheric with a rather mean attitude but like those albums it just oozes class. (DL)

*****

Review from Electroambient Space

Apologies to Brian Eno, but I love the title of this disc. A collection of pieces recorded between 1996 and 2001, it starts with the most unusual track, “Occultation.” Low rumbles, like billiard balls slowed down and processed, echo repeatedly for over half of the 17-minute piece. It is dark and brooding, unlike anything I’ve heard by Nemesis. Somehow, though very little is going on, it changes just subtly enough to maintain interest. “Kopernikus” immediately sounds more familiar, a bass loop surrounded by modern electronic synths and rhythms. Nemesis excels at finding a groove and making it work for them, and this one makes 13 minutes go by like nothing. Sevearl shorter tracks follow, from the dark and gurgling “Geological Justice” to the catchy “Microcolony” a perfect blend of modern electronica and vintage sounds like Mellotron flutes. “The Launch” makes the same mistake here that “Im Anfang war…” does on Xtempora, making dialogue too much a part of the mix, detracting from the music. But it is the only low point, and a very brief one at that. The disc closes with “Talisman,” a very surprising number that actually does a fair Steve Roach impersonation, flutes and tribal percussion creating a very unexpected sound from Nemesis, perhaps even more so than “Occultation.” Though there are definitely good moments and I do enjoy Music for Earports, it does play like the collection of unrelated musical experiments that it is.