Kontake - Soundtracks To Lost Road Movies

by Anthony Strutt

published: 30 / 1 / 2009

Kontake - Soundtracks To Lost Road Movies

Label: Drifting Falling
Format: CD

Superb debut album from London-based largely instrumental post rock trio Kontakte, which consists half of original tracks and then half of remixes of those numbers

Review

‘Soundtracks to Lost Road Movies’ is the debut album from London three piece, Kontakte, who are two years old now It comes in two parts. The first half features the original band versions and then the second half consists of remixes of those numbers. Most of the album consists of instrumental nu gaze/postrock workouts that either chill your brain or will blow it instead. ‘Pacific Coasting Highway’ opens the album. It is a late night, chill-out, perfect comedown track, suitable for Sunday mornings. It starts off as a slocore shoegaze track with the effect peddles turned down to their lowest settings, until it warms up around the four minute mark, when it becomes more like a progressive Ride or a dancey My Bloody Valentine ‘Motorik’ is a very trippy Nu gaze track, with the volume of My Bloody Valentine but with the elegance of early Appliance, especially on the bass lines. ‘Ghosts of Electricity’ again has an Appliance like vibe, but with added Bjork-style beats. It is quite slocore until the three and a half minute mark when the guitars turn up, and it gets into a loud My Bloody Valentine vibe. ‘Life's Road Movies’ recalls a slowed down Pale Saints. It has well paced drums, loud guitars, and a bass that floats along to the rhythms perfectly. As it speeds along it becomes more like an early shoegazing track. ‘Sterile World’ is like a Lush or early Slowdive track without the vocals and becomes grittier as it moves along. ‘Two and a Half Thousand Miles’ is a soft chill out track until it reaches the seven minute mark, when it becomes more shoegazing heavy. The Twelve remix of ‘Pacific Coast Highway’ is much lighter, with much cleaner instrumentation, before developing a heavy blues sound, while the bass lines again are reminiscent of the Pale Saints. The Matt Bartram remix of ‘Motorik’follows, Matt is the frontman of Air Formation and also released a solo album last year again on Drifting Falling. His remix is like a speeded up Appliance, very trippy, and a perfect chill out track. The Electric Loop Orchestra remix of ‘Ghosts of Electricity’ is very loud and very heavy, but a big chunk of it unfortunately sounds like a sticking record. The Winterlight remix of ‘Life’s Road Movies’ has a very poppy, very danceable post rock sound. The Polysicness remix of ‘Sterile World’ has a sample of American military announcements on it. It is is groove based with military-style drums that sound like repetitive gun fire, and is very loud and fast paced. It ends with Oppressed by the Line's remix of ‘Two and a Half Thousand Miles’, which is a slow-paced pure chill-out number, until it picks up pace, gets louder and ends up as a post rock number.

Track Listing:-

1 Pacific Coast Highway
2 Motorik
3 Ghosts Of Electricity
4 Life’s Road Movies
5 Sterile World
6 Two And A Half Thousand Miles
7 Pacific Coast Highway (Twelve Remix)
8 Motorik (Matt Bartram Remix)
9 Ghosts Of Electricity (Electric Loop Orchestra Remix)
10 Life’s Road Movies (Winterlight Remix)
11 Sterile World (Polysicness Remix)
12 Two And A Half Thousand Miles (Oppressed By The Line Remix)