XLR8R Magazine #50 May 01

ANTENNE #1 Korm Plastics

Seefeel have slid off the map and Locust's forthcoming album languishes in limbo, but Antenne fills that void with this blasted expanse of despair. Denmark's ex-industrialist Kim Hansen crafts exquisite structures out of breakbeats, brooding keyboards and effects - unadorned frames for Marie-Louise Munch's downcast confessionals. Her delivery's so heart-breaking, you wonder if she's related to that other Munch, but there's a sensousness there, almost like Cat Power's Shan Marshall's, that counteracts the bleakness. On "Like Rain", Munch's liquid voice breaks into silvery beads dropped into an endless loop and buffeted by stony blocks of sound - a good approximation of what happens to your senses as you listen.

Phillip Sherbourne www.xlr8r.com 

http://musicclub.it/maggio2001/kaos.htm

ANTENNE Ô# 1Õ (Korm Plastics-Staalplaat/Demos)

ÔHere To GoÕ (Korm Plastics-Staalplaat/Demos)

é curioso annotare le esperienze passate di Kim Hansen, dal momento che, dopo aver iniziato a suonare il basso nei primi anni ottanta, � passato, sul finire della decade, tra le fila degli industriali Institute For The Criminally Insane, per poi migrare (in qualitˆ di chitarrista) verso il noise dei Grind, tramutatisi in Amstrong. QuestÕultima esperienza ha permesso al musicista danese di prendere confidenza con il computer quale strumento compositivo e di incontrare la splendida voce di Marie-Louise Munch. Ecco che, al momento di esordire con il nuovo progetto Antenne, abbia subito pensato di farsi aiutare dalla cantante per mettere in piedi un qualcosa che � molto lontano da quanto il suo background potrebbe far supporre. Partiamo innanzitutto da ÔHere To GoÕ, il singolo estratto dal disco di esordio Ô#1Õ. Sei tracce spettacolari: sei versioni della title track. Potrei parlare di trip hop in bassa frequenza, avanguardia electro lounge, techno minimale, ambient jazz pop o solo di grandi canzoni (anche per opera di chi le ha manipolate: Metamatics, Acclera Deck, Full Swing, Zammuto e Geiom), ma la sostanza non cambia: impossessatevi di ÔHere To GoÕ. Sostanzialmente si possono ripetere considerazioni similari anche per il lavoro sulla lunga distanza, dove per˜ emerge una maggiore uniformitˆ di intenti e si va in una direzione pi� intima, verso un hip hop astratto e dilatato finalizzato a colonne sonore di film in cui le scene sono state tutte girate in ambienti chiusi e di notte!

Antenne #1

Je ne connaissais pas Antenne et je m'attendais un peu ˆ quelque chose de tr�s minimaliste. Finalement j'ai ŽtŽ trŽs surpris car j'ai eu la joie de dŽcouvrir un album tr�s atmosphŽrique, un peu dans la veine des derni�res productions de chez Projekt ! L'album commence en douceur avec Here To Go, morceau tr�s mŽlancolique sur laquelle se pose la superbe voix de ML Munch, voix qui sera d'ailleurs prŽsente sur la majoritŽ des pi�ces de cet album. Un rythme sablonneux sert de fil directeur pour traverser un monde o� se m�lent nappes d'ambiances et mŽlodies discr�tes mais prenantes. Les autres pi�ces se succ�dent, conservant un peu le m�me schŽma et pourtant aucune lassitude ne vient rompre le charme. Quelques samples viennent agrŽmenter la musique, comme des "chants" de grillons le long de Let Me Ride It, renfor�ant encore les atmosph�res Žtablies. D'autres morceaux comme PPG Hold PRG. 11 sont purement Žlectroniques et ils sont excellents, trŽs froids, rappelant les morceaux les plus noirs de Kirlian Camera, ce qui est un beau compliment ! L'album se termine sur des sonoritŽs venteuses, signe que peut �tre il nous a aŽrŽ l'esprit tout au long de ses huit tracks. Le package du CD est plut™t minimaliste, tout en bleu assez foncŽ, avec une mince ligne blanche qu'on retrouve sur tous les cotŽs du boitier, de la pochette et du CD lui m�me. Simple mais trŽs efficace. Les amateurs de musique atmosphŽrique mŽlancolique peuvent se jeter les yeux fermŽs sur cet album et ne les rouvrir qu'apr�s 52 exquises minutes. Pour ceux qui ne connaitraient pas ce style musical, Antenne serait une bonne entrŽe en mati�re, alors pourquoi ne pas vous laisser tenter ?

SŽbastien Lameloise http://pages.infinit.net/kortex

Antenne#1

- Electroage's Favorite - April 2001

While listening to #1, it is clear than Antenne's music is of a fragile beauty. The 8 tracks of their debut album is float with a poignant delicacy and a vibrant intelligence; sparse, repetitive and minimal electro trip-hop, one could think this is boring and cold but this is not and it bears no resemblance to minimal techno or even minimal music. Antenne's composer, Kim Hansen, which can be known for his collaboration with the noise band Grind, breaks the boundaries of what the trip-hop genre has brought us in the last decade with a fearless use of experimental electronics and subtle noise bursts which brings an unique character to his music. Vaporous electronics around an haunting atmosphere with machines-like noises echoing over a thick beat, the instrumental Let Me Ride It is an exemplary example of Antenne's abilities. But the piece de resistance lies behind Antenne's vocalist Marie-Louise Munch. Lush and sweeping, she carries each song with an outstanding desolate beauty and passion. Whispering and the first single Here to Go are colossal, the former being a plaintive moment with Munch's vocals careful floating over gray washes of noise drones and atmospheric electronics. The isolated persona of the poetic lyrics gives to the song ample power, beautifully driven by the sparse guitars and the slow rhythm. A slight IDM feeling slip into Something Not to Do that could be reminiscent of Haujobb's recent compositions, but much more vibrant. Shadowy electronics provide a curtained backdrop for the twisted beats while Munch is impeccable and simply gorgeous, a triumph. A moment of pensive beauty and a grand work of electronic, #1 isn't usual trip-hop; there is an adventurous sense of experimentalism here that is lacked in most of the current productions of the genre. Antenne could easily become a household name and #1 is a gem of sadness and beauty to discover. Korm Plastics/Staalplaat kp 3002 distributed by Soleilmoon Review by Final Man @ Electroage All rights reserved.2001 Locusts Prod.©

Antenne#1

Quelle belle dŽcouverte ! Antenne est le nom du projet du musicien danois Kim Hansen, qui dŽbuta sa carri�re dans les 80's au sein du groupe industriel Institute For The Criminally Insane, ainsi que de Grind, formation noise. Il fut ensuite initiŽ au computer et ˆ l'Žlectronique en jouant avec Armstrong, le nouveau nom que venait de prendre Grind. Vint ensuite l'envie de s'aventurer en solo. Hansen travaille sur des idŽes de sons, d'arrangements Žlectroniques sophistiquŽs, sur lesquelles se posent la superbe voix de Marie-Louise Munch, dŽjˆ rencontrŽe avec Armstrong. Et le rŽsultat dŽpasse toute attente. Une musique atmosphŽrique, rafraichissante, inventive, minimaliste et rŽpŽtitive. Un magnifique mŽlange d'Žlectronica et de trip-hop, rappelant fortement Portishead, mais en beaucoup mieux, avec une touche farouchement plus indŽpendante et expŽrimentale. Une vŽritable cure de jouvence qui fait office de bombe dans un genre qui peinait ˆ se renouveler. Si vous cherchez Bristol sur une carte, prenez dŽsormais celle du Danemark .... Superbe, fortement recommandŽ !

StŽphane F. Avril 2001 http://www.heimdallr.ezwww.ch/

Freq Magazine

- #1 Label: Korm Plastics Format: CD

- Here To Go Label: Korm Plastics Format: CDS

Marie-louise Munch applies quiet Julie Cruise-like vocals to Kim Hansen's calm, repetitive programming to create a lush Ambient chill out music ever so reminicent of Portishead. This is a beautiful piece of sound, completely calming and seductive in that it draws the mind out of frenetic thinking into more pastoral reflection. The sounds go from spacey drones to sublty piercing highs. There are nice organic sounds of nighttime creatures blended over deep reverberating low tones and pulses, and ocassionally a fairly strong beat is thrown in. "Here to Go" and " PPG Hold PRG 11" feature very blue movie feelings, kind of in the David Lynchian school of bad bad mystery and proves that Antenne could do a great job at soundtracking strange film noir. What the music lacks as a whole in originality, it makes up for in very special singular noise usage; a rainstick here, cricket and birdsongs there, a heartbeat monitor. There is a definite dark and sinister feel, especially in the Jazziest moments and most of the tracks come up as sparsely romantic. My favorite tracks are "Let Me Ride It", which does the best at incorporating the natural with the mechanical, and "Something Not To Do" which puts together a very mismatched bit of orchestral synthesis with a bubbly chem lab rhythm track. Ms. Munch sings in a more full-bodied way on this track which makes a much more complimentary statement to her ability. She really just puts more guts into it and sounds so much less directed than on any of the other songs. For those who love "Here To Go", there is an extended CD available with a few too many versions in my opinion. The edits pale beside the full version, but there are remixes by other artists including Full Swing, Zammutto, Acclera Deck, minute plus Ambient set before it gets tiresome.I think Antenne have captured the art of hypnosis through repitition and the full length album #1 has some wonderous moments towards that end, but to be honest, all the remixing of the most Pop-like song seems to me a bit of overkill.

-Lilly Novak- Freq Magazine http://www.freq.freeserve.co.uk/

Antenne: #1 (Korm Plastics - 2000)

Copenhagen's Kim G. Hansen is the main man behind the light-but-brooding sounds of Antenne.Several of #1's tracks venture into song/lyric territories of a loungey-electronic vibe kept distinctive by their ghostly sparsity and somber moods.In Here To Go, swishing cymbals and pulsing bass are somehow dispersed into almost vaporous forms; from this syncopated haze, ML Munch's quietly sultry feminine vocals slip in an ethereal-lounge mode.More overtly drummy, though still decidedly low-key, Like Rain floats amid hovering synth wisps and H. Liegott's lighter-than-air guitar strands.Machine-made breezes segue into the spacier drifts of instrumental Let Me Ride It, flowing like a miniature jetstream between ones ears, dappled with reductionist percussion. The beats become more pronounced, steering the track to its ultimate destination...Echoey guitar strums radiate from Whispering (9:36), enjoined by pattering rhythms, wan vocalizations and fluttering sonic atoms.Buzzily distant drones filter through the sporadic beats and muffled chimes of PPG HOLD PRG. 11, marked with occasional static blits.Ms. Munch's intonations seem more impassioned in Something Not To Do, still weighed down by palpable weariness even when buoyed by more-active e-drums. Gruffer beatronic distortions and radiowave frenzies ensue.Phasing in on hypnotic guitar loops, word-free Memo (5:24) ripples in a twilight void of digital twinkles and blurts.Hardline ambient-purists may feel that Antenne's song-structures bar it from their realm, but the eight pieces of #1 represent a definitely subdued side of the electronic music movement. Microscopic digital blues from a lonely cybernetic nightspot generate a mellow (practically depressed) langour and warrant an 8.3 for sheer moodiness.

This review posted March 28, 2001 AmbiEntrance © 2001-1997 by David J Opdyke

http://www.spiderbytes.com/ambientrance

http://ampersandetc.virtualave.net/ampv2001_05.html

Antenne #1 Here to go Korm Plastics kp3002 & 3004 http://www.staalplat.com Korm Plastics continue their decision to keep the main label for mainstreamable releases and cd-rs for the more confronting (?) and follows Tone Languages "Patience is the Key" (v3.4) with Antenne. Here we have a "pop" album and an AB-cd of remixes. Antenne is Kim Hansen, a Danish musician who has been in various groups over the last decade or so: here he writes and plays everything, with some vocal assistance from Marie-louise Munch (plus additional guitar or drums on 4 tracks). Think ethereal pop - Ellen Foley, Julie Cruise and Twin Peaks, Portishead, some Bjork - and you'll be on the right track. Minimal backing, usually layers of percussion, simple guitar or keyboards and a covering of abstract electronica, and then the soft spoken-sung, high, verging on the unemotionally cool vocals (on most tracks) and you have the appealing basis for the project. The opening track "Here to go" lays down the model: a loop which is either brushed-drums or guitar-strums, rolling squirl and drone which all run through, a simple guitar picked melody and then the vocal. A break with a shimmering synth, then return to the vocal, moving through to late entering keyboards and a long fade. But while this model is put to use, it is played with in dramatic and enticing ways. In "Like rain" samples of Marie-lousie are looped to form a dense choir, a big tone enters, complex drum loop increasing the pace, and then the song. The loops continue as a deep rhythm, and a steel guitar plays in the break. "Whispering" has a simple echoed guitar over a pitterpatter drum set, while "Moving slow" is very bright and fast, changing the mood, with a more complex mix - there are voices deep down, guitars and choppy rotors. Simplicity returns with "Something not to do" where the melody and rhythm are carried mainly by bursting synths and longer tones. Sequenced between these songs are three instrumentals. The third track is "Let me ride" a dark, beated ambience with synths and dark winds, shifting into some spacey periods, drums entering about halfway and abstract scratches. "PPG hold prog" is a gentle drifting piece, while "Memo" closes the album with bleeping synths and a tonal wind. These are strong pieces that offset the vocal ones. Sonically this album almost begs to be remixed - the production and layering offer ample material and directions. The remixes of "Here to go" are by a some possibly well known names in the alternative scene - Zammuto I know from his demo (see v1.10 ) and Tone Language from his Korm disk. The original leads off with a radio version - demonstrating both the power of Antenne and the excellence of this song for a remix - and incorporating some subtle tonal changes. Stephen Mathieu (Full Swing) produces "Going nowhere" a pulsing ambient interpretation, with dark loops of rhythm, buzzes and snatches of drum. The organ shimmers and the vocal is a memory of voice tones. The "True to life mix" of Zammuto is tense and edgy - little fast rhythms, breath-like growls under a picked out melody and pulsing organ. The vocal is present, lightly processed but with a halo of distortion. Acclera Deck moves further away in a "Jaz driven cataract mix" which is choppy, composed from short loops of the original, while Metamatics' "Voice mail" comes closest with simple drum and keyboard and repeated vocal phrases, and a developing strong rhythm. And we leave with a spacey, disjointed beaty "Geiom" mix. The five versions vary quite distinctly and give the whole ep the range which is essential if remixes are going to be viable - it is not like listening to slight differences, but rather individual pieces that have some common ground. In an ideal world Korm Plastics would have a big hit with this album - the songs have enough hook and mystery to gain airplay, and they have the makings of some great remixes. "Moving slow" would make a good second single to take their public further into their mysterious, seductive soundworld. But it isn't a perfect place, though there is room in its furthest corners for albums like this to offer a balance and diversion from some of the harder things we listen to. No, it isn't soft, but less demanding and more embracing. Something you can play for yourself to hear the sonic subleties, or play to other people who want music

- Ambersandect, Australia

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Antenne - #1 (Korm Plastics / KP3002)
Korm Plastics, das Staalplaat Label, veršffentlicht diesen Monat das neue Portishead Album, auf das keiner gewartet hat, dann aber doch alle gut finden. Kim Hansen heisst der Mann, der diese minimalen Arrangments zaubert, mti viel Gitarre und unaufdringlichen Breaks anfŸllt und dann marie-Louise Munch ins Studio einlŠdt, die wirklich klingt wie Frau Portishead und dabei besser klingt als das Original. Einfach, weil alles nicht so breitbandkinomŠ§ig arrangiert ist, die kleinen Noten viel mehr Platz haben, alles viel schlŸssiger und nicht so berechnend funktioniert. So ist das. Schšn.

thaddi ****

080601 Murmur - www.murmur.subnet.dk

Bag Antenne gemmer der sig et noget sŒ dansk navn som Kim G. Hansen - en erfaren musiker, der har en fortid i bands som Grind og Amstrong. PŒ denne plade, der udkom i december 2000 har han Marie Louise Munch, der normalt er at finde som sangerinde i Amstrong, med pŒ vokal pŒ fem af pladens otte numre. Det tager ikke lang tid at blive lullet ind i Antennes univers. Allerede ved f¿rste nummer Here To Go (som netop nu ligger pŒ Det Elektriske Barometer) bliver man taget blidt i hŒnden og fulgt ind i en verden af smuk melankoli. Antenne opbygger igennem pladen en n¾rmest atmosf¾risk stemning der flirter bŒde med sj¾len og hjertets rytme. Musikken er avanceret, men alligevel enkel i sin opbygning og de forholdsvis lange numre kan til tider skabe en n¾sten meditativ f¿lelse. Marie Louise Munchs smukke stemme leder tankerne hen pŒ Julee Cruise og Allison Shaw fra Cranes, uden dog at v¾re helt sŒ skr¿belig og lys. Hun formŒr at skabe dybde i de repetitive numre, der pŒ ingen mŒde virker monotone eller kedelige, men tv¾rtimod udtrykker en ro og balance, jeg n¾ppe f¿r har oplevet i nogen anden musik. Det er enkle, akustiske guitartoner kombineret med en minimalistisk blanding af trip hop og electronica, og det giver en utrolig smuk og original lyd. Min favorit mŒ uden tvivl v¾re Whispering, hvor den akustiske guitar sammen med Munchs stemme og de bl¿de beats skaber en smuk blŒ stemning. Men ogsŒ det instrumentale nummer PPG Hold prg. 11 formŒr at skabe en helt enestŒende og dyb f¿lelse. Med Antenne gŒr tiden i stŒ og alt foregŒr i musikkens sindige og trancevirkende univers. Hverdagens travlhed og de synlige, r¿de stress knopper pŒ halsen forsvinder for en stund og man dysses ind i en varm og tryg sindsro, der g¿r det muligt at slappe af. Antennes musik er som nŒr man ligger i sin seng og for en gangs skyld ikke er tynget af bekymringer, men alligevel f¿ler melankoli - af den rare slags. Dette er ikke en pessimistisk og deprimerende plade, men derimod en hyldest til den positive tungsindighed og den lette melankoli. Foruden #1 har Antenne udsendt EP'en Here To Go, der indeholder fem versioner af titelnummeret remixet af diverse electronica/techno kunstnere.