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Shades

The German artist Grauraum, formerly known as "Hotaru Bay" presents us his latest work with his album "Shades"

"Shades" contains 8 songs including two remixes of artists "Millipede" and "LPF12". Fantastic IDM with again and again, driving beats and melodies and also relaxing sections between them. "Shades" is an intelligently produced and innovative IDM album that it pays to listen.

  • Artist / Producer
  • Release Date
  • Lenght
  • Available Formats
  • Cat. num (physical)
  • Cat. num (digital)
  • Label
  • Mastering
  • Cover
  • Layout
  • Grauraum
  • 06/2011
  • 53:34
  • digital
  • raum-net-15
  • Raumklang Music
  • Dirk Geiger
  • Gerrit Schirmer
  • Marcus Bela Schmitt

Additional information

unlimited, digital

Reviews:

soundsbehindthecorner.com [07/2011]


Era Hotaru Bay il monicker sotto il quale Simon Schikora nel 2010, con sole 300 copie, entra in Raumklang portandovi le dieci tracce di “For The Stranded”, ennesimo capitolo della musica elettronica in marcia con passi felpati e digitali dall’‘Intelligence Dance verso il lato Ambient, introspettivo e ricercato, geometrico ma ora dilatato per suoni che incontrano canoni IDM e caleidoscopi dark a tratti sinfonici.
Nel 2011 Grauraum sostituisce Hotaru Bay: il cambio di monicker non inficia lo stile che rimane sospeso in atmosfere profondamente cosmiche, tra rotte siderali puntualizzate dal suono che veleggia statico per lunghe coordinate satellitari, “condito” con tutto il campionario del cuore pulsante del laptopper, glitch, samples, drum-line.
Il glitch in “Shades” diviene caustico ma ritmico, “Through The Children’‘s Eyes” è anche ora sinuosa seppur Grauraum guardi il cielo della cover, ancora un regno di nembi punti dalla cima di antenne, inondati da onde elettromagnetiche proiettate per creare l’‘invisibile neurovegetativa rete artificiale dell’‘uomo schiavo delle telecomunicazioni.
Meglio allora il click sofficemente statico che diviene propulsore musicale quando “The Sleep Pt. 2 (The Awakening)” esige neo-logiche (illogiche) anche sonore creando un senso d’‘attesa appagato in seguito con il remix di LPF12 in “The Sleep Pt. 2”; la virata verso l’‘ambient di movimento sospesa in macro-cosmi extra-dimensionali anche nel suono, le nuove geografie volute da una crescente fascia di musicisti tra cui spicca Polarlicht 4.1 (vi abbiamo parlato anche del suo split con Flint Glass), di 100Blumen oppure, per certe linee trattenute, del coach di Raumklang Dirk Geiger come del diamante Tapage, entrambi anche in pianta stabile nella scuderia Tympanik.
Tempi cadenzati nel valzer apocalittico voluto da Millipede: l’‘artista protagonista in casa Hymen nella sua visione di “End Of Line” vuole un downtempo scandito da tempi ternari per una piccola marcetta futuribile, lenta, che può esistere in qualunque dimensione, per trasportare la musica classica europea in qualunque angolo del cosmo l’‘uomo vorrà migrare, tra piccoli click’‘n’‘cut distanziati, ballerini tra loro come lo sono tutte le note ora allineate con logiche definitive. Bello il downtempo ancora regno di finte quieti artificiose che in “Nearly Always Meaningless” aprono dimensioni per una neo-newage silente, cristallina, perché materia, ma non organica, algido riflesso di una luce interiore reticolare, spettrale, con il colore dello xeno.
Grauraum segue di pochi mesi l’‘uscita di Midimode e di Tapage nelle vesti del catalogo Raumklang, label attenta nel dare visibilità a splendidi progetti nati e cresciuti in casa Europa; otto tracce offerte in file digitale ad alta resa sonora sono l’‘ennesimo passo, ricordate, verso il futuro dell’‘elettronica, mai statica, sempre pronta a divenire la classicità delle generazioni che cresceranno immerse nel Pianeta digitale.
L’‘importante è che le nuvole continuino ad essere reali materie eteree da osservare con il sentimento tribale di un uomo ancora vivo.

woundsoftheearth.blogspot.com [07/2011]

Basics:
Grauraum is the new moniker of idm/ambient producer Hotaru Bay, who released an album on Raumklang Music last year. I'm not sure what prompted the name change, but the music of the two projects is fairly similar. I would say that Grauraum is a bit more towards the "ambient" part of IDM/Ambient. Musically though, "Shades" is full of lush pads, nice melodic elements and driving, clicky/glitchy percussion.


Good stuff:
+ Good sounds. I like the choice of sounds here: the pads are mostly very thick and "cool" sounding
(not quite warm, but not quite stark or cold); the melodies, when used, are very catchy, pretty and and well done; and the percussive elements are what I really like in IDM: that choppy, clicky sound with some glitching to keep it interesting. There is a diverse enough palate of sounds to keep you interesting throughout the album, yet he is able to maintain enough consistency between tracks to give it a personal sound (it's similar to Hotaru Bay, yet different enough to warrant a new name, I suppose.)
+ Dark/Industrial tinge. One thing I really like about "Shades" is that leans more towards industrial and is darker and a bit "harsher" than a lot of idm/ambient releases. Some of the beats are slightly crunch-ified and distorted, though never abrasive or noisey. It reminds me a little of less glitchy Access to Arasaka or a more cyberpunk version of Planet Boelex.
+ Pretty good production. In general, the production is solid here; all the elements sound good and fit in with one other, everything has its own space. The beats sound great, they're thick and they punch through.
+ The LPF12 remix, despite being 17 minutes long(!!) is really good. The synths sound very much like Access to Arasaka when he is doing ambient-ish material. LPF12 carries over a lot of the sounds from the original, but encapsulates them in a darker, more brooding shell. Kind of dark futuristic (cyberpunk), glitchy ambient. This track is actually interesting enough to keep your attention for 10+ minutes, despite the minimal use of percussion.

Bad stuff:
- My main critique is that the production is a little lopsided, and often the beats take precedence and drown out some of the synth work. Some of the ambient parts, such as most of 'The Sleep Pt 2' are much quieter than the parts with beats and it feels a little uneven.
- No real standout elements.

Summary:
Overall, "Shades" is a competent IDM/Ambient release, but offers little to differentiate itself from the large pack of similar artists. Fans of the style will no doubt enjoy these tracks, but unfortunately it won't really stand out from most of the other IDM/Ambient you own. If you are interested in the darker, slightly more "industrial" side of IDM than I would encourage you to give this a listen. For fans of early Bitcrush, Stendeck, Atmogat, etc.

chroniqueselectroniques.net [07/2011]

Si en français la prononciation de son avatar produit une sorte de borborygme, en allemand, langue d'origine de Simon Schikora, Grauraum signifie «chambre grise». Celui qui compose par ailleurs sous le nom d'Hotaru Bay compte parmi les poulains de Raumklang Music, maison administrée par Dirk Geiger. On se souvient de son délicat Firefly Reject, perle parmi bien d'autres qui constituaient la Snowflakes compilation du label (chroniquée ici). Son premier album, For The Stranted, était l'oeuvre de ce projet axé sur une IDM ciselée, tandis que Grauraum révèle des desseins plus noirs, lorgnant vers territoires consumés et industriels, dont Shades est l'illustration.

L'album semble baigner entre deux eaux, qui se brouillent et se confondent. Les balafres rythmiques, le caractère atomisé du beat et la puissance de ces basses qui sonnent comme des gongs expriment une fougue ténébreuse. Mais une dimension hautement introspective s'y mêle. Des nappes opaques forment des lambeaux de brume, dont les ombres trompeuses se jouent de nos sens. Tandis que flottent des sentiments désenchantés, graves et secrets, des aiguilles sifflantes crèvent l'atmosphère et la terre se gondole, faisant craquer sa pellicule d'airain, de tôle et d'acier. Les inspirations urbaines de Shades sont indéniables. Mais il s'agit d'une ville particulière, grise et assommante, sans être pourtant dénuée de poésie. De celles dans lesquelles on devient si négligeable que le replis sur soi-même est inexorable. Grauraum délivre des sensations de torpeur sombre, de frénésie illusoire, implacablement touchées par la grâce.

L'album s'enclenche en douceur, libérant de graciles volutes mélodiques au-dessus de parterres déjà électriques (Through The Childrens Eyes) puis mariant downtempo et ambient, porteur de signes avant-coureurs (I Say I Am Not). Passées les deux premières pistes, la charge est lancée. Si The Sleep Pt 2 (The Awakening) est majoritairement fait d'émanations troubles proches du dark ambient, sa dernière minute et demi vrille merveilleusement le crâne, à force de pulvérisations chimiques et de lourdes saccades. Vient alors le fantastique et âprement industriel Nearly Always Meaningless, terrassant de brisures mécaniques et magnifié par ces quelques goutes de piano, s'égrainant de temps à autres sur les crêtes du beat. Long de huit titres, dont deux remixes, Shades ne s'embarrasse pas de fioritures. L'essentiel est là, brut et sauvage, à l'image d'un voyage évolutif. Après le ravage coule une pluie salvatrice, qui lave les rues des nuées de cendres. Rarement un morceau n'a exprimé cette image avec autant de perfection que l'Apocalypse Walz Mix by Millipede de End Of Line, beau à pleurer. Une basse sourde tonne, le clapotis des gouttes sur l'asphalte semble tout proche, et la lumière perce la brume, éclatante et si triste. A mon sens, peu de remixes clôturant un album ne l'ont aussi bien complété. La relecture par LPF12 de The Sleep Pt 2 s'impose de loin comme la pièce la plus intrigante. C'est un bain acide de dark ambient long de plus de 17 minutes. Des résonances claustrophobiques imprègnent le moindre fluide. Des créatures à la fois bioniques et reptiliennes sifflent à nos oreilles, et lorsqu'un beat évanescent parvient à pénétrer la gangue de formol dans laquelle on est plongé, c'est pour se trouver aussitôt aspiré dans de funestes tourbillons.

Ecorché, presque lyrique, Shades est un album d'une force considérable. Ses contours indus, sa puissance émotionnelle, et l'usage du glitch comme instrument de la corrosion soumettent l'auditeur à une troublante expérience. A écouter seul, au casque.. en ville.

peek-a-boo-magazine.be [07/2011]

One of the strangest names in music must be IDM as Intelligence Dance Music contains a superiority-feel that indicates that they're somewhat superior to the others?

Mind you, over the years, this genre spawned as much crap as any other genre simply because there are too many copyists and bands without imagination around. One of the artists who has always followed his own path must be Dirk Geiger, a man who is so love in with music that he set up his own label: Raumklang Music.

Those familiar Dirk's work are aware that he is the kind of artist who doesn't believe in pigeonholing and therefore makes his music as varied as possible. An attitude we absolutely foster and it seems like he seeks those widely thoughts in artists that land on his label as well, Grauraum for instance, which is the alter ego of German artist Simon Schikora. If you don't count the remixes by LPF12 and Millipede, there are eight songs on here that are, just to make it more easier, categorized as IDM but where each track is still searching for other territories.

"Through the children eyes" flirts with the spacey sounds from You or Tangerine Dream, while "I say I am not" is more minimal techno, and there's even an experimental side when Milipede is involved. Lots of ambient-atmospheres are added here as well which makes tracks "Underneath it all" perfect soundtracks for dreaming away in your chair. And dreaming is something you can do on here as with a bit of imagination, you can form some pictures in your head that fits with this cinematographic music.

Of course, we know that we can offer you every day releases like these as they’re will always be artists around who transform their dreams into electronic sounds.But then again, sweet dreams are all we have in this cruel world…

Tracklist

1. Through The Childrens Eyes

2. I Say I Am Not

3. The Sleep Pt 2 (The Awakening)

4. Nearly Always Meaningless

5. Underneath It All

6. End Of Line

7. End Of Line (Apocalypse Waltz Remix By Millipede)

8. The Sleep Pt 2 (LPF12 Remix)

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