Ametsub – Nothings of the North
I’m not quite sure, what to think of resurrecting Mille Plateaux (again). Especially since Achim Szepanski, who was responsible for the philosophical/theoretical guideline and direction of the label, is not with Mille Plateaux anymore. It seems, what’s left of Mille Plateaux, the label that had such a great impact on contemporary electronic and experimental music, is just the name, which leaves a somewhat bitter taste making the re-launch appear more like a marketing stunt than anything else.
From the couple of already cued up releases, one record really steps out. It’s Ametsub’s “The Nothings of the North”. Unfortunately it is just a licensed re-release for europe, because the album was already released in Japan on progressive form, the outstanding label from tokyo, which released great artists such as AOKI Takamasa, Yoshihiro Hanno or yours truly, NQ.
The Nothings of the North starts a lot warmer than expected. Piano fragments dance like fireflies on a beautiful summer night – warm and inviting. The abstract beats oscillate gorgeously between the tiny fragmented sounds.
The Nothings of the North feels a lot like those late 90s/early 2000 clicks’n’cuts electronica tracks but with a sound that is commonly more associated with music produced on a MPC: choppy beats, J-Dilla-esque swing and a crunchy sound. All of them add a lot depth to an approach that can quite easily sound dated and cliché. Amtesub’s album in fact does not.
The Nothings is of the North is a promising re-launch of Mille Plateaux. But there is still a lot of work to do to convince me that this is more than just a well thought out plan to make some money with this famous name.
