TBA, *Annule*

I like that way of describing it - "minatures". I keep meaning to try & make a re-edit of this though, and cut it down to manageable size though (22 tracks!). I don't doubt that she was going for some kind of disjointed patchwork effect, but it's a bit intimidating as a full disc.

It's also a little, actually a LOT frustrating when she cuts some of her melodies off in mid-flow, because until she does, they are simply some of the most naturally occuring & affecting I've heard in a fair few years from a 'electronica' artist.

I really feel like she's deliberately holding back hard in this area, perhaps so as not to sugar the pill too much. It's still some very heady, moving and raw stuff. Incredible sense of 'place' about it, I might have written elsewhere on ILM about this but it doesn't surprise me one bit that she's also a visual/films artist. I'd hesitate to call her work 'cinematic' but it's definitely reaching for that level of intense impressionism, whilst trying to avoid familiar & over-used pointers.

Her section of the Monika V/A compilation really shows what she can achieve in a shorter space, with a more coherent approach. 'Wound' from that CD might well be my favourite individual track of 2005. It's like Björk-meets-Mazzy Star(only twice as sad). Incidentally she does actually let the melody flower fully on this one.

I don't suppose anyone's heard her two previous full-lengths? (one s/t one called "Georgia is like Spiritual Tokyo" intriguingly) a discogs check shows they have the same many-track approach.

Approximated flavour of her work, ID3 tags removed, links fuXX0r3d, hopes not to get subpoenaed anytime soon :) enjoy!

X-|

It's just that sublimely rising melody in 'Wound' and the power that track hit me with... elsewhere, nooo! do make better comparisons & ignore mine.

The emotional note this record hits feels quite unique (at least I haven't heard much else like it in this genre) to me, and in deft avoidance of the many pitfalls of other "humanistic" electronica.

I suppose I'm feeling like, if you're going to do sadness, there must must must be other choices apart from...

minimal isolationism (very much a male sport that too)
apathetic failure to evoke anything much at all except placid weather conditions (the school of vague instrumentation. I guess I'm thinking Morr and MOR IDM, but that's just a personal prejudice perhaps)
producerly man-machine hybrids that fail on indebtedness to historical synth presets
"natural"-organic/inorganic-rigid beat experiments... yes, they can be combined, great, but what else can be done with that formula now?
violent dystopian splatterbreaks or whatever Venetian Snares is calling himself this week.

And this feels like some kind of third way to me, or perhaps just more grown up, facing (harsh) reality head-on... I'm not sure where I'm going with this now (I felt like I was a minute ago) but I'll post and maybe the rest will unravel itself in time.

Lots of great, pretty micro tracks but also pretty sharp & deliberately 4/4, closer in spirit to trad loop techno than "microhouse". I'm not too familiar with Brinkmann/Soul Center type stuff really so it's hard to say how much it shares with his aesthetic (a touch more than Anulle does I'd suspect).

There's some near-pop on it too (Readers R Fools, 33 Pharrell) even if it still has more of a compilation feel than an "album".

Quite a broad range of 00's-specific house/techno influences accomodated too. And some odd little vocal samples dropped in a nicely rough-edged way, like old house or hardcore (Brain Is Gone, Stupid Rotation, Calm) both retro and a bit fresh for it being out of vogue atm.

"Linsey" sounds like it's going to break into "Dinamo" at some point.. . the jazzy microsampling on that one feels almost Afuken-esque it's so busy.

The only thing that makes it feel a tiny bit of a curates egg is how you're never quite sure what her feelings are about this stupid dance music, there's this weird kind of mental distance from the dancefloor and reluctance to give in to rave hedonism about it? Or makybe she's just taking the piss.

Out of the context, loads of stuff on this would sound pretty brilliant on any current mix cd, and beats wise would have no problem whatsoever in the club (maybe not the usual club though, Berghain perhaps). Even if in context it's quite hard to place stuff that doesn't feel immediately identifiable with any ultra-specific scene or genre.

and to answer my own Q I did find "Georgia is like Spiritual Tokyo" one day, nice stuff, just as technically impressive as Anulle, but a fair bit less developed that Anulle overall in other ways.

You can hear some Brinkmann influence, load up all the mp3 from his 12 inches at Juno and compare notes :)

Going by those samples at least TBA's stuff in this vein is actually a little more distinctly her than I'd have imagined.

Hello!

I am led to believe she has, basically, three new albums out??

and she even found time to make Ryuichi Sakamoto cry....

bump

i'm interested. i thought the TBA/TBA Empty albums were patchy but had some gorgeous things on them. i don't think i ever made it to the end of one TBH.

so she has a double album "size and tears" out on max.ernst and "the other" which is out on chain music?

well, one of these albums "The Other" is a relatively straight 13 tracks. The one mentioned in that xlr8r link above.

and the other package "Size And Tears / Alice In Wonderland" is the 2CD all-you-can-eat type.

I still listen to 'Anulle' a lot actually, though I might skip one or two tracks on the journey I will make it to the end often too it's kind of cumulatively sad/moving by that point I find.

both max ernst

http://www.boomkat.com/item.cfm?id=53314
http://www.boomkat.com/item.cfm?id=52462

how bizarre.

i missed the last bump and was surprised when i saw all three albums in the shop today! i think i might like the double disc one better from the soundclips.

still not heard... must do!

Yeah, they are all aces - the double one ended being my album of the year. Even if it is flawed, the emotional effect and the narration really got to me.

Quite like the (new?) track "Nor what will come" that is on her myspace.

"Size and Tears" is still an incredible unique album to experience and journey through, although it is admittedly trying to get through it all. And "The Other" is still my go-to listen for those weary, gray days when I'm yearning for something both cold and melancholic.

Wow, she (and Max Ernst) seem to have like no internet presence/promotion - only just found out she released a new album "Pending" last year which is sounding awesome. Plus there are four more new vocal songs on her myspace. She's so intriguing (mysterious?), I wish there was more information out there about here, or at least a lyric sheet available.

thanks for the bump on this!

I wrote the press release for "Pending," which came out on Laboratory Instinct -- it is indeed great stuff. Hard to come by, I think that most of the Lab.Instinct stuff sells in Japan? Worth looking for though.

Max Ernst is a magnificent label, they really deserve more attention from the blogosphere. I remember once reading TBA was a great example of communism in music, at first the quote struck me as odd but it sort iof makes sense when you hear a song like 'smashed' where every musical element seems to be echoing each other, doing the same work in their own element. Ok, I suck at describing it but I swear it makes sense when you hear the song in this context.

Oh look, more news: she has another album, "ForgetFulness," scheduled to come out on Monika later this year.

So ForgetFulness is out in March! And it's got 3 tracks from the What About Things Like Bullets EP from last year.

This video is pretty amazing, even if you don't care for the song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffMZMya9Uhs

Also, her gorgeous sing-spoken cover of Nine Inch Nails' "Hurt" has been slept on:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JeKWKBeu49M

Gahhh, Forgetfulness is brilliant. It may be her most consistent record yet, and her sing/sung poetry has improved, along with her vocal presence. I know I am in a bit of an echo chamber on this thread, but thank you, thank you Earth for Natalie Beridze.

Have I really never posted on this thread? She's quite excellent...

Looks like her new ambient record, Between The Naps, snuck out in February as a digital-only release (it's available on Boomkat & Amazon)
http://dadorecords.com/album/between-the-naps/

I like a bunch of the unreleased stuff she's posted on her soundcloud (https://soundcloud.com/natalie-tba-beridze) and she sung a couple of tracks on the last EP by Gatcha:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRgc-S6hr7s

New Natalie Beridze album out. Looking forward to hearing it properly

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hcyy8BEVlCc

!!!