Drone Records

RADIAN - Chimeric

Format: LP

Label & Cat.Number: Thrill Jockey THRILL 224

Release Year: 2009

Note: after a long time a new album for this Austrian trio working out a style beyond all classifications

Price (incl. 19% VAT): €14.00

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"Auf dem Eröffnungstrack rocken Martin Brandlmayr, Stefan Nemeth und John Norman, dass dem akademisch geschulten Improv-Elektronik-Hörer schon Angst und Bange werden kann. Auch auf dem Rest des Albums stehen die rauen und oftmals rockigen Live-Sounds von Gitarre, Bass und Schlagzeug im Mittelpunkt der Musik, die elektronischen Elemente rücken hier weiter in den Hintergrund, sodass “Chimeric” manchmal fast wie “live” im Studio eingespielt klingt. Aber eben nur manchmal, vieles ist nach wie vor erst durch die Nachbearbeitung am Rechner entstanden. Diese Mischung macht Radians Musik auch diesmal ziemlich wieder spannend und außergewöhnlich." [ASB; de:bug]

"It had been four years since Juxtaposition, our last record and one year of a self-chosen absence from the stage, that we met again to work on Chimeric. This break was a necessary step to leave any routine behind us, to restructure the working process, to rethink the concept of this band and its music. It was always a driving force within the band´s history to enter new territories, like it happened with the transition from the self-titled EP to the abstract minimalism of TG11 and finally in the more colourful rhythms of the Rec.Extern and Juxtaposition period. But this was done and we needed to go further, exploring forms and sounds we had not been dealing with so far - and adapting them to our system. Chimeric is not a polished album. Within our context it is raw, broken, even dark sometimes. Steady, multiple rhythms, layered on top of each other disappear into chaos and turn back into discreet structures in the next moment. References of rock music, executed with the precision of a sequencer; mutated, restructured. A lot on this album is about control and the loss of control. The risk of failure. This was probably always in our music, but kept in a very stable form, sometimes even hidden. But Chimeric is much more free. Some of the longer pieces are composed of very different parts and different colours along a continuous timeline. They tend to evolve in a narrative form and are moving through various scenes and surroundings, which is also present in the spacial relationship between the instruments. One could see the album as one continuous story, where some elements are passed from one piece to the next and then serve as the base for a completely new scenario. The result was something unpredictable and unstable, even for us." [Martin Brandlmayr, Stefan Németh, John Norman (Radian)]

www.thrilljockey.com

"...their computer-processed live improv post rock electro-acoustic
sound (whew!) has definitely developed, Radian themselves considering
Chimeric to be more "Free", though what they mean by that we have to
guess, perhaps it's why this Radian record does seem rather more
noisy, raw, chaotic, rocking, & heavy than ever before, though.
Which is much to our liking, as it brings 'em even closer to
sounding like some bands to which we've compared 'em in the past, a
"sliced-up Circle" and, especially, a "sci fi This Heat", that
uniquely rhythmic British experimental prog-rock unit from the '70s,
who are really one of our "touchstone" bands here at AQ that we're
always referencing in reviews, always hoping to hear something new
that reminds us of 'em (we're the same way about the likes of Comus,
Goblin, Earth, Magma, Black Sabbath, and Circle too). Thus, one reason
we dig this Radian album so much (and Radian's other efforts too) is
'cause we can hear a lot of This Heat goin' on here. This Heat gone
electronically futuristic in some mad scientist's laboratory, that
is... The fractured structures, jumbled rhythms, distorted guitar
stabs, and rumbling textures found here are totally hitting the spot.
We mentioned it's been 4 years since their last album, and it's about
time. We NEED more music like this, thanks Radian!" [Aquarius Records]