Another Electronic Musician

textura

Cued by his 'another electronic musician' moniker, listeners new to Jase Rex's music might expect his material to be self-mocking and laced with irony. Don't be fooled: even though the California native has only been producing music since 2001 (having recently attracted attention with his decompose collection, available from the en:peg digital site), the hour-long Use is serious business indeed, eleven computer-generated tracks of micro-glitch textures and fluid rhythms that flatter Rex's programming, compositional, and production skills.

AEM weaves a range of crisp electronic textures (clicks, clanks, ripples, smears, starbursts) into intricate patterns with a refined elegance that recalls Jeff McIlwain's Lusine style (mechano-funk settings like "After Long" and "Careless" strongly evoke Serial Hodgepodge ); "H+," for instance, unfurls with a languid pulse yet its relaxed vibe belies its multi-layered complexity. Enhancing the presentation considerably is the three-dimensionality of the mix itself; there's an open-ended spaciousness to constructions like "Extended" that's remarkable. And like McIlwain, Rex renders the material fresh and propulsive by drawing more from hip-hop and funk for his rhythms than classic IDM.

If Lusine is one of AEM's major influences, Pole must be the other. Immersive tracks like "Collapse" and "These Given" plunge into reverberant digi-dub territory that can't help but revive memories of the ~scape artist's albums (especially the first two); if anything, Rex's material often exhibits a driving propulsion Betke's could have possessed in greater amount. Even better, AEM often merges the Lusine and Pole styles in tracks like "Enclosure" and the more manic "Field Felt" where lush ambiance is punched up with insistent pulses, subtly funky in the former and tech-house-oriented in the latter. Rex wisely varies the pace with a few meditative excursions too; check out the gorgeous sheets of string swirls, plucks, and found sounds that billow over a delicate industrial base in the stunning "Non Sum Qualis Eram" ("I am not what I once was"). Is Rex merely 'another electronic musician'? Hardly so, based on the evidence of Use.

de:bug

In zwanzig Jahren wird man diesen Sound Neo-Klassik nennen. Sehr traditionelle Elektronika-Tracks, die aber durch ihre fein gesetzten Melodie-Akzente einen Spannungsbogen aufbauen, der mich durch und durch begeistert. Klar, Herr AEM hat viel Lusine gehört, das kommt immer wieder durch, aber dieser Einfluß wird durch clevere Dub-Spielereien in völlig anderen Richtungen getrieben. Klassisch schön.

splendid magazine

Another Electronic Musician's Jase Rex crafts ice-cold, blatantly digital tracks full of tender beats, slowly evolving textures and subtle melodies, setting them in graceful motion with a flowing, repetitive approach. Harmony Central's "DJ Tip" page defines IDM as a "more intricate style of trance", a label that perfectly fits Rex's dance-music-without-the-driving-beats aesthetic. Of course, you could say that about almost anyone in the genre's "early" days, but that's where Rex aims (and hits his mark) on Use: "Phase" and "These Given"'s gritty, slurring dub reeks of Pole, the playful "Enclosure" would find refuge on Kid 606's GQ on the EQ if it were sped up a bit, and most of the other tracks earn the Mille Plateaux stamp of approval.

However, those comparisons are probably the best compliments that someone like Rex could hope for. His skills are not in question -- he knows programming, composition and how to create interest from a limited palette. He clearly did some serious wood-shedding, and his pure, minimal process definitely yields fruit: Use's lovely, intricate, not-terribly-original songs can comfortably share mix-CD space with the work of IDM pioneers.

igloomag

Californian Jase Rex has been recording as AEM – or Another Electronic Musician to give the project its full moniker – since 2001. Releasing material mostly through Net labels and on compilations, Use is his debut album for n5MD.

Far from being “another electronic musician,” Rex has quietly and consistently produced excellent experimental electronic music since his appearance 5 years ago. His ability to create carefully crafted electronic music that surrounds and submerses the listener is undeniable. Rex’s music doesn't try and bludgeon you with an onslaught of heavy beats or confuse you with unnecessary noise or weird glitches, instead his music sounds deceptively effortless. It is not difficult to imagine standing in a huge darkened room with the sound of “H+,” “Extended” or “Field Felt” flowing around you and enveloping you in its warm waves of sound. Aside from the absorbing quality of his music, Rex is also adept at creating textural qualities and subtly different moods whilst maintaining a sense of spaciousness. “Non Sum Qualis Eram” (I Am Not What I Once Was), for example conjures images of a long contemplative train journey across the desert while “Enclosure” might act as a reminder of happier times. As the soundtrack to an art installation, the combination of textures in the music, the physical open space and visual stimulation would be intense.

It is almost as though Rex starts each track with a wide open space and creates intricately layered sounds that intertwine and interact but never obstruct each other, the finished product appearing natural and unforced.

kindamuzik

Wat komt een vermoeide recensent zo op een gezapige zondagnamiddag muzikaal al tegemoet gewaaid? Een cd van Another Electronic Musician, zo blijkt. En die is zonder meer uitstekend. Another Electronic Musician doet namelijk niks grensverleggends of vernieuwends, maar wat hij wel doet, doet hij overduidelijk met passie en de nodige zin voor structuur en sfeer.

De bakens waartussen de muziek zich beweegt gaan van de utopisch-nostalgische ambient van Aphex Twin en Black Dog via de onpeilbaar diepe industriële electrokronkels van Autechre tot aan de al even ondoorzichtige krautdub van Burnt Friemann en Jan Jelinek en mistspuiende labels als Chain Reaction en ~scape. Net als bovenvernoemde artiesten schept AEM een vervreemdend, maar toch zeer prettig sfeertje. Hij kan en wil niet kiezen tussen de loomheid van triphop, de kosmische rêverieën van krautrock, tussen jazz, frêle minimalisme of de omineus brommende bastonen van de electro.

Die potpourri levert geen echte onmiddellijke uitschieters op, maar de voorzichtige, bijna aarzelende manier waarop AEM zijn nummers opbouwt zorgt ervoor dat de reminiscenties aan bovenvernoemde namen nooit bruskeren en dat Use voor een luisterplaat spannend opgebouwd is. Het is van die muziek die je zachtjes als muzikaal behang op de achtergrond kunt wegmoffelen, maar evengoed wat luider kan zetten om de subtiliteiten ervan te appreciëren.

De nervositeit die zoveel abstracte elektronica kenmerkt wordt binnen de perken gehouden en gaandeweg laat AEM horen dat hij, vooral dan in de heldere minimale etudes naar het einde van de cd, ook op het gebied van melodieën goed meekan.

Zij die Jan Jelinek, Cluster en de klassieke Aphex Twin wel kunnen smaken, weten waar ze moeten zijn.

pietro da sacco

After several years of dedication, persistence and an in-depth grasp of minimalism on a wider scale, Jase Rex (a.k.a. Another Electronic Musician) has created what is destined to become a classic in the form of micro-electronics. Cut out the usual attendees in the crowd of hidden-sound sculptors and insert, instead, Another Electronic Musician; music that simply sweeps the inner workings of our senses and drips into the urban landscape. Sound that flutters through abandoned alleys and yet somehow slides through a museum of uniquely defined grooves. Use may have been intended to signify the artist's use of sonic textures as they surround interpersonal relationships and the connections between human and machine, yet it's hard to fathom how sound can travel so far in these brisk 60-minutes of bewilderment. With this being AEM's debut (physical) release on a label that explores emotional experiments in music, Use is the perfect accompaniment to a lonely trek in the saturated fields of nature. Simply getting lost in its use of synaptic beat-work is an adventure in itself. But it's not just the minimal aspect of Use that listeners will enjoy; this album also explores retrofitted electro and downright spontaneous spurts of sound and bass. From the subtle progression of "Collapse" to the sizzling natural beauty of "These Given," one can really only assume that AEM has literally reinvented his surroundings in the form of digital magnetic spheres. "After Long" plunges into calm water as it descends into fragmented percussion and heavy low-end manipulations. "Pocket" manifests a knack for click-rhythms that instantly grasps for your attention --a palette of blips and flicks intersect on a parallel road, if that's at all possible. Call it what you will, Use is an album of substance, one that electronically samples our daily life and rearranges it in a way that is equal parts form, function and necessity.

melodick

n5MD est un label surprenant. Non seulement il est specialisé dans l'electro-experimental-emotionnel assez avant-gardiste, mais aussi à chaque nouvelle sortie c'est la surprise. Aujourd'hui c'est le cas assez déroutant de Another Electronic Musician. A vrai dire on ne sait vraiment quoi penser d'un tel album. D'un certain côté il est tellement ambient qu'il pourrait se faire passer pour de la musique pour plantes vertes, mais de l'autre côté, les morceaux ont toujours un je-ne-sais-quoi qui les rend accrocheurs. Prenons en exemple le morceau d'ouverture 'h+': il faut aisément attendre la quatrième minutes pour que ça 'démarre' réellement. Bien sûr à ce rythme là, il ne faut pas être pressé. C'est justement le but de 'Use', donner le temps à l'auditeur de prendre son temps, fuir le marasme de la vie de tous les jours – la pochette totalement épurée en est certainement un clin d'oeil. Vous l'aurez compris, cet album est réservé à un public averti et connaisseur qui prendra certainement son pied à l'écoute des 11 titres faussement ambiants

grooves

Another Electronic Musician is the self-deprecating name California-based Jase Rex records under. It’s also ironic too, because AEM’s music is hardly just another take on electronica: It’s very much his own unique hybrid of IDM, glitch, and dub. The 11 tracks on Use, AEM’s debut album for n5MD, tend to be sparse, delicate, and exquisitely crafted. A love of noise-rich sounds permeates the brew, but without the in-your-face aggression one often associates with this kind of music. It’s West Coast IDM—laid-back and gentle, the new-millennium heir to cool jazz and even surf music.

The opening “H+” envelopes the listener in a rhythmic lapping of abstract digitalia that manages to be icy and warm at the same time, while “Collapse” is a reverb-drenched testament to Rex’s love of dub. The groove on “Pocket” is a sparse and random-sounding field of clicks, a geiger counter in slow motion. The melody is a handful of warm reverse-organ notes repeating kaleidoscopically in ever-changing patterns.

The rarefaction and fragility on Use might not appeal to those who want their grooves hard and sexy and their melodies upbeat and ear-wormy. But AEM manages to avoid preciousness in offering such personal music.

all music

Credit to Jase Rex for one of the better pseudonyms in 21st century music out there -- Another Electronic Musician, shortened to AEM, it could almost be an Autechre song title as well. But self-deprecation is best balanced off with something to sink one's teeth into, and the music on Use, while not revelatory per se, shows that the impact of labels like Kompakt and Ghostly is starting to spread out even further -- Microhouse isn't dead, merely reinterpreted. Starting with the (but of course) minimal lushness of "H+," which imagines a world where a Luomo intro becomes the basis for a song in and of itself, Use takes a steady-as-she-goes pace throughout its hour-long length, while also showing its other core inspiration -- the continuing impact of dub -- at many points. Some songs, like "Enclosure" and "After Long," take a slightly more traditional approach, but there are moments of variety as well. The almost-not-there "Collapse" lives up to its name, creating a melody that would be perfectly suited to an old King Tubby piece but then grafting a crisp-and-clean beat on top; similarly "These Given" works the same basic model, but with both a more upfront melody and a glitchier rhythm. It's not a new approach -- any Pole fans in particular will recognize what's going on -- but again it's handled nicely throughout. The best moments are when Rex steps up his arrangements -- not necessarily making them any more complicated or louder, but the shuddering echoes on "Field Felt" set against the generally quicker pace of the song helps it stand out all the more as Use makes its fairly relaxed way along. In sum, Use won't surprise, but it does enjoyably entertain, and that can often be enough -- and the Close Encounters reference in "Careless" is at least more subtle than some.

e/i mag

Jase Rex is Another Electronic Musician. He wants you to know that right up front. Not smart-ass, disarming. AEM's music will inevitably be glossed as “IDM” for quick-and-dirty classification purposes, but more careful analysis suggests an alliance between MP/Raster/12k micro-surgery, Scape's digital dub divinations, and a softer take on the post-Gridlockian industrial-ambient school represented by late period n5MD. Elsewhere AEM has enumerated artists whose current work he admires; they include Shuttle358, Lusine, Bretschneider, Jelinek, Ikeda, SND, Deupree. All this should give the potential listener a decent handle on the collective resources from which Rex draws. Lest this review give the wrong impression, we're not talking a serial hodgepodge of those artist's work. Just that, like in understanding wildlife, it helps to study evolution. Anyway, there's a clear divide between being influenced and being derivative, and Rex is on the right side. Crucially, his own endowment is evident in marshaling these resources. “H+” shows how well he works sounds into rhythm-based compositions that are at once intricate and pared back. The spirit of Pole 2 may be attendant on “Collapse,” but the space isn't detritus-strewn as on that (admittedly landmark) recording. Compositions are usually given room to breathe and develop, as on “Field Felt” or “Phase.” Now the reservation: “Non Sum Qualis Eram” is the one piece on which surgeon yields to “poet.” Rex's music is heavily composed, and its constructedness can preclude deeper affective enquiry. No problem if you aren't targeting “emotion,” but he is, and Use can feel clinical and distracted by an over-concern with minimalist means rather than expressive ends. It doesn't really draw you in, but bids you, in tech-aesthete mode, linger over the textures and interfaces of its sleek surfaces. Space is the place for Jase. The heart is not-yet.

side-line

This is an interesting minimal form of electronic (music), which sounds like the offspring of earlier Autechre and sterile forms of ambient. It’s kind of an experimental tryout in dance electronics featuring a multitude of cool bleeps and other arrangements. With cuts as “Collapse”, “Enclosure”, “Field felt” and the some groovier “Careless” this album has real potential!