tim koch - faena cd review from igloomag.com For several years now, Tim Koch has been quietly putting out top notch electronica. His first releases, that achieved much acclaim, were on the, now sadly defunct, DeFocus label. Koch offered a fresh electronic sound, crisp beats with a C64 melody that infected the listener with 8bit beauty. After the death of DeFocus, Koch went label hopping; releasing on n5MD, U-Cover and his homeland label of Aural Industries. All of this time Koch was in contact with those making music similar to his own, figures such as Proem, Lackluster and their home imprint, Merck. It is on the US based label that Koch now offers up his latest release, a full length album: Faena. This is Koch’s first full-length release since Islandtones on U-Cover in 2003. Koch’s electronica has always seemed to adhere to two brands of music; the floaty, almost ambient soundscape and the plinky plonky computer music similar to the outing of Toytronic. To an extent, this album complies with this statement. The album starts off down a marshmallow like electronica road that will have the listener sinking back into the chair under a wash of relaxation. The CD maintains this direction for its entirety, with soft, analogous harmonies filling the most part of the album. Melodic bleeps splash over pleasant computerized squelches, leaving the audio interpreter in a soothing liquid of sound. Tracks like "Groove_90" are reminiscent of Global Goon’s Vatican Nitez, with soft harmonic vocals in the background in a plush carpet of electronic soup. "Seven-Ate-Nine" is one of the more playful tinker toy tracks, with some solid retro computer game influences. Yet, it is not all warmth and bubbles. There are times when the tracks seem to lack a real substance. The album is lightly peppered with minute long medleys which act more like aural nuisances rather than an aid in breaking up or maintaining the flow of the sound. Some of the tracks seem to suffer from the same affliction that CiM, Koch’s former label comrade, had; tracks that end before they have had any time to develop. The best way to describe Faena is a rainy day album. It’s the kind of CD you’d pull out after not having listened to it for a good while and thoroughly enjoy it. Then it would go back to its resting place, to be resurrected on another odd occasion. It’s nothing groundbreaking, just solid and competent electronica made with a lot of love and care. For any Merck fans, or laid back electronica lover, this CD will be right up your street. tim koch - faena cd review from the Weekend Australian paper On his fifth full-length release, Adelaide's Tim Koch elaves behind the ambient pastoral qualities of 2003's Islandtones, opting for a beat-heavy soundtrack perfectly suited to late-night driving through cityscapes of the future. What is exciting about Koch is that he sounds like no one else. Though his astute ear may cherry-pick techniques, these influences are so well melded into his own sound taht the results never seem derivative. He also has a significant propensity for melody, so no matter how much the beat is sabotaged (Macrome) or how thick the air becomes with electronic haze (Gulf Streams), the listener is never left without guidance. Though acoustic guitar and female vocals are incorporated, Koch steers clear of the nu-soul or folktronic cliches that have mired so many promising electronic acts. Seventeen songs may stretch him too thin at times, yet overall sensation of Faena is of a rich musical imagination always keen for the next horizon to move beyond. -Sean Rabin tim koch - faena cd review from sutemos.net The new album of Tim Koch was released more than tow months ago but it is only now it has entered my CD player (which is already worn slightly). From the very first minutes he rejoices me as his previous music contained tons of old school baggage, 3bit samples and similar oldies (which I personally don't like very much). All this stuff even has its own name - retro electronica. I must say it is really common for Russian producers. Tim Koch really lacked innovations but this time he has overrun himself and surprises us in a good sense of this word. For those who don't know, Tim Koch is a second IDM celebrity from Australia. The first one is Sense. He has already releases 8 albums on such labels as n5MD, Merck, deFocus, U-Cover, a number of singles, appeared on a number of compilation, including our Intelligent Toys. By the way you will surely hear Tim on the third part of this famous series. Ok, let's get back to the album - Faena is sounding like the best nugget of IDM. Just like Proem or Syndrone. It has all necessary parts - intro, body and conclusion. And yes, it is much harder than his previous works but that may be the best thing about it. I am also delighted by the colourful content of the album - even 17 tracks that are all really different - from broken beats up to luxury and fat ambient melodies - it has everything to delight you. In its agony of death Merck has released yet one more impressive example of IDM. And I have no complaints about it. Bravo! tim koch - faena cd review from www.dbmagazine.com.au Anyone who has paid attention to Tim Koch's musical progression over his first few albums has no doubt admired it but been left with a feeling that there was more to come. With his latest release, 'Faena,' Koch has finally finished the transformation from skilled practitioner to ambient electronic luminary. Where his previous four full-length discs had at times seemed to strain under the borrowed forms of his forbearers, Koch can no longer be accused of standing in the shadows of greater masters. >From start to finish 'Faena' is one of the finest electronic recordings you will ever hear. While at times you will want to make connections with artists like Richard D. James, Brian Eno or even more interesting industrial soundscapes of the ‘80s, such comparisons do this stellar composition little justice because any reference cannot encapsulate the breakthrough originality of Koch's design. Right from the startling beauty of Distantamount the complex brilliance is breathtakingly self-evident. Koch seems to have created entirely new music. I am concerned that 'Faena' just might not get the attention it demands. Adelaide has never really embraced its electronic artists and even the nation seems to have something of an electronic version of the antipodean cringe. I can only hope that my fears are unfounded because with his latest work Koch has forever smashed the moniker of ‘local boy done good’. For me 'Faena' is quite simply one of the finest ambient masterpieces in the style's 60-odd-year history. Mature, excellent and brilliant do not do this album justice. This is one of those times when an artist's work reminds you of the expressive potential of music and what it must be like to map uncharted realms of creation. -Anthony Paxton tim koch - faena cd review from goflyingturtle.blogspot.com Listening to the dense electronic music on "Faena" is akin to traveling through a deep Amazon jungle, teeming with sights and sounds both strange and beautiful. Sometimes tracks on this recording have an almost monolithic quality, like the ancient Chinese Fan Kuan ink drawings depicting layers and layers of towering moss-covered mountains seemingly floating from atop a cloud of fog. There is careful attention to detail and such a dynamic range here with tracks occasionally trespassing into deep dub territory. There is also an extra human element to this recording, as what could be described as angelic female vocals dip in and out of the mix. "Faena" is a testament to the endless capabilities of modern electronic music and is in no way even remotely a mindless "new age" recording. Like the artwork which graces the cover, this long player is both abstract yet highly accessible and Tim Koch impresses with his fifth and finest release. Check out his Flickr site too by the way, for some great photography. -Steve tim koch - faena cd review from inthemix.com.au The series of final passes performed by a matador preparatory to killing a bull in a bullfight,” is the definition of faena which Tim Koch, the Adelaide based electronic music producer, cites on his website. Is this a concept album? This listener isn’t sure what the relationship between the blood drawing Spanish faena and the floaty ambient tracks found on this album could be…. maybe it is the ritualistic almost religious quality found in both? Regardless, each of the 17 units of sound found here is a delicate interplay of lo-tech electronic samples that feel simultaneously electronic and organic. While there is a distinct digital aesthetic and metallic glitchiness going on, the rhythm and repetition feels very much of nature, which lends a soothing quality to even the most heavily synthesised pieces. Take the track Groove 90 for instance. It is dominated by the low hum and bussle of people occupying digital spaces yet underlying this is an unforced rhythm reminiscent of the instinctive ebb and flow of nature. There are also some more heavily percussive tracks on the album like Macrome and Attery Bop. Attery Bop has a more regimented pace with the beats predominately driving the track and generally what Koch has created here is a darker layering of sound that possesses little of the airy and spacious quality characterising most of the production. While Koch demonstrates he is not all weightless ambiance I do think his movement between light and dark lacks a bit of tension and hence the ability to emotionally move this listener. The album is actually more reminiscent of a dream state or other semi-detached mind space. This is true of his use of vocals also. While Koch employs the voice very effectively to create atmosphere, even when in the foreground they are not particularly emotive and again they seem the product of more semi-detached states. The vocals on Blue and Grey are a prominent feature and their sweetness lends a real ethereal quality to what is a beautiful track, but again, does not make the piece of music more moving, which may or may not be Koch’s intent. Lending to this detached or disjointed quality is the handful of 1-2 minute sketches of sound, which are interspersed throughout the album. Despite being so short, these postcard audio units are not jarring as they are stylistically similar to the lengthier tracks. They seem more like transitory glimpses of different moments – a passing mood or image or sometimes just an interlude in time. They are less structurally developed and produced. All in all, Faena is a pleasant listening experience conducive to dreamy headspaces, making it a perfect r&r album really. Furthermore, you can tell that the delicate treatment of sound is the product of an artist who is creatively engaged in the process of making music. Faena is a solid demonstration of Koch’s experience and creativity behind the desk, however, what this album doesn’t do is move the electronic production scale of inventiveness nor significantly emotionally inspire this listener. -Kat Keefe tim koch - faena cd review from cyclic defrost Adelaide-based producer Tim Koch is likely to be a familiar name to those with listening habits leaning towards the more IDM-oriented end of the electronic music spectrum. While he originally studied for four years at the University Of Adelaide’s EMU music technology unit, Koch has spent much of the preceding decade actively releasing music under a variety of different monikers, including Thug, 8-Bit Orchestra and his given name on labels including n5MD and Defocus, in addition to running his own Surgery label (home to stunning albums from artists such as Epoq). Originally released through the US-based Merck label early last year prior to that label announcing that it was halting its operations and selling off its remaining stock, this fifth album in total from Koch under his given name, Faena is now receiving a much due re-release, and sees Koch attempting to distill and refine the various elements that have featured amongst all of his previous releases, whilst also drawing on a broader palette that includes acoustic guitars, female vocals and found sounds. From almost the very outset, there’s certainly an intangibly familiar atmosphere present amongst the 17 tracks collected here that supports Koch’s claims of emphasis upon cohesion with his preceding work. Opening track ‘Introduct’ begins proceedings on a delicate note, with fluttering rhythmic pulses forming a deeply textured backdrop for rippling, opaque melodic pads, before more sharply-focus glitchy electronic sounds begin to emerge from the lazy fog beneath. While the dreamlike ‘Groove 90’ sees this lulling aesthetic extended to take what sounds like the distant sound of sampled party conversation ebbing against clattering near-hip-hop rhythms as blurred-out synth pads glide over the top in a manner vaguely reminiscent of BOC’s pastoral electronics, ‘Ellermanstraat’ sees Koch flexing his muscle more, as coiled metallic rhythms scratch and arc against the background melody of a female vocal sample so heavily treated that it appears to morph at points from being a tortured-sounding human to its more human counterpart. ‘Blue And Grey’ meanwhile presents one of this collection’s most lushly jazz-informed offerings as well as one of Koch’s more overt experiments with vocal textures, as angelic female backing harmonies arc against clicking polyrhythms and brooding bass pads, and delicately plucked acoustic guitars provide the melodic icing on the cake. While Faena doesn’t perhaps see Koch significantly expanding upon the IDM sub-genre, it’s easily one of his most cohesive-sounding (and indeed, immediately accessible) album offerings amongst his sizable discography to date. Koch fans should be delighted by what’s on offer here, whilst they also lament the sad (but by all acccounts, self-activated) demise of the Merck label. -Chris Downton

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