Another Electronic Musician

the stranger

With remarkable ambient albums being as plentiful as good news from the Middle East, Patience is most welcome indeed. AEM (Jase Rex) beautifies and tranquilizes your headspace with understatedly graceful melodies and alluring textures that recall placid IDM's mid-'90s heyday. Patience is aural wheatgrass, and I mean that in the best way possible.

xlr8r

n5md’s Another Electronic Musician slays on the mellow, post-IDM tip and his subtlety on Patience shows some serious growth. Without relying on too much glitch or general synthetic droning, AEM’s name is proving quite the opposite.

de:bug

Es freut mich wahnsinnig, dass so etwas heute noch möglich. Ein klassisch ambientes Elektronik-Album, das man hört und nicht mehr von lassen kann. Mit viel Atmo und weichen Flächen legt Jase Rex hier ein perfektes Listening-Album vor. Oldschool rules.

grooves

Downbeat IDM producer Jase Rex first surfaced back in 2004 with his download-only net release Decompose through en:pegDigital, which was rapidly followed by the release of his physical debut album Use on n5MD. Use attracted acclaim for its enveloping fusion of dubbed-out ambient landscapes and sharp-focus glitchy precision, with comparisons being made particularly to the likes of Alva Noto and Pole. Two years on, the impressive follow-up Patience seems set to seal Rex’s reputation even further, with the broad cinematic sweep of his productions being taken to even more epic levels.

The conceptual focus of Patience is apparently on urban living, with one of Rex’s primary aims being to emphasise the warm, emotional aspects of the city, rather than the alienation often explored. It’s the deft contrast of gentle and violent elements that really makes an impact here. The standout track is the vast “Overall,” which sends what might be treated guitar chords rippling into a fuzzed-out backdrop of droning sound that almost calls to mind vintage My Bloody Valentine, while precision-point electronic bursts scatter like shorting circuits beneath the yawning ambience. Throughout, like the bustle of the city itself, there’s certainly a constant feeling of relentless activity, but the busier elements are beautifully contoured with sweeping cinematic ambience, resulting in an album that comes across as reassuringly warm, even during its most glitchy, minimalist moments. Fans of Lusine and Farben’s soft-focus clicks- and glitch-laden explorations should definitely investigate this one.

textura

Saying that Patience is an improvement upon Use, Jase Rex's Another Electronic Musician debut, shouldn't be construed to mean that the first album is in any way deficient—a solid debut it was upon its release and it remains so today. But Patience is another story altogether, a spectacular suite of electronic sculpting that signifies a significant maturation of the AEM sound. Best of all, the new release sounds far less derivative than Use, as if Rex has fully absorbed his influences and taken the next, critical step towards refining his own sound. His programming skills are razor-sharp and his talent for conjuring massive vistas might be without equal (check out the humongous washes in “Overall” that seem capable of flattening everything in their path), judging by the incredibly immersive depths he fashions throughout Patience's hour-long whole.

The placid intro “Waking at Noon” weaves a multitude of sounds into a texturally rich mass that flows seamlessly into the nearly 11-minute “Within Reach” where layer upon layer accumulates, the music growing more animated and the melodies sunnier, until the reverberant beat physics of “Kinematics” drop. Similar transitions in mood follow until a zenith of sorts is reached with the 15-minute colossus “Birthing” where all of AEM's strengths coalesce in a singular composition; don't leave early though, ‘cos doing so means you'll miss the set's volcanic outro. Despite its density, Patience never feels sluggish or oppressive; instead, a regulated propulsion generated by the sonic mass pushes its material fluidly onward. Headphones listening at its finest.

exclaim!

From the opening track, “Walking at Noon,” which unfolds slowly into broken beats and micro-glitch textures, there is a distinct feeling that we are about to wander into another ambient glitch soundscape. And true enough, Jason Rex, aka Another Electronic Musician, offers a seamless ambient mix and sound reminiscent of a less dub-defined Pole or a more thematic Lusine. However, Rex’s polished and expansive sound provides a melodic fluidity and attention to straightforward rhythms that is distinctively his. Inspired by the urban soundscape, Patience immerses crisp electronic textures into multi-layered compositions that are both lush and meditative, all dreamily carried on an almost tidal flow of low and languid bass.

real tokyo

Not much is happening in the opening track of the new album of Jase Rex under his AEM moniker, and when it seamlessly fades into track two, one begins to understand that this is in fact one single track of 66 minutes. This largeness is also expressed in the music itself, as it gradually transforms from one segment to the next. Compared to its predecessor, which was likened to Pole and alva noto among others, the music on "Patience" displays a density and cinematic wideness that clearly distinguishes it from such minimalists' efforts, and is rather reminiscent of The Orb's majestically floating carpets of dubby ambient (at the time when that was their territory). After listening to the CD for about 50 minutes -- around the middle of the 15-minute "Disable The Outgoing User" -- things start to get a bit lenghty, but Rex knows to regain the listener's attention with a strange melody that announces the album's climax and earns it five stars.

papercuts

Forcément avec un nom pareil, on se doute bien que Another Electronic Musician ne joue pas de la polka. Blague à part, l’electro est un courant vaste et le titre de ce nouvel opus pourrait bien être un indice pour définir la musique de AEM. ‘Patience’… Oui, on plonge dans de l’ambient ici.

Suite à ‘Use’, Another Electronic Musician utilise la même recette pour nous bercer: des expérimentations émotionnelles (qui sont chères au label n5MD). Alors à quoi ça ressemble? Hé bien, nous avons affaire à des sons – oui des sons – mélodieux qui sont ajoutés les uns aux autres à la manière d’un orfèvre pour créer des morceaux tout en very-down-tempo et progression.

La musique contenue dans ce ‘Patience’ est donc – vous l’aurez compris – très synthétique. Il s’agit plus d’un laboratoire de sons que d’une répet dans le garage de Marcel bien évidemment. Malgré les apparences de la pochette, la musique de Another Electronic Musician est très urbaine mais nous contient dans un cocon de sons relaxants et apaisants. Faussement épurée, elle se voit accompagnée temps à autre de beats mais qui sont plus là pour accompagner les rythme cardiaque que pour relever le tempo.

C’est une immersion totale dans un monde parallèle que nous offre ‘Patience’ tout au fil de ces onze titres qui s’enchainent… Difficile quelquefois de distinguer une différence tant on est face à de véritables nappes de sons. Malgré tout, la musique de Another Electronic Musician n’est pas si facile à apprivoiser et où certains perdront patience, certains se laisseront bercer par l’univers envoutant de cet album.

cold room

Ne vous fiez pas au nom d'artiste de Jase Rex car derrière son pseudo légèrement réducteur se cache un véritable maestro de l’expérimental. Et son talent s’exprime pleinement tout au long de "Patience", un deuxième effort tout en nuances, plus recherché encore que l’était "Use", son prédécesseur chez N5md. Ici prime la richesse sonore et l’inventivité : Richesse des ambiances (cosmiques ou pénétrantes, bâties sur la lenteur de développement et l’envahissement progressif de la conscience) et inventivité dans la manière de faire évoluer un morceau, car on y perçoit avec certitude la volonté de modeler et de métamorphoser chaque nappe synthétique, chaque bruit statique, chaque enregistrement de petits bruits insolites. "Patience" se découvre dans la durée. Il n’y a aucune coupure entre les morceaux, ce qui renforce le côté mouvant et changeant de la musique. Et puis, l’ensemble est comme adouci. Rien ne vient heurter le tympan et on se demande parfois si le son n’est pas projeté au travers d’un mur d’eau. A l’exception de "Birthing", tout de même angoissant et passablement glacial. Il y a en tout cas quelque chose de très naturel qui émane de ce disque. Une sorte de sérénité, confiante et tranquille. Et voilà, encore une petite douceur à s’écouter en attendant le sommeil ou pour en sortir. Un très agréable travail de création et de patience qui fait comme une bulle autour de l’auditeur.