david kristian - music from the mermaid room CD
Wikkid Records
I've praised this
electronic music producer from Montreal in the past and after hearing him
perform live once more at Mutek 03, I must confirm that David Kristian is
the supreme Canadian "IDM" producer. Deep and prolific, Kristian’s music
is as polyrhythmic as the best of Richard James/Aphex Twin and as melodic
as the most heart felt Michael Paradinas/Mu-Ziq productions. Long before
bedroom hobbyists like Manitoba and Solvent garnered any reviewer’s ink,
Kristian was the first Canadian to make in-roads into the British scene of
the ‘90’s, sharing an EP with Squarepusher’s Tom Jenkinson and releasing
tracks on several influential labels. Now the far-sighted entrepreneurs at
Wikkid have made the commitment to release the best of Kristian’s vast
unreleased library of beat-oriented tracks on a series of nine CDs! This
first sampler is just a taste of the exquisite intelligent techno, electro
and analogue stylings that should firmly establish Kristian’s polyglot
talent.
- Chris Twomey (Tandem)
Disc of the week -
IDM pioneer, sound engineer and certainly one of Montreal’s most
accomplished and prolific electronic artists, David Kristian is at it
again. Following his heralded release on Piehead, local imprint Wikkid has
just released Music from the Mermaid Room, the first in a 10-part
retrospective CD series culled from Kristian’s immense DAT library of
unreleased tracks created from ’93 to ’02. Spanning from his emotive,
Boards of Canada style analog melodies to eerie, minimal ambience to his
more dense, electro-driven pieces, Kristian’s uncompromising vision and
unrelenting search for as yet unexplored sonic universes are the thread
that binds each track to the next. Add to that his natural talent for
scoring films that lends a dark, cinematic feel to each track and you’ve
got a great comp. An excellent cross-section of this local legend’s work
that leaves the listener yearning for more. Thankfully, more is on the
way. 9/10
-
Raf Katigbak
(Montreal Mirror/
Vice)
"Techno in the truest,
purest sense of the word, not IDM, not tech-house but pure robot music and
superb. David Kristian is one of the more prolific yet adventurous
electronic producers in Canada..." "Every tune is well crafted with catchy
melodic hooks." "...a masterful example of dark robot music with
masterful drum programming and exemplary imaginative keyboard lines. How
Kristian manages to be prolific and deliver high quality music is
something of a mystery."
-
I. Khider (Exclaim!)
Kristian: a
near-legendary local producer known for eccentric electro, d n' b and
experimental audio curiosities released over the last 15 years with
Alien8, Interchill, SPV and more. This compilation gathers
noticeably listener-friendly tracks recorded over the last decade.
Thirteen tracks that I would characterize as lo-fi, nostalgic and
pleasantly simple, lull the listener into a popping, crackling womb-like
comfort zone. IDM with emotion, electro sans clash, these timeless
essentials point deep into a robotic future yet remain imbued with a
childlike innocence.
-
Steve Lalla (Hour)
This collection is an
attempt to gather the best of David Kristian's back catalogue of
unreleased tracks from the early 90s up to the present. This first CD
Showcases material from the upcoming 9 volume series of the same name,
plus material only previously available on vinyl. The selection process
required many hours of listening, transfers (sometimes from disintegrating
tapes), remastering, and editing; although the material which appears in
this volume has been reformatted, no enhancements have been made. The only
changes which were brought to the tracks were in consideration of length
and sound quality. Also, we have chosen to "shuffle" the material on this
and other volumes in order to present the wide variety of styles which
characterize David's output.-
Wikkid Records
