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Pete Namlook

Dr. Atmo
Silence I+II

Pete Namlook  Silence I+II

source: itunesapple

Pete Namlook and Dr. Atmo continue their dirge for Earth and their quest to heal on Silence 2. This set of minimalism is much deeper than their first volume. The deep drone is steady and unnerving, a slow acoustic piano compliments the foggy atmospheres, and the whispered samples border on satanic. But Namlook and Atmo do not cross that line. The healing power of this CD comes from the exploration and exorcism of the darker side of the psyche. It requires deep and focused listening. This is a good CD; it will appeal to fans of Jeff Greinke, Viridian Sun, James Johnson, and Alio Die. It is essential only for serious collectors of electronic minimalism.
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source: wonderingsound

The first real jewel in the Fax catalogue was Pete Namlook’s co-production with Dr. Atmo, aka Tehran-born Frankfurt resident Amir Abadi. “Omid/Hope” launches the trip with the portentousness of a Wagner overture, but on the central pair of long cuts, Silence evokes the suffocating stillness of Middle Eastern temple courtyard, with the passage of time only marked by the slow movement of shadows across a tiled floor. Subtle zarb percussion embellishes the glinting, finger-on-glass vocal line in “Garden of Dreams,” while “Santur” features the indigenous zither of the title as well as a ghosting of Nusrat Fateh Ali Kahn-style vocal sample. If the final “Trip” veers a little too far into a generic ambience that locks it in time, it just manages to keep a full-on analogue bubblebath at bay.
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source: headheritagecouk

Pete Namlook has been described as a guy who has his own record label, his own studio, and doesn’t give a flying fuck what anyone else thinks about what he does. Right on! Since starting fax records back in 1992CE this German post Krautrock electronic musician has released somewhere in the region of two hundred albums, many his own work or collaborations with people from the world of Krautrock, ambient, jazz etc. Fax records is less of a label, more of a culture with each disc release in limited runs of 1000 or 2000 copies, with the most popular titles then released in greater quantities. The sound of the label can’t be pinned down stylistically, but by far the most common musical form could fall under the wide umbrella of ambient. Silence I is one such disc.

One of the very first lp’s to appear on the label, this was issued way back when ambient music was all the rage, being a genre defining piece. And it still is. The classic pairing of Namlook and Dr Atmo (another German ambient space cadet) delivered four slowly evolving pieces of chilled minimalistic ambience. Omid/Hope opens the scoring with slow strings welling up, interupted by Namlooks analogue squeals and a male voice adding some afirmative soundbites, before chilled piano loops and beats are introduced. Next up is the gorgeous Garden of Dreams. The track lives up to its name, transporting the listener to a far out world of lush atmospherics built around the familiar Namlook vocal pad sound. This is haunting gothic-style ambience, describing a deep and exotic place. In contrast the next track, Santur, is more Atmo than Namlook. Atmo takes us back to his roots with a Middle Eastern influenced piece, complete with guitar, vocal and rhythm parts. Finally its left to the shimmering Trip to take us some place else. A cyclic track based upon bells and and washes of wave-like harmonics that builds and builds with its hypnotic groove. Like a vast black hole this track pulls the listener in with its repetetive spirals. A timeless and consistent release that proves that less really is more, and far superior to the follow up volumes. Certainly one for the peaceful hours.
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source: radioswissjazzch

Pete Namlook (Francoforte sul Meno, 1960 8 novembre 2012) è stato un musicista, produttore discografico e compositore tedesco.

Oltre ad essere stato uno dei musicisti electronica più produttivi di sempre, Namlook è divenuto noto per aver fondato l’etichetta discografica indipendente Fax (nota anche come Fax +49-69/450464), considerata fra le più influenti della musica elettronica. Viene spesso riconosciuto uno dei musicisti più importanti della musica d’atmosfera degli anni novanta, nonché uno dei pionieri degli stili ambient techno e trance. Namlook è l’anagramma di Koolman scritto al contrario, il quale sarebbe la pronuncia inglese del suo nome reale.

Dopo aver esordito negli anni ottanta con la formazione new age dei Romantic Warrior ed aver suonato come disc jockey per un breve periodo,[5][7] Kuhlmann esordì a nome Pete Namlook nel 1992, anno della fondazione della sua etichetta Fax, con l’album Silence: una collaborazione con Dr. Atmo che oltre ad essere considerata una delle prime pubblicazioni dello stile ambient techno fu una delle prime uscite pubblicate esclusivamente in formato CD.I suoi album, molti dei quali pubblicati a frequenza settimanale, includono Air (1993), The Fires of Ork (1993, con Geir Jenssen), Alien Community (1993, con Jonah Sharp), e Shades of Orion (1993, con Tetsu Inoue): tutti considerati fra i suoi titoli migliori nonché classici della musica d’atmosfera. Namlook morì prematuramente all’età di 52 anni per motivi sconosciuti.

Autore soprattutto di pubblicazioni “ambient-elettronica”, trance e techno, Namlook è stato definito un musicista ispirato al rock psichedelico, al krautrock, all’ambient, alla musica classica orientale, ed a quella di Oskar Sala. Nonostante gli siano state fatte queste attribuzioni, il compositore ha dichiarato che “la sua principale maestra è la natura.” Lo stile musicale di ciascuna delle sue circa duecento pubblicazioni viene distinto da un determinato colore presente sulle loro copertine: il verde identifica le uscite di musica house, il giallo quelle di musica trance, e il blu quelle di ambient.
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source: groovede

Nach einem Musikstudium in Frankfurt gründete Kuhlmann in den achtziger Jahren die New-Age-Synthesizer-Band Romantic Warrior, der auch Wolfgang Müller (Die tödliche Doris) angehörte und veröffentlichte mit ihr drei Alben. Unter dem Eindruck der gerade aufgekommenen Technowelle widmete sich Kuhlmann zu Beginn der Neunziger vollständig der elektronischen Musik. 1992 veröffentlichte er sein erstes Album Silence unter dem Pseudonym Pete Namlook auf seinem eigenen Label, das er kurzerhand nach der Nummer seines Faxanschlusses Fax +49-69/450464 taufte. Bis heute erschienen bei Fax hunderte von Ambient-Produktionen Kuhlmanns – oft nur in limitierter Stückzahl auf CD und Vinyl. Bekannt wurde Kuhlmann auch durch seine zahlreichen Kollaborationen mit Künstlern wie Richie Hawtin (als From Within), Uwe Schmidt (als Jet Chamber) oder Biosphere (als The Fires Of Ork). Zusammen mit Move D brachte Kuhlmann insgesamt 21 Alben heraus, die oft als Ergebnis von ausgedehnten Live-Improvisationen entstanden.