Arfihorpotis
"A bunch off ugly sounds build in a beautiful way"

by olle


Arfihorpotis front coverArfihorpotis consist off five movements. Each interlinked by sound and harmony, but also separated by power and feeling. The work starts in a harsh, mechanical setting and travels through dark ambient/soundscapes and drones. The music is non objective and any interpretation is done by the listener.

CD-r
Total playing time: 59:36
Tracks:
1:st movemet 3:59
2:nd movement 8:33
3:d movement 32:41
4:th movement 11:29
5:th movement 2:51



Reviewes

Vital Weekly
Behind this odd name there is just one person: Olle Svensk. So far he just released one CDR but almost fifty pieces on the internet. 'Arfihorpotis' is one piece, divided into five sections and according to Svensk absolute music, meaning that it has no particular meaning or underlying concept, but is rather open for anyone to be interpreted. The work is an example of drone music, but one that goes from the quieter moments to louder parts, and doesn't necessarily stay on one particular stance. From the opening metallic rumble (with lots of reverb) the work shifts back down into the depths of slowly developing tones and drones. Sometimes things move very slowly and nothing seems to be happening, but that creates at the same time a hypnotic effect, without leaping into boredom. The music is quite nice, but nothing spectacular in terms of developing new insights in the world of drone music. Lovers of the Mystery Sea label will know to find this.
- Frans deWaard Vital Weekly 546

Neurozine.com
Industri-ambient är det bösta ordet för att beskriva det här. Skön ambient med industriella ljud som får i alla fall mig att täl;nka på en industrilokal, kanske nattetid när arbetarna har gätt hem och maskinerna lever sitt eget liv. På ett lite spöklikt vis smyger sig den här musiken in i mina innersta hörn i medvetandet och svetsar sig fast. Störtskönt. Mer! Juryn säger full pott!

Industrial ambient. The best words to describe this. Nice ambient with industrial sounds in it. It kind of makes me think of a factory by night when all the workers have gone home and the machines are playing their own play in the night. On a ghostly way this music etches itself into my consciousness and wants me to have more. This is so great. I want more. The jury says full pot.
- John Wikström Neurozine.com

Blood Ties
Overall Rating: C+
Composition: B-
Sounds: C+
Production Quality: C+
Concept: C+
Packaging: C+

Funkis/Anulaibar is the project of Olle Svensk, a composer of drone atmospheres. What he presents here is a mix of dark ambient and industrial. This is a pretty long release that deals with what sounds like a minimal amount of source material.

The album listens like one long track but it is actually split up into 5 movements. The first presents a rhythmic industrial atmosphere that ebbs and flows, very much surrounding the listener with the sights and sounds of the factory images that adorn the slip case. Movement 1 is a short track leading directly into Movement 2. The overall production is kind of flawed with a shitty reverb and lo-fi digital sounding effects taking any warmth at all out of the recording, it almost sounds as if the whole album is 8 bit or something. Though, because a lot of this material is so minimal it doesn't really pose too much of an issue.

Movement 2 begins a dip into more spacious surroundings and the sounds are given room to breath. It's a decent track which introduces some subtle drones but there's still nothing that really brings me in. This isn't very original work, and it's not very stimulating either, though there is obviously some thought and effort put into it.

The third Movement is the ultimate failure of the album, which is unfortunate because it is also the longest clocking in at over 30 minutes. It's very minimalist and doesn't seem to feature many more sounds or elements that weren't already used in Movements 1 and 2. I guess this would make good music if you don't feel like having a deep listen and just want some background noise but I couldn't imagine why someone would want that.

The last two movements are about as faceless as the preceding and stick with the same character of sounds which aren't that great to begin with. I read on his site that it took roughly 2 months to assemble the tracks and that seems pretty accurate, maybe even a little long. Mr. Svensk shows potential in these tracks but it doesn't come off as particularly inspired.
- xdementia Blood Ties

Industrial.org
This release by Funkis/ Anulabair confused the hell out of me at first, as I initially thought it was a split recording, and the press release that came with it was just talking about the dude behind the project, Olle Svensk, but after I did some research on Google realized that it isn't a split and it's apparently the first cd-r release from this scandinavian artist.

"Arfihorpotis" contains five tracks, each labeled as movements, and it all clocks in at slightly under an hour. The material within could best be summed up as dark ambient drone that is executed in a very slick and stylish manner for the most part. You get a lot of very slow brooding reverberated dead computer sounds that are really nice, a lot of good cold ominous drones. At times it sounds like backwards metal scrapings and at times it sounds like someone took a circuit bent toy and tuned the pitch way, way down. It's kind of reminiscent of Cordell Klier in that sense, but it has it's own style for sure.

Each track here is going somewhere different stylistically, though for the most part once a theme has been introduced in a track there isn't much variation. This actually works rather well for the majority of the pieces, as the material is rather strong and I don't mind hearing these badass sounds drag out for five or ten minutes. However, the third track really gets pretty overbearing, as it is 30 minutes long and it just doesn't go anywhere. The pads are cool, but it's basically thirty minutes of the same sounds and it gets pretty monotonous after the first eight minutes or so.

Save for that one track though, this disc is pretty much a great example of glitchy dark ambient drone. You might feel the need to hit your fast forward button a bit, but the overall creepy vibes and otherworld atmosphere more than make up for it.
I definitely recommend picking this up if you're looking for a good droney dark ambient disc.
- Royce Icon Industrial.org




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