This release has been a long time coming: he last Kubusschnitt studio release with (almost) this line-up was “The Singularity”, issued in 2001. Even the most recent studio album was released as far back as 2010 (“Entropy’s Evolution”), although that one has a slightly different feel.
So, is this a return to the style of those three studio releases from 1999, 2000, and 2001…?
The spirit was certainly there from the three of us, but it’s for you to judge whether it sounds like those albums. A lot of fun was had from arranging the session, from listening back to hours of live material, from deciding which tracks to take forward, and from getting to this finished release.
We haven’t been doing nothing for 20+ years between “The Singularity” and now. There were a couple of concerts and we’ve been setting about trawling through a lot of rehearsal DATs – and all of the good bits have now been released here. We’ve also been moving in our own personal directions, so our individual sounds have certainly developed and it’s nice to bring them back together again. To reiterate from earlier, what we can say is that it felt good and we hope that comes across.
It’s been a difficult couple of years since the basis of these tracks was recorded at Ruud’s studio in the depths of the Dutch countryside. That was the other side of the pandemic and it’s taken us a while to work with the huge amount that was recorded (oh, yes, there’s more). Sadly, during the time between recording and release we three lost a very good friend and this release is for him, he was always ready to help us, and just about everybody else he came across. This release is for you, Tony, in thanks for everything you did for us and others in this small music scene.
As for the music itself, there are a few driving sequences here and there, some subtle layering of background sounds, and quite a few solos. We’ll let you work out who’s doing what, where, when, and how. The basis of everything remains the sequencing from real analogue hardware – it just sounds so good. On top of that there are many different instruments, mostly real and the odd virtual one.
We hope that you enjoy this release and we’ve even given you the option of a CD should you wish to throw away 8 of the 24 bits.
Kubusschnitt are Andy Bloyce, Tom Coppens, and Ruud Heij.
Credits
- Released February 4, 2022
- Dedicated to our dear friend Tony Sawford
- Artwork by Tom Coppens