Opinions on FAX Records and Pete Namlook

> 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.

well, the amazon auto-rip arrived earlier this week, and the boxset has been dispatched.

lets hope this is the beginning of other FAX material getting another chance to be picked up at decent prices.

MiG seem to be up to their old tricks and have split some of the tracks in completely arbitrary places meaning that listening to them on shuffle is painful. were the originals like this? first disc is 10 tracks almost exactly 5 minutes long each... (the Schulze 'La Vie Electronique' discs were the same, hard track breaks where chapter marks would've been better)

The originals are like that too... Almost all FAX albums that actually consist of one seamless tune are divided into separate, even-length (usually 5 minutes) tracks, titled "Part I/II/III/IV/etc", regardless of whether the track change happens in a "logical" place

I guess this was done for listener convenience, back then you didn't have CD players that would remember where you stopped the record and resume at that point, so it'd be easier to skip to the right track rather than to fast forward one hour-long track. Anyway, these albums are meant to be listened as a whole, so I don't see why you would play them on shuffle?

> so I don't see why you would play them on shuffle?

but what if this is the first time you've heard them and they are listed as 10 tracks and you don't know any different?

cd players have supported chapter marks since there were cd players. these are SOFT markers. the cd will appear as one track but you can select sections using the chapters.

Anyway, it seems Schultze/MiG managed to acquire from Namlook's estate not just the copyright for the music, but for the graphic design too, as the bonus disc has the exact same CD booklet as the original Ambient World compilation, with only the new label information and a "RIP Pete Namlook" text added to it. But since they were able to use the original design for that CD, I don't understand why they couldn't use the original graphics for the other albums in the box? The new design isn't bad (I especially like the space graphics on the box itself, it's neat how they continue seamlessly from the front cover to the spine to the back cover), but it isn't as elegant as the classic FAX circle motif used in the originals.

(xpost)

but what if this is the first time you've heard them and they are listed as 10 tracks and you don't know any different?

I dunno about you, but when I listen to an album for the first time, I don't play it on shuffle. Ambient albums in particular typically have a intentional flow to them that a shuffle would disrupt.

cd players have supported chapter marks since there were cd players. these are SOFT markers. the cd will appear as one track but you can select sections using the chapters.

Some players in the 1990s supported them, but not all. My first Discman certainly didn't. I still remember when I got a fancier player and discovered the existence of the chapter marks on some of my records, I had no idea they were a thing that exists.

second boxset of DSOTM up for pre-order !

email from amazon...

The items listed below will actually be dispatched sooner than we had originally
expected based on the new release date:

Klaus Schulze & Pete Namlook "The Dark Side Of The Moog Vol. 5-8"
Previous estimated arrival date: April 23 2016 - April 26 2016
New estimated arrival date: March 21 2016 - March 23 2016

(haven't really listened to first box yet!)

Listening to the first box has confirmed what I already thought based on the few DSotM albums I owned before: this Schulze guy is not really among the greatest of Namlook collaborators. Most of the albums seem to be just some one-take synth noodling interspersed with occasional generic trance beats. Okay, synth noodling is obviously the point of the whole series, but it's not the sort of cool and cosmic noodling you hear on some other Namlook collabs, like the albums done with Move D. I guess I'll still buy the rest of the boxes because they're cheap and there might be some occasional gems hidden in them, but there's loads of better FAX albums that would benefit from getting reissued.

Been listening a lot to the Dr Atmo and Oliver Lieb collab 'Music To Films' which is great. Anyone know if there's any truth in the rumour that Namlook was a bit jealous of it so it didn't get as wide a release as some FAX output?

Yeah, it's a cool album. Never heard that rumour, but AFAIK there were 1000 copies pressed, just like with all the other FAX albums of that era. All FAX albums are limited releases, at first with 500 copies, then 1000, then it rose all the way to 3000, until during the latter years, with less interest in the label (and CDs in general) it shrunk to 300. Most popular FAX albums were reissued as unlimited pressings on Ambient World, and it's true that Music to Films never got a reissue, so maybe that's the source of the rumour? Though many other albums were never reissued on AW either, some of which as sought-after as MtF is these days.

Bit of googling turned this up:

http://www.ambientmusicguide.com/pages/L/lieb.php

The superb Music To Films is a cosmic mixture of ambient trance, robotic minimalism and panoramic melodies based on an unusual concept. Lieb and collaborator Dr Atmo conceived it as an "alternative soundtrack" to the wordless documentary film Koyaanisqatsi which was originally scored by Philip Glass. Despite its outstanding quality, Music To Films was never re-released after its initial small run and it quickly became one of the label's rarest CD releases. Why? According to Dr Atmo in a 2013 interview for the blog NMLK, Fax Records owner Pete Namlook was to blame. "Mixmaster Morris called the Music to Films idea a 'one million dollar project'. This made Pete very jealous. I knew that a few licensing requests were not answered for that album. Sad but true."

Yeah, the fact that Music to Films wasn't reissued on Ambient World is kinda suspect. Oliver Lieb has a lot of fans outside the usual FAX devotee group, so certainly there would've been some demand for a reissue... And most FAX albums made by artists with such crossover appeal, such as Jochem Paap, Anthony Rother, and Richie Hawtin, were eventually reissued on AW. So AtF lacking from the list is suspicious.

I think there might've been some general falling out between Namlook and Dr. Atmo? He was involved in many of the early FAX projects (the first two Silence albums, Sad World, I.F., Gamma, The Whole Traffic...), but after 1995 he didn't do anything for the label anymore. In that same interview, Atmo hints at something happening between the two of them:

Q: Did you keep in touch with Pete through the years?

A: Not much. The reasons are private and after years I can say partially my fault too for sure. He helped me a lot but he got lot from my side also. He should rest in peace and it was very sad to hear that bad news.

It's worth noting that, besides MtF, none of the other Atmo projects on FAX were reissued either. (Except for Silence, which was a collaboration with Namlook.) The two I.F. albums go for even crazier prices than Music to Films on the used CDs market, which is why I've never managed to land a copy of them.

Anyway, since Music to Films is supposed to be an alternate soundtrack to Koyaanisqatsi, have you ever tried syncing it to the movie? There are even instructions in the CD sleeve on where you should start playing it during the opening credits, but I've never bothered to try it.

We’re writing to let you know that the following items have been unexpectedly
delayed:

Klaus Schulze & Pete Namlook "The Dark Side Of The Moog Vol. 5-8"
Estimated arrival date: March 30 2016 - April 01 2016

yeah, i got that advise as well.
much to my amazement i have seen copies of the first boxset in Fopp/HMV.

Perhaps the falling out between Dr Atmo and Namlook may have been to do with Atmo's plagiarism? I understand that his Man Made Motion was a direct copy of Tetsu Inoue's Slow and Low. I haven't heard Slow and Low so can't confirm.

Oh wow, I hadn't heard about that before, but it appears to be true. Such a weird story, how could the think he wouldn't get caught?

Anyway, Atmo stopped recording for FAX after 1995, and Man Made Motion only came out in 1999, so if there was some falling out, that couldn't have been the original reason.

well, i have to say volume 5 is absolutely gorgeous.
suspect the added bass booms from bill laswell help a lot.

make it stop!

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dark-Side-Moog-Vol-9-11/dp/B01BU3080W/

second boxset was a lot more interesting than the first.
the live set was verging on an orb album.
loved it.
wasn't going to bother getting more, but i believe that the third boxset is the last one.
so, gotta collect them all ..

I thought there were 12 but that, it turned out, was just me wanting it neat.

Will the 5.1 version of XI work on my old pro-logic system? It won't be 5.1 but will it be better than 2.0?

(I think the list I saw must've had the evolution disk as 12th entry)

sorry, no idea re 5.1 set ups.
i am just getting the final boxset .. cos.
simple as that.

Yeah, it's a no-brainer.

I wonder what's next? If anything

Drum and bass.

It also appears to be recorded live in parts - there's clapping on it. Processed clapping but definitely applause and someone saying thank you.

Oh, it says as much in the booklet (only vol 8). There's also an advert for the third box...

indeed - recorded live.

http://www.klaus-schulze.com/disco/3991da.htm

and yeah, the d-n-b section took me by surprise as well.

I remember reading some interview where Namlook said it was Schulze who wanted to bring the contemporary dance music sound into TDSotM, Namlook would've been fine with just some old-school synth jamming. Though Namlook himself wasn't averse to trying to follow current electronic music trends, IIRC he even made a full drum'n'bassy album in the 90s with one of his collaborators? And some of his early 00s material is trying to sorta imitate the electrocrash sound, though not very succesfully, I would say.

Haha that's exactly how I imagine those recent collaborative recordings of Jean-Michel Jarre with various younger producers go...they come to Jarre's studio all excited how they're finally going to patch analogue synths with the master, and instead the first thing Jarre asks is: "alors, were do I pute ze dubstep wobble?".

third and final boxset of DSOTM arrived this weekend.
volume 9 is sounding rather good.
glad i decided to get the full set now.

Reissue of Zenith (Carlos Vivanco, Tetsu Inoue) on Psychonavigation Records.

Hmmm.

https://www.discogs.com/group/thread/718249

Sadly, that Zenith screwup wasn't just a solitary case, Psychonavigation Records is also planning to reissue Peter Benisch's "Waiting for Snow" against the direct wishes of the artist:

https://www.discogs.com/group/thread/725019

I guess, given the rarity of many FAX releases, it'd be inevitable some vultures would gather around its corpse, but this is still very sad. On top of that, it seems Psychonavigation hasn't paid any royalties to many of the other artists whose records they've released. So at this point I'd recommend boycotting the whole label. Since the rights of FAX albums now seem to have reverted back to the artists, hopefully we're going to see some well done and legit reissues in the future, like the Dark Side of the Moog boxes.

Of course that won't be happening Tetsu Inoue's albums anytime soon, with him still missing... It's sad that the circumstances have made it impossible for his records to be reissued legitimately, but I still wouldn't buy a bootleg that only benefit scammers like Psychonavigation and not his family (or whoever it is to whom the royalties should go).

very strange

https://www.discogs.com/group/thread/728417

The whole Psychonavigation debacle just keeps getting more ridiculous, the label owner has now started a new label called "Where Ambient Lives", apparently under a false name. This is seemingly to distance the new label from the justified bad rep he's gotten from releasing albums without the artist's permission and not paying any royalties.

mickchillage about 17 hours ago

As a previous artist of Keith Reid aka Keith Downey aka John Williams etc via his Psychonavigation imprint, I can confidently state that all criticism are fair game at this stage. He doesn't pay any royalties or supply any statements, tells artists he makes no money and their CD's haven't sold, so why is he still in business after all these years? Seeing your passionate hard work end up in one of his bargain bin €1.00 sales is an absolute insult too any artist!

He gets abusive when you disagree with artwork, formats and packaging, therefore not respecting the artists vision often bullying to get his own way, referring to artists as "Muppets" in nasty threatening emails. Peter Benisch recently fell into a nasty situation with a re-release of "Waiting For Snow" and was forced to expose the situation on social media.

These are not isolated incidents, many people have messaged me privately or have spoken openly on social media about their similar experiences, so there is a solid pattern here sadly.

Lets not forget about the Re-issue of Tetsu Inoue's Zenith Collab, how did he obtain the rights when Tetsu's closest musical friends have not made contact with him for years? When asked about this, Keith has replied "Mind your own business" or "Its a private matter" so no respect for potential consumers of his product or those who are either passed away or missing ?

Kicking a dead horse it may be but if Keith was a different sort of guy with some kind of moral compass and integrity he could have redeemed his character and label but instead he chooses to continue with more ways to try and cheat consumers and artist with false identities and labels.

If you ask me he's like an ugly wart on our small and precious scene that just wont go away.

Spent the last few weeks listening to a bunch of these records, some highlights observations:

Dark Side of the Moog series is hit or miss. I find myself more interested in the bits that are more purely Klaus (or Klaus-inspired, as I gather Namlook would've been perfectly happy doing retreads of the 70s records and Schulze wanted to fold in more electro stuff).

Electro Harmonix by Tetsu Inoue and Jonah Sharp -- really nice synth textures for about an hour.

Wechselspannung I + II by Jonah Sharp and Namlook are good ones -- I gather Sharp played a ton of analog synths and Namlook chopped them up on his sampler and turned them into the rhythms. These records probably fit my vision of what I wanted FAX to be: analog squiggles and spacey textures absent dance or house dogma that often drags me uncomfortably into 1994.

To that end, I also really found myself liking the Richie Hawtin From Within records. I was expecting these to be far more dance-y than they are based on Hawtin's rep. But they're surprisingly spacey and enjoyable.

I totally agree on you with all those points. The From Within albums aren't like any Hawtin solo material that I've heard, and yet (according to Namlook) he was more responsible for the synths and Namlook for the beats, not the other way around, as you'd expect.

The DSotM is really overrated within the FAX catalogue, mostly it just sounds like two guys randomly noodling with synths in Namlook's studio (which most likely is exactly how they were done) with not much rhyme or reason, and the bits with the beats (which were indeed there on Schulze's insistence, as Namlook would've been happy to just do old school space music) are dated. Some of Namlook's solo records on FAX are better at capturing the spirit of 1970s synth music than the ones he did with an actual '70s synth legend.

If you liked the Wechselspannung albums, you should check out the two Alien Community albums by Namlook and Sharp too. They're largely in the same mold, but more spacey and less electro.

Agree as well, those mentioned were among the ones I returned to most. I'd say most of Wechselspannung is kind of redundant - just skip to part 5 (I think) for the pretty gated melody, the beats are clunky. Sharp does a similar thing in Floating Sync on Electro Harmonix. Actually I never felt Wechselspannung 2 or the Alien Communities were particularly essential. From Within is very nice, Homeward Bound in particular obvs.

These are all 'entry level' Fax but for a reason. See also Dreamfish and Silence.

If you want to check out a classic period FAX album where the samples and beats are treated in a more unique and interesting fashion, I'd recommend Modula Green's Shellground. The fact that it's not by any of the "name" FAX artists also means you can get a used copy for relatively cheap, but IMO it's on the same level as any of the better known albums from the golden age of 1993–1995.