<?xml version="1.0" encoding="us-ascii"?>
<label id="substractif" href="http://www.electrocd.com/fr/boutique/substractif/">
  <name>Substractif</name>
  <shortname>Substractif</shortname>
  <recording id="subsf_01" href="http://www.electrocd.com/fr/cat/subsf_01/">
    <artist>Mitchell Akiyama</artist>
    <cover href="http://www.electrocd.com/res/couv.lrg/01_SUBSF.gif" />
    <title>Hope That Lines Don&#8217;t Cross</title>
    <catno>SUBSF 01</catno>
    <year>2001</year>
    <format>
      <code>CD</code>
      <availability>hors-catalogue</availability>
    </format>
    <description>[traduction fran&#231;aise non disponible] Alien8 Recordings is launching its new
    sub-label, Susbstractif, with a release by newcomer Mitchell Akiyama. Montr&#233;al, Quebec is
    quickly establishing itself as one of the major centers for electronica, specifically in the
    area of minimalism. There are many local artists with records poised to come out on European
    labels and Mitchell Akiyama is one of the most promising of the among them. As of now Mitchell
    has a self released CDR and a compilation appearance alongside the likes of Tomas Jirku, Tim
    Hecker and Richard Devine on his own label, Intr_version. &#8216;Hope That Lines Don&#8217;t
    Cross&#8217; marks the first official solo release by Mitchell Akiyama and will undoubtedly
    establish him as an important electronica artist. Akiyama on his debut focuses on a mixture of
    well-crafted IDM and minimal movements, equipped with clicks, pops and scratches. Hope That
    Lines Don&#8217;t Cross fits in very well with Tomas Jirku&#8217;s Immaterial [SUBSF02] as both
    artists create beats with a heavy dub influence and play with field recordings. Mitchell
    Akiyama fuses these with recordings of such things as broken conversations, drones and church
    bells. The recording starts out with easy going, minimal idm that is quite gentle listening and
    occasionally becomes a little more challenging. Pieces like Resist Change Nicely, Error Than
    Trial and Named After the Chorus are excellent tracks that blend the artist&#8217;s pop
    sensibilities with his obvious interest in the more experimental areas of Techno. Selections
    like The Path of the Least Resistance is Paved, Concentrate on One Leg and The Height of the
    Matter could hold their ground with the biggest names in Minimal techno. The track The Height
    of the Matter sounds as if it may have been influenced by Francisco Lopez. Blending what sounds
    like powerful environmental soundscapes with a very solid minimal beat being introduced 2
    minutes into the piece. This is the final track and it runs a little over 10 minutes and closes
    the record beautifully. Having come from a jazz background, Akiyama has an excellent sense of
    rhythm and melody and a fantastic knack for creating memorable music. Hope That Lines
    Don&#8217;t Cross runs for 60 minutes and is broken up into 10 different tracks. Some of the
    pieces are so heavily built around pop aesthetics that you could easily get away with referring
    to them as songs. This release will be packaged in our custom designed gatefold card stock
    jacket and beautifully printed on matte paper stock.</description>
  </recording>
  <recording id="subsf_03" href="http://www.electrocd.com/fr/cat/subsf_03/">
    <artist>Tim Hecker</artist>
    <cover href="http://www.electrocd.com/res/couv.lrg/03_SUBSF.gif" />
    <title>Haunt Me, Haunt Me, Do It Again</title>
    <catno>SUBSF 03</catno>
    <year>2001</year>
    <format>
      <code>CD</code>
      <availability>&#233;puis&#233;</availability>
    </format>
    <description>[traduction fran&#231;aise non disponible] Announcing debut release by Tim Hecker,
    A.K.A. Jetone, and the follow up to Substractif&#8217;s debut releases by Mitchell Akiyama and
    Tomas Jirku and the first non-beat release for the sub-label of Alien8 Recordings. This is our
    strongest release to date for Substractif and will also serve as a door opener in regards to
    the styles that will be housed by Substractif. Tim Hecker is not be confused with Mego&#8217;s
    Florian Hecker, but is rather the alter ego of techno maverick Jetone. As Jetone he has
    released a full length for Pitch cadet aswell as the brand new cd/lp Ultamarin for Force
    Tracks. This marks the first release under the artist&#8217;s real name, aswell as a leap away
    from techno. This latest recording explores the artist&#8217;s interest in structured ambient
    sound. Here he has constructed strong ambient pieces using lap top, guitar and piano and
    treating the material in programs such as Audio Mulch. There are certainly similarities to the
    likes of Angelo Badlementi, Fennesz, Gas and Oval, but overall the sound is incredibly unique.
    Tim Hecker has managed to create some of the most memorable ambient music in the last few
    years. Much like the Austrian guitar/lap top experimentalist Fennesz, Hecker has perfected the
    art of catchy experimental ambient music. The recording is comprised of 17 tracks that blend
    seamlessly into one another, making it perfect for headphone listening or as background music.
    At times glitch-based minimalism, but also capturing the drama of post rock. Incredibly sad,
    yet hopeful music that sticks in your head for hours. The mix between tracks 7 and 8 is
    incredible, beginning on the sabotage tip, wrecking one of today&#8217;s pop stars and morphing
    her music into a dramatic crescendo that brings to mind some of the most memorable aspects of
    today&#8217;s post-rock. Other tracks like 4 and 9 are very sad pieces that bring to mind Mike
    Ink&#8217;s Gas project, but with a heavier hand on the lap top glitch scene mixed in. At times
    when Hecker is utilizing guitar as a source there bares striking resemblance to that Portuguese
    guitar sensation Raphael Toral. Tim Hecker will be touring Europe this fall with up-and-coming
    Montr&#233;al techno producer Akufin. Recording offers are pouring in constantly, but Hecker
    has decided on a couple of labels to work with as opposed to flooding the market with releases
    all over the place. Although we do know that there are plans for two mille plateaux
    compilations as well as some hip hop remixes for Kid 606. Tim Hecker/Jetone has performed at
    the very prestigious Mutek event alongside Goem and Mikael Stavostrnd, as well as shows with
    Tomas Jirku, Sutech, Manitoba, Mitchell Akiyama, Akufin, Marumari, Deadbeat and Kim Cascone.
    Packaged in our custom gatefold card stock jacket.</description>
  </recording>
  <recording id="subsf_04" href="http://www.electrocd.com/fr/cat/subsf_04/">
    <artist>Tim Hecker</artist>
    <cover href="http://www.electrocd.com/res/couv.lrg/04_SUBSF.gif" />
    <title>My Love is Rotten to the Core</title>
    <catno>SUBSF 04</catno>
    <year>2002</year>
    <format>
      <code>CD</code>
      <price>20.00 CA$</price>
      <availability></availability>
    </format>
    <description>[traduction fran&#231;aise non disponible] Alien8 Recordings and its sub-label
    Substractif are releasing a CDEP titled &#8220;My Love is Rotten to the Core&#8221; by
    &#8220;North America&#8217;s best-kept secret of electronica&#8221;*, Tim Hecker. Hecker is hot
    on the heels of his debut full-length release for Substractif, &#8220;Haunt me&#8221;, which
    was incredibly well received by hipsters left and right and is only now being discovered by the
    masses. The past two years have been very exciting for Hecker and this marks his fourth release
    in as much time. He has had two releases under his techno moniker Jetone and &#8220;My Love is
    Rotten to the Core&#8221; is the second release under his real name. &#8220;My Love is Rotten
    to the Core&#8221; continues the precedent of musical sabotage, or plunderphonics, established
    in Hecker&#8217;s earlier releases. We will not ruin the surprise by mentioning who is at the
    mercy of this incredibly talented young artist but we can tell you that the outcome is amazing.
    If you were blown away by the homage to 60&#8217;s pop by Fennesz, wait until you hear Tim
    Hecker&#8217;s take on the 80&#8217;s Cock Rock phenomenon. Tim Hecker has the remarkable
    ability to create compositions that combine both ambience and noise, yet remain very accessible
    to those who might normally avoid either or both of those genres. This is because he manages to
    create deeply emotional music even where there is a lack of melody, as is very evident on this
    latest EP. Here Hecker has laced together snippets of interviews, concert announcements and the
    manipulated sounds of the original artist to come up with possibly the most engaging
    experimental electronica to emerge in some time. Sampled voices unfold while a transformed
    guitar chord comes tearing from the left to the right speaker before erupting and reshaping
    itself again. This is ambient music with incredible punch and loads of surprises. Tim Hecker
    will be spending the summer in Europe touring and working on a project for which he recently
    received a grant. During this time, Hecker will be performing select shows in France, Spain and
    Germany and other performances will also be announced. Following recent performances opening up
    for godspeed you black emperor!, both in Italy and Montr&#233;al, Hecker auditioned the live
    set of &#8220;My Love is Rotten to the Core&#8221; to glorious response. Once again this
    release comes in our custom gatefold packaging. Drawing by Sydney Hermant. * According to a
    review on the pitchforkmedia.com web site</description>
  </recording>
  <recording id="subsf_02" href="http://www.electrocd.com/fr/cat/subsf_02/">
    <artist>Tomas Jirku</artist>
    <cover href="http://www.electrocd.com/res/couv.lrg/02_SUBSF.gif" />
    <title>Immaterial</title>
    <catno>SUBSF 02</catno>
    <year>2001</year>
    <format>
      <code>CD</code>
      <price>25.00 CA$</price>
      <availability></availability>
    </format>
    <description>[traduction fran&#231;aise non disponible] It&#8217;s been just about one year
    since the release of Jirku&#8217;s debut Variants was released on Alien8 Recordings and since
    then he has also recorded a full length for Force Inc. He will also release 12&#8221;s and
    compilation tracks for various labels. On Immaterial Jirku embodies headphone minimalism
    through a blend of very subtle, quiet passages constructed from field recordings, drones and
    stereo effects, combined with layers of his signature minimal-click dub sound. He has truly
    managed to create his own sound in a school that is overloaded with copycats and wannabes,
    although elements of what he is doing can certainly be compared to the likes of Vladislav
    Delay, Pole and Thomas Brinkmann. The idea behind Immaterial was to work with fewer tracks and
    give them more time to develop, allowing the repetitious rhythms to really infect the listener.
    It includes four tracks which merge into each other, creating one solid composition with four
    movements. The recording opens with a series of low-end pulses and clicks constructed from
    static and very gradually other layers of sound appear, revealing a constant dub/house beat
    that soon after disappears. Jirku teases the listener with the constant arrival of rhythm only
    to dissolve those sounds seconds later, until the 8 minute mark, when the piece takes on the
    form of very adventurous danceable minimalism. The track continues in this direction until the
    fourteen minute mark where it drowns itself into field recordings of a running stream until
    track 2, Gluon surfaces. Three-minutes into the track the beats are very evident indeed: creepy
    minimal dub with different field recordings weaving in and out of the track until it is over
    taken by the sounds of passing cars on the freeway. Track 3, Baryon, has the appeal of a lot of
    the classic Chain Reaction releases, not so much in terms of the actual sounds, but in terms of
    the great production values. Track 4, Pion, is perhaps the most adventurous of the record,
    operating without beats for the bulk of the time and relying on a mixture of field recordings.
    At times Immaterial brings to mind Monolake&#8217;s &#8216;Gobi Desert&#8217; release, but
    manages not to fall victim to a new age vibe throughout the entire recording. Tomas Jirku, when
    not producing music, is busy studying as a designer and took the time to do the artwork for
    Immaterial. The CD will be packaged in a gatefold sleeve with very striking photos of water in
    it&#8217;s three phases and will be printed on matte-cardstock paper.</description>
  </recording>
  <recording id="subsf_07" href="http://www.electrocd.com/fr/cat/subsf_07/">
    <artist>Daniel Menche</artist>
    <cover href="http://www.electrocd.com/res/couv.lrg/07_SUBSF.gif" />
    <title>Eye on the Steel</title>
    <catno>SUBSF 07</catno>
    <year>2004</year>
    <format>
      <code>CD</code>
      <price>25.00 CA$</price>
      <availability>commande sp&#233;ciale [
      <b>
        <a href="../fr/apropos/comment/#commandespeciale">?</a>
      </b>]</availability>
    </format>
    <description>[traduction fran&#231;aise non disponible] Substractif comes out of hibernation
    with Eye on the Steel from Portland Oregon&#8217;s Daniel Menche. This marks our second release
    with one of the United States&#8217; premiere sound artists as well as move towards a more
    experimental focus for Substractif. The label has been dormant for the better part of a year.
    Up until now the artists that have defined the label have all been Canadian and primarily
    working in electronica. Over the first five releases we offered the debut CD releases by Tim
    Hecker, Polmo Polpo, Mitchell Akiyama as well as Tomas Jirku&#8217;s follow up to his Variants.
    Our previous release by Daniel Menche, Beautiful Blood, focused on layering many different
    sounds and fashioning them into massive drones. The entire recording was made up of two tracks,
    both in excess of 30 minutes each. Unlike our previous release by Menche. Eye on the Steel will
    feature many shorter tracks. The material is more diverse in the respect that there are 13
    different tracks, including Menche&#8217;s first entirely vocal based track. The sound on Eye
    on the Steel is heavily based around drones, pulses and ambient noise, falling somewhere in the
    territories often treaded by labels such as Mego and Ant Zen. When we asked Menche what the
    sound sources behind Eye on the Steel were his response was that the record was his most
    diverse offering yet and included loads of different sound sources. His work often stems from
    sound sources as varied as the body (heart, skin, lungs, larynx) and natural field recordings
    relying on wind, animals or insects, water, fire, and stones to crude, lo-fi, and primitive
    electronics, broken microphones, damaged speakers, antique audio equipment, truck horns,
    mangled drones from instruments such as accordions, melodicas, organs, and bass guitars with
    heavy gauged strings. The listening experience of Eye on the Steel is never static due to the
    wide variety of sounds. Particular highlights include the opening track, which is also the most
    reminiscent of Beautiful Blood. The second track features some glorious low-end rumbles that
    will truly put subwoofers to the test. Track ten, the recording&#8217;s longest track, mixes a
    beautiful combination of pulses and electronic noises that brings to mind the sound of Pan
    Sonic or Montr&#233;al&#8217;s Vromb. Daniel Menche is now more active than ever, having
    performed alongside the likes of Oren Ambarchi, Autechre, Richard Devine, Francisco L&#243;pez,
    Merzbow, Phoenicia, Sunn ((O)), Thrones and countless others.</description>
  </recording>
  <recording id="subsf_05" href="http://www.electrocd.com/fr/cat/subsf_05/">
    <artist>Polmo Polpo</artist>
    <cover href="http://www.electrocd.com/res/couv.lrg/05_SUBSF.gif" />
    <title>The Science of Breath</title>
    <catno>SUBSF 05</catno>
    <year>2002</year>
    <format>
      <code>CD</code>
      <availability>&#233;puis&#233;</availability>
    </format>
    <description>[traduction fran&#231;aise non disponible] Alien8 Recordings and its sub-label
    Substractif will release the debut full-length, &#8220;The Science of Breath&#8221;, by Toronto
    producer Sandro Perri, a.k.a. Polmo Polpo, who blends deep, murky techno with rich layers of
    feedback and densely orchestrated melodies. Recently the artist has enjoyed an explosion in
    popularity, thanks in part to a number of opening performances for Do Make Say Think, Pan Sonic
    and Oval. Trying to describe the sound of Polmo Polpo is not an easy task. The marriage of deep
    rhythms with shifting waves of melody and sometimes brutal white noise is certainly not a
    commonly used formula. This music is beyond catchy, the sound of the slide guitar shifting in
    and out of Gas-style minimalism gives the music a driving force that so much of the genre
    lacks. Over the last few years Polmo Polpo has released four separate 12&#8221; EPs on his own
    imprint Audi Sesna, all of which have gone on to sell out overseas rather quickly. &#8220;The
    Science of Breath&#8221; includes four beat-based tracks from the latest two of these EPs, as
    well as four new shorter tracks that bring the entire record together, and tread the grounds of
    sound sculptors like Fennesz and Tim Hecker. This comparison is made mainly on the basis of
    natural and processed guitar sounds interspersed amongst ambient movements, giving one the
    feeling of exploring the ocean floor inside a pressurized echo chamber. Heavily layered cello
    and lap steel guitar combine their colours to create a world of ghostly shadows immersed in the
    throbbing pulse of &#8220;dance music&#8221;. The track &#8220;Rottura&#8221; is hands down one
    of the best pieces of minimal techno ever produced. The lap steel gives the music a distinct
    and very emotional character, something that seems lacking in the genre of late. There is
    indeed a &#8220;pop&#8221; sensibility at work here, though it&#8217;s seamlessly blended into
    the more &#8220;experimental&#8221; fabric of the music. In fact it is shocking that so few
    people are furthering the exploration of minimal techno with such an unashamedly melodic
    approach, and this is a perfect example of one way to make things a little more interesting.
    The disc&#8217;s closing track, &#8220;Riva&#8221;, takes the formula of &#8220;Rottura&#8221;
    and pushes the acoustic instrumentation envelope further. This track has the drive of a Daft
    Punk stomper coupled with Henry Flynt-style minimalist drones that work beautifully. Polmo
    Polpo will launch the CD at the very hip Suoni Per Il Popolo festival put on annually by the
    Casa del Popolo in Montr&#233;al, where he will perform alongside Tim Hecker (who will also be
    launching his new release for Substractif), as well as an all-star cast of Montr&#233;alers
    (Hangedup, Monstre, Mitchell Akiyama, and more) joining him on stage. Future plans for Polmo
    Polpo include working on an upcoming full length release for Montr&#233;al&#8217;s
    Constellation records. Polmo Polpo&#8217;s &#8220;The Science of Breath&#8221; comes packaged
    in our beautiful custom gatefold jacket with stunning photographs of octopii.</description>
  </recording>
</label>
