A dynamic part of any page, this component can contain any type of media:
images, text and more, and have its own menu attached.
To add media simply drag and drop them into a Mini Page page.
Note:
If you only want to display photos, use Galleries > Photo Albums.
Welcome to the brand new website of Anders Ilar.
2011-01-21
Penny Century - James Hurley EP including Anders Ilar Remix now available on ITunes.
2011-01-17
New track in the player! Penny Century remixed by Anders Ilar.
2011-01-14
Added another track to the playlist; Traveller. I'll be adding more tracks from time to time.
2011-01-10
Player is now online! The first track is "sometimes" from the new album Wavefunction Formula.
2011-01-07
The site is launched.
Feel free to explore and please leave your comments!
Check back for future updates
--------------------------------------------------------
Some quotes about Anders Ilar:
"Those who try to pigeonhole Swedish producer Anders Ilar into any one genre are guaranteed to find him much too slippery. Since getting his start around the turn of the century, Iar has investigated everything from open air ambient and chilly dub textures to more thumping techno and languid deep-house. The depth of his sonic abilities has made him attractive to a wide range of labels including Shitkatapult, Level Records, and recently the hotly tipped Further Records..."
- Little White Earbuds
"The first thing that strikes home about Ilar is the variety of styles he draws upon. Electronica is meshed with minimal techno and deep house. He takes warm analogue elements and mixes them with the steely chill of digital sounds. The traditional borders of hardware and software are blurred in this diverse aural dip."
- Igloo Magazine
"There's a techno dimension present, but Ilar's clearly hunting bigger game than stripped-down club bangers with the recording's focus as much on deep tracks heavy on mystical atmosphere. His originals are polished astral-travelers that sometimes meld the finer elements of electronic dance and listening forms into a single, personalized style."
- Textura.org
"Anders Ilar is one of the most underrated producers working in electronic music today. His sound blurs the lines between techno, IDM and ambient, creating a style all his own."
- Big Shot Magazine
"Anders Ilar makes the kind of warm, dreamy, melodic techno that evokes the wintry landscapes of his homeland. His love of the genre stems from his early interest in ambient pioneers such as Tangerine Dream and Jean Michel Jarre, by way of the dark (Skinny Puppy, Front 242), the moody (Cocteau Twins, Lush) and the tech-obsessed (Aphex Twin, early Cologne records)."
- Resident Advisor
Wavefunction Formula - CD
Level Records 19 - Nov 20 2010
1 Ineptitude 4:57
2 Explanatory Failure 6:42
3 Back To Square One 6:20
4 Hazard Ahead 6:26
5 Cowbell Fever 7:45
6 Ulterior Motives 5:27
7 Ocean Sonata 9:40
8 Moon Over Hillside 6:50
9 Serpentine Star 7:55
10 13 Lullabies 4:46
11 Sometimes 8:01
Anders is finally back with a new CD album on Level Records following the recent CD 'Stories of Old' on Yard Rec and the casette only release 'Vidare' on Further Records in July, making this his third album of the year 2010 and in fact his tenth album since the debut Everdom in 2003 (shitkatapult).
Even so Wavefunction Formula has a two-part storyline wich takes the listener on a journey through a maze of dancefloors, catacombs and deep vast oceans of mystery, and then finally discovers and enters a secret back door that quite unexpectedly leads you out to a completly new secret magical place under the wide open skies.
The story starts with 'Ineptitude' which sets the mood with its deep cavernous yet minimal beats and atmospheres interjected with random analog bleeps and wierd arpeggios. Setting the stage for the first seven tracks wich could be seen as an expanded version of last years Cellular Memories EP.
Then comes the plot-twist. The last four tracks of the album can almost be enjoyed as a separate EP in itself. Where the previous tracks are primarily aimed for the dancefloor this final quartett is more focused on beauty in melodies and harmonies interlaced with laidback downtempo rhythms. A real surprise ending for this album.
The CD cover with a somewhat menacing picture of a Shanghai road cluster seems to be a good metaphor for asking the questions, where are we coming from? and where are we going? As we're all riding that propability wave of quantum reality the trick is to find those secret magical doorways and dare to step through. And transform to a different level...
Stories Of Old - CD
Yard Records 02 - Oct 5 2010
1 Carving Wooden Hearts 5:52
2 Arcturus 5:38
3 Cries Of The Wilderness 5:13
4 Unfold 8:34
5 Heliopause 7:09
6 Unconditional Surrender 7:15
7 Unconditional Surrender (They Themselves Remix) 8:07
8 Unconditional Surrender (Maschine Remix) 6:16
Stories Of Old is now released on Yardrec. A mini-compilation of 6 previously unreleased tracks, plus 2 remixes from label owner Chris 'Yard' Jones and fellow ex-naritan Adam Johnson. It could be seen as a companion for my recently released casette tape 'Vidare' wich also featured a mix of previously unreleased material. The title itself is a nod to one of my all time favorite bands Depeche Mode who released their track 'Stories Of Old' on 1984 album 'Some Great Reward'. An album that is a milestone in electronic music and have made a great impact on me personally as well as on electronic music in general. So this is my way of paying tribute to the music that inspired me to start making music myself. The six tracks here were all produced well before my two previous albums 'Twilight Rainfalls' and 'Sworn' and the tracks have matured over time and been reworked in several stages. It's a good feeling to finally present these tracks on CD after a long time waiting to get them released.
I hope you will enjoy listening to the music as much as I enjoyed making it..
Biography
I was born in 1973 and grew up in Ludvika in Sweden. Everything has always been about music for me. From the age of 2 I was a big Abba-fan, but then I discovered electronic music in the early 80s. Day in and out I used to listen to the music of Depeche Mode, Howard Jones, Tangerine Dream, Jean-Michael Jarre and I was a vinyl-junkie by the age of 14. I was fortunate to discover bands like Skinny Puppy, Front 242 and The Klinik at an early stage, and experienced the rise and fall of Electronic Body Music and the birth of european techno.
I started making music with a Korg Poly 800 II and a Roland TR-505 in 1986, but gradually expanded my collection of sythesizers, drummachines and sequensers. For many years I was using Atari with Cubase and I must have made several hundred tracks over the years. Most of them sounding truly awful. In the early 90's I was getting bored with the hard and aggressive attitude of industrial and EBM and found solace in bands like Cocteau Twins, Lush, Dead Can Dance and The Cure. Then something happened that suprised me, MTV introduced me to a new kind of electronic sounds that I found most appealing. Thanks to Chill Out Zone I discovered artists like FSOL and Aphex Twin. And while further investigating the developing "intelligent" scene, I was introduced to harder techno and acid. I fell in love with the sound of Cologne, and I spent years hunting all those colorful records from Structure, Dj.ungle Fever, Profan etc.
Then I had enough. For every record I bought I was only more convinced I could never make anything as good. I was lacking production technology, and I couldn't afford any high quality mixers, effects or even the most wanted synthesizers. So in 1997 I quit, thinking that some day it would be cheap enough to make the best possible music with only a computer. And that day came much sooner than I anticipated. Since 2000 I'm making tracks again and this time I was so satisfied with the result that I decided to send out some demos.
Now I'm releasing records...
Anders Ilar: Stories of Old & Street Grid Rhythms
With labels like Tresor successfully re-publishing their back catalogue on Vinyl (a little too successfully perhaps for my taste, as I missed out on Robert Hood's Internal Empire, which sadly sold out only a few days after its release), it has become abundantly clear that the history of techno is now seriously experiencing a fully-fledged Renaissance. While some producers have predictably reacted to this trend by cloning the pioneering work performed in Detroit and Chicago in the mid- and late-80s, working with the soul, feeling and explorative zest of those early years comes entirely natural to Anders Ilar. And so, even though the title of his latest full-length Stories of Old may suggest a tendency towards retro-aesthetics and looking back, the music quickly dispels suspicions of calculated scheming: Elements from post-Kraftwerk'ean electro and classic Acid-Ambient are organically blending with micronoise-infected soundscapes, resulting in a dark and deep textures, which the Swedish producer aptly describes as a miniature worlds of sound. Tracks were culled from a pool of music compiled by Ilar over the past years through a process of deliberation between him and label owner Chris Yard and the album also includes two powerful remixes of programmatic stand-out track "Unconditional Surrender". Which makes it all the more astounding that it not only sounds entirely coherent and of one piece but like an entirely singular vision. If anything, it sounds futuristic rather than nostalgic - it is just the stories that are old here, not Ilar's way of telling them
article image
Would it be correct to say that Yard are not just a label, but actually creative partners?
That would be both incorrect and correct. For this collection of tracks there was no creative collaboration. I was simply compiling some tracks that never fit in with any other release, and yard was interested in releasing them. So we made the deal. But we've talked about collaborating on something in the future, so we'll have to wait and hear.
How much agreement and disagreement was there in selecting the tracks of Stories of Old in tandem with Chris Yard?
I don't remember there being any "refusals" on Yard's side. I think he pretty much accepted the tracks I suggested. Then again, I think we started with a mere three tracks plus remixes, and it grew from there. Afterwards, Chris certainly did a good job in mastering all the tracks - which made the album as a whole come together nicely.
How closely related are these tracks which ended up on Stories of Old in chronological terms?
On the one hand, they are from different periods. On the other, they have also grown and transformed over time. Some of them were meant to be on an album for plong! a few years ago, but it never happened. Instead, there was only the Missing 12" and then a few other tracks from that cancelled album were later released on Sworn and Twilight Rainfalls. Now I'm actually almost out of backlog material to pick from, and free to start working on new projects. I've deliberately not made a lot of new music the last year, just to catch up on getting all the music out that I want to have released.
After your well-received previous full-lengths, what were your main ambitions in terms of production this time?
I feel I always try to draw the best out of every track I make. During the actual creative process, I'm not always entirely sure how it will fit together in the end. I guess you could say I've worked on the last four or five albums simultaneously. and now I'm ready to set up new concepts and projects depending on what music happens to come out of me.
How did the music take shape?
Some of the tracks, like Unfold, were made in several stages with years in between. But yes, I really like to stitch the music together in big sheets. Moving through the music as though it were a three dimensional landscape, with objects in the distance moving slower than objects swooshing by in the foreground. I like to try and create miniature worlds with my music.
How do you remember the production of Unconditional Surrender?
It was made at a time of my life where events started to unravel in such a way that I had to surrender to the will of the universe. It was one of those times where I could feel the music almost making itself, and me just being there to deliver it. Getting into that state of true inspired flow. A moment when you almost feel a higher intelligence working through you. I thank the music for coming out of me, and I'm glad to be able to share it.
Producing for the dance floor and for concentrated listening are usually two entirely different things. How did you try to reconcile them with each other?
It's nothing I really plan to do. My music is aimed more towards the headphone listener. Dancefloors as a platform for experiencing music is well anchored in human consciousness, but for me it's just as much about the inner dancefloor.
You've mentioned that you see music in nature and architecture in which way?
Imagine hearing the soundtrack for travelling through a city or nature. Buildings and trees passing by, patterns emerging and dissolving. Street grids become rhythms, the sky is slowly changing in nuance, like strings through a highpass filter. To me, the composition of environment translates into the composition of sounds.
Tobias Fischer - Tokafi.com (Dec 2010)
Bad Panda - Anders Ilar - Traveller
I love Anders Ilar. He is a swedish producer and he makes the kind of warm, dreamy, melodic techno that evokes the wintry landscapes of his homeland. His love of the genre stems from his early interest in ambient pioneers such as Tangerine Dream and Jean Michel Jarre, by way of the dark (Skinny Puppy, Front 242), the moody (Cocteau Twins, Lush) and the tech-obsessed (Aphex Twin, early Cologne records).
Over a couple of dozen 12-inches and a handful of CDs on labels such as Level, Narita, Shitkatapult (co-headed by Apparat), Merck, Further, Echocord and more, Ilar has built up a catalogue of lush, deep, and occasionally glitchy electronic records that are both useful techno tools and excellent Sunday morning home listening material.
Incredibly prolific artist, I’ve fallen in love with Nightwidth (2006) and with his 2008 free album Twilight Rainfalls and then worn out the Resident Advisor mix. His new cd (Storied of old) is out on yardrec (with remixes from Adam Johnson and Yard) and another new cd album on Level Records (Wavefunction Formula) on is coming up in November/December.
Traveller is a new exclusive track by Anders Ilar, dedicated to lithuanian Supynes Festival.
Bad Panda really really suggests to read the interview below, his words are also now part of our manifesto.
Many thanks to Anders.
Where do you live actually?
I find myself on a beautiful blue pearl spiralling through space, I inhabit a human bodyform and it is located in an area known as Sweden. I share my time between two homes in two cities, one in Gothenburg the other one in Ludvika.
What is the last thing you ate?
I had some thaifood with chicken and rice and good stuff.
Your addiction?
My laptop, my cats, sleep, food, etc.
What do you collect?
I find myself less attached now to material things like records and gadgets than
I used to before. Now I collect special places and inspired moments.
One quote?
Life is only a dream and we are the imagination of ourselves. -Bill Hicks
One movie?
K-Pax
One book?
Eckhart Tolle Stillness Speaks
Which song do you listen to when you wake up?
It is usually quiet when I wake up, but the first music I will listen to is probably whatever I was working on the night before.
A song you wish you wrote yourself?
I dont think about that alot. Theres been more than a few tracks over the years that resonated strongly with me, but it doesnt mean I wish I wrote them. That would take away the pleasure of hearing them for the first time in an unbiased manner.
When it comes to (music and) lyrics, wich I dont use often in my music, I really like Dead Can Dance. Their 3 first albums still remain in high positions on my all time favourite list. There also one song by Depeche Mode that I strongly connected with lately called Light.
The song to be played at your funeral?
Dead Can Dance Persephone (The Gathering Of Flowers). Also just great for any rainy day.
A song for relaxing on a beach?
Boards of Canada Everything you do is a balloon. But I prefer the sound of the surrounding nature. Or the stillness in wich it all appears.
One website?
http://keyholepublishing.com/Leading-UFO-Documents.html
Your thoughts about music industry?
I think music and industry makes a bad combination. I think its obvious that creative expressions such as music has a value and a function much deeper than any industry or market minded person can comprehend. Some things just shouldnt be monetized. You cant really own sounds more than you can own the air you breathe. Its just a privilege to be able to experience music at all, in all its wondrous beauty, and you simply cant own the experience. We need a new economic system that is not based on the banks robbing the people. There really is a shift in conciousness needed on this planet. I think if there was finally a big crash or financial collapse wich laid the Banks and Governments in ruin I hope people should celebrate, sing and dance in the streets and finally realize they are free. If there was an interuption in the powergrid and the last laptops and ipods are all drained of power, humanity will always have more music within.
Afterall, (real inspired) music always comes into this world through someones heart. Music wants to be free, and we have the technology to do that, so I dont see whats the effing problem. Only human ego gets in the way. We are truly living in a time of transition and change on so many levels. I see the potential for a bright future for humanity, we just need to mature and clear out the collective egos and rise above millenia of conditioning. Its going to be painful for alot of people to let the old go, but its happening now, its been going on for many hundreds of years. slowly a new consciousness is rising on the planet and is now gaining momentum. Dont get lost in the fearpropaganda pushed by politicians and newsmedia. We need to embrace forgivness and step out of ego and compulsive thinking. We have a destiny to be free from the rule of our egoic minds, on a free planet, a free people, sharing space, food, love and music.
Favourite venue?
I enjoy playing in the forest very much, under a starry sky.
Favourite concert?
Tough question. One of the best was definitly Legendary Pink Dots in Örebro back in 94 or 95. I recently went to listen to Autechre, and I realised I would probably have enjoyed it much more laying down somewhere soft with a good pair of headphones.
Favourite place on earth?
The corner of a meadow down by a lake near my home in Ludvika where me and some friends often make bonfires and chill out. This place has been with me from the start. A very magical spot.
Where would you wish to wake up tomorrow?
On a planet with higher numbers of conscious inhabitants.
And feel free to add anything else you want.
All is perfect as it is. Just be with the isness in conscious awareness.
- Bad Panda Records (Nov 2010)
Q&A with Anders Ilar
Anders Ilar is one of the most underrated producers working in electronic music today. His sound blurs the lines between techno, IDM and ambient, creating a style all his own. 2008 was a big year for him, where's he headed now?
What drew you to electronic music? Who would you count among your formative influences?
My love for electronic music started quite early in my childhood, and I strongly suspect R2-D2 had a lot to do with it. The sounds of laserguns and lightsabers, flying saucers and robots is probably what opened me to be totally blown away by the music of Jean Michel Jarre at the age of seven or eight. Since then the favorites has been so many (in somewhat chronological order): Depeche Mode, Howard Jones, Alphaville, Tangerine Dream, Kraftwerk, Front 242, Skinny Puppy, The Klinik, Severed Heads, Frontline Assembly, Neon Judgement, Sisters of Mercy, Die Form, Poesie Noire, Legendary Pink Dots, Dead Can Dance, SPK, The Cure, Lush, Cocteau Twins, Lassigue Bendthaus, The Shamen, Curve, Portishead, FSOL, Aphex Twin, Autechre, Air Liquide, Khan, Mike Ink, Woody McBride, Plaid, Boards of Canada, Rechenzentrum, Twerk, Maurizio, Apparat, Telefon Tel Aviv, Ulrich Schnauss, Murcof, Bola, Closer Musik, Dettinger, Ezekiel Honig, Alva Noto, Deru, Lawrence, Jonas Bering, Shadow Huntaz to mention just 50 And Im sure I forgot a few worth mentioning.
Hardware or software? Whats your studio looking like these days?
My studio these days is a laptop PC. Everything I have released on vinyl and CD has been produced with software, tho I've used alot of sampled hardware like Korg Mono/Poly, Roland TB-303, TR-808, TR-909. The usual suspects.
As an artist who straddles the middle ground between ambient, IDM and techno, do you ever find yourself feeling like something of a man without a country? How do you see yourself fitting into the overall electronic music scene?
I just go with the flow. I make the music I want to listen to at the moment. Ive been fortunate to gain an audience to my music over the years and its great, but somehow I dont expect that to last forever. Im proud of my contributions to the electronic music scene as a whole. If Im able to keep making music I like myself, I will try to keep sharing it with the world.
Where do you see yourself headed as an artist? Toward a more dance floor-oriented sound? Or perhaps towards the softer elements of your sound?
Well, lately Ive been getting more deeply into the more esoteric perspectives of reality and music. Understood as a sound/vibration/complex much like any language, music is a very great force to say the least, and it does even appear to have the power to change our physical reality in a much more positive direction than politics and endless discussions ever could. So in vague remebrance of actions in past lives and waking up to my higher self its slowly becoming clear to me why Im here now and what Im supposed to do.
Carl Ritger - Big Shot Magazine
(An interview with Anders Ilar also appears in Issue 26.)
Boing Poum Tchak! Interview : Anders Ilar“
"Beautiful atmospheres between deep techno and electronica-IDM, dreams and nightmares, ecology and technology"“. It’s quite a good start to try to describe the sound of one of the most brilliant electronic music composer who comes out of the shadows for this interview on Boing Poum Tchak!. With Sworn and Melt, his two new albums released simultaneously, swedish artist Anders Ilar grows up once more in the deep hearts of electronic music lovers, and here, he helps us to find out some clues to elucidate his emotional but not always easy-to-access music.
Who are you Anders ?
I am me. I have been living in this body for almost 35 years.. I grew up in a small town called Ludvika in Sweden, but now I’m living in Göteborg since 11 years. Sometimes I make music, but mostly I just am. The unbearable lightness of being. I share a flat with some friends, but I like to spend most of my time alone. I need my solitude.
How did you discover music ? What’s your background ?
I loved music from an early age and I was always fascinated with electronic sounds in sci-fi movies when i grew up. In the early 80s some of my favorite artists was Howard Jones, Depeche Mode, Alphaville, Kraftwerk, J-M Jarre and Tangerine Dream and by the end of the 80's I was loving Skinny Puppy, Front 242, Severed Heads, The Klinik and alot of other Industrial / Electronic Body Music. Since then I had many different favorites; The Cure, Cocteau Twins, Curve, Poesie Noire, Legendary Pink Dots, Lassigue Bendthaus/Atom Heart, Future Sound Of London, Autechre, Aphex Twin, Air Liquide, Mike ink, Woody McBride, Khan, Maurizio, Boards Of Canada, Bola, Plaid, Apparat, Telefon Tel Aviv. The list goes on.. Years passes by.
First electronic instruments ?
Korg Poly-800mkII and Roland TR-505.
And now what are your favorite instruments or pluggins ?
My favorite machines are Roland TB-303 and Korg Mono/Poly, simply because of the sounds they can make. I don’t use alot of pluggins, I work mostly with recorded sounds from hardware. I do like to use a simple FM emulator VST tho, like DX-10.
How do you work on a track ? What’s the process and how many time do you spend on ?
It depends. I usually spend about 5-10 hours on a first version, then it can be another few days to work on details. But in some cases I work for over a year on a track (but not continously). First step is always to gather the right sounds, then I just go where they take me.
Where does come from the melancholy in your music ? What do you want to express ?
I just try to make the music I want to listen to at that moment. That’s the only way I can do it. The result is often dark and melancholic because thats the kind of harmonies that appeal to me. There is also a rich tradition of melancholic folk music from these parts of sweden. I think that heritage probably has a greater influence than I realize.
Do you think your music is sometimes too complex / experimental according to the listeners ? And why there are so many elements inside your music ? Are you afraid of the silence ? (silence = death ?)
I await death with curiosity, but life is so overwhelmingly full of sounds, and I see music in almost everything around me. In nature, in architecture and infrastructure, it’s really everywhere. I like to listen to a good track over and over again, and be swept away every time. It may be intense and chaotic the first listenings. But then you start to hear new sounds that appear by coincidence, and other sounds dissapear. In life there is always more input than the brain can handle, and you automaticly sort thru this and focus on what’s important. But I don’t think my music is really that complex. To me it seems more like it’s people that’s afraid of noise.
How can you describe your own sound ?
I’d rather not. I find that Words are insufficient. But I guess to keep it simple I would say it’s dreamy electronic music. Sometimes nightmarish.
You are releasing almost simultaneously two albums. Can you introduce this two LP’s please ? And what are the differences between them ?
Well, Sworn is my fifth solo-album, and my first ever double-LP. It’s a compilation of previously unreleased tracks that seemed to fit together for some reason. It’s been in the makings for a few years and I’m really glad it’s finally out. The other album is Melt, a collaboration with my friend Fredrik Hedvall. The tracks on this one are a bit deeper and more conceptual. 8 tracks constructed from some of Fredriks loops and ideas that I re-structured, arranged and produced. It’s strange that my releases always cluster up like this, and a bit unfortunate. It was also like this in the summer of 2006 when I released 4 ep’s in a 2 month period. Both albums was delayed for several months to start with, so I wanted to push the release of Melt to later in 2008, but Narita manager Gabe Koch didn’t have time to do it later, and since it will probably be the last Narita release i’d rather do it now than never.
Why Melt is only available in Japan ?
Narita was managed by Merck-head Gabe Koch in Miami, but distributed and manufactured in Europe. After a long wait and some trouble with the distributor we finally decided to go ahead and do the cd without them. Gabe had some connections with a Japanese distributor so they made a deal. Me and Fredrik also got a good load of copys and it’s also available for worldwide order directly from the new Merck-webshop.
Are you involved into the Narita label ? Why this label is so secret ? (no contact, demo, request, no mp3…). And what is the aim of Narita ?
Not directly involved, no. As I said, the future of Narita is uncertain. Most likely the last release is the Melt CD.
I know there are guys from Merck behind it. Do you know why they stopped to run Merck ?
As I understand, it was time for him to move on in life. Running a label is also a lot of unrewarding work.
You'’re not interested in having your own label to release your own stuff ?
Nope. I don’t want to have a label because I don’t have the money or the connections to start pressing and distributing vinyl records. But when the day comes when all labels are dead and no one wants to release my music on vinyl anymore, I will probably put all my music for free download on pinesky.com
What do you like to listen to ?
I honestly don’t listen to a lot of music anymore. I guess I had an overload, and I rather make my own music now than hunt for new music. I mostly listen to music when I travel and I tend to go with music that i already know. Recently I enjoyed the new Portishead album and the new Autechre. Ae make my favorite music. Their previous album Untilted is probably the one album i’ve listened to most times in the last years. I guess what I do listen to mostly nowadays is soundscores. Bear McCreary is my favorite composer. He did the score for Sarah Connor Chronicles and Battlestar Galactica.
What are your wishes now (as producer in music, guy in life…) ?
I like life in the slow lane and now I need some time to gather inspiration to make new music. I want to make a new ambient album, but let’s see what happens. I also have a dream to remix Depeche Mode some day, that would be amazing.
Do you plan to release some new material before the end of 2008 ?
If I may have my way, there will be atleast 2 new ep’s and another album before the end of the year. But there is also the possibility that Sworn is my last album. Let’s see where life takes us.
When do you come to play in Paris !
When someone books me.
Your 5 top records all time ?
Thats a reeaaaally hard question. There is just too much music to narrow it down to 5. Its not fair to all the other music and there is a lot of records that has been very important in my life. And some of them has now lost their appeal. But for the sake of this interview I should at least try to give some titles that still moves me today (tonight, this minute). So here we go :
Boards of Canada Hi-scores
Dettinger - Intershop
Gridlock - Formless
Plaid - Spokes
Autechre - Garbage
A last word to say ?
Dont cut the trees! Let them grow!
- Pierre-Nicolas Mader - boingpoumtchak.com (May 2008)
Stories Of Old - Yard Rec 002 - CD
Despite having quite a varied and full discography, I only came across Anders Ilar recently with his Vidare album on Further Records. The blame for my lack of awareness sadly rests at my own door, as Ilar has released a vast amount of material on labels such as Shitkatapult, Narita Records and Echocord. But enough wallowing in audio guilt, what is the Gothenburg producer up to these days? Running parallel to Vidare is another album, Stories of Old on Yard Rec. To date, Yard Rec has been solely inhabited by Chris H. Jones, aka Yard. Now the horizons are broadening with Ilar on board.
The album starts out on the moody pathways of "Carving Wooden Hearts" and is determined to lead the listener further into Ilar's den. The tracks are dense, complex structures that give the appearance of simplicity. The route of Stories of Old is far from fixed, as in the disjointed "Cries of Wilderness" or the epic scape of "Unfold." Ilar's sound sits somewhere between Autechre and Echospace, utilising cracked electronics with thick astral sounds. The beatless atmospherics of "Heliopause" scare up memories of S.A.W. II but in a digital sphere while "Unconditional Surrender" harks back to the sounds of Phonem and the broken electronics of Morr Music. The track is retooled, firstly by Adam Johnson and then by label boss Yard. The strings of the original are given an organic anchor by the remixers, adding much more a plucked feel to the bass lines to produce two excellent versions of the original. The album comes to a close with the lost sounds of "Untitled," summing up Ilar's latest expedition nicely.
The first thing that strikes home about Ilar is the variety of styles he draws upon. Electronica is meshed with minimal techno and deep house. He takes warm analogue elements and mixes them with the steely chill of digital sounds. The traditional borders of hardware and software are blurred in this diverse aural dip. Looking beyond this record Ilar has pinned his collar to other sounds, such as his acidic appearance on 030303 Records. Stories of Old showcases a brief slice of Ilar's capabilities, reflects on what made electronica a hypnotic sound whilst looking at some new ways of viewing it.
Robbie Geoghegan - Igloo Magazine
----------
Swedish techno star Anders Ilar returns with a new long-player for the Yard imprint, boasting six new productions, two remixes and one (sort of) hidden, untitled track. 'Carving Wooden Hearts' is a great opener - a midtempo affair, buckling under its own weight with flecks of distortion spilling out from the mix. As tends to be the case with Ilar's work there's an absorbingly melodic aspect that really holds the ear's attention whilst the production evolves in a sufficiently weird and wonderful fashion. Later on, 'Unfold' summon up memories of Selected Ambient Works, while 'Cries Of The Wilderness' launches into a higher tempo, more dancefloor-oriented mode. 'Unconditional Surrender' is a standout, and it's also the basis for the two remixes: Adam Johnson comes up with a weird, almost raga-like expansion of the original, while Yard carves out a tight and densely produced overhaul.
- Boomkat
Born in a small Swedish town in 1973, Anders Ilar spent most of his childhood playing with sequencers and drum machines. Dissatisfied with the quality of his productions, Ilar sold all his equipment in 1997. In 2000, Ilar accidentally found what he was looking for when he was fiddling around on his friend's computer. After this new discovery, he continued to produce music and by 2001, his first twelve-inch was released under the moniker Rend (on Plong). Now, with several releases under his belt on Audio.nl, Shitkatapult, Level Rec., Narita, Merck and Echocord, Anders continues to produce quality music at a rapid rate. Stories of Old is an eight-track release that includes remixes by Adam Johnson and label owner Chris Yard. "Carving Wooden Hearts" is a haunting, layered house number that floats along with shuffling crackles and echoing, distant bells. "Unconditional Surrender" is a brooding, textural techno track, with immaculate controlled rhythms. Anders Ilar's ear for production styles demonstrates his precision at combining a wide array of complex elements into another intricate, exceptional release.
Andrea Ayotte - Exclaim.ca
Anders Ilar returns with his first artist album since Sworn appeared on Level (Kompakt) in 2008. Curated and sequenced by Ilar and Yard, Stories of Old finds the Swedish producer serving up six rich, full-bodied tracks of rhythm-based electronica supplemented by remixes from Adam Johnson and Yard. There's a techno dimension present, but Ilar's clearly hunting bigger game than stripped-down club bangers with the recording's focus as much on deep tracks heavy on mystical atmosphere. His originals are polished astral-travelers that sometimes meld the finer elements of electronic dance and listening forms into a single, personalized style; one such example, Unfold, graces the recording with a bottom end thrust that's markedly offset by spacey washes of sparkle and glimmer.
Opener Carving Wooden Hearts exudes a menacing stalker vibe in its atmospheric, bass-prodded blend of mid-tempo beat crunch and synthetic windstorms, while Arcturus opts for spectral mystery, with beats awash in grandiose swathes of synthetic colour. In certain cases, extreme contrast accrues from particular juxtapositions. On the one hand, we have a track such as Cries of the Wilderness showing off Ilar's groove-centric side, with the still heavily atmospheric design taking a back seat to a restlessly percolating rhythm attack. Stylistically diametric to it is Heliopause, which drops the beats altogether for a seven-minute ambient cruise through the upper galaxies where speckles pop amidst gaseous clouds. Ilar follows the light-footed, fleet banger Unconditional Surrender with makeovers by Johnson and Yard, the first of which stokes a hip-shaking groove into a seriously infectious club raver and the second an epic, techno-based pounder crafted by the label head himself. While contrast accounts for part of the recording's appeal, Stories of Old also appeals on grounds of concision. The unfussy manner by which Ilar rolls out his six originals and two remixes provides a choice model that other producers would do well to imitate.
- Textura
Anders Ilar has been crafting his own dreamy blend of experimental electronics for almost a decade. Just four months after crafting Vidare, a limited edition album of 100 cassettes (which I have not heard), comes this album, Stories of Old, on the fledgling Portland, Oregon (U.S.) based imprint, Yard, on limited edition CD. If Yard which is also the alias of label head Chris Jones was looking for an album to enhance its deep and dubby sound philosophy, then Stories of Old does the job, and does it well, as Anders Ilar continues to show his comfort in constructing intelligent, melodic electronic music that sits relaxed in the living room but also ventures occasionally onto the dance floor.
The CD is about an hour long and composed of eight listed tracks along with a hidden track. Of those eight listed, 6 tracks and 40 minutes are devoted to the actual album, with the other two listed tracks being remixes of Unconditional Surrender by Adam Johnson and Yard.
Stories of Old dives right into Ilars imaginative soundscapes with Carving Wooden Hearts, which uses a plodding 110bpm tempo to support otherworldly synth melodies that loop over most of the track in a way that is a bit foreboding, if not also a bit aimless. Next up is Arcturus, with its deep, undulating basslines and achingly melodic synth pads but again, Ilar is creating a theme and letting it ride out for the duration of the track with not much in terms of development.
A sense of real direction comes with the third track, Cries of the Wilderness. The drums that earlier had provided a soft glitchy background are sharpened, sped up, and pushed to the front of the mix to compete with swirling, mysterious synth melodies. A sonar *ping* anchors a bouncing, syncopated bassline; fast and intense, this track is one of only a few on the CD with dance floor potential.
Next up is the appropriately-titled Unfold, which drops the BPMs to around 100 and over the course of almost 9 minutes, slowly and lazily reveals a gorgeous cloud of sparkling tones, floating delicately over head-nodding, bass-heavy beats. This is definitely the most beautiful track on the album and a great example of how positively enchanting Ilars music can become.
As Unfold fades away, almost all signs of rhythm disappear with the arrival of Heliopause, an ambient piece that places sustained sounds in cavernous, but confined spaces. Monochromatic drones glide into the darkness and slowly return after reflecting off some distant wall, accompanied by a smattering of quiet reverberated clicks.
The album portion of the CD ends with Unconditional Surrender, which to me reprises the darkly emotive themes created by Cries of the Wilderness. Here again we have a syncopated dance-floor beat, with more desperate synth chords, but what really stands out is the sinister bassline and choppy percussion, which helps gives the album a sense of melancholy finality.
The two remixes are heavily rhythmic re-interpretations, with Adam Johnson bringing an electro-acoustic approach with epic, reverb-laden guitars and noisy, acidy synths. Yards remix is a bit more cut-and-paste, with sharp percussion and rhythmic distortions. The final hidden/untitled track is another ambient piece, with all sorts of synth tones sounding off alongside big groans of distortion.
This is a solid album that showcases Anders Ilars unique production style, even if its nothing particularly new or innovative. This may be hinted at by the retrospective album title, but incidentally there is perhaps a less organic approach to sound design, especially compared to 2008s free album Twilight Rainfalls; the pianos present in that album are not seen at all in Stories of Old, which instead utilizes more synth-based sounds.
One could criticize the aimless, static nature of many of these tracks, but at least Ilar continues to warm his music with his own cozy, inviting atmospheres. The album should provide something for older fans to chew on, as well as give newer listeners a good taste of Anders Ilars meticulous approach to deep, meditative electronic music. It may not reach out and grab you, but if you let it, Stories of Old should wash over you quite nicely.
Brian Kolada - Bleep43
Since his earliest 12 EP releases on German independent label Plong! Back in 2001, Swedish electronic producer Anders Ilar has become one of the figureheads of the European leftfield techno scene, with a steady flow of material over the past decade on labels including Shitkatapult, Audio.nl and Merck. In the wake of his 2008 Swoon collection for Kompakts Level imprint and recent darkside techno oriented ventures for Narita, this latest seventh artist album on US label Yard Rec Stories Of Old sees Ilar crafting classic lush atmospheric techno landscapes with a distinct ambient / IDM influence, making the choice of title here all the more appropriate. Opening track Carving Wooden Hearts kicks proceeding off on a sinister and darkly-hued note as eerie minor-key synths and dark ambient drones trail like smoke tendrils over a stripped down backbone of relentless techno rhythms and ominous, creeping bass pads, the entire track carrying a distinctly Kompakt-esque ghostly, post-minimal tech vibe that would sit nicely against one of Reinhardt Voigts brooding excursions, before Heliopause steers things into more blissfully contemplative waters with the one truly ambient / beatless offering here, sending stretched-out harmonic tones ebbing out over each other like the slow crawl of sand dunes as minor keys drone off into the middle distance.
Elsewhere, Unconditional Surrender sees skipping, garage-inflected house snares interlocking seamlessly with crunching broken rhythms in a similar manner to 2562's broken post-dubstep techno as glittering synth pads shimmer against buzzing overdriven electronic noise, while the cavernous Arcturus offers a sidestep out into icy, gleaming downbeat IDM as frigid synth atmospheres waft over a backdrop of burbling bass tones, flickering minimaist breakbeats and creaking textures, the constant presence of glitchy artefacts at the very edges of the mixing creating the impression of nervous working their way just beneath the calm surface. As well as the seven original tracks, theres also two remixes packed in here that throw a distinctly more rhythmic slant on things, Adam Johnsons reworking of They Themselves tossing in additional nu-skool breaks muscle alongside churning near-acid synth distortion, while Yards remix of Maschine goes for restrained tech-y class as vaguely soul-kissed pads reverberate over a backbone of jacking tech-house rhythms to swirlingly hypnotic effect. An excellent album that sees Ilar up to his usual lofty standards move fast however, as the physical CD release is limited to just 500 copies.
Chris Downton - Cyclic Defrost
Anders Ilar è uno dei musicisti scandinavi da preservare con più cura. Attivo sulla scena da oltre dieci anni, vanta ormai una solida discografia che tra album, 12 pollici remix e quantaltro traccia un lunghissimo percorso fatto soprattutto di sperimentazione. La musica di Ilar infatti è sempre apparsa come una sorta di investigazione che fa uso di diversi canali stilistici. Le sue escursioni hanno luogo tanto nel dancefloor quanto in lande desolate od orizzonti infiniti, luoghi dove lartista prova sempre a spingersi oltre, sperimentando commistioni sonore che tendono sempre ad esaltare il lato melodico.
Stories Of Old arriva per mezzo della Yard Records, etichetta statunitense con pochissime release allattivo, perlopiù feticcio del suo fondatore Chris Jones, che con il suo pseudonimo Yard appunto, propina sonorità ambient techno ormai da diversi anni.
Ilar entra immediatamente nel mood introspettivo e profondo della label, aprendo lalbum con un brano come Carving Wooden Hearts, un buio cunicolo techno infestato da presenze ambient dietro ogni angolo o sporgenza, una stesura frastagliata nella quale è forte il senso claustrofobico di una musica che si serve di ambientazioni spettrali ruvide che talvolta sovrastano la linea dritta del brano.
Nonostante linquietudine del pezzo derivi da questo utilizzo di campioni sporchi, è interessante ascoltare come quasi volendo creare un contrasto, lartista ci propone una melodia di organo che si dispiega lungo quasi tutto il percorso creando quasi un corpo a se stante.
In Arcturus e Cries Of The Wilderness veniamo catapultati in un immaginario futuristico inevitabilmente pervaso da sonorità più tendenti allelectro. Memorie analogiche che mettono in risalto i synth utilizzati con gusto e conoscenza approfondita. Queste forse sono le strutture ritmiche che esaltano maggiormente la vena creativa di Ilar, spinte da una dinamica mutante che riesce a far emergere ogni suono dandogli la dovuta visibilità. Territori meno melodici ma con un fortissimo appleal che riesce in egual modo a rapirti completamente per trasportarti in un lungo viaggio con la mente.
Unfold è un memorabilia techno che ci riporta lo sguardo verso alcune escursioni Warp Records degli anni 90, il tutto giocato su un mood oscuro contaminato da lunghi tappeti ambient fatti di colori pastello e luci soffuse ed affondi ritmici potenti nella loro semplicità. Un lungo percorso tra le pieghe morbide dellelettronica che si abbandona pian piano in una pura distesa ambientale che prende il nome di Heliopause, sette minuti di droning tra scenari medievali persi tra le nebbie.
Unconditional Surrender è un brano elettronico che sfrutta in pieno gli insegnamenti della scena techno britannica sperimentale, con la sua struttura spezzata i synth sotterranei ed i micro suoni elettronici a condire il tutto. Nellalbum con 2 remix catastrofici da parte di Adam Johnson che restituisce un anima melodica tra forti tensioni sintetiche e Yard che invece trasporta il tutto in una struttura techno minimale ed ipnotica che ricorda alcune cose della Border Community.
In coda un brano nascosto che è un ottima chiusura dark ambient fatta di bagliori improvvisi che stanno lì a ricordarci quanto buia può essere la notte.
Uno degli album dellanno.
Liquid - Electronique.it
Sworn - Level Records 11 - CD
When it all comes down to it, size doesnt matter. Since the late 1960s, the minimalist aesthetic has proven to be emotive, artistic, and incredibly deep. Theres no end to the number of young musicians who have expanded their own personal boundaries as well as the limits of DIY in simplistic bedroom studios. Tight production is not as important as the raw emotional impact that music can make. Music changes lives. Good music transforms them.
As a critic, I have the task of deconstructing the artistic process. My goal is to break down the cathartic act of music making and discover whether or not a specific work can evoke an emotional response from a listener. The transfer of this passion from creator to audience is precisely what I seek to define. Winslow Homer said of his art, Just focus on painting. Anything that you want to put in there will come out anyway. This is one of my favorite quotes, as it represents the bizarre nature of the creative process. You have to make music that represents you. Pop music satisfies temporarily because it is designed for the listener, rather then by the artist. A great album moves you, and it allows you to feel the raw and unfiltered emotions of the musicians behind it. One of the reasons I love music produced in bedrooms and home studios is because it makes the second phase of the artistic process easier. When I listen to an album crafted with care on bootlegged software in an empty basement, I get goose bumps. Every drum machine click, every reverb drenched bassline, every syncopated synth phrase tells me that this is exactly how I am supposed to experience music. Raw, unprocessed, and incredibly moving.
On Sworn, Anders Ilar proves that this desensitized and emotional approach is still relevant. There is less and less reason to intentionally underproduce a record; with the ease of self production in the digital age, it seems appropriate to produce the most professional sounding record possible. But the pitfall of modern advances is that every album ends up sounding the same. One of my favorite trends in music is the surge of post-rock influenced electroacoustic mash-up artists coming from Japan. Yes, Motoro Faam, Kashiwa Daisuke, Shuta Hasanuma, Akira Kosemura, Takahiro Kido, and Haruka Nakamura are all brilliant in their own right, but with the ease of perfect production all of these artists end up sounding extremely similar, and, unfortunately, bland after awhile. Anders Ilars greatest accomplishment is that he keeps his cuts sounding real and present. There is no sensation of distance or slick production values masking something. Everything you need to hear is right there.
I cannot sell Ilar short. He really has accomplished something with Sworn. The album has a similar feel to other experimental minimalist releases this year, but it maintains its own distinctive and personal flavor. I will always respect an artist who has the courage to stray from gimmicks and clichés. Ilar is right at home along side other revolutionary contemporaries like Morgan Packard and Pole, though I suspect his ambitions will have him releasing albums of a much higher caliber, perhaps placing him in high regard with legends like Thomas Fehlmann and Monolake. Sworn is very similar to the early, extremely minimal Uusitalo albums, though he is in his own league as far as originality goes. Some elements of his sonic palette are vaguely reminiscent of two of his admitted influences, Aphex Twin and The Future Sound of London, though typical IDM kitschiness does nothing to restrain his tech happy house-lust.
