Reviews :

Thermidor - 1929 (Thisco / Brume Records)

Thermidor enjoys a little mysterious atmosphere. An enigmatic Portuguese artist, Mr. J Oliveira, likes to fascinate his audience with audio and visual shows, sitting at the fore of the experimental posse that strongly drives the evolution of the fine arts in this century. Exciting times to be. 1929 is a fascinating sonic journey across the sophistication of evolving enveloping soundscapes, abstraction cum humans, portraits of mysterious realms, all drifting in and out of solid perception, floating between conscious and unconsciousness, riding the electrical waves that make up our thoughts and visions. A touch of epic drama does not go amiss either, as Mr. J exhibit his mastery of a whole range of emotive moods. The collaboration with landmark label Brume Records materializes in two tracks that are remixed by Empusae and Flint Glass, two acts that certainly know a thing or two about deep reaching ambiences and electronic titillation. They both add rhythmic elements to Thermidor explorations, lifting a little of the sense of mystery characterizing the main work and bringing it more in line with that modern arty electronica that is proving to be the driving force behind the rapid evolution of experimental electronic music these days. A macabre video rounds up the disc, although I am not entirely sure whether this is exclusive to the sppecial promo version of the album we have received for reviewing. Darklife Fanzine http://www.darksite.ch

  La crise économique mondiale, la tentation de la récession, les faillites bancaires... de la à assimiler la situation de 2008 à celle de 1929, il n'y a qu'un pas que les économistes se refusent à franchir. Thermidor l'a implicitement fait en tentant de nous replonger dans l'univers du chaos économique et des désillusions sociales propres à cette époque d'entre deux guerres.
On n'en sait finalement que peu sur "J.", l'homme, de nationalité portugaise, qui se dissimule derrière cet univers déroutant au moyen de longues plages sonores habitées par les productions Cyclic Law, Cold Meat Industry et les plus ambiantes de Divine Comedy Records, pour ne citer que quelques labels. Les longues boucles atonales évoquent parfois Les Joyaux De La Princesse dans leurs décors les plus récents. Les plages atmosphériques s'écoutent, ou plutôt s'entendent au gré de la recherche de la bonne grille de lecture sonore, que dont l'auditeur aura la lourde tâche de rechercher, sans doute en vain.
Certains iront chercher du côté de Delerium (side-project de Bill Leeb de Front Line Assembly), d'autres de De Mange Machine, voire des réminiscences de musique concrète... définitivement inclassable.
Parfois une voix slavisante vient briser l'arythmie grandiloquente de l'enchevêtrement des samples "spoken words" (peut-être Georges Gurdjieff ?), mais c'est pour mieux repartir aussi vite qu'elle est arrivée. Elle laisse sa place à un Lied déconstruit, déstructuré, désillusionné.  Finalement on imagine une forte influence lovecraftienne.
Ou alors on se met dans la peau de ces explorateurs partis à la recherche de l'Atlantide, de l'Hyperborée, de la Lance de la Destinée... loin du matérialisme déchu et de la vénalité abrogée... Raison d'Être et Sophia ne sont pas bien loin... et disparaissent aussi, nous laissant sans repère.  C'est comme ça Thermidor, comme la tâche brune que l'on croit observer en plissant les yeux en direction du soleil, comme le bruit inquiétant que l'on croit distinguer au beau milieu de la nuit entre les sonorités habitant la pénombre ou encore le mirage qui rend la route d'été liquide alors que la fournaise règne ; on croit le saisir, mais ce serait comme s'il avait vocation à totalement nous échapper. Ou s'agirait-il tout simplement de la traduction acoustique des dernières pensées qui accompagnèrent les banquiers ruinés dans leur entreprise de suicide, du haut des premiers buildings ? Ou tout simplement un énième représentant de la "musique difficile pour gens difficiles" ? Et ce n'est pas les notoires Empusae et Flint Glass qui nous aideront, avec leur remixes respectifs, à trouver la faille. Souhaitant que Thermidor nous donne la réponse dans l'album suivant, chez le profilifique label Brume Records... http://www.axesscode.com/

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Thermidor (Portugal) - 1929
2007, Brume records, CD
(31.01.2008, ryby, )
Many interesting albums has been released from this label during its existence, but Thermidor, offered by French company at present, is probably the darkest one. Thermidor is a project, which roots and signals are transmitted by its boarding unit from Portugal and I have to admit, it has succeed in this case. Excellent combination of film moods and ambient spaces, where the tumults are drawning, noise and negative signals,called as a dark ambient in a darker territories, and in a such case will be in a state of attention. Frequently used sampling, plenty of sick voices and developed remixes by Flint Glass and Empusae could lead you to this sick project, which fulfills all marks of a quality work.http://www.aliens.sk

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THERMIDOR 1929(Brume Records/Thisco) Enigmatique projet portugais mené par un artiste dont on ne connaît que l’initiale J. et le fait qu’il est également architecte, comédien de théâtre, poète, écrivain et illustrateur, Thermidor pose ses valises temporelles, pour son premier album, en 1929, l’année du premier grand crash boursier de l’Humanité. Que cette sortie coïncide pratiquement avec une crise boursière presque aussi importante n’est sans doute qu’un hasard, à moins qu’il ne s’agisse de l’œuvre des forces obscures qui semblent entourer Thermidor. Car 1929, tel que l’imagine J., c’est également la pleine période des mystères lovecraftiens, et l’ombre des créatures de l’écrivain de Providence flotte largement sur l’album. Cinématographique et angoissante, proche d’un dark ambient nourri de mélodies crispantes et d’orgues funèbres, portée sur des intonations épisodiques d’une voix profonde déclamant en portugais et d’incantations étranges, la musique de Thermidor, augmentée ici de deux relectures signées Flint Glass et Empusae (autres grands admirateurs de Lovecraft), est une vraie découverte, et convoque des visons durablement tétanisantes .Jean-François Micard/ D-side magazine  

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 TALVEKOIDIK - SILENT REFLECTIONS and 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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Without any doubt, the so-coined ‘props’ are to be made to Thermidor whose press release is the salvo press releases should fusillade. With their mock up of an A4 double sided newspaper, the Kingsport Clarion, they ensconced their selves into good favour by their appreciation of Mr. Lovecraft and his city in the mists. Now, despite the actual city being an actual city before Mr. Lovecraft did know of it, Thermidor lend towards his dark and misty port town and perhaps a little intimation toward a certain roleplaying product set in Arkham that also featured a fictitious newspaper reflects their reflection to the old gent. The use of missing Atlantic researchers, Tesla’s new discoveries in this document speak to this and while press releases are usually tossed after a review, this one shall remain secreted with the promo. So let us become inveigled.

As bespoken in their Times New Roman, this is a thriller of a slow nightmare. Rich. Frontal lobe. Surreal. All the sole purpose of the artist “J”, initiated with a dark and short monologue by Luis Pedroso that haunts immediately accompanied with spatially deceptive sonics, noise, squeals and dissonance.

Revolution and Dreams. Revolution in dreams? Or dreams of revolution? All matters little in this modernistic throwback, utilizing the horrid machinations of our society’s instruments to drag us back into film noir expressionism. And it is not lo-fi. It is far, far too hi-fi. Dialup modems rupture and fractured noise explodes to the stuttered slowed speed of vocals. The myriad states of sounds are cinematic of an era where musical accompaniment to filmography was classical symphony whereby placards representing speech where presented ‘tween actor’s wordless dialogue. 1929 is the soundtrack of the past without a score.

It is an abstract of ambience and noise, utilising a vast prop room of effects, but all sounds are pristine, within the head, the fidelity too real. This is an OST you should buy for a film that was never made. Dream it instead, and if that doesn’t work, revolt and demand it be made. Lies. This is an enhanced CD. Track 09 is an mp4 video, which is weird, but not weird enough... perhaps the only criticism of the release, which thankfully is not the work of the elusive “J”. Unfortunately since a promo was sent, the full package cannot be fully expressed. http://www.heathenharvest.com/

Een nogal raadselachtig project, deze Thermidor. De artiest erachter is een zekere “J.” en meer is van hem (haar?) niet geweten. Het album “1929” bestaat uit een vrij korte, een paar minuten durende, intro en dito outro en vier lange dronende ambient soundscapes in tijdsduur variërend van 7 tot 14 minuten. De obligate stemsamples zitten er ook in, maar ze worden vrij zuinig aangewend. En ze zijn in een Slavische taal, dus ik versta er de ballen van. Even zuinig wordt er omgesprongen met het element melodie. Af en toe duiken er stikdonkere synthtonen op tussen de diepduistere drones en heel af en toe zelfs een korte sample klassieke muziek en koorzang. Enig geduld is hier op zijn plaats. Enkel het sublieme “Plenum Aquae” drijft nadrukkelijk op synthesizermelodieën. Ook watersamples – de zee en druppelgeluiden – zitten in sommige tracks verwerkt, meer bepaald in die met de ‘waterige’ titels “Oceanus” en “Plenum Aquae”. Als extra tracks staan er twee herwerkingen op van laatstgenoemde tracks in remix-versie. En al zijn we doorgaans geen fans van remixen omdat die meestal weinig of niks toevoegen aan het origineel, hier is het tegendeel waar! De “Oceanus” remix door Empusae en de – nog straffere – “Plenum Aquae” remix door Flint Glass behoren tot de beste tracks van dit album. Ze injecteren halverwege de song respectievelijk tribale en ritmisch industriële beats. De “Plenum Aquae” remix wordt zelfs best dansbaar en steeds opzwepender wordend culmineert het in een abrupt einde. Inclusief extra tracks duurt het album net geen vol uur. Tot slot is er ook een cd-rom gedeelte met de kortfilm “Obituarium” van de hand van ene António Sabença met als ingrediënten lucht en wolken, water, boten, een kotsend en stervend meisje en – jawel - gasmaskers. De soundtrack door Thermidor begint met kerkorgelmuziek en voor de rest wisselen ambiente drones af met al even duistere synthesizermelodieën. Fans van dark ambient en drone ambient, grijp nu uw kans voor de aanschaf van de limited edition op 500 exemplaren in slim DVD case, met extra’s en artwork door “J.”. En dit voor slechts € 13 want het Brume Records label volgt bewust een lage-prijzen-politiek. [HV]

http://www.darkentries.be/

Изданный ограниченным тиражом 500 экземпляров в тонком DVD-боксе, альбом концептуального проекта THERMIDOR должен очень понравиться поклонникам мрачноватого, таинственного и немного пугающего запредельно-психотропного эмбиента, наводящего мосты между реальным и ирреальным мирами, рациональным и иррациональным мышлением, настоящим и прошлым временем, в частности с 1929 годом прошлого века. Помимо всего прочего, альбом загадочного оккультного музыканта, вышедшего из тени под именем J, имеет сценографические и театральные грани, а также соприкасается с первой научной фантастикой и экспериментами таких ученых, как Никола Тесла и т. д. Звуковые ландшафты THERMIDOR временами кажутся сюрреалистическими, изоляционистскими, кошмарными, фантазийными и призрачными, но они также имеют свойство гипнотизировать и открывать пространственно-временные коридоры. В некотором смысле прослушивание альбома "1929" сродни тому, как если бы вы нашли на чердаке или в подвале старинного дома толстый альбом с пожелтевшими от времени черно-белыми фотографиями, таинственными монограммами и научными документами, которые вы бы начали внимательно рассматривать, сдувая с них пыль и представляя себе судьбы запечатленных людей, их изобретений и ситуации, в которых всех застала камера фотографа. Занятие это, я должен сказать, весьма увлекательное, тем более что среди восьми композиций альбома нет слабых вещей, и две из них являются ремиксами таких мастеров дарк эмбиента, как EMPUSAE и FLINT GLASS. Последние треки поистине шикарно вписываются в концепцию альбома. Однако не удивляйтесь, если в какой-то момент вы услышите в голове звон или легкое жужжание. Это может быть как сонная галлюцинация, так и заход альбома на следующий круг. Диск также содержит стилизованный хоррор-видеоклип "Obituarium" Antonio Saben-ca и включает любопытный спецвыпуск газеты "Kingsport Clarion" от 30 сентября 1929 года, приоткрывающий завесу тайны над проектом THERMIDOR и рассказывающий о странных событиях, имевших быть в мире и вокруг таинственного французского проекта в прошлом. Альбом "1929" можно смело рекомендовать к прослушиванию поклонникам LUSTMORD, HERBST 9, FIRST LAW, COPH NIA И FLINT GLASS. Мы имеем дело с весьма достойным альбомом в своем жанре, имеющим помимо всего прочего оригинальные черты. Немного неожиданный релиз для французского лейбла Brume Records и его португальского партнера Thisco, и это здорово.  [9 баллов] http://www.machinistmusic.net

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“1929” by Thermidor is an album that has to grow on you. The more I listen to it, the more I seem to understand the music. We get to listen to ambient and soundscape tracks wich are prominently made with the keyboard/synthesizer. When I first started listening this release the keayboard sound caught my attention in a negative way: I got the feeling the sounds and tones chosen were too artificial and cold. But after several tries I get the feeling it all seems to fall in place and I more then once get sucked into the spherical, almost soundtrack-like, music on “1929”.

Thermidor is the project of someone who is only known as J and is from Lisabon, Portugal. “1929” is a slimcase DVD release with 6 tracks, 2 remixes and a video by Antonio Sebance. The opening tune and the closing track have lyrical contributions Luis Pedroso, who has an intense and oppressing voice. His way of orating reminds me of the scary 'The Dead Flag Blues' by Godspeed You! Black Emperor. The ambient and saoundscape music of Thermidor brings to mind the creations of Lustmord and the calmer Cold Meat Industry acts (like Coph Nia and Raison d'Etre). My personal favorite is 'Sub Levare' that – with its metro/train samples – brings back memories of the white noise of Blamstrains “Disfold”. The two remixs of Empusae and Flint Glass are also very pleasing to the ear. Especially the rhythmic approach of the last one brings a surprising ending to an album that - after a while of getting used to – knows how to create a convincing mood.

If you like Lustmord, Coph Nia and the likes, then be quick and get this release: there are only 500 copies made.

http://www.gothtronic.com/

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The world around us time to time or, at worst, may bore, tire or become intolerable very often. There may be different reasons of that. It may depend on person itself, as well as on some circumstances, which not always may be controlled or predicted. Such aversion forces to search for the some actions and ways of obstacle negotiation. But what exactly to do, what would be the next step and what direction to choose at all? It is obvious, that you need to break away and stand beyond the borders, abstract mind from reality with all of its possibly unbearable problems in order to find a correct decision. In other words, it’s nice to take a detached view.

Portuguese artist hiding behind a short-spoken pseudo “J.” and heading his project Thermidor in the debut album presents music which exactly corresponds to levelling-off that borders between actuality and irreality, between present, past and, as mr. J. states himself, even not so distant and quite real future.

1929 thrills from the very first moments, roots out listener from the context of the current environment and places somewhere at the crossroads of space and time. This album lets you to interpret and associate freely your person and own life with certain bits of music. Within the duration limits of one single track self consciousness may surprisingly switch from personal associations to the cosmic scale! Personal reflections, reminiscences and associations suddenly could be followed by imaginary space journey, where Earth or even our Milky Way becoming a small grain of sand and people with whole their problems – meaningless grains in grain. At the same time, human itself as a part of this huge fractal possibly has a power for a great deeds and to get over the difficulties. Of course, this album is worthy of notice without binding to all stated above: anyway you’re guaranteed to have a nice voyage, full of mysticism, impressions and unexpected turns and ways the music develops.