Thomas Koner - Nunatak/Teimo/Permafrost

Our review
Customer reviews
Press release
Soundclips

4...according to our Brian on Thu 12 Aug, 2010.

Now I don't know shit about this guy, my landlord rang me up to ask if I knew where he could get a copy from, so I read up a bit about this release and was fully intrigued to the max. This is the first in a triptych of seminal "dark ambient" albums, this particular title originally on CD only from 1992. His usage & endorsement of gongs and wind instruments helps creates an ominous booming atmosphere, an incredibly malevolent, portentous sound that conjures up thoughts of traipsing across a lonely Arctic Tundra, at dusk, knowing you could be ripped apart by a starving wooly rabid mammoth style creature at any given moment. So it works more like a powerful mood soundtrack, taking you into the perilous icy vortices & chasms of your mind whilst concurrently providing you with a strange form of comfort & relief. The frequencies you get on this vinyl pressing are quite unnerving, especially in amongst the quieter, sparse passages, reminding us of some deep electronic whale music - this record totally breathes life man! i'm taking 'Nunatak' home tonight to test in my own more peaceful surroundings because the click, clunk, rattle, scrunch & clatter of this office is not the sensory embellishment I want right now..... - Brian on Nunatak

Despite being a big fan of Porter Ricks, Thomas Koner's solo stuff has escaped my ears until now. Following Nunatak, this is the second part of his 'trilogy' from the early 90s to be lovingly reissued by Type. Although ostensibly you're in a completely different ballpark with this immense slab of droney dark ambience to the dub techno of his later partnership, it's not hard to see the roots of what would follow in the dense atmospherics, sheer surfaces and bowel-troubling bass frequencies that he demonstrates to fairly stunning effect. I'm getting a feeling like I've been chucked into some rickety old submersible and I'm poking around the darkest, most mysterious depths of the ocean and if it's managing to do take me on that sort of a journey while I'm sat in here listening to someone sorting out a return for some damaged records then god knows where I'll be once I'm listening to it at home, giving it my full attention. Different class, like. - Brett on Teimo

So the third part of the Thomas Koner reissue trilogy has arrived preceding a triple CD set which will be well worth a punt. This is proper isolationist ambient. Vast, icy, cold, windswept arctic landscapes are the order of the day. I can imagine being stranded in an endless white wilderness while on an expedition to the North Pole. It's powerful ambient music that's a fine continuation of the previous two records. Koner is truly a visionary artist and this stuff ranks highly in his body of work. I think is is the ambient music that Santa Claus listens to. - Ant on Permafrost

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Very Special 2010 triple CD edition featuring Thomas Köner’s seminal first three albums in one package.

The three albums were originally released between 1992 and 1993 and are considered classics of the Dark Ambient/
Drone genre.

Newly mastered by the artist himself

Comes housed in a triple panel Digiifile package.

Following on from three limited vinyl editions, Type now proudly presents a triple CD package including the first three,
long unavailable and newly mastered albums from influential drone sounscapist Thomas Köner.

Since the release of these three albums in the early 90’s Köner has gone on to enjoy something akin to a cult status
among musicians of all dispositions. His CV boasts not only a series of seminal albums under his own name but also
membership of acclaimed Chain Reaction duo ‘Porter Ricks’ and, more recently, a number of works that have seen him
occupy a respected position in the installation and sound art worlds.

Through the careful and measured use of gongs (recorded in different rooms and underwater) as well as homemade
wind instruments, Köner’s early work would become a cornerstone of the genre and part of a tryptich of records which
have never been bettered.

After far too many years in the out-of-print wilderness, it’s a source of immense satisfaction to finally be able to share
this incredibly dark, immersive music with the world once again.