Opinions on FAX Records and Pete Namlook

I'm not surprised, it seems that the Namlook + Inoue collabs and the Inoue solo albums are among the most valued of early Fax. They reissued some of the Inoue records (Zenith, Electro Harmonix, Eulengasse, Ambiant Otaku) a couple of years ago, but not Shades of Orion, nor Organic Cloud. And since it seems Fax has folded with Namlook's demise, there are no new reissues coming, and those Ambient World re-releases have become quite pricey too.

I wonder what's the situation now with Fax's back catalogue now? If anyone could continue running Fax even as a strict reissue label, it'd be a huge service to fans. Seems like they were on their way of reissuing most of the classic stuff via AW before Namlook died.

figuring out what to do with the catalogue must be a seriously complicated issued.
i mean even his web domain from which he ran the label from has lapsed, which is very sad, as it had a good record of what was available.
i would suspect he still had racks and racks of unsold stock, so surely the family will want some way to help fans get access to them (must have been part of the probate service figuring out the value ?)
luckily i have a few of the original namlook/inoue collaborations (original press of ambiant otaku is one of my faves !).
and and thanks for reminding me, organic cloud was always top of my buy upon sight discs, and i never did succeed on that score.

i have that shades of orion somewhere. if i can find it i'll send a rip yr way.

that would be much appreciated. ta.

long forgotten archive dig :

http://s.pixogs.com/image/R-150-123354-1289397681.jpeg

pre-FAX kuhlmann material.

time to add to the digital archive.

have no memory of what this is like.

suspect its somewhat new age (fingers x'd !)

ooops.

http://s.pixogs.com/image/R-150-123354-1289397681.jpeg

4 days on and i cannot listen to anything else but FAX.

ear candy perfection

So, I've been checking out some later day FAX albums, and I came across this artist called Gate Zero, who released 3 albums for the label (in 2005, 2006, 2011), and they're all prety dope, especially the first one. They're kinda atypical for FAX, the tracks are mostly just 5 or 6 minutes long, and there's a heavier emphasis on the beats, which are more minimal techno/IDM than ambient... But the slow, pretty synth drones Namlook loved are alsp there, so it still kinda fits FAX. Anyway, I'd totally recommend these, and since they're not by a "name" FAX artist, you can still get them for relatively cheap.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWooUGOCFws

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVaZtxoMwjk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luP9TXDZGeM

Also, the covers for the first two albums are among the prettiest in the FAX catalogue:

http://www.israbox.com/uploads/posts/2011-02/1296888154_500.jpg

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51xoyq1zR1L.jpg

The third one is... something else:

http://www.gatezero-music.de/images/ps08124.jpg

you see, i have no love for the later era artwork ..

sorry.

give me the black outer, and then circle/triangle art anyday.

I dunno, the original design concept was iconic, obviously, but some of the latter albums were still able to do some cool things with the circle motif + modern computer graphics. Like this one:

http://www.synthema.ru/uploads/posts/2011-05/1305131881_1.jpg

I think that's a very neat way of summarizing the album's theme in a simple image.

the inner goth in me still prefers the black groove of the originals ..

(however, i get what you are on about .. )

I was listening to Tetsu Inoue's Inland (another great late-period FAX album) from 2007, and was wondering why I haven't heard about any newer releases from him... But after a quick googling, it turns out that record was the last one he's released, and since that he's totally disappeared, with no one (at least outside Japan) being able to track him down. There's some info here, but it's scarce.

I hope everything is fine with him and he's just taking care of family or something (as suggested by one comment on the site I linked to), it'd be terribly sad if something bad's happened to him.

I mean, the stuff he released on FAX, both solo and collabs, is pretty much my favourite ambient music of all time, it'd be awful if both he and Namlook had passed away before their time... So hopefully he's okay, and just taking it easy somewhere.

As mentioned above, lately I've been digging into late period (mid-00s to 2012) FAX, and I thought I might write short reviews of the stuff I've listened here, if only to amuse myself and Mark E. :) TBH when Namlook, I hadn't listened to any for FAX releases for years, and while his demise was sad, I thought at that point both the label and his music were well past their prime... But it turns out there are a lot of gems among the latter day catalogue, it's just that they seemed to have been ignored because FAX hadn't been a trendy label since the 90s.

Pete Namlook & Tetsu Inoue - 2350 Broadway 4 (2007)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v655/lixnixn/R-882897-1180633249_zps3fb164f4.jpeg

Before this album came out, Tetsu Inoue had left FAX years ago, and in the intervening years he'd relesed the sort glitchy, experimental digital ambient that was popular at the turn of the millennium. The records from this era that I've heard haven't really convinced me, it doesn't seem Inoue's strengths fit the glitch/click & cut approach well. Then he returned to FAX for a couple of records, and it's nice to hear his collab with Namlook sounds more like their 90s albums than what Inoue had been doing between. If you've listened to something like "Shades of Orion 2", you know what you're going to get here: glacially moving but incredibly warm and harmonious set of drones. There aren't any beats, no techno riffs or anything, just soft and slow ambience. This set really benefits from the 5.1. surround sound Namlook started to experiment with in 2006 (all his albums from that year on include both a 5.1. DTS disc and regular stereo CD), as the music makes you feel like being inside a cosmic womb. If you liked what these guys had done in the past, then this is a very fine return to form.

ha !

fully suspected there would be gems, but after the gold rush of 94-96, i never found anywhere that stocked FAX.

i assumed that pete has retreated from the 'industry' and was selling his material all by himself.

( and for financial reasons, i needed to break the habit )

of course, should i ever see any cd in the racks (new or otherwise), i would now purchase without a second thought.

Most of the releases from FAX's last years can still be found for a reasonable price (between 15 and 30 euros) in places like Amazon and Discogs.com. They eventually started to print only 300 copies of each album, probably because no one except for hardcore aficionados was following the label at that point. I assume Namlook's death (and the realization than none of this stuff will be reissued by Ambient World or anyone else in the foreseeable future) raised the interest in the latter day releases, but like I said, most of it is still available for decent prices. (Sadly that doesn't apply to "2350 Broadway 4"; the Namlook/Inoue collabs are among the most popular of FAX releases, so this one's long sold out too.)

Tetsu Inoue - Inland (2007)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v655/lixnixn/R-978540-1187190834_zps710fcf01.jpeg

After "2350 Broadway 4", it's not really surprising that "Inland" also sounds closer to Tetsu Inoue's 90s FAX releases like "Ambiant Otaku" than to the more experimental stuff he had made since leaving the label. This is still very much drone music, though the drones develop more than on the Namlook collab, and there are hints of melody and some well-placed snaps and crackles to be heard too. Overall the mood is quite content and blissful, I guess the title of the album could be a metaphor for home or some kind of inner peace? Like I mentioned above, apparently this was the last thing Inoue released before he completely disappeared. If it turns out to be his testament, well, it's a memorable, serene statement, though obviously I hope he'll one day return to music-making.

The original printing of "Inland" was sold out, but it was reissued by Ambient World in 2012, so this one still easy to acquire.

Thomas P. Heckmann - The Lost Tales, Vol I, Vol II, Vol III (2008, 2013)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v655/lixnixn/R-1280054-1309378918_zpsa7132894.jpeg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v655/lixnixn/R-1382965-1309380029_zps35b0f66b.jpeg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v655/lixnixn/S03cover_zps70c272e1.jpg

Thomas P. Heckmann is the guy behind pseudonyms like Skydiver, Age, and Drax, who's released techno, trance and ambient since the early 90s. Lost Tales Vol I and II are his only albums on FAX, and they're are simply collections of his unreleased tracks that Namlook decided to release for whatever reason. They're great stuff, though! The tracks on them are generally more dancey and trancey than what FAX was putting out around this time, but that's probably because at least some of the tracks date back to the 90s. Heckmann is a bit of a gearhead and synth-collector (as evidenced by this awesome video, where he shows you his studio and the ridiculous amount of vintage gear he has there), so there's loads sci-fi synthesizer freakouts there too.

Vol III was supposed to come out on FAX too, but that didn't happen because of Namlook's death. It was eventually released by Carpe Sonum, which is kind of a continuation label for FAX, as they're mostly putting out stuff by FAX-related artists, including records like this one that were originally supposed be released by Namlook. I'm glad Vol. III finally found its way to the world, because it's probably the best of the three, with some huge intergalactic analog synths that you just gotta love. It also has a beautiful little tune dedicated to Namlook, titled "Ode to a Friend".

you got these on cd ?

jealous.

(resistance still in tact ..)

and while i said i did not like the nu-era cover styles, i was wrong.
these are great.
still not sure re the white covers though.

There was a period at the turn of the millennium when, after discarding the classic circle motif, the FAX releases had a pretty awful graphics, like this:

http://s.pixogs.com/image/R-51535-1289210308.jpeg

But at some point they got a new designer called Andre Ruello, who I thought had a good sense of integrating the strong graphic profile of FAX's past into some cool new designs. Besides the Gate Zero covers I already posted, these are my favourite covers by him:

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_JkhjwI7_bKs/TKd-FC7EpUI/AAAAAAAAB18/rCHfIsYN_24/s1600/4394974248_a7fec034a6.jpg.jpeg

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51z4l1PgD8L.jpg

re air : ouch !

re pearl ii : yes

saw an anthony rother cd in the bins a few months back and let it go ..

i knew i had heard his name from somewhere ..

ahhhh ..

(not this, but a full on electroclash release)

Namlook & Spyra - Virtual Vices V (2006)

http://userserve-ak.last.fm/serve/500/81726055/Virtual+Vices+V+Folder.jpg

This one deviates quite a lot from the FAX norm in that it has loads of "real" instruments played by Namlook and Wolfram Spyra, there are even electric guitar solos! As a result the album often tends to sound more like fusion jazz or instrumental rock than ambient/techno... And I like fusion jazz in general, but the truth is that Namlook and Spyra aren't virtuosic enough as instrumentalists for their solos to impress me, and the sound on this album is too mannered and safe in general for this kind organic-electronic hybrid to go beyond what others have done better since the 1970s. This is not a bad album but it doesn't stand out in any way, so I couldn't be arsed to check out the other entries in the Virtual Vices series (there are 6 in total). The surround sound wasn't used particularly well on the record either, there isn't much of a difference between listening to it in 5.1. and in stereo.

Pete Namlook - Music for Urban Meditation I, II, III, IV (2004, 2007, 2009, 2012)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v655/lixnixn/41W3UA8UbjL_zps9452facb.jpghttp://img.photobucket.com/albums/v655/lixnixn/41W3UA8UbjL_zps9452facb.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v655/lixnixn/51zyE2BikEL_zps963021e9.jpghttp://img.photobucket.com/albums/v655/lixnixn/1334670477_music-for-urban-meditation-iv_zps6704b5d5.jpg

In his final years Namlook had two rolling solo album series, Pearl and Music for Urban Meditation. The latter one is recommended for dedicated ambient listeners only. There's no beats or melodies, and even the sweet cosmic synth sounds Namlook was best known are mostly absent. What you've got is all-encompassing, glacially moving drones, and that's it, pretty much. This kind of music is meant to envelop your full field of hearing, so playing the surround disc (the first album in the series is a regular stereo CD, but the other three include a 5.1 disc with it) works really well here. The title is a bit misleading, or maybe ironic, as this is not the sort of new age ambient you could use for meditating. (Unless Namlook meant the title to be read as "meditating on something"; in this case, the city.) As the track titles suggest, this is the music of cityscapes, and it can get pretty gloomy and harsh, even oppressing, though there's beauty there too. It's kinda hard to try to judge or analyze music like this, it's such a monolith: either it works for you, or it doesn't. To me it does, but it certainly isn't Sunday afternoon comfort music like many other Namlook ambient albums, you have to be in adventurous mood to put these records on.

Sorry, I posted one image twice there, it was meant to be this:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v655/lixnixn/419bn-3qjCL_zpsfc835da6.jpg

how bloody brilliant is this ..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwWETY5Vr2M

i.e. pete namlook + move d doing fax ambient with some jazz extras.

ahh, the hiss and crackle of synths being stretched to their limits.

such a wonderful sound.

so, was FAX one of the last big supporters of analogue synths before digital became the standard ?

The two first Koolfang albums are pretty awesome, some of the Move D/Namlook collab albums get a bit boring and samey (which I guess is not suprising considering they did 23 of them within 14 years), but the jazz aspect makes the Koolfang project a bit different. This track from the second album is my particular favourite, love the synth bass:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJEyGMOnhLk

Namlook was actually a professional jazz guitarist before he started making electronic music... When he does guitar solos on some of the ambient/trance albums, it's a bit distracting because I don't feel that kind of soloing is something that fits them, but the jazz nature of this albums makes it sit better.

Along those lines there's also Kooler, a collab between Namlook and trumpeter Robert Sattler (with some sweet sax action by Rebucatt Cacciatore, who also plays on those Koolgang albums), which is probably the most "pure" jazz album FAX ever released. It's basically just gentle ambient drones on top of which Sattler, Cacciatore, and Namlook improvise; the music wouldn't feel out of place on an ECM record, by someone like Lester Bowie, for example.

Btw, the discussion on FAX covers upthread inspired me to do this list, the Top 20 ugliest FAX and Ambient World album covers, maybe you might find it amusing:

http://www.discogs.com/lists/Top-20-ugliest-FAX-and-Ambient-World-album-covers/216699

tuomas : you are a good person for keeping this groove ongoing.
i had no idea that pete and david had made so many koolfang albums !
i only have the first one.
and i love it.
it's a proper sunday morning hangover soundtrack.
i actually like the jazz aspect of it.
i find it's a nice extra layer to the fax sound.

i had no idea that pete and david had made so many koolfang albums !

No, what I meant is that they released 23 techno/ambient albums as Move D/Namlook, and those are the ones that often sound kinda samey. They only released 3 albums as Koolfang, and those are bit different (hence the different name for this project) because of the jazz approach. If you like Jambient you should definitely get the second album ("Gig in the Sky") too, it's just as good. And for some reason it isn't that sought for in the used FAX albums market, so it's pretty easy to find a cheap copy, mine cost like 10 euros.

Good news! Apparently the rights of the FAX albums have begun to revert back to the artists, or at least some of them have managed to make a deal with Namlook's estate. So the entire Dark Side of the Moog series will be released as three box sets, with one bonus disc included in each box:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dark-Side-Moog-Vol-1-4/dp/B018EHR7GK

(The bonus disc in the first box is just a reissue of the "Evolution of the Dark Side of the Moog" comp, a seamless mix of tracks from the first ten albums, but the next two boxes will apparently have some exclusive material as a bonus.)

The two solo discs by Lorenzo Montanà have also been reissued as one set:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Black-Ivy-Serpe-Lorenzo-Montana/dp/B016BSR9PS

Montanà was one of the new discoveries on FAX during its last few years, and these albums are well recommended. They have shorter, more beat-oriented tracks than your typical FAX albums, with a nice old-school "home listening techno" sound, a la early Warp Records.

oh my.
this is brilliant.
perfect timing as this will make a perfect birthday treat for me.
ta for the tip off tuomas.
(question : where do you find this stuff out ?)

There's a Discogs board devoted to FAX, that's the best place to hear news about reissues and new albums by FAX-related artists:

http://www.discogs.com/group/520

ta muchly.
have ordered the KS boxset.
looking forward to getting that.

https://www.thefuture.fm/mixes/42050/dandy-jack/dandy-soundwal-mix

I love this Namlook tribute that Martin Schopf (Dandy Jack) made. Anyone know what the song that starts after ~8 minutes is called?

Also can't stop listening to these:

http://www.discogs.com/Move-D-Namlook-Move-D-Namlook-XIV-Raumland-Montage/release/1115640
Especially Montage III
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d--S3QIQ_Eo

http://www.discogs.com/Move-D-Namlook-Move-D-Namlook-X-Let-The-Circle-Not-Be-Broken/release/630506

The Raumland albums are cool, but man oh man do those weird stretched vocal samples that Namlook and Move D use on their latter-day collaborations get irritating after a while. (Thankfully they're less prominent on the Raumland albums than on some of the earlier ones) At first I thought it was Move D's idea to use those vocals, because they don't appear on Namlook's other albums of the era, but they don't appear on Move D's own albums either! So apparently they were something Namlook and Move D considered to be signature sound of this particulat project; why they thought this would be a good idea, I don't understand.

> those weird stretched vocal samples

Montage IV on Raumland Montage (linked above) has these. I like them in the one track but a whole album would be tiresome.

Thanks for mentioning Lorenzo Montanà upthread. I'm really enjoying Black Ivy.

"[...] a nice old-school "home listening techno" sound, a la early Warp Records."

Perfect endorsement :)

The Lorenzo Montanà is available via Bandcamp too if you'd rather avoid Amazon.

https://psychonavigation.bandcamp.com/album/lorenzo-montan-black-ivy-serpe

This Montanà dude has been pretty active lately, Psychonavigation also released a 3CD comp of his albums on that label from 2014 and 2015 (the first two were only available as CDR's previously), which is pretty dope as well:

http://www.discogs.com/Lorenzo-Montana-Trilogy/release/7350754

Plus he also released another album on Carpe Sonum (which is sort of a FAX legacy label, it's run by FAX's former US distributor, and it's released several albums that were supposed to come out on FAX itself, before Namlook died) last year...

http://www.discogs.com/Lorenzo-Montan%C3%A0-Haemus/release/5798100

And a more ambient-oriented album on the ...txt label this year:

http://www.discogs.com/Lorenzo-Montan%C3%A0-Nihil/release/7687373

He has a pretty recognizable style, if you dug the albums he made with Namlook (under the name Labyrinth), none of these differ from those that much, but it's all solid.

And speaking of FAX legacy labels, the No., a label run by Atom Heart and former Namlook collaborator Material Object has released some cool stuff too lately, focusing on the more experimental and dronier side of ambient music.

Basically, after Namlook's death and the end of FAX, there's been a sort of a diaspora, with former FAX artists and FAX-influenced producers releasing new material on Carpe Sonum, Psychonavigation, ...txt, and No., with some folks like Montanà having albums out several of these labels. So it's nice that even though the label itself is gone, FAX-style ambient still lives on.

Dunno where else to post this, but At the San Francisco Tape Center's annual festival next month, a piece by Tetau Inoue is going to be performed. I don't think he's going to be there, though, just got my hopes up for a second that he's back.

liking the look of the No Ware label.
very tempted to get the compilation mix cd ..

https://firesofork.bandcamp.com

More reissues! Geir Jenssen has put both Fires of Ork albums he did with Namlook on sale on Bandcamp. These are nice albums, especially the first one; it's more beat-heavy than what you might except from these guys, but if you like the early trancey FAX tunes and the technoish tune on Patashnik, this should be right up your alley. The second albums is a bit more uneven, but the first three tunes are all dope, especially Sky Lounge, which is one my favourite ambient tunes of all time.

With all these reissues coming out, it seems Namlook's estate and other FAX artists have indeed come to some kind of settlement on rereleasing the music. which is great thing for all those people who don't to buy ridiculous amounts of money for the original CDs.

Sadly, Tetsu Inoue is still missing, so it remains unclear whether his FAX albums will ever be reissued again... Which is unfortunate, because they are among the best pure ambient stuff FAX ever released, and also among the most expensive these days. Luckily I have all of them, but music that good should be available for everyone.

ta muchly.
have ordered the KS boxset.
looking forward to getting that.

― mark e, Wednesday, December 9, 2015 10:46 AM (1 month ago)

hmmm .. here we go.
received email from amazon : delayed.

Hmm...wonder who's behind this? Never heard of Silent State. Glad this stuff is getting out there, in any case

yeah, i picked up on all this stuff this week as well.
from what i have gathered, no-one seems to know re the legit nature of it.
the AIR stuff has been remastered which kind of indicates it has been given the all clear, but who knows.

I'm pretty sure Pete had a daughter, maybe she's involved?

I almost revived this thread last week. When I mistakenly asked Siri to look up 2350 Broadway on Spotify, I noticed that a bunch of Namlook is on there ... is that a recent development?

absolutely.
would like to hope that there is a level of legitimacy of it.
Petes legacy totally needs to be given the TLC it deserves.

xpost.

NTI : this seems to be a very recent development from what i can tell.

I've never really gotten into Namlook - partly because his discography is so bewildering. Looking through the stuff on Spotify and wondering which, like, three things I could start with?

The Ambient Cookbook : a 4 cd collection of the classic early era.
from that collection you will know where to go next.
i.e. all of it.

the two "ambient" things are 'name your own price' on bandcamp and look good and varied

damn, so they are.
well there you go VP.
dive in!

Yikes. Wow. Well, here goes...

My favorite label.

It seems like they had the Dreamfish releasees available but the page has been taken down, so I guess things aren't entirely straightforward with rights, although that's to be expected and the first one is still available on Bandcamp from another label in Israel.

The Silent State Recordings label details naming one Nils Wortmann were entered on Discogs by a shop in Frankfurt.

Really wish more of this was on Spotify.

Well, there’s definitely more of it than I remembered the last time I checked. But it’s a little hard to figure out how much as Spotify doesn’t seem to like when I put “Fax +49-69/450464” in the label search function.

Still, there are a couple of playlists that pop up that give an idea:

https://open.spotify.com/user/s1ckh4nds/playlist/6SJGjTq2cr70mhVqOi9XMl?si=SKMHLwQHSjCkRrAsSDHPUQ

https://open.spotify.com/user/tschak-uk/playlist/32sgvAYsygAL85u0ldSAQ8?si=iqj_lTDQTHGOZIwdwEcN4Q

Really wish more of this was on Spotify.

― groovypanda, Saturday, November 13, 2021 8:24 AM (three hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

https://namlook.bandcamp.com/music
https://namlook.bandcamp.com/music
https://namlook.bandcamp.com/music
https://namlook.bandcamp.com/music
https://namlook.bandcamp.com/music

I was looking for pictures of Pete's studio and came across this interview with Daniel Pemberton. I remember seeing this young kid around those ambient parties, Morris kind of took him under his wing as he says.

https://nmlkfax.blogspot.com/2013/06/daniel-pemberton-interviewed.html

there was a point where it seemed around 50% of all BBC output was composed by Daniel Pemberton.

yeah, i still does me in to think that the daniel pemberton FAX album was made in his bedroom when he was 16.
and it still sounds brilliant.
once of my faves.

actually, in that article i think the 'kevin' he mentions is strictly kev/dj food.

It is, funny he says "this guy called Kevin", although I suppose he was at the time. The first (I think) of those Fish parties was in the Dulwich flat*, later they were in various squatted spaces around Brixton.

* it was Kev, Dave and this guy called Mario who were all still students I think. Dave's art is on things like Morris's 'It's Tomorrow Already' album (and his partner set up the Clear label). Chantal had moved in a bit later, maybe before or around the time of that party I guess.

Now I think about it there was definitely talk of getting Pete Namlook over to play but unless I've a complete memory hole it never happened. Probably hard to get him to spend that much time away from the studio.

still not sure re the legit nature of this new reissue label.
however, all of the seasons releases are now 'name your price' for a limited time.
(something to do re petes birthday apparently .. )
have had spring/autumn and summer for years, was never able to source winter,
so yeah, i am grabbing it ...

https://namlook.bandcamp.com/music

just received word that the fella behind this label has been given the all clear from the Namlook estate.

(i am still not 100% convinced given the complexity of the labels releases to be honest, but hey, grab what you can while its there !)

Dreamfish I and II are back up for €5.

Not on Fax but there is supposed to be a reissue of Mixmaster Morris & Jonah Sharp (+ Haruomi Hosono)'s Quiet Logic album at some point. The opening track is somewhere in the region of School Of Fish and Sharp's Regenz stuff with David Moufang. Which is a very good place to be.

Flying High has supposedly been picked up by WRWTFWW as well.