Bauhaus Cloud’s Film Music for Philistines

Bauhaus Cloud playing live

If there’s one thing Manila-based musician Bauhaus Cloud (aka Noel “Chox” Queja) is not, it’s boring. What he does is create soundtrack music for films that have yet to be made — taking orchestral samples and chopping them alongside jungle beats, or noodling with a piano track till it transforms into a doorbell, or slicing up a melodic sample until the micro-bits emit white noise.

It sounds like he’s overplayed his frayed copies of Goldie’s Saturnz Return and Bjork’s Vespertine till he can hear them in his sleep. Then he watches the Matrix trilogy for the 277th time to study the musical cues and see what he can sample from there.

The collection of tracks on Soundcloud entitled “So Last Year (2010 tracks)” could be called an EP, though in running time it more closely resembles a short album. Nevertheless, you get 5 tracks that are never boring, never predictable. It’s expansive, encompassing, and as one would expect from film music, dramatic.

Someone get this guy to score their film project ASAP.

Details:

• Download the collection of mp3s from his SoundCloud set

• Bauhaus Cloud on Facebook
• Bauhaus Cloud’s Soundcloud page
  

Audiophil’s sinister songs of modern isolation

On “Call Myself” [Phoke72], Berlin-based musician Audiophil (aka Nico Steckhan) and singer Pollyx create fragile, glitchy, IDM-laced synthpop with ghostly vocal melodies and minimal electronic arrangements that suggest rather than drown. Audiophil’s dainty beats and acoustic instruments (piano, guitar, drums) underscore stronger themes of emotional isolation and dislocation that suit the sparse, sterile melodies provided by Pollyx and at times, Audiophil himself.

“Forget the Time We Had” by Audiophil

Take the track “Forget the Time We Had.” The first half features a discordant acoustic piano coupled with the synth burblings and electronic beats and effects-laden vocals reminiscent of 80s synthpop. Soon, there is only the electronic stuff left, along with the sung line “Don’t miss you anymore / Completely forgot the time we had.” Like a sinister Depeche Mode or a soundtrack to a psychological thriller.

“Touched Me” by Audiophil

Other times, you get pretty, acoustic tunes like “Touched Me” that turn from a slow guitar ballad into a frenetic glitchy vocal track that sounds more pop than IDM. Or even the opening track “A Lake in the Desert” which transforms a very accessible chord progression from folk music into a pleasant pop track complete with thumping darbouka percussion and synth stabs.

The idea for the album title was taken from a Zen koan, which could explain why the arrangements contian a spartan, minimalist aesthetic that reminds me of oriental design.

Even as the album keeps emotion at a distance, it draws emotion from you as the listener. This is beautiful work which is sinister in its ordered chaos yet strangely enticing. A refreshing lake in the desert of modern music, indeed.

Details:

• Download it free from Phonocake records

• Artist’s website
• Audiophil on Last.fm

Here’s the “Making Of” video for Audiophil’s Call Myself: