Yellow6 : "Painted Sky" (Resonant)

Three things in life are certain. Death, taxes and quality releases from Yellow6. The solo project of Jon Attwood, Yellow6 releases have graced the coolest indie labels on the planet, from Darla right through to Make Mine Music. For "Painted Sky" (his 7th album and over 50th release in total), Attwood seems to have found his true home through the Resonant Label who can count kindred spirits like Port-Royal and Library Tapes amongst their roster. Amazingly, this is the first release by a British artist from the UK label.

As a relative newcomer to Yellow6's music (I bought "Disappear Here" around 18 months ago), I was hugely impressed by his contributions to compilations for a few European based labels. It seems, despite the prolific nature of his abiltiy to write songs, quality is rarely a problem. It appears to be the case with "Painted Sky" too, where Attwood has opted to dismantle his sound, instead using just guitar, piano and subdued percussion elements only. It is testament to his abilities, therefore, that his guitar-based experiments here, are some of the most emotive and rich sounding of the year.

"Pleasure/Pain" is an absolutely gorgeous piece of music, with a cool, pronounced melody that combines with frost-bitten guitar work for over eight beautiful minutes. A definite album highlight. Attwood's sound mixes the key elements of cult bands like Bark Psychosis, New York experimentalists Charles Atlas, some of the earlier Kranky artists and even hints of Ennio Morricone. "I Know I Shouldn't (But I Do)", is a superb album opener, like the most affecting Labradford number you've never heard. Full of vivid guitar notes, dripping with melancholy, they reverberate from speaker to speaker. The track becomes more aggressive, towards the end his guitar tone is full-bodied and even a little anguished sounding.

"I Loved You More Before I Knew You Loved Me", comes across like a gigantic music box, with the sounds of Attwood's guitar slowly weaving intricate lines around a shimmering backdrop. "Common", meanwhile, gives us the first hint of the subtle percussion, mentioned in the press release. Using more glacial melodies and guitar distortion, this track is transported into darker territiories with the addition of Massive Attack style beat work and mysterious sound effects.

It is tracks like "Common", "Mare" and "Azure" that prevent "Painted Sky" from being one-paced and repetitive. There is no disputing Attwood's guitar skills, but changes in tempo help space out the driftng ambient passages. Both "Azure" and "Mare", for example, make good use of excellent organic percussion, while Attwood sprays a combination of subtle, distorted and reverbed guitar tones around his canvas. It is a simple, but effective technique.

With over 50 releases its never easy to know where to start with Yellow6. I would suggest "Painted Sky", it contains most of the elements of Attwood's sound. Consistency is never an issue, steeped in emotion "Painted Sky" features several heart-breaking moments . For organic guitar and piano experiments in an ambient post-rock/shoegazer vein, you could do far worse than visit Attwood's back catalogue. But in 2007, he stands shoulder to shoulder with some of his more famous counterparts and "Painted Sky" could very well be soundtracking these last few weeks of Spring.

Rating - 84%

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Yellow6 - "Realisation"

The kind folk at Resonant have sent through a copy of Yellow6's forthcoming "Painted Sky", from which "Realisation" is taken from.

2 years in the making, "Painted Sky" is said to 'strip away the many layers of previous outings, resulting in a collection of melodic, organic guitar and piano soundscapes backed with subtle percussion'.

On first listen this one will appeal to fans of Labradford and wintry feeling ambient passages. Opuszine has already beaten me to it, read their review of "Painted Sky" here.

Points of Interest...

1. Thom Yorke has posted sporadic lyrics from a new song
entitled "Burn The Witch".

2. Brainwashed has details of three very, very anticipated albums. Fridge (featuring Four Tet; Adem etc) will return with their 5th LP "The Sun" out through Temporary Residence on May 15th(Details). Another TR band, Grails, will unleash "Burning Off Impurities" on May 1st(Details). While, Yellow6 will release his first recording with Resonant, "The Painted Sky" on March 19th (Details)

3. According to The Silent Ballet, the entire ranks of Romance of Young Tigers have joined forces with Kenoma. No official word from ROYT as of yet.

4. It seems Massive Attack have been gone for a long time. Well they are set to return, here's an interview with The Guardian.

5. Tobias Lilja's "Time Is On My Side" has created quite a stir across the web. n5md has collected all of the reviews together. Also read Brett Spaceman's thoughts on this album.

6. The Vanessa Van Basten review I wrote has been selected for Italian webzine, Rockit's, The Foreign Legion column. Check the site out there are a few other reviews too, they are printed in both English and Italian. It would also be great if any Italian speaking readers could translate what they have said about me in my profile.

7. Arcade Fire's forthcoming album, "Neon Bible", is shaping up to be equally as good as "Funeral", if this live performance of "Intervention" is anything to go by.

8. Herb Recordings has revealed details of two new signees, who will release material later this year, they are Scotland's Engine7 and USA-based Skytree.

9. Pitchfork has an mp3 and details from Calla's forthcoming "Strength in Numbers" album, out February 20th. Go here.

Resonant News

2007, it seems, will be an extremely busy year for the always impressive Resonant Label. They have scheduled 5 releases between now and May. Already out is "Andlaus" by Prince Valium, which is an album of "...epic soundscapes utilising both real instruments and his laptop...". You can find out more here.

The likes of Yellow6 ("Pointed Sky"), Olvis and Stafraenn Hakon ("Gummi")will also be releasing new material soon. A new song from Hakon can be streamed here. "Svefn" discards his tardemark ethereal soundscapes, in favour of a more electronic approach. There are also nine different vocalists used in his new recordings, which should make "Gummi" one of the most interesting releases of 2007. Furthermore, brand new material will be available from new signings, Small Sails. There's not much information available on these guys, but that should change in the coming months.

However, I am most looking forward to new material from Italians Port-Royal which looks set for a late Summer release.

New tracks by Stafraenn Hakon, Olvis, Prince Valium and Yellow6 can be streamed here.

Lope, Yellow6, Absent Without Leave, Kimonophonic - 4-Way Split (BSBTA)

This is a delightful, little release from Danish label BSTBA (or Bloated Sasquatch Beer Theatre Audio as they are otherwise known) bringing together some of the nicest, most delicate sounds of 2006. This release celebrates the music of 4 like-minded artists from different parts of the globe . Of course, some are instantly recognisible, such as Yellow6, while there are others you may not know about, but will want to after hearing their offerings, most notably Lope.

Sweden's Lope kicks proceedings off and easily reinforces what I said about him a month ago. The gentle "Just There", glides effortlessly coming across like a more optimistic Labradford, with some soothing slide guitar and rhodes piano. While the barely audible beats in "The Crane" provide one of the many exceptional moments of this 4-way split. Leaving us with "A Thousand Leaves", Lope returns to thr Rhodes piano sound, this time over-lapping it with some Album Leaf style programming. All in all, Lope has provided more evidence that he is one talented individual and provides an excellent start to this release.

A lesser musician may have baulked at the challenge of following such an excellent start, but England's Yellow6 is no ordinary musician. He has provided his name to more than 50 releases, but his music never suffers from lethargy. "(I Wish I Could) Start Over" is just so damn gorgeous that I was upset when it ended. It features a highly infectious melody, but its tinged with sadness and brings to mind the Bladerunner Soundtrack's shimmering beauty. Having being disappointed that Yellow6's first offering actually ended, he serves up the exquisite ambient/electro rock of "Start Over Again" An absolute gem of a track that features snappy, incessant beats, brilliant guitar work and wails of feedback. It has everything you could possibly want in a track and is capped off with some furious guitar riffing. Ending his contribution with the slow-burning "I Know I Shouldn't But I Do", Yellow6's three offerings are, in a word, immense.

Next up is Greece's Absent Without Leave, co-owner of Sound In Silence Records. Although there are some nice moments, I was left slightly disappointed with his efforts, having heard a good bit of his back catalogue. Having said that "Achromatic" features some eerie synths, that evokes images of a dark and misty graveyard. I was enjoying this track until the drums kicked in unexpectedly around the 5.30 mark. It kind of ruined the menacing atmosphere that was being built up. However, AWL's does provide the excellent, "Weasel Words" which is a great track, full of inventive programming and dark, brooding synths.

The final inclusion on this 4-way split is Canadian-born Kimonophonic, whose music I am aware of through myspace. While, those songs posted on myspace are thoroughly enjoyable slices of uptempo electronica, the 6 tracks on this 4-way split are either badly recorded live versions or the equivelent of a Nintendo game soundtrack. Its pretty poor stuff and, sadly brings down the score for this split release.

Overall this one is well worth getting a hold, especially for the inspiring perfomances of Lope and Yellow6 and to a lesser extent Absent Without Leave. Order it here.

Rating = 75%