Délicatement rythmique, magnifiquement orchestré, Silent Reflections est une ode généreuse et ouverte sur le monde, fraîche et langoureuse, aérienne et enchanteresse. Les envolées expressives dévoilent un univers chaleureux que la pochette ne laissait entrevoir derrière son aspect urbain et grisâtre. La musique est intense et riche, parfois chargée, mais surtout en émotions, les nappes et mélodies étant souvent très en avant pour appuyer le propos. Quelques brisures rythmiques, de petites expérimentations, une accélération ça et là, un peu de distorsion pour aiguiser les sens, une instrumentation variée et d'excellents remixes en clôture (Heimstatt Ypotash, Fragment King et 16pad Noiseterrorist), se fondant à merveille à l'unité de cet album profond qui dès la première écoute conquiert ! Excellent. http://www.cold-room.com

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Kai Hahnewald ist den Meisten wohl eher bekannt als Gründungsmitglied des Rhythm'n'Noise-Projekts S.K.E.T., das in den vergangenen Jahren mit den Konzeptalben Aktivist und Baikonur in der Szene für Furore sorgte. Dass Kai jedoch weit mehr kann als Krach, beweist er mit seinem Nebenprojekt Talvekoidik und dem Debütalbum Silent Reflections, auf dem zerbrechliche, intelligente Rhythmusstrukturen auf orchestrale Klanggebäude, verspielte Klaviermelodien und weite, kalte Soundlandschaften treffen. Und vor allem Letztere haben es wahrlich in sich: im Stück Eismeer sieht man förmlich den Eisbrecher durch das ewig kalte Nordmeer fahren und auch die weiten Orchesterpassagen, die in Concealed Longings verspielte Streicherarrangements tragen, wissen zu überzeugen. Im Titelstück Silent Reflections wird man schließlich wieder zurück an die stürmische Baltische See versetzt und fühlt beinahe den kalten Wind im Gesicht und Goodbye Of The Certainty zeigt eindrucksvoll, dass es eine verdammt gute Idee ist, getragene klassische Melodien auf ein durchdachtes, sanftes Bassgerüst zu setzen. Ein Wahnsinns-Album, das zwar aufgrund seiner komplexen Songstrukturen nicht gerade leicht zu fassen ist, doch gerade deshalb sehr lange für regelmäßige akustische Orgasmen sorgen kann – sofern man sich darauf einlässt. (10)
Marco Reich  Orkus magazine

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TALVEKOIDIK - SILENT REFLECTIONS (CD by Brume Records)
THERMIDOR - 1929 (CD by Brume Records)
Brume Records is a French label covering a wide spectrum of experimental electronic music including dark ambient, power noise and everything in-between. The label established back in 2000 has a great release-catalogue with albums from interesting acts such as Flint Glass, Oil 10 and others. The two present releases is a good example of the quality standard of the label. First album comes from German musician Kai Christian Hahnewald, also known as the founding member of the S.K.E.T.-project that has had a couple of releases on German Power Noise label Hands Productions. The new project by Kai is called Talvekoidik. "Talvekoidik" is the Estonian word for a foggy, winter-like atmosphere. Apparently not an accidental choice of name, with an expression that blends atmospheric orchestral-based IDM with harsh Industrial-based rhythm textures and gloomy ambience. The result is impressive and definitely quite unique. Especially the inclusion of folk music expressions from a number of cultural
traditions makes it unusual. Favorite track on the album is the awesome track titled "Rough Baltic Shore" consisting of atmospheric ambientscapes mixed up with various ancient folk sounds from flute to sack-pipes assisted by great rhythm structures below. Awesome track and a very intense album. Similarly intense, yet remarkably darker is the solo-project "Thermidor" by Portuguese artist J. Olivier. Similar to the aforementioned album by Talvekoidik, the debut album of Thermidor titled "1929" has some associations back to the musical culture of the historical past, but where Talvekoidik was folk-inspired, Thermidor is more orchestral based and more pompous in expression. Another sharp contrast to the Talvekoidik-project is the complete lack of rhythm textures on "1929". The album is ambient music of the dark kind entirely based on gloomy and melancholic ambience built on solemn electronic soundscapes, distant voice and vocals, buzzing noise drones and with momentarily occurrences of
acoustic sounds of piano and clanging bells. "1929" is a dark and sinister trip back to the early days of 20th century. Very intense! (NM) Vital-weekly
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Talvekoidik gives a symphonic boost to Silent Reflections' neo-classical moodscapes by slathering the material with piano and brooding strings and infusing it with Scandinavian, Baltic, Arabic and African musical flavour. Hahnewald's Talvekoidik (an Estonian word that means foggy, winter-like atmosphere) material is suitably dense, epic in design but melancholy in character. The album gets off to a strong start with the alternately brooding and uplifting “Such a Perfect Day.” Though offset by churning machine beats and muffled by a heavy, almost oppressive thrum, a keening Celtic theme brings a lonely folk feel to “Rough Baltic Shore.” Shortly thereafter, Arabic percussion and melodies transport the listener to a different part of the world in “Sandstorm.” Hahnewald could exercise a bit more control over the epic dimension, however, as it can turn into bombast if not carefully reined in. Nightmarish beat clatter and sawing strings almost push “Eismeer” over the top, for example, and “Silent Reflections” verges on overwrought. It's certainly a generous package with three steamrolling remixes by Heimstatt Yipotash (a writhing breakcore treatment of “Eismeer”), Fragment King (a hammering “Atlas” mix), and 16pad Noiseterrorist (a Moog-saturated screechfest version of “Eismeer”) helping push the release over the seventy-six minute mark. http://www.textura.org

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From the very first tracks I thought that the sound is familiar to me. And not simply familiart, but very familiar. The thing is that I give an album a first listen before reading all the materials that are sent in together with the album, all those cards and press-releases that give an idea of what the band is. Talvekoidik had something from S.K.E.T. – those complicated, but so balanced rhythmic structures that become not just an accompanement, a background for the tunes, but a part enjoying equal rights on an album. Indeed, I wasn’t surprise to find out after that Talvekoidik is a project of Kai from S.K.E.T., a band that already manages to gain authority and doesn’t need to be presented. Silent Reflections is Talvekoidik’s debut album, issued on a french label Brume Records that brought to the world releases of such bands as Flint Glass, Prospero, Empusae, Remain Silent, Oil 10 and many others. I think those bands mentioned have to give a reader a slight hint on what he or she is going to give a listen to.

Talvekoidik is an estonian word, meaning foggy, winter-like atmosphere. When I read the definition the first associations that come to my mind are “majestic”, “scaled”, “cold”, “atmospheric”. So are the tracks presented on the album. This effect is reached not only because of complicated, rich rhythm structures I’ve already mentioned consisting not only of the usual drums, but also noises of different volume and frequencies and percussions, but also due to neoclassical patterns’ presence. There you can hear strings of different kinds – cellos, violins, violas, and horns. All together drawing a breathtaking picturesque landscapes – vast fields, where wild wind sways tall grass or rocky mountains whose heads are covered with crystal snow, cliffs on the seaside on the background of grey skies. But whichever scenery it is there’s a constant feeling of wind presence, which makes all those landskapes look alive. I think this wind-feeling is created with the help of noises in rhythmic structures.

Another side of this album is its reference to different cultures. There’re so many influences you can hear: oriental ones are easily recognised on Sandstorm track, african percussion in Silent Reflections or The Cliff track, celtic feeling in Rough Baltic Shore and Goodbye of the Certainity . There’s also no boarders for time in Silent Reflections – track seem to be coming from different epochs: majestic Eismeer, The Cliff (that has a mood of an old legend being told, due to the horns used, I think) or Goodbye of the Certainity (this one somewhere in the middle made me think to Minotaurus of Fix8:Sed8), completely contemporary Such a Perfect Day or Power of Eclecticism. This album is truely very diverse and extremely rich in images that music creates.

There were other people taking part in creating this piece of art as well. One of the tracks, Eismeer, was remixed by other rhythmic industrial/power noise bands – Heimstatt Yipotash, which used 8 bit sounds in its remix and the band I got to know – 16pad Noiseterrorist, which made the track difficult to recognise: distorted tunes, as if you’re looking at an object through false mirror, rough beats. I really liked Atlas remix by the band called Fragment King, I think because of the contrast between rough, uncompromising rhythm and neoclassical patterns in the background. Apart from those three bands, the following people have to be mentioned: Elda di Matteo performed piano on tracks “Such a Perfect Day” and “The Cliff”, Zonk’t did the mastering at Odd Studios and the booklet is designed by Mathieu Orioli. Actually a 3 panel Digisleeve became the last drop in the flow of positive information, coze designers managed to combine all the images and moods presented on this album: cold, grey, metal constructions outside and nature landscapes inside reflect internal filling – soundscapes - really well. This album is definitely going to get its deserved place among those enjoyed the most in my collection.

http://www.heathenharvest.com/

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Dieses Projekt mit dem außergewöhnlichen Namen (es kommt aus dem Estischen und beschreibt eine winterlich-neblige Atmosphäre) ist eine Idee vom Mitglied der nicht mehr unbekannten Gruppe S.K.E.T. Kai, der Mastermind hinter Talvekoidik, entführt uns in einen ganz eigenen musikalischen Kosmos, der sich einerseits aus verschachtelten Rhythmen, andererseits aus traumhaft schönen Melodien zusammensetzt. Die Spannung der Songs entsteht dabei durch das Zusammenspiel zwischen gleitenden Pianolinien und getragenen Streichern mit den komplex aufgebauten, manchmal mit Störgeräuschen versehenen Rhythmen, die Kai als einen richtigen Soundtüftler und Musikbastler auszeichnen. Dabei wird auf „Silent Reflections“ immer wieder variiert. Zum Beispiel ist bei „Rough Baltic Shore“ vor allem bei „Eismeer“ das Rhythmische stärker in den Vordergrund gesetzt, während „Concealed Longings“ und das Titelstück „Silent Reflections“ sich vor allem durch die Melodien aufbauen. Teilweise sehr filmisch konstruiert, entsteht beim Hörer so ein schönes Kopfkino. Dass Kai sich den Namen Talvekoidik ausgewählt hat, kommt nicht von ungefähr: Seine Musik lassen unweigerlich vereiste Landschaften vor dem geistigen Auge entstehen, weite Flächen mit einzelnen Bäumen, deren Äste vom Raureif eine seltsame Eleganz und Schönheit mit sich bringen. „Silent Reflections“ ist das, was man intelligente Musik nennen möchte, fernab irgendwelcher Klischees, sondern einfach auf die Musik selbst bezogen. Und tatsächlich schafft es Talvekoidik, sich ziemlich genau zu positionieren und einen eigenen, spezifischen Sound zu kreieren.http://elektrauma.de/

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Visionary soundtrack for experimental electronic poetry.
Saying that the creative mind behind Talvekoidik is the same from the rhythmic noise project S.K.E.T. is absolutely a negligible detail. Talvekoidik is far from being a side project, it is a fresh expressive reality that flows from the same individuality and completes it with the same strength. Listening to “Silent Reflections” is like dreaming an inner film rich in airy shots and wide views that fills up with thrills and move to emotional tears. The continuous contrast between harmonic sensitiveness and the wonderful rhythmic work welcome the restless and shocking throbs of experimental industrial syncopation, it excites the epic pursuit among wind instruments, strings and piano within a magnificent superb explosion of timbric colors, crescendos, diminuendos and noisy emotional scenarios able to take your breath away. The cinematic strenght is soaked in digital sizzling mechanisms and sine waves that keep estranged from reality and expand in impressive classical symphonies, in the lyrical and ethnic romanticism of the lashing Nordic wind, as well as in the tribal silence of the desert wrapped in the refined lights of a dreamy metropolitan hi tech oasis. Three remixes (the one from 16PadNoiseTerrorist seems to be the funniest and most original) complete an unmissable debut. http://www.addictivenoize.com  + Interview :

Für Talvekoidik zeichnet sich Kai Christian Hahnewald beim französischen Label verantwortlich, u.a. von S.K.E.T. bekannt. Mustergültig verschmilzt er IDM, Electronica oder auch Industrial mit einer sorgfältig abgestimmten Menge an experimentellen Bestandteilen. Dazu gesellen sich Einflüsse aus keltischer, arabischer, skandinavischer, baltischer und afrikanischer Musiktradition.  also – beinah unter Idealbedingungen. „Rough Baltic Shore” zieht stark emotionsgeladen unausweichlich in seinen Bann. Ebenso effektiv sorgt die einprägsame Melodie von„The Moebius Strip“ für erhöhte Aufmerksamkeit. Bei großartigen Werken wie diesem ist die Repeatfunktion Gold wert! Minimal mehr davon statt mehr vom erstgenannten. (4,5/5 – sh) Vibe magazine http://www.vibe.cd