LJ Kruzer
Manhood & Electronics

A Norman Records recommendation (30th July 2009)

This record left our Brian feeling ecstatic.

LJ Kruzer, one of Electronica's respected fringe practitioners has a brand spanking new CD out on Uncharted Audio. 'Manhood & Electronics' grabs me almost straight away as the sweeping, majestic synths & piano of ''Ter4' take me Heaven bound, closely followed by the cool ambient keys of 'AAABBB', this does nothing to prepare you for the darker SAW2 inspired 'Chantiers Navals' Top marks for this track, sounding really spectral and chamber-like. Also it recalls moments from the last Stars of the Lid album, warm yet slightly unsettling as its waves of evocative synth was over you. By 'Tram', some mellow, understated beats are introduced into the mix but they're sympathetically applied to the hazy flow & pulse of the lovely backing track. I wasn't aware he was quite as highly skilled at producing such top quality ambient music as this, his beatsmithery in the past being pretty enjoyable but lacking the highly emotive & graceful feel of this remarkable & accomplished work. I can really imagine this becoming one of the genres contemporary benchmarks, i'm quite astounded at the quality of this album!

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What their label says...

LJ Kruzer is Stephen Fiske, a resident of London, England, and producer of melodic electronic music, using the piano as a common theme, with a focus on ambience and synth drones. The son of a Wiltshire vicar, Kruzer began writing music on a Yamaha keyboard that his father used to accompany hymn singing in church, taking influence from the early work of Mouse On Mars, Tindersticks and Miles Davis. Following a string of well-received singles for Uncharted Audio and appearances on likeminded labels such as Ai, his debut album ´This Is How I Write´ garnered critical acclaim from the likes of Mary Anne Hobbs and Mixmaster Morris and led to a memorable appearance at the Big Chill festival.

Returning to the studio to create a more streamlined sound, where the emphasis moved from beats and melody to variations in sonic texture, drawing inspiration from a broad spectrum of contemporary electronic music and pioneers such as Brian Eno and Isao Tomita, the results can be heard on his second album ´Manhood & Electronics´.

File next to: Stars of the Lid, Tobias Hume, Steve Reich, Aphex Twin, Boards Of Canada, Fennesz

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