Wax On Wool

A 11 track crossover classical album (47m 13s) — released June 22nd 2009 on Nonine Recordings

the album 'wax on wool' shows a distinct progression in the work of me raabenstein. it is as if the multi-faceted somewhat intentional random nature of his previous works have made their way, subtlety, of course, into a cycle that retains its originality und unpredictability, yet exists as an entity in and unto itself, with several musical gestures tying the work together. this does not mean that one should listen idly by, expecting the mundane with no surprise. it is still a raabenstein work, after all, and, although the weaving of musical, percussive and spoken elements are done seamlessly, the boring norm this cd is not. the work in its entirety reminds me of a young alban berg, having just learned the principles of twelve-tone music. in berg's music of this period, one hears elements of the, at-the-time, mainstream romantic approach combined with tone rows, both elements beautifully intertwined. (a feat that other atonal purists never really achieved.) i like to attribute this to berg's great sense of musicality and style. this is what i mean when i say that the second slowcream album contains elements of pure raabenstein, but with a new, fresh kind of artistic refinement that makes the work a joy to listen to. it is still in the experimental, electronic genre, but it has something new: a definite sense of style. whereas the genre of modern electronic music within the context of popular culture has been content to pride itself with experimentation mounted upon experimentation, this work shows some natural progression — it is an amalgamation of many different genres, elements, and media, somewhat like a modern work of visual art, which does not shy away from using oils with textiles, or car parts with rubbish. in the same manner which modern art has experimented with varying media, so has raabenstein experimented with sonic layering. 'wax on wool' is full of three dimensional musical levels, mesmerizing the listener, piquing his interest, making him curious. this is why this album has a distinct forward motion; it is complete with rhythmic patterns, contemporary electronic minimalism at times, punctuated by tongue and cheek comedy, even taking time to breathe occasionally with haunting musical yearnings. it is the mixture of both microcosmic strengths with those macrocosmic ones that makes the album specific and powerful. one may be able to listen to just the poco allegretto from brahms 3 and be satisfied, but knowing how the entire symphony sounds unadulterated, from its beginning to its end makes one never want to hear just one piece as an excerpt again. so is slowcream's 'wax on wool'. once the work is listened to, one understands how it all fits together. when that happens, you won't want to hear it any other way. joshua farrier (dma)
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