I am interested in the music on the BC sublabel Imbalance. Is the music
that has been released worth checking out, and how does it figure into
the overall berlin sound?
it's all compatible but more diverse. before imbalance was completely
taken over by robert henke (i.e. it is no longer a sublabel of bc),
the following came out:
1 wieland samolak: steady state music
a collection of 5 drone pieces, rich and beautiful in sound. esp.
tracks 2 and 5... and i always have this with me for mixing.
2 robert henke: piercing music
a very calm one-hour-long track which never really grabbed me. has
noisy parts but is unobtrusive.
3 async sense
six tracks of which (i think the best) 4 have also been released on
vinyl. this one is by andy mellwig, one half of porter ricks, and
inspired by african polymetrics. a straight (rather fast) bass drum
pulse gives you something to hold on to, while layers of sequences
overtake each other on top, shifting speeds - fun trying to follow
the individual lines while dancing to the beat. a good idea well
executed.
4 floating.point
another release by robert henke, the most varied release on the
label, and probably the most berlin-sounding in atmosphere. i can't
really stand the digital tinkling that recurs and marks the specific
sound of the record.
personally, the two imbalance solos are the henke records i like the
least; i recommend the other two though.
after that, imbalance has turned the mainstay of monolake, and that's
what it sounds like.