non035. alpha bubbah. undo undone

artist: alpha bubbah
title: undo undone
cat.no: non035
format: digital artist album
release date: may 31, 2012
distributed by nonine recordings
 

tracklist

01 undo undone
02 dreary musings
03 tighter claws
04 goase trip
05 sea of tranquility
06 detection
07 feast or famin
08 wooden spacecraft
09 red drumhead

all tracks written, performed and produced by me raabenstein,
vocals on 'goase trip' by mark giannori,
guitars on 'undo undone' by major major,
guitars on 'dreary musings' by andreas koslik,
keyboards on 'sea of tranquility' and 'detection' by volker meitz,
drums on 'sea of tranquility' by thomas wydler.
mastered by shapemod, berlin.
art work by simonraabenstein.com           

one month after his second solo release, me raabenstein presents the album ‘undo undone’ under a new moniker - alpha bubbah. playing around with several id’s is a typical nineties behaviour you might say, well, here’s to seperate different styles and thoughts on and around music - in other words, these are the sun-drowned penthouse rooms in the raabenstein building... the nine tracks on ‘undo undone’ focus more on melodic arrangements than the ‘typical’ broken raabenstein style, although there is still the pure joy of sonic experimentation to be heard. with a little help from good old friends from the early nonine days, the alpha bubbah project offers a coherent and embracing album, charming the audience with instintive freshness and a poetic electronic-jazz inspired ligthness, accentuated with tight drums and brooding synth colours. enjoy the melody !!!
 

feedback  

it’s been a while since i’ve heard such adventurous music in the electro-experimental field. this album is entirely built around a vast arsenal of electro-driven patterns and variations, acoustic instrumental brilliance and soulful jazzy vibes. the content is continuously captivating, sensuous, innovative and interlocking. i’ve listened to the whole album with an equal pleasure. 'undo undone' starts this breathtaking musical ritual with a bombastic funkadelic electro epic which provides a large part to tripped-out sound experiments, retro organic chords, floating guitar waves and groovy bass / drumming electro sequences. could be the perfect spacious jazzy-funkadelic hymn. 'dreary musings' delivers an obvious sense of progressiveness, bringing to the fore an other highly melodious and soulfully accomplished jazzy-electro improv. with a spontaneous sense and a great instrumental talent, these compositions admit resonances with the funked out and energized musical world of herbie hancock, miles davis, embryo, kraan and with the obsessional hypno-electro beat dimension of idm figures such as tilliander, wolfgang voigt, heinrich dressel. 'tighter claws' put the emphasis on blissfully pulsating electronic elements sustained by retro-ish organic chords in a clear cinematic moody style. 'see of tranquility' carries on sophisticated electro improvised environments admitting dense groovy bass lines, lysergic synth lines and psych-out effects. tracks such as 'detection' (with its almost goblin-esque feel) and 'wooden spacecraft' culminate the compositional dynamic with a highly inspired combination between perpetual sci-fi hypnotic electronic sequences and haunted cinematic ambiences.

'undo undone' delivers well executed instrumentation’s with fruitful luminous ideas, deep basslines, achieved harmonic progressions, powerfully emotional energies centered on soundtracky ambiences and nice free-jazzy sounding experiments. a musical phenomenon and absolutely compelling release. definitely recommended for those who enjoy engaging, jazz-inflected electronica.

philippe blache, igloo magazine, usa 06/12


não é o homem dos sete instrumentos, porque a diversidade da sua música não se faz à custa das ferramentas que usa para operacionalizar a sua criatividade, mas a julgar pelo número espantoso de personas que adopta para materializar em diversas linguagens de composiçãos sonora, sempre com a electrónica no centro do seu universo, faz do alemão me raabenstein uma espécie de poligolota musical. e sempre com resultados notáveis! o seu novo composto chama-se alpha bubbha, com o qual acabou de editar «undo undone», um disco que segue uma via diferente da fracturação rítmica que, com variantes, marca muita da música de raabenstein. aqui busca-se uma euforia hiperbólica, mecanizada, jogada nos limites do confronto entre a frieza da técnica e o conforto acolhedor do toque humano. um contraste permanente entre a segurança do lugar conhecido e o mergulho apetecível em lagoas límpidas mas de leito inexplorado, nas profundezas das quais se podem encontrar pequenos tesouros de colorações multiformes.

em «undo undone» é traçado um caminho que balança melodias sintetizadas com subtilezas jazzy, envolvendo cada nota com camadas finas de experimentação que, neste caso, servem uma estratégia solarenga de exibição hedonista de prazeres diversos. mesmo se envolvidos por elegantes transparências funky, que confundem os contornos ao soltar na atmosfera gotículas festivas de confetis brilhantes e muito ampliam o convite para entrar no gozo. mais uma excelente proposta de um músico multifacetado, que recusa consistentemente a normalidade e renova o apelo para ouvirmos os seus discos em modo de repetição perpétua.

pedro figueiredo portela, o dominio dos deuses, portugal 06/12


me raabenstein polako ali sigurno počinje raditi katalošku zbrku čestim promijenama imena svojih radova bez obzira bili oni projekti, kolaboracije ili čisti solo albumi. ovo mu je već tko zna koji 'projekt' iza kojeg stoji kao kompletan autor, a potpisao ga je ponovo pod drugačijim nazivom. doduše, glazbeno i stilski jest nešto drugačiji od njegovog uobičajenog izraza, no nastavi li s ovakvim promijenama imena, teško će sve to biti ne samo popamtiti, već i sakupiti na jednu hrpu kao njegove oficijelne albume. zadati će ogromnu glavobolju kroničarima. niti ja ne znam koliko sam već njegovih albuma, projekata, kompilacija i kolaboracija slušao i recenzirao... ovdje se sa starom ekipom iz ranih dana kada je pokretao etiketu nonine recordings odvažio u styling pod primjetnim utjecajima 80-ih s referencama na nezaobilazni glitch i elektro-akustiku, no u principu se osjeća produkcijski duh 21. stoljeća, šta jest da jest. od suradnika, ovdje su major major i andreas koslik (gitare), volker meitz (klavijature), caveov 'the bad seed' thomas wylder (bubnjevi) i mark giannori (vokal), a svi oni su praktički samo gosti u jednoj ili dvije pjesme, dok je sav ostatak infrastrukture odradio sam raabenstein.

kompletan album ima instrumentalan sadržaj; giannori je samo površno suhoparan spoken-word narator u "goase trip", te se vokal, no ne njegov već raabensteinov pojavljuje u odjavnoj "red drumhead". niti wylder kao glazbenik nije ništa posebno doprinjeo svojim bubnjarskim učešćem u samo jednoj temi "sea of tranquality", dok je ostatak pridružene ekipe koji su na vjerojatno gotove materijale odsvirali neke kraće role znatno kreativnijih sviračkih performansa. uvodne "undo undone" i "dreary musings" su nošene blagim gitarskim jazzy referencama u funkom laganim tempovima koji sadrže vrlo slične melodijske linije, a najinteresantija suradnja je sakrivena na sredini albuma u temi "detection" gdje se meitz odvažio na ambijentalni acid-jazz tretman klavijatura. ostatak materijala ima ponešto zanimljivih sintagmi, no sve skupa koliko god se raabenstein trudio znatno promijeniti osnovne stilske karakteristike, neprekidno navodi vodu na svoj mlin prepoznatljivim pop konformizmom. malo eksperimenata, psihodelije, uhu ugodnih melodija u laganim chill-out/ trip-hop tempovima i minimalističkih elektronskih nadogradnji u finoj produkciji. taman između komercijalnih i alternativnih atributa za, kako kaže u press materijalu, svoje osunčano 'penthouse' zdanje na vrhu zgrade u berlinu. ocjena albuma [1-10]: 7
horvi, terapija.net, croatia, 06/07

listening in repeat mode. brillant !!!
pedro figueiredo portela, o dominio dos deuses, portugal 04/12

pretty dam sick !!  love the sea of sounds this is diving into. bravo !!
dee banse, canada 04/12

luv alpha bubbah !!!
ran slavin, tel aviv 04/12

very diverse range of trax, nice work... on first hearing sea of tranquility and wooden spacecraft impress me the most but im sure the lp is a grower...
corin arnold, bln.fm, germany 04/12

vielen dank ! wird mir das wochenende verschönern, ohne frage…
harry lachner, radiophon, swr2, germany 04/12

the album sounds really awesome, that's what I'm looking for in music...
ralph echter , gentle media, the netherlands 04/12

das album klingt sehr spannend...
stephan steigleder, universal music, germany 04/12