tracklist

01 nob

02 coop switch

03 suburb novel

04 dylan for a day

05 shadow meat                         

06 twilight roam

07 live long and prosper

08 cream master

09 wife’s tales

10 bound dog time

11 deep freeze

all tracks written, produced and mixed by me raabenstein,
vocals on suburb novel by major major.

mastered by shapemod, berlin

artwork by simonraabenstein.com

distributed by nonine recordings

the connection between classical and minimal-electro is saturated with spaces of re-definition. slowcream smears the frames of classical music with a funky delicious fringe, polarizing certain fragments of its best qualities, allowing it to be re-admired, by this re-discriminating the sounds of music into new categories. when heard, once undistinguishable qualities appear, giving sight to pleasures which would otherwise perish un-observed over the course of music’s advancements…

within this album slowcream seeks to continue an epic of music. bringing a sound and quality all its own, while a new tale is ignited. slowcream is a modern day extension on the potential’s of classics soul. electronic touches on the finer details which conventional instruments are unable to produce on they’re own. reminding the music world that computer’s too, in the right hands are indeed another instrument. slowcream’s impedes is advancing on the passions of bach and stravynsky themselves, humbly cultivating that which oodles of composers alike, would they themselves perhaps utilize were they alive and funky today.

the pieces remind of the belief that our much beloved classical genius’s would see the endless soul touching potential’s of electronic music. for a time we’ve lived to guess-create the spaces between our selves, which so admire what they have done and that which we’d hope they would do today, or even what they could have been imagining. this album is both a creation of its own fine elements, giving light to uncharted territory, but also a glimpse in the past and thirdly a tribute to music’s incandescent future.
liner notes by david ennio minor

enjoy the melody !!!

feedback

me raabenstein baut aus dem wissen um das werk von klassikern wie bach oder stravinsky so etwas wie metaklassische musik. da darf dann ein auf eine pianoriff-repetition vertrauendes stück »dylan for a day« heißen. klavier- und seltener streicherbruchstücke werden sanft von elektronischen beigaben umwirkt und schaffen so eine konzentriert-experimentelle atmosphäre. es reibt sich und geht doch zusammen. »live long and prosper« birgt musik, die auch in 20 jahren noch spannend klingen wird.
alfred pranzl, skug.at, austria 12/08

a good entry point into nonine’s musical sound world – yes, there is such a thing – is the label boss me raabenstein’s release as slowcream. at first, i thought me was the name of a woman. then a man. music and gender aren’t necessarily interesting, but with slowcream, the indeterminate color my listening. „live long and prosper“ is a fusion of electronic and classical elements. this could also be, with small variations, the label’s motto. piano and strings lead melodies and tonal fragments through muted crackling rhythms, meditative drones, sampled sound fragments. it sounds urban and nighttime, maybe cinematic. the music follows a new minimalist formula like murcof and max richter, but the tension with slowcream lies in the unexpected, the unfinished, that the music is not pedantically over-composed but follows the path of sampling improvisation. after probably twenty plays, the album still hasn’t settled in, there is a distorted richness in both depth and surface that makes the well-sounding layers enrich the elusive rather than lead to harmonic simplification. slowcream’s music is full of longing and contradictions. it is dark and questioning, hypnotic and immediate.
sven rånlund, soundofmusic.nu, sweden 10/08

there have already been several attempts at the creative recombination of minimalist electronic music with classical erudition, focusing on its most essential elements of structure and formal development. in „live long and prosper,“ the berlin-based slowcream attempts a moment of pure musical creation, using this matrix as a foundation, but audaciously exploring a very unique corner of this sonic geography, with results that, in many moments, can be surprising. what ultimately surprises most about slowcream’s music is their constant attention to detail. every small rhythmic or melodic inflection seems to have emerged from a dome of care and reveals a special focus on giving meaning to each transition, thus building exquisite sequences in the art of creating epic tempos and tempering them with their dramatic counterpoint. seen this way, „live long and prosper“ gains its own unique pulse, allowing each small sonic fragment to be admired on its own but also finding a broader framework in a musical horizon of notable expansion. in the end, the idea that remains is that the growth of future musical universes inevitably passes through some of the loose ends suggested here.
dominiodeuses.com, portugal 09/09

a well-integrated fusion of classical samples and electronic elements, live long and prosper is predicated on the conceit of imagining what classical composers such as bach and stravinsky might have produced had electronic options been at their disposal. thankfully, slowcream (real name me raabenstein) doesn’t simply bifurcate the arrangements into classical melodies on the one hand and electronic beats on the other. instead, he judiciously arranges the components into compositional wholes where the classical and electronic intertwine. throughout, slow head-nodding pulses anchor heavily-textured interweaves of fragments with the pieces more often in the style of meditative drones than developmental compositions. often a singular element—a repeating string or piano melody typically—acts as the anchor that frees a constant stream of orchestral, voice, and percussive snippets to unpredictably appear as punctuating accents.

the most arresting setting is “suburb novel” which opens in murcof-like manner with brooding strings and curdling beats. the piece soon enough stakes out its own unique territory by adding the crystalline ping of vibes and then the focal point, a portentous voice-over (by one major major) whose text’s elusive meaning intensifies the piece’s cryptic character. the other long piece, the nine-minute title composition, is a heaving drone slathered in flickering exhalations and noise convulsions. in “wife’s tales,” a familiar string sample sinuously drapes itself across the agitated lurch of a bass-heavy rhythm bed while the insistent repetition of a piano motif in “dylan for a day” offers an animated respite from the hour-long album’s predominantly brooding tone.
ron schepper, textura, 08/0

this is the first release that we have from nonine recordings, a label that comes from berlin. despite of the fact that it is coming from the center of contemporary dance/minimal scene this label obviously is not interested in it, but mostly in electroacoustic sound. slowcream on this album are playing with classical samples and electronic elements. this mix reminds us of murcof’s first album even though in some moments it is more experimental and abstract. rhythms consist of electronic beats and percussive snippets appear as a construction that holds the entire orchestral structure in a cohesive amalgamation. on some tracks melodies disappear and on other they are fully present. others are completely abstract, interweaving glitch and repeating cut up voices, making drones that avoid classical arrangements. all this unpredictable combinations of dark atmosphere, percussive elements and glitch fusion makes this album an interesting piece of fresh experimental sound.
td, fakezine, 08/08

what lies deep within the sound source is of utmost interest to the individuals of slowcream. the group works with a clump of classical instruments, but rather than impose a preconceived structure on them to fulfill an idea, they use electronic processing to make instantly and astonishingly audible the finer details of the instruments which were hitherto barely present.

when this process causes the classical sounds to jar rather than fuse, the compositions attain to a level of biting abstractness such that, to a point, they are dissociated from the weight of the past and find another sort of omnipresence, strange, irresolute, vaguely numinous. rich overtones generally spring from moments of quiet insistence, ambient evocations of the stark majesty of the north, out of which swell sensual electronic sounds and mellow grooves, themselves counter-pointed by fluid piano semi-quavers, violin and cello passages of sedate pacing, and evanescent shivers that shift the digital space. these amount to ambitious arrangements that, despite their juggernaut rhythms and jerky delivery, which keeps them hovering on the horizon for a good long while, fostering a fragile tension, often reach pleasing, if rather easy, melodic resolutions.

on top of this, though, particles do fuse on no seldom occasion. a piece such as „shadow meat“ may be one of the album’s toughest tunes, but its structure is so extended, it ends up confused, overwrought, and on the brink of hysteria. furthermore, in the difficulty had over connecting all of the dots so that the works continue to gather steam its some sixty-three minutes, the group often melt the contours of the sounds down to a distillation of their basic properties. arranging skils and harmonic chops are in evidence in certain places throughout the recording, but at this present point, especially given the familiar mixture of theatricality, symphonic structure, and radical processing, there is not much here to attract the devoted listener of experimental electronica and all its myriad forms.
max schaefer, cyclic defrost, 07/08

a controlled fusion of classical and electronic by me raabenstein. while someone like murcof opts for a macabre sub-classical blend with the emphasis on the darkest string sections, with the cello in the foreground, slowcream goes for a more rhythmic approach. the combination of rhythmless ambient (fragments of shrill piano notes and atonal strings) with tight downtempo beats feels somewhat forced, unless raabenstein decisively chooses the groove, as in „suburb novel,“ which, thanks to the vocals of major major, sounds like a futuristic poetry slam. not bad.
svs, rifraf, belgium, 07/08

slowcream is the project name of label runner me rabenstein and therefore demands special attention, because it is a decent guess to expect the core idea of the label to be found in the label runner’s own music. then it is about soft electronica built from microscopic parts into fascinating layers and landscapes. and about an obsession with structures and textures rather than melodies. as the voice on the third track “suburb novel”, in a style between dalek and zappa’s talking style tells us. the agenda being about trying to not be a part of the structure, where ironically or not the use of vocals and the meaning of the word are part of another reflective level versus their own meta-logic.

but also the reflection of past centuries of music composition play a role in the production visions of me rabenstein. like the nocturne piano creeping up again and again on “shadow meat”, bedded into a framework of slowly disintegrating electronic sounds, and then finally also dissolving into mute effects and structural breaks. or the violin on “wife’s tales”. the play with beats and rhythms – a main stay of all kinds of electronic music usually – of slowcram is also working on various levels. never once do the rhythms reach the bland directness and straightness of lounge radio or coffee house music. sometimes they play with that superficial jazz vibe (another musical retrograde towards the past), for instance on “twilight roam” with its hinted at electronic piano and funky drums, but those are quickly reworked and transferred into a different setting to change the meaning almost 180 degrees.

the curse of electronic music is its own sudden death rate. most releases hyped today have become stale and oldfashioned within a short period of time. in other genres there are a mass of albums that were disregarded at the time they came out but have remained silent masterpieces for decades. electronic music is already reflecting the future of fragmented, converged and made to measure direct marketed music, where energy providers will have taken over telco providers, who will be the main music producers and distributors, and 99.9 percent of all music is stale and boring. there is some reason to think that “live long and prosper” is a wish just as much directed at anyone as at the album itself as well and also that it remains an album that can be returned to on and off over the years without feeling bad.
georg gartlgruber, cracked, austria 07/08

slowcream aus berlin versucht eine interessante mischung aus klassischen elementen und minimal-elektronik, hin und wieder durchsetzt mit spoken word. überall stocken und stolpern die beats, hinter jeder ecke lauern beunruhigende gestalten. trotz aller elektronischen spielerei kommt hier aber das organische nicht zu kurz, denn maschinen sind hier nicht mittel zum zweck, sondern androide helferlein auf dem weg zum emotionalen runterkommen. anpieltipps sind zum beispiel das ein klavierstück variierende “shadow meat“ oder der in seiner klaustrophobie schwelgende titelsong, der im wahrsten sinne des wortes angst atmet und den herzschlag gefährlich verlangsamt. da ahnt man, dass man im zweifelsfall nicht nur zuwenig, sondern auch zuviel luft holen kann.
tina manske, titel-magazin.de 07/08

listening to slowcream’s “live long and prosper”, the project of nonine recording’s me raabenstein, brings up all sorts of visual scenarios. europe in the future is a theme that unfortunately rears its head, the kind of europe featured in that noir-ish, animated deuce “renaissance” from a few years ago. see? i start to play various thematically grounded mental ‘movies’ through my head, suddenly i begin to just blatantly assign the music to films i’ve seen. it’s a disaster scenario. “live long and prosper” is a fairly solid, at times derivative, at times flat release. it’s an enjoyable though not a groundbreaking work or a masterpiece or any other overused adjective of greatness. but do i like it because of its inherent aesthetic value or because of the aesthetic value of my dream movie? certainly it should be the case that my dream movie is made better by the fact that its score is its impetus, but i can’t help feeling like i’m faced with my old foe.

which is more important—the score or the visuals in koyaanisqatsi? easy, right? the whole is greater than the two parts individuated. yet i still listen to glass’s soundtrack by itself, i can imagine doing the same with reggio’s film as well, to a degree. o, but i digress. in the end i suppose i just simply enjoy what raabenstein is doing: a mix of simple looping electronics (various soft, reverbed drones, simple drum kit snares and rims and cymbals, organs, digital pianos, some funky bass lines here and there) mixed with the classical and the analogue (sharp violin bursts, ominous string flourishes, chimes, a saxophone).

of course blending the classical with the electronic is a now a well worn path, but raabenstein pushes aside the routine of just unabashedly colliding two styles, and instead uses the organic noises to foil the simple minimalism of the electronics—a sort of role reversal wherein the orchestration often flairs up unexpectedly, blasting atonally and a-rhythmically, as though it wishes to tear the whole piece apart. this is most expertly done on “coop switch”. perhaps the reason why visual worries wound me up in a such a kneejerk way is because there are moments on “live long and prosper” where tracks border on wholly becoming background, times when the music seems disinterested with itself, almost simply manufactured or assigned rather than inspired, certainly when keyboard voices i know i’ve heard before become the dominate theme of “dylan for a day”. of course the opposite occurs, the spoken word segment of “suburb novel” shifts from initially laughable in its unexpected occurrence to convincingly, unsettlingly beautiful—delivered in an aristocratic, beckett inspired disdain.

overall the production is crisp, and the combination of simple electronic drones arpeggios with schizophrenic orchestration draw one in very easily, even if the effects and processes that went into the work can come across, even to the slightly trained ear, as fairly familiar. perhaps this is a project that unfortunately would have benefited from a larger budget. the orchestral arrangements are well done but are often underused, and not without some small production errors. “live long and prosper” has enough going for it to keep you locked in for an hour, even if you’re experiencing crushing anxiety over a meaningless fear. 6/10
john ganiard, foxy digitalis, 07/08

bei live long and prosper sind echte perlen dabei,
kommt rein in meine sendung…
michael engelbrecht, klanghorizonte, deutschlandradio 07/08

hinter slowcream verbirgt sich me raabenstein, der kopf der berliner nonine recordings. „live long and prosper“ verbindet samples aus klassik und neuer musik mit elektronischen beats und sounds zu einer dunklen, stark filmischen musik, mit einflüssen aus dub und hip hop, jazz und geräuschmusik. richtig stark ist das album in seinen experimentelleren und geheimnisvolleren momenten; manchmal gleitet slowcream allerdings in eher gefällige bereiche ab, die das album zur klischeehaften hintergrundmusik werden lassen.
asb, de:bug, germany, 07/08/2008

love slowcream!!. „nob“ & „dylan for a day“ are very modern & cinematic sounds!!
toshio matsuura, formerly united future organization, tokyo, japan

ich muß sagen, daß ich die tracks sehr mag, auch wenn es nicht immer leicht ist, sie zu hören. das meine ich im positiven sinne (schwer auszudrücken), es macht sehr viel spaß, die musik aktiv zu hören. insbesondere vom slowcream-album bin ich überaus angetan. was mir besonders gefällt ist, daß alles sehr organisch gehalten ist und es teilweise minuten dauert bis dann auch mal ein beat einsetzt, teilweise nur vereinzelt und dann auch wieder aussetzt. meine lieblingsnummern sind suburb novel (der subbass ist wahnsinn! das will ich mal auf einer pa mit linearem bass hören) und shadow meat. insbesondere bei shadow meat finde ich die umsetzung und bearbeitung des klaviers hervorragend! in die radiosendung wird das auch auf jeden fall passen und werde davon auch in der nächsten plattenküche in regensburg was ausprobieren, darauf freu ich mich schon.
mathias desch, bogaloo radioshow, 05/08, germany

nonine lets us know that the ‚connection between classical and minimal-electro is saturated with spaces of re-definition“ and that ’slowcream smears the frames of classical music with a funky delicious fringe, polarizing certain fragments of its best qualities“, but surely i am missing a point here and there. slowcream is me raabenstein and he plucks ‚classical‘ music and set something electronic against it. but its neither something classical, nor something techno like. its instruments used in classical music, like piano (lots of them around here), a bit of strings and the electronic sounds are sometimes cut into a rhythm, but i never had the feeling i should start to dance to this music. it seemed to me like loose ends stuck together, except for ‚wife’s tales‘, which seemed to have a good amount of tension in it, but that was the only diamond around here.
fdw, vital weekly 631, uk, 06/08

great works and sound_
unstable-systems, london, uk

slowcream creates electronic music with cautious, fragmented rhythms, layering samples of contemporary classical, film music, and ambient fragments; conceptually stale, it’s a purely intellectual operation, a lab project, something anyone could conceive and create in an hour, three minutes, and six seconds.
stefano i. bianchi, blow up. 07/08 2008

brilliant, monumental pieces. all the self-respected ears should enjoy those sounds…
i sure did… immensely…
lezet, potega, serbia

fantastic sounds.
broken chip, blue mountains, australia

i love these new soundzzzzzzzzzzz.
annabel(lee) by the sea, london, uk

gorgeous music…
ben grossman, toronto, canada

very hipnotic music. i love it!
meilleurzack / teixeira moita, porto, portugal

slowcream has a quite distinctive ability to make music that is both disquitening & yet also very comforting somehow.
tim saul, bristol, uk

i dig this stuff, it’s a sonic exploration…!!
manudub soundsystem, france

every track is a surprise! simply stunning and unpredictable!
emanuele errante, napoli, italy

wonderful production.
marc yeats, devon, uk

this is music to live, love and dream to.
rhett brewer, london, uk

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.
scatole sonore, rome, italy

interesting, really interesting signal.
micromix, venice, italy

so wonderful soundscapes… love it.
frédéric d. oberland, paris, france