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CD
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FRJ 001CD
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Black Screen is Geiom's third album, and also the very first long form release on Frijsfo Beats. Average producers take rhythms straight off the shelf. Geiom takes his prefabricated units apart and builds improbable machines with them, capable of transforming, interlocking and changing speed. The second striking feature of Geiom's music is his signature melodic style: a strange, sweet and sour tonality that can't be mistaken for the work of anyone else. He has already released nearly 20 12" records with unique strains of dubstep, UK garage, house, funky, and drum 'n' bass running through them, interwoven with a fabric of microtones and strange harmonics. 2007's Island Noise was his ticket into the dubstep scene. His tracks appeared on the Skull Disco and Deep Medi labels and the Dubstep Allstars mix CDs. But before that was 2001's Sellotape Flowers, a freeform collection of electronica for Neo Ouija (a label which Metamatics, Xela, and Apparat have also called home). On Black Screen this whole history comes together -- but the album certainly doesn't showcase Geiom's repertoire in a museum-like sense. Instead it's a fertile cross-pollination of his work's many different facets, fully combining for the first time. This is just an outsider's interpretation, however. Geiom himself says the title came out of the dying moments of a mobile phone, when he imagined its "digital life flashing before its eyes" and lost conversations leaking into the ether. It also relates to "ancient studio technology" which he uses despite its unreliability. "One of my sampling keyboards will sometimes play ghost versions of sounds that were deleted years ago," he says. This kind of crosstalk runs through the album, which buzzes with hordes of chattering sonics, while the haunted keyboard appears on interludes credited to Geiom's alias Hem. The Hem tracks form interferences in the flow of the album, enabling it to switch between tempos of 130, 140 and 170 beats per minute. The longer sections in between are coherently mixed together, making the whole thing into a seamless network of music. In 2007 it was unusual to hear an album at the forefront of UK dance music like Island Noise. Lately the pendulum has swung the other way, arguably, with consistent and inventive full length releases counting for more than 12"s and EPs. Nonetheless Black Screen stands out in a crowded field. If its predecessor was judged on its quality and individuality, then Geiom's latest is due even more attention.
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CD
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BRK 001CD
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"Following an acclaimed series of five 12" vinyl releases, the Berkane Sol label brings its long-awaited first CD album by Nottingham-based producer, Geiom. As Geiom navigates his dragon boat into uncharted territory accompanied by a crew of trusted retro hardware, Island Noise forges dubstep's desert island material of the future. A tropical melancholy runs right through the album from the nostalgic flutes and colorful keyboard lines to the cheeky dub swing and rustic electric pianos to the cover art. Geiom draws a whole world of music into his menagerie of sound. The title track sets the tone with a warm reggae style melody alongside futuristic arpeggios and an aquatic sub-bass. 'Farski' delves into the little-known world of '70s Persian funk ballads while 'Canopy Desire' evokes a filmic narrative revolving around digitized Angolan percussion. Pheli Nazir, a magical collaboration with singer Khalid who featured on Zalim Maar Daala, closes the album with a classic lovesick Indian vocal. Island Noise combines dancefloor dynamics with real attention to song structure and an intricate and playful use of dub style delays that make it well-suited to home listening but still heavy on a sound system. Exploring the many possibilities of the 140 tempo, tracks such as 'Inbuilt Chaos' and 'Getaline' feel something like languid, laid back dub, while tracks like 'Six Times Seven' and 'Cardoza' pick up the pace with some crisp 2 step riddims. The album has been getting props from bass visionaries such as Hyperdub chief Kode 9 and Benny Ill of Horsepower Productions. It has also been getting radio support from the likes of Mary Anne Hobbs (Radio 1), Bobby and Nihal (Radio 1), Skream (Rinse FM), DJ Rupture (WFMU) and Boomnoise and Sgt. Pokes (subfm.com)."
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12"
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BRKDUB 004EP
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"The Berkane Sol label returns with another quality 2 tracker created by Nottingham-based producer Geiom. 'Unnecessary Stress' on the A-side introduces new vocalist Marita -- her sultry style floats in and out of the mix creating a hypnotic dream-like atmosphere that brings to mind the more spaced-out moments of Tricky's back catalog. But this is not trip-hop -- the drums and bass that power the tune are coming straight from the future. The bass line stays constant throughout but goes through subtle changes that somehow make it fascinating to follow for the full 6 minutes. Spooky bell sounds in the background and some seriously dubbed-out mixing techniques pay respect to the legacy of the classic Jamaican studio masters and give the listener a truly immersive experience. This is 100% late night material -- a pleasurable foggy haze seems to surround the track. 'Auxology' on the flip takes things into a much brighter world of sound. The melodies on this tune evoke a mixture of retro computer game soundtracks, grime riffs and pure ambience."
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