Tomas Weiss + Mathias Grassow

Tomas Weiss + Mathias Grassow - North Passage
(Musical Philosophy 02)

German ordering - 15 Euro (inclusive shipping)
Europe ordering - 19 Euro (inclusive shipping)
Rest of world ordering - 22 Euro (inclusive shipping)
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Mathias Grassow + Tomas Weiss - Insights (Databloem/PN)

German ordering - 15 Euro (inclusive shipping)
Europe ordering - 19 Euro (inclusive shipping)
Rest of world ordering - 22 Euro (inclusive shipping)
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Mathias Grassow + Tomas Weiss - Sacred
(el culto 002 dl)
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Tomas Weiss + Mathias Grassow - Neural response
(el culto 001 dl)
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REVIEWS:
QUIET CALLING: "Da kommt doch ein, auf seine Spielzeit bezogen, recht überschaubares Grassow/Weiss Release auf uns zu. Rangiert der Dronemeister ansonsten in die Kapazität ausfüllenden Refugien von über 70 Minuten, so gibt er sich, mit seinen musikalischen Partner Tomas Weiss, hier mit ca 50 Minuten doch recht bescheiden. Was der Intensität von "Quiet calling" jedoch absolut keinen Abbruch tut ! Den 5 sich über Bereiche von 4 bis 13 Minuten erstreckenden "Calling" Parts sollte man sich dann wirklich auch bei maximalen Volumen widmen, um die ganze Grösse in etwa zu erahnen. Sich langsam aufbauende Drones, die sich nach und nach zu schweren Monolithen manifestieren, war ja schon immer die Spezialität von Mathias Grassow. Doch scheint diese auf "Quiet calling" noch einmal an Intensität gewonnen zu haben, könnte man doch gerade DIESES Werk als Soundtrack zur - mit Sicherheit bald bevorstehenden - Apokalypse festmachen. (Magazin - Schellackgeschrei / Germany) ____________________________________________________________ _ INSIGHTS: "This is a fantastic new collaborative release. It's one long track (no gap between the titles) that steadily evolves frequently in fascinating ways. It starts out with some churning synth pattern that eventually gets draped with some treated vocals. Five or so minutes later it imperceptibly mutates into a wall of synth drone with some twinkling ritualistic percussion (this right here is amazing, friends!) Anyway, it gets louder and louder until the bottom falls out and you are propelled into space, where the two make some music that sounds like you've left your body. I've discovered this release a couple of days ago and I am head over heels with it. (Fauni Gena)_______________________________________________________ ______ INSIGHTS: "These 2 German ambient maestros were unbeknownst to me before I bought this album but I bought it anyway on the strength of the Databloem brand. Yes databloem is one album that I can buy from blindly & always get some thoughtful ambient brilliance that at first I will find boring but then with some time, effort & focus I will find utterly amazing. So, did that happen here? Let's see... _____1. In: We start of with a lush ambient number with a nice drone throughout & ethereal voices coming out of the darkness. There is not a whole lot of substance to it but it is the kind of ambience that draws you in & that you can easily get lost in _____2. Circles: The more percussive circles has the same droning ambience in the foreground but has some tribal beats in the background. Nice to have it that way a round so you have to focus to feel the beats. The beats seem steady but under closer inspection evolve slowly gaining more energy & they really feel like they are building to something. What it actually builds up to is a sonic downpour of ambience! The sounds in the end of this track really feel like the pouring of electronic rain on a cold dark winter day _____3. Whole Pulse: Circles seamlessly slips into this whole pulse & it really lives up to it's name. The drone pulses slightly giving this ambient movement. The cold wind that blows behind the drone is so real that I actually get chills listening to it. That really is all there is to this track which you think might be incredibly boring as it goes on for 17 minutes but amazingly I stay interested throughout the whole duration. The tone of the drones moves up & down just slightly enough to jolt the brain waves & the wind changes ever so slightly into a more solar sound and right at the death becomes a more high pitch fire in the darkness. It keeps pushing at the membrane but in a nice relaxed way that makes this a very dreamy sleepy track _____4. Language of Silence: Seamless again into this track. Very much a continuation of Whole Pulse but has a little more going on. Sounds buzz & twinkle in this track, under the drone seems to be life in the outer reaches of nothingness. In the vastness of space between planets there is not much but in this track there seems to be at least single cell life. Something that the light bounces off of. A very nice floaty track, feels like I'm orbiting a huge star at a distance of over 100Au. So just in the distance can I see one light just brighter than the rest, but not obvious. Very cool Spacey ambient _____5. Sights: A slightly more melodic track to finish with, with soft squelchy oscillating synths & a really bright atmosphere. I feel like the long journey through this alien space has suddenly come to it's final stage. We have passed through the out reaches of deep space between worlds, passed the outer & inner solar system & are now entering the suns corona but rather than the hot fiery death you might expect we are treated to a soft warmth surrounding us as we float around the star. The striking synth sounds that oscillate upwards feel like solar flares off to each side of my journey. A wonderful bright way to finish this journey through spacey ambient sounds _____This release will be classified as many as a complete yawn fest & believe me, a large proportion of people are not going to like this. It's not melodious, there is not much rhythm in it & the beats are non existent. This is pure ambience. It creates an atmosphere of floating through space & into a sun. If you are a fan of spacey drone ambient with little in the way of anything but which manages to create a great sound. Put this .. your eyes, remove any outside distractions & let it float you away into a slow journey in space between the stars. The bleakness of outer space is summed up in this album. Dark nothingness with pinholes of brilliant light."(Abasio/Sampa Psychodelic music)______________________________________________________ _______ OUTLAND: Das Album "Outland", veröffentlicht auf dem Label "Faria Records", ist ein sehr interessantes und ausergewöhnliches Werk. Die Musik auf diesem Album ist - typisch für ?athias Grassow und Tomas Weiss - nahezu "unendlich". Drones, ausgemalt von kaum wahrnehmbaren, subtilen Melodien und manchmal mit Rhythmen unterlegt. Im Morgenhalbschlummer hat das Album bei mir die Empfindung eines langsamen Flugs in verschieden Sphären mit einer eindringlichen Sog-Wirkung ausgelöst.__ Das erste Stück "Airiar" ist wie der Anfang einer Flugreise, das Schweben unter den nächtlichen Wolken. Die leisen Subbässe werden in fliessende Tönen hineingeflochten und die verschwommenen Melodien geben die Stimmung und Richtung für die weitere Bewegung vor. Route Of Mind ist die Fortsetzung des Flugs, wo die Geschwindigkeit etwas zunimmt und in der Mitte des Stücks dann ein sehr hypnotischer Rhythmus einsetzt. Diese Bewegung durchbricht die Wolken, unter dem schwarzen und kalten Kosmos.__ "Renunciation of Explanations" – die Ankunft zum Bestimmungsort. Durch die Wolken, weit unten, wird die merkwürdige Landschaft, in den ersten Strahlen der erwachenden Sonne, wie aus dem Nichts geöffnet und erfüllen einem mit wunderbaren Gefühlen. Es ist wie eine Reise, dessen Ziel in sich ganzes Geheimnisvolles trägt und einem mit dieser Magie regelrecht vereinnahmt. "Reverence" kommt einen wie die Notwendigkeit vor um in die erblickte Landschaft heruntersteigen, um die Menge der Stimmen dieses Ortes, den Rhythmus seiner merkwürdigen Straßen zu hören. Die Komposition pulsiert sehr unterschwellig und in dieser langsame Betrachtung strebt der Zuhörer, den Nachhall der Alltäglichkeit mit ihrer gleichzeitigen Rätselhaftigkeit wahrzunehmen.__ "Solitary Witness" – die Zeit ist gekommen wieder dorthin zurückzukehren, woder Weg begann - ein letzter ruhiger Flug umgart von den weichen Klänger der Musik. Die Strahlen der Sonne erzeugen Wärme und schenken eine Ruhe, Atmosphäre und Empfindung, dass alles was einem sonst wichtig und bedeutet erscheint, hier einen Ansatz findet. Und dann endlich - "Indisputable Grace" – wie die Erholung an der Küste des Meers. Die Laute der Komposition, ähnlich den Wellen des Meeres, schenken den Zuhörer Einklang und Frieden. Der lange Weg ist beendet und jetzt hat nur der Zuhörer zu entscheiden, ob dieser Flug eine Reise and die Grenzen dieser Welt oder in sich selber war. (Synthetic_Magazin, Russland) ____________________________________________________________ _OUTLAND & INSIGHTS: "Nach "Conscience" erscheint nun, auf unterschiedlichen Labels, ein Doppelschlag der Kollaboration Mathias Grassow / Tomas Weiss. Mit den russischen "Farla-Records" und dem holländischen "Databloem" gibt man sich, nach "Nextera" (Tschechien) dann auch recht international, womit bewiesen wird, das Drones und Dark Ambient schon eine kosmopolitische und vor allem flächendeckende Sache ist. Und wirklich kann man "Outland" und auch "Insights" mit zum interessantesten zählen, was dieses Genre zurzeit zu bieten hat. Auf und abschwellende Klangkaskaden verknüpfen sich hier mit sachter, transzendenter Rhythmik, die sich gerade in den Tracks "Route of Mind" und "Reverence" ("Outland") sowie, "Clrcles" und "Sights" ("Insights") zum meditativen, losgelösten Sounderlebnis entwickelt. Der hier innewohnenden Ruhe sollte man sich indes nicht allzu wohlwollend ergeben, denn dahinter brodelt es gewaltig - ein Sturm, der dennoch so nicht zum Ausbruch kommt, jedoch immer allgegenwärtig ist. Mit Stücken kaum kürzer als zehn Minuten hat man derweil genügend Zelt, das hier zu Erlebende in relativ geordnete Bahnen zu lenken. 4.5 / 5 "(Cnight - Schellackgeschrei / Germany) ____________________________________________________________ _INSIGHTS: "On Practising Nature (Databloem sublabel) comes another new release from Germany’s Mathias Grassow and Tomas Weiss. Their Conscience CD was an excellent purely meditative CD, and Insights is equally good if slightly more active, though only relatively speaking.There is a surprisingly playful bouncing bass line in the undercurrent of “In,” the first track. But even the bass line is used in that repetitive, hypnotizing fashion that epitomizes Grassow’s style. More surprising is the appearance of sequencing as “Circles” fades in. Still, a choir hangs in the air saying “ah” into infinity, so this is still deeply trance-inducing stuff. And the loop is not your typical Berlin school fare, it has a quirky tribal yet modern percussive quality to it, very cool indeed. I still don’t know how they do it, picking a simple tone or phrase and making it so warm and soothing that it seems to echo forever, and you want it to.“Whole Pulse” arrives on a single drone after the various elements of “Circles” are gradually stripped away over its final minutes. The drone pulses slowly, and has a string sound that lends an orchestral feel, but it is a dark minimal symphony. Whereas “Circles” slowly evolved into distinct movements, “Whole Pulse” is only slight variants on itself over its 17 minutes, and as usual that’s just fine, perfect for contemplation or just tripping out.Brighter shimmers of sound herald “Language of Silence,” which adds just a bit of grit in the form of soft buzzes over the warm drones. Synthetic night sounds, almost alien, punctuate the air at the end. “Sights” is lighter than the rest, dreamy and ethereal, with gentle tribal elements as the disc draws to a close.As with many Grassow discs, you will be hard pressed to stay awake to the end, but you’ll be smiling while you dream. Grassow and Weiss make a winning team once again." (Phil Derby / Electroambient Space Review) ____________________________________________________________ __INSIGHTS: "Right from the opening track 'In', with it's choir like chanting, it's in a heavenly mode. From then on it's in full spirit: tracks run into eachother and a more rhythmically then on 'Consience'. Long sustaining sounds played on synthesizers, backed with a driving rhythm in 'Circles', following by the deep end drones of 'Whole Pulse' (without a pulse really) and going through phases of slow chimes in 'Language Of Silence' to end with chirping insect like sounds of 'Sights',althoughthey are probably more electronically induced than true field recordings.This is another big A ambient album that is even better than 'Conscience' partly because the five pieces nicely flow into eachother, yet each with a different character. More like a seventies conceptual album, but even when the concept may not directly appeal to me, it's still makes great late night atmospheric music."(Vital Review) ____________________________________________________________ __CONSCIENCE: "The master of drone Mathias Grassow has done it again, this time with Tomas Weiss instead of Klaus Wiese. Regardless of whether he flies solo or teams up with others, Grassow has a knack for creating beautiful living breathing soundscapes out of seemingly nothing.“Unsealed Enigma” pulses steadily along, each sound element slowly expanding and contracting in a steady, completely mesmerizing way. His ability to pull the listener in and completely immerse you in the music is perhaps unsurpassed in the genre. After nearly 17 minutes of slowly undulating drones, “Along the Border” carries us along for 13 ½ more. Darker and more dramatic, the hypnotic effect remains much the same. This one really rumbles along.“Foresight” adds a slow deliberate beat which only adds to the meditation factor. Finally comes the piece de resistance, the 31-minute “Deceitful Expectation.” Full of warmth and depth, this is soooo peaceful. I defy anyone to sit back and really listen to this disc, or even this song, and stay awake through the whole thing – and I mean that as a compliment of the highest order.Exceptionally well done, Grassow & Weiss." (Phil Derby / Electroambient Space Review) ____________________________________________________________ __CONSCIENCE: "While Mathias Grassow has been creating ambient music since about five years before he was born, Tomas Weiss is a newcomer to the ambient community."Conscience", their first collaboration, is about as close to perfect ambient minimalism as it gets. Mathias has been the ultimate drone master for years and he continues to perfect his craft. This disc starts with a low drone that envelops listeners with its overtone qualities and subtle pitch changes.Mathias and Thomas build layers of atmospheres upon and from this drone. The atmospheres are gentle, cerebral and serene and they control the pace – slow, so slow as to approach standing still. That is the unique characteristic of this set. The music evolves slowly and deliberately. It seems to hang forever in listeners’ neuropathways as it triggers serotonin and neuroprenephrin activity.On the surface, the overtones have no substance or purpose. As they enter the biosonic feedback device (read: brain), they define themselves anew and allow listeners to float at will. For such a low-key soundscape, this CD evokes and promotes lots of activity – all of intangible and unquantifiable. While it might be impossible to dance to this music, it is just as impossible to prevent one’s insides from dancing to it. The music infects the mind, the heart, the spirit and the soul with its positive energy.With this release, Tomas leaps to the forefront of the ambient community. Association with a master qualifies as a major endorsement. Mathias, with more than 100 releases in his discography, qualifies as a master. This CD is as good an introduction as any for his music. It comes with the highest recommendation."(Ambient Vision Review) ____________________________________________________________ __CONSCIENCE: "Mathias Grassow, one of the main representatives of the continental ambient movement, with his friend Tomas Weiss have recorded an album dealing with the human conscience. This beautiful, intelligent record will be released on the Prague independent label Nextera.On his latest album, he has joined forces with Tomas Weiss to attempt a musical expression of the eternal topic of human conscience. Four long tracks leave space to freely morphing soundwaves, reflecting both positive spiritual power as well as somewhat murky moods.In the initial "Unsealed Enigma" with the almost palpable character of tide, Grassow and Weiss create the impression of absolute peace and harmony by mingling two main sound motifs (as though these were significantly discernable original sources of sound - the organs and the human voice).The next track, "Along the Border", is marked by inner unrest and its sinister athmosphere can be percieved as if both artists were to guide us to the war-torn areas of the Middle East.In "Foresight" (credits for sound to Klaus Wiese and Ted de Jong), one can distantly hear Grassow's rhythmic production (light rhythmical structures, oriental voices).All of what was mentioned then merges into a vast sound ocean in the final, half-an-hour track "Deceitful Expectation", definitely the most impenetrable and abstract track of the album.The album Conscience as a whole unambiguously shows the message of Grass' whole oevre, with no place for autotelic exhibition or egoistic sneer - it is a well of deep humility and belief in the fulfilment of the divine nature of man. If you find my closing words too impassioned, please give it a second thought while listening to the album. I think you will agree then.90% " (Freemusic Review)_____________________________________________________ ________CONSCIENCE: " Deep washes of synthesizers, with sparse, slow melodies and in the ornament side some far away, alienated sounds...Grassow and Weiss walk a well-known path: through a misty forest on an early sunday morning, with a touch of sunlight. One where even the firmest non-believer could think God exists. " (Vital Review)