Dalglish
Ideom

A Norman Records recommendation (18th September 2008)

Cover art for Ideom by Dalglish Description: CD on Record Label Records (Chris Douglas!)
Format: CD
Genre(s): Electronica / IDM
Label: Record Label
Price:
£9.59
Availability: Sold out / currently unavailable. Sorry!

5Rating: 5
...according to our on 18 September 2008.

Anyone interested in a sonic trip to another world should read on... The sun has disappeared for the night, my lights are dimmed and on my home headphones I have a CD by Dalglish, an alter ego of Chris Douglas. A producer that has been quietly creating his own world through his machines, operating just below the radar since the early 90's with releases on Worm Interface, Highpoint Lowlife, Plug Research, Pthalo, Dial, Diskono, iDEAL Recordings and now his full length (he had a compilation track) debut for the always compelling Record Label Records. 'Ideom' is a journey into the infinite cosmos and onto planets inhabited by super advanced insect like robotic creatures speaking in ancient code. From the offset 'Exhinenol' suggests a brooding menace of epic proportions with gargantuan machines tearing through a post apocalyptic landscape and reporting back data to it's master computer. As the album progresses the details in the production are slowly revealed. Like an artist's individual brush strokes accumulating to create the overall picture. I imagine a bleak and murky world with a hazy fog being illuminated by strobe like bursts of blue light reflecting off chrome armour. The layers of sound are constantly evolving with microscopic rhythms, textures, blips and frequencies to decipher in many of the totally futuristic sounds. For most of it's duration 'Ideom' is a dark beast but it is not without light, albeit in the distance. I've sometimes woken from a dream in which I've heard voices from another world and wished that I was capable of articulating them into electronic music. Here Dalglish has indeed created some of the sounds I hear in my dreams and for that I am eternally grateful. The mesmerizing industrial (but not too heavy) rhythms of 'Fhorjon' eventually become smothered in waves of claustrophobic synth that are somehow comforting and then the track is stripped back, with a slow, murky 4/4 kick in the background making me imagine myself being anesthetized by droids. 'Jokma' is a breathtaking track with its shifting glitchy rhythms and precise metallic itchy pulses. The track becomes extremely intense midway and I'm almost gasping for breath. From this point on it becomes difficult to write as 'Sach' is so magnificently disorientating. 'Morder J' eases the pressure slightly with its skewed, almost dubby vibe that creeps its way into your mind and body. 'Simint' is a powerful exhibit of beauty through sound. A very moving and haunting piece that takes you astro and then back into yourself. Perhaps thee perfect soundtrack to the recent experiments with the Hadron Collider in Switzerland...'Ideom' is an incrediblly deep and heavy album. I urge you to listen and to discover for yourselves. An amazing experience from beginning to end. Yet another stellar release of supremely high quality machine music on Fluorescent Grey's Record Label Records imprint. Comes in 6 panel digipak with complimentary monochrome artwork and a very high recommendation from me.

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Chris Douglas came on to the scene in 1992 with the futuristic Basilar EP, pressed by the same plant that put out a large chunk of the early Detroit Techno. In the timeline of experimental electronic music with a dance floor bent, the Basilar EP is an important stepping stone for genres that only later had names like 'I.D.M.'

In 1995 Chris intended to release a harsh, sparse, yet ambient beat work called 'Fimt' on Jonah Sharp/Space Time Continuum's label 'Reflective records'. They knew each other from both residing in the San Francisco bay area. Rumor has it that it was decided that Chris' music was 'too dark' so Chris rightfully decided to sit on 'Fimt' until a more appreciative label came his way. Even though the full length didn't work out their relationship produced a Space Time Continuum remix album featuring O.S.T. entitled 'rEMIT rECAPS'. Some suspect that Autechre got a glimpse of O.S.T.  at this time for they also did a Space Time Continuum remix on the same LP. Then Phthalo Records took notice to O.S.T.'s peculiar way of composing electronic music and within just over a year they had released 5 O.S.T. limited edition CDs.  After Phthalo, Chris moved on to Emanate where he released the ground breaking LP 'Deflect'. The final track on Deflect 'Belin' was a barrage of noisy and sometimes random-seeming beats but strewn with beautiful floating melodies. It was a clue of things to come not only for O.S.T.'s own music but for electronic beat music as a whole.

In April of 2002, O.S.T. appeared as an opening act for Autechre, at their request, during their Confield Tour. Following these events, O.S.T. saw to it that his final full length was released on his own label Qlipothic titled  'Seimlste'. Seimlste was the first exposure Robbie of RLR had to O.S.T. He was quite taken by its fine balance between noise and discernable rhythmic electronic music. Coincidentally, around this same time 'Fimt' was finally released by Isolate Records, ran by Wai Cheng.  Isolate records had also just appeared on Robbie's radar at the time, only time would show that by late 2004 Fluorescent Grey would also signed to Isolate for the release 'Lying on the floor mingling with god' . After Wai's untimely death in 2006, Chris had an album intended for release on Isolate Records that was without a home. After much deliberation between Chris and Robbie, eventually it was agreed to release it on Record Label Records. In Robbie's words 'it is the best thing Chris has done, an amazing full length'

The O.S.T. moniker is now deceased, and Chris Douglas will continue under various other names such as Dalglish and Rook Valard. Most recently Chris has done a collaborative DVD with visual art group Transforma, titled SYNKEN. Also out now is 'Otjohr' a free digital full length under the Dalglish moniker. Stay tuned in January for the upcoming Dalglish/O.S.T./Chris Douglas full length CD on Record Label Records.

'Think of the huge galactic atmospheres created in something like Meat Beat Manifestos Echo in Space Dub, and then imagine those sounds displaced into a disused underground bunker, walls wet with seeping water, an earthy smell in the stale air, huge empty metallic tanks of long forgotten use ringing out in sympathy, a gloomy half-light of a cheep torch about to fail and plunge you into darkness. Something is alive down here.'
-Dan from GussetBLOG in the UK