Track Listing

1. Konstruktiv
2. Automne Fold
3. Downshifters
4. Distance
5. Protest Song
6. Apn�e
7. Idle
8. Quarante
9. Altiz
10. Parallel
11. World Within Words
12. Epoque
13. Apn�e, Pt. 2
14. Palisades

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #190399 in Music
• Released on: 2008-07-22
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .14 pounds

Album Description
Following his highly successful debut Stabil, Kangding Ray (David Letellier) releases his second full-length record on Raster-Noton, entitled Automne Fold. With this release, Letellier has evolved from the quiet, pristine flow of his debut record to sounds that are raw, dark and organic. Pulsating rhythms become lost within walls of saturated strings, words are spoken over bowed acoustic guitars, and analog synths collide with urban field recordings. Vocals are a central theme throughout the record. Treated as raw material, like any other sound, the voice operates as beat, speaks melodies or sets themes. In some moments, Automne Fold retains the emotional simplicity of traditional song structures, where message and image come together, but also manages radical abstract textures, when tracks morph in closed forms of static sounds. Automne Fold is an instrumental record, an album of 14 "folded" tracks, and a cinematic journey between the senses and the groove.

Customer Reviews

Headphone Commute Review
An amazing array of releases from Raster-Noton can drain any serious collector's wallet. My latest search includes the twelve super rare twenty-minute monthly releases titled 20' to 2000, and I highly doubt that I'll be able to score it for anything less than a thousand bucks. Oh well... So instead I'll give myself a present of Kangding Ray's sophomore release, Automne Fold. And the album more than satisfies my experimental, organic, and dark rhythmic cravings. Kangding Ray is an alias of Berlin based David Letellier who creates synthetic, glitchy, and yet very musical compositions of analog tones, micro-programmed beats, and digital errors. Letellier's musical experience includes being a guitarist and a drummer for a band with rock and jazz influences. Stacking against his electronic music design is his diploma in architecture - perhaps Letellier erects and demolishes soundscapes in the same way. The sound of Kangding Ray is not as minimal as the usual roster of Raster-Noton (e.g. CoH, Ø, and the label owner, Carsten Nicolai). It is still experimental, super intelligent, yet at the same time very listenable - I found Alva Noto's Xerrox Vol. 1 conceptually very fascinating, but for some reason the album did not remain in my rotations. Kangding Ray, on the other hand, seems to fit more along his contemporaries, like Hecq, Subheim, Kattoo and Murcof. There are even lyrics in some of the "songs". Perhaps Automne Fold will create a gateway into the label's catalogue for listeners with a less sensitive ear. Be sure to pick up Kangding Ray's 2006 release on Raster-Noton, titled Stabil. Highly recommended. Makes my Best of 2008 list so far...

A total masterpiece - essential
For those already familiar with the Raster-Noton sound, this album is something of a departure. Glitchy rhythms and sine waves at the extreme ends of the frequency spectrum are present, as expected, but there is a more conventional tonal base at play. Some of the tracks are reminiscent of Autechre, but with more of a raw feeling.

The atmosphere on "Automne Fold" is a wonderful wintry darkness. With most Raster-Noton artists, I feel like I'm outside in the middle of a frozen winter landscape surrounded by total darkness and absolutely alone in the universe. With this album, it feels more like I'm in a lonely, but warm cabin out in the middle of the same frozen landscape. I believe that is due mostly to the incredibly warm, vintage synths that Ray adds to the clicks/cuts style beats.

Where albums by Alva Noto or Ryoji Ikeda could seem harsh and uninviting to some, "Automne Fold" is much more inviting. I wouldn't go so far as to call it easily accessible, but it's definitely going to appeal to most fans of this style. If you've not yet heard music by Noto, Ikeda, Mika Vainio, or the other Raster artists, this might be a nice place to start. While it's not completely representative of the normal sound, it's a good stepping-stone between more conventional electronic styles (e.g. techno, IDM) and the more experimental styles.

I'm highly impressed with Kangding Ray and I recommend it to all adventurous listeners.