Obliq Recordings

Obliq’s sister in crime, Cryptophonics Records, has a new multi-format release available for download and purchase, and of course online listening! These were from a epic one night session recording at the Wallstreet Compound. It was about time someone revamped and redefined Krautrock!

There are two very limited releases, a CDr and a Cassette. Yes, you heard that right; here at the Obliq headquarters we have been really going retro with cassettes! These will be available for purchase in our shop very soon! But in the meantime, here are the releases!

New release limited to 333 vinyl copies. Replicast includes Multicast members Jeff Holland and Dave Alexander; with Eric Allen from Apples in Stereo; free-jazz sax player Zach Shaw. Replicast is a loose collective appling the techniques and technology that Multicast has used for years.

The LP falls on the axis between Electronica, Free Jazz, and Psych-Folk. This melodic release explores new directions and will please Multicast fans who have appreciated the packaging and improvization in the past.

Check out samples of the news tracks on the Replicast Myspace site.

Available to order through obliq shop very soon, likely mid-spring. Check back soon or sign up for our mailing list to be notified.

The Aurora History Museum, the local band Multicast and the Regis University Center for the Study of the Military Experience have collaborated in the presentation of this on-of-a-kind audio tour. This “environment of sound” features oral histories and songs written especially for this exhibit.

MULTICAST returns in 2005, landing on the turntable with a new kool-aid laced tropical-flavored platter. BAHIAN COASTAL HWY explores the rain-slicked Brazilian jungles of the mind. This limited release was pressed on beautiful green-marbled vinyl and packaged inside clear, hand silk-screened sleeves. It was cut at Dubplates & Mastering in Berlin, resulting in an LP with deep bass, sparkling resonance and represent the trio’s most sophisticated sound to date. The LP opens with the title track “Bahian Coastal Hwy”, where Multicast explores latin electro-infused rhythms, interlaced with Multicasts trademark lush guitar melodies. This Trans-Brazilian Express is a fusion of ideas past and future. Its a syncopated trip. The subsonics of “Underdub” pulse with dub-wise beats and deep chords delayed beyond imagination. A bubble-bath of modular synthesis percolates throughout, while deep jazzy guitar sheds some sonic light bringing dark shapes into context. There is a cinematic quality to this release, and it shines best in the tracks “Arrival, “Departure” and “Rotation”, which explore themes of anticipation, longing, dread and hard-cold beauty. The choice college indie-radio track “The Only Thing I Adore” reveals Multicast’s sensibility in fusing pop and left-field electronics. Like morning sunlight through a window, warm and immersive counter-point music-box melodies weave between shimmering static and vocoded lyrics singing of love and admiration. Multicast’s approach to music is all about creating atmosphere and depth without cluttering the sound field. “Pucuna” explores this notion with intricate poly-rhythms and tribal syncopations. The incorporation of synthesized sounds of birds of the rainforest, electronic insects and formant vocalizations will paint a vivid picture in the listeners mind. “Ansico” rounds out the journey, winding sublime melodies, clockwerk rhythm’s, and lap-steel guitar around a 30 hz & below bassline. Multicast reaches new heights in terms of production, arrangement and song writing skills. It’s absolutely rich with emotion and detail and will reveal new things with each repeated listen.

Released in 2005 in a limited edition run of 400 Green marbled vinyl 12″.

Obliq residents, Freq Modif present their debut release here with warm and fuzzy de-tuned oscillators that hail in a warmer and brighter season. “Larkspur” is a homage to the all-encompassing deep blue Colorado skies and the fresh smell of passing afternoon rain glittering on the wildflowers of the Larkspur meadows. Pure analog sequencing and triggering at its best harkening back to the synthesizer masters of the 1970’s but with the bounce of the kick drum and the sparkle of hi-hats of the 808. Truly a gem of an electronic piece.

The b-side “Interstates” gives you a synthetic taste of a night drive along on the Colorado autobahn. Traveling back and forth between studios on the high-speed corridor of I-25 inspired this amazing new track of psychedelic ambience and pulsating dub. The fresh smell of rain evaporating on pavement is splashed by the roar of passing trucks and freighters along the journey. The sound of locusts great the passing cars. Both tracks recorded at the Larkspur Facility.

Released in 2002 on 7″ red vinyl.  500 pressings with 88 reserved for the 4213 Box Set.

NOTE: HD download available on 4213 OBQ-09 release.

Since 1996, projects including Multicast, Ted Sturgeon and Freq Modif represented this perspective to the contemporary electronic ideology, but with a more psychedelic and improvisational twist. From tracks constructed with the basics of noise and rhythmic sequences to full on melodic washes, Obliq artists sculpt aural images aimed not at the dance floor but the armchair. These artists employ methodologies of sequencing not too familiar with modern technology, but rather more traditional and improvisational in approach. Multicast, for example, creates most of their tracks from live, late night sessions. Guitars, electric mandolins, kalimbas, modular synthesizers, analog sequencers & effects and digital synthesizers are all part of the Obliq arsenal located at the Larkspur, Wallsteet and Erie facilities. Think of Multicast as an ever-evolving music project. A revolving door of ideas. A meeting of the minds from various individuals involved with the other projects within Obliq. It’s the flagship and corner stone project and even further an ideal representation of the Obliq record label as a whole. If you listen closely to the Multicast material, you will notice a sort of mesh of musical influences and backgrounds from all individuals involved yet close attention is paid in how the various parts are combined. The physical landscape of rural Colorado surrounding members of Multicast play a big part in the environmental influences in the music itself. These are wide-open spaces with room enough for ideas to flourish away from the confines and distractions of an urban environment. This isn’t to say that Multicast lives in a music vacuum or an environment void of art and music culture. Rather, the geographic location gives the project an opportunity to observe the world of electronic music from the outside in and not consumed by a metropolitan music clique. Therefore, members of Multicast rely on each other to be energized and inspired to create and follow through with ideas and bring them into being. A lot of the popular software-based music making tools — the ones dominant in modern day electronic music — are put aside which allow Multicast to focus on improvisational and organic composition. All members of Multicast are DJs, but styles may be surprising as compared to their musical output.

Obliq newcomer Crix Madine blasts in from the north with this solid debut release. “Yori” is a poly-rhythmic sound experience where the percussion slips and slides along over dreamy and static-driven melody lines. Half-way thru the listener will find himself/herself engulfed in an “analogue bubblebath” of sublime synth lines and the metallic thunder of disjointed beats.
On the b-side, “Alpine Refuge” may invoke the imagination of overlooking deep alpine valleys and a vista of snow-capped peaks can be seen through the trees. It’s a seamless meld of organic electro-beauty, combining an almost left-field hip-hop aesthetic with melodic and crystalline bass-pads. The track is majestic in nature and leaves the listener with optimism. This seven inch release is not to be missed.

Released in early 2003 on yellow 7″ vinyl. 500 pressings with 88 included in the 4213 Box Set.

NOTE:  HD download available in the 4213 OBQ-09 release.

Ted’s motto: “Spirituality Through Technology…” The forces of good and evil cancel each other out and heave a sigh of relief that we’re all here to enjoy another day. Listening to the A-side’s “Green Sequence (Frost Mix)” one discovers there is always something new to explore, and here, Multicast’s science-aficionado Ted Sturgeon discovers just what happens when the sound of hip-hop and psychedelic ambience collide. A new genre of Gregorian Modernism ripples through our cortex, courtesy of the Frost Laboratory’s manipulation of the original track, recorded at Facility Minor.
Too much science fiction as a kid said his high-school adviser, but look where it’s gotten him… “Echowurld” kicks off the B-side. The field recordings underlying this Matrix come from placing mics 30 feet apart on the Mimbres River in New Mexico one whispy moonlight night. The Mimbres Valley was once the home of a graphically advanced American Indian culture. In this track you can feel the spirits rising up from the dead to avenge their grave-plundering desecration by pot hunters. On nights like these, who needs a drum machine?

The original version of “Green Sequence” finishes off the B-side. Here we find a track making guitars safe for electronic music again. Psychedelic-acid-electro-analog-blues, indeed! A homage to the psychedelic blues of fractured genius Peter Green AND the movie “Andromeda Strain”, all in one concise little construction! Begin the countdown… another genre bender that puts the Tedster spin on sequential indie-tronics.

Released in 2002 on 7″ green vinyl.  500 produced, 88 of which were included in the 4213 Box Sets.

NOTE:  HD download available on 4213 release OBQ-09.