Browse by Artist: HOLTKAMP, KOEN

Artist:	HOLTKAMP, KOEN
Title:	Liquid Light Forms
Label:	BARGE RECORDINGS
Format:	LP
Price:	$18.00
Catalog #:	BRG 012LP

"Liquid Light Forms is Barge's first release for Koen Holtkamp, whose long-standing work both as half of the duo Moutains and as a solo artist has produced a diverse and rich catalog of electro-acoustic music. The album focuses almost entirely on electronic pieces utilizing predominantly voltage controlled modular synthesizers and sequencers. Liquid Light Forms radiates with pulsating, dense rhythmic patterns that morph and emerge as they compound on themselves. The result is a hypnotic and truly psychedelic listening experience that proves to be one of Koen's most captivating recordings yet. LPs released in an edition of 400 copies."

Artist:	HOLTKAMP, KOEN
Title:	Gravity/Bees
Label:	THRILL JOCKEY
Format:	LP
Price:	$14.00
Catalog #:	THR 254LP

"The detailed and resonant music of Koen Holtkamp is disarmingly beautiful. Gravity/Bees is technically a very complex recording, but so directly emotional as to betray its origins, much like Holtkamp's work in Mountains. Originally spurred by an invitation to take part in the Dissolving Localities Project in Jerusalem in May 2010, Holtkamp's decision to craft a recording from bees stemmed from a desire to create something he was attracted to from a production standpoint, something extremely detailed and resonant. On one level representing a continuous flow of sound like a drone but also having a familiar association making it human. In the beginning of the piece the instruments are sculpted around the bee recordings; as the piece develops the actual bees gradually become background and the instruments take focus loosely emulating the buzzing resonant characteristics of the hive. 'Loosely Based On Bees' is mainly a studio creation with only a few live additions from a 2008 New Year's performance added on toward the end."

Artist:	HOLTKAMP, KOEN
Title:	Field Rituals
Label:	TYPE (UK)
Format:	CD
Price:	$14.50
Catalog #:	TYPE 035CD

Field Rituals is the first solo album to come from Koen Holtkamp, an artist probably better known as one-half of ambient duo Mountains. Based in Brooklyn, Koen created the album slowly and as a love letter of sorts, taking in delicate field recordings and using them like faded photos, representing his distinct memories of the people and places he chanced upon. Taking cues from the classic ambience of Brian Eno and fusing it with the instrumental subtlety of Sweden's Tape, Koen has come up with an aural book on his subject matter. Each track feels entwined in the next and feels like a part of something much bigger. Sure we've heard field recordings, synthesizers and guitars before, but rarely have these instruments been injected with such a lightness of touch and with such a delicate open ear. Each listen reveals more, like peeling back layers of onion skin -- take the album's epic centerpiece "Sky Flowers" for example, which blends slow-moving synthesizers with good-natured environmental recordings and shimmering strings. The result is explosive somehow, with the grandeur more usually exploited by Arvo Pärt being framed with a distant electronic ambience. The slow-burning pace is probably the single most important facet and reveals an artist at ease with his musical choices, something unusual in a genre brimming with young hopefuls. A good comparison might be Stars Of The Lid, but Koen's music is more organic and more humble somewhat than the ex-Texan duo. This is a look into Holtkamp's most personal of works.

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