Opinions on FAX Records and Pete Namlook

which Dreamfish reissue, the rising high edition ?
or has it been reissued since that version ?

No I meant the one that's on Bandcamp but actually I see it originally came out on that label in 2001.

ahh .. was just wondering.
I once saw DF 1, the original FAX cd in Vigin in Leeds and left it cos I had the RH edition.
needless to say, I have never seen it out in the wild since.

I didn't know about the new 2001/2016 reissue of Dreamfish, but since it has the cover art of the '90s Rising High edition, I assume Rising High must've licensed it to that label (Avatar Records), unless they're violating RH's copyright really blatantly? And the original RH edition of Dreamfish certainly was a legit release, didn't RH license it from FAX because Morris was signed to them? (Just like Apollo licensed Fires of Ork, because they were Biosphere's label at the time.)

But yeah, depending on what kind of deal Avatar Records has with RH, it's certainly possible MMM wasn't informed of the Bandcamp release. Though of course that doesn't mean it's a bootleg like those Psychonavigation reissues; they should've been courteous enough to get his approval, but it's perfectly possible they're license contract doesn't necessitate that.

Has Pete's daughter said anything about the label since his death? I hadn't heard she "chucked the master tapes" -- tho it's not like third generation tapes are all that exist. These were CDs, after all, and pristine recordings would be pretty easily salvaged from existing CDs.

No, as far as I know Fabia Kuhlmann hasn't given any statements regarding the label, reissues, or the master tapes. When I said she doesn't seem to be interested in any sort of reissue project, I was merely speculating based on the fact that legit reissues of several FAX collab projects and non-Namlook albums have come out in the last couple of years, but there's been no reissues of Namlook solo records, not even on Bandcamp or anything. I can sort of understand it tho, FAX was (by design) a label with a small, cultish following, and most of the reissues have been of projects with artists (such as Klaus Schulze or Biosphere) who have a larger output and fandom outside FAX, so they have better sales prospects too.

And you're right about the master tape issue, so unless someone wants to remaster them (which Namlook was against, he felt FAX albums sound just fine as they are, and I agree), it shouldn't be a problem using the CDs as a master. Apparently this was exactly what was done with those bootlegs on Psychonavigation Records.

Circling back the past few days to the From Within records, which are available on Hawtin's Soundcloud page. I love how spacey these are ... at times they feel a little like the Orb at their least tongue-in-cheek.

Also, was listening to the second disc of 2350 Broadway I on the drive in to visit a client today ... you can really hear what Uwe Schmidt and Bill Laswell were saying in that Red Bull piece about how Namlook refused to do much in the way of editing or re-recording. There are literally a few points on there were Namlook or Inoue just drop some sound into the mix that distorts horribly and rings forever with that 25-second reverb they're using -- which almost certainly suggests that these records were really just long jams.

Yeah, there's an interview with Move D where he says that he used to go Namlook's house in the countryside, where they did some jamming for a weekend, and Namlook then released the results as the next Move D/Namlook album or two. He also felt they should've rerecorded and edited some of the material, but I guess then we wouldn't have gotten 26 duo albums by the pair. :)

I guess Namlook's background as a jazz guitarist made him feel that releasing the results of jam sessions as such captured something that would've been diminished by further tinkering? It's certainly an uncommon approach in post-80s electronic music, but IMO it works well on some of the long-form, drifting mood pieces, such as on Shades of Orion 2 and 3, and on the best of the Move D/Namlook and Inoue/Namlook material. OTOH, Dark Side of the Moog and some of Namlook's solo albums show that it can also result in fairly boring noodling.

Also, I seem to recall a MMM interview from back in the day, where he says the first Dreamfish album was done in a day?

It's certainly an uncommon approach in post-80s electronic music, but IMO it works well on some of the long-form, drifting mood pieces, such as on Shades of Orion 2 and 3, and on the best of the Move D/Namlook and Inoue/Namlook material.

I was revisiting to Move D/Namlook's Space & Time because of the ambient poll, and yeah, it definitely works here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_UPurIZ3FHk

Does anyone know what the differences are between the two Fax Compilations and the first volume of The Ambient Cookbook? I assumed they were exactly the same but in a recent Discogs discussion some people were saying it's a different sequence and, on some tracks, an entirely different edit or mix.

sorry, only have the cookbook so have no idea.

Discogs suggests they’re the same.

'94 to '95 was certainly a special time, as the Fax +49-69/450464 label had more or less shifted its attention from trance records to full on ambient albums.
The American sub-label FAX USA had released FAX Compilation in '94 and then FAX Compilation II in '95, and together the two compilations have identically sequenced tracks as listed here for The Ambient Cookbook.

If anyone cares, I think I have located the source of the confusion: a few artist names differ despite the tracks being identical. "Astralbohrer" is credited to David Reeves on Fax Compilation II but to Otras on the Cookbook. "Talk" is credited on Fax Compilation II to A Day In The Park while the Cookbook credits this same track to The Whole Traffic. And tracks 3 & 4 on Fax Compilation 1 appear to be reversed on the Cookbook. Sorry if this is pedantic, but I can see why this would be confusing.

There's a lot of confusion with the proper artist names on FAX releases, because with the majority of the original CDs, the artist name was the same as the project name, so the two Otras albums were by Otras (not by David Reeves), the Ambient Otaku album was by Ambient Otaku (not Tetsu Inoue); this artist name convention was confirmed by Namlook. However, with some releases there was a separate artist name and album name; for example, Slow and Low, the third Tetsu Inoue album for FAX, was released as Tetsu Inoue. You can check which case is which by looking at the CD spine: if it has only the album name, then the artist name is also the same (minus the album number in multi-album series), but if it has a separate artist name besides the album, then that's the one to use. And to make matters even more confusing, all of the Ambient World reissues put separate artist names on the cover instead of just the project name: so, for example, with the original FAX releases of the 2350 Broadway albums the artist name is 2350 Broadway, but with the Ambient World reissues the artist name is Pete Namlook & Tetsu Inoue. As you can imagine, this has created a big mess on how the albums are credited on Discogs; I've corrected the proper names for CDs, that I own, but some of the names on Discogs are still incorrect.

Wot's uh the deal?

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

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.