Akystret by Ypsmael

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Vital Weekly, number 1456, 2024: ’[…] “The title Akystret is mere sound, a one-word extract of leaving a digital handheld recording device running when trying to find sleep, recording own somniloquist mumblings during short and nightmare-ridden patches of sleep from the same period as when the tracks were recorded”, which sounds fascinating. It made my mind drawn towards sleep and insomnia, and I think the music reflects that state of half-sleep. The music sounds nocturnal, that much is sure. Dark and atmospheric […] and, honestly, I can always enjoy a fine piece of dark, atmospheric ambient music. Ypsmael’s music has delicate touches of the melodic and long strokes of more abstract drones, spiralling beautifully. The guitar is the dominant instrument, hardly a surprise, and Ypsmael doesn’t do anything to hide that, which is also unnecessary. His music differs from the guitar slingers with loop devices because it’s not melodic or too looped-based.’ - Frans de Waard

Bad Alchemy (BA 126), 2024: “Der unvermindert enigmatische NM in Meersburg, zuletzt gehört mit Stefan Krausen auf Steep Gloss oder mit Eloine (Bryan Day) und solo auf Eh? oder schon Chocolate Monk, der greift hier [Album: “Akystret”, erschienen bei Chocolate Monk, choc.630, LP/CDr] zurück auf Klangmaterial aus seinen lampenfiebrigen Liveshows in East Anglia in den Jahren 2011 – 2013. Mit Gitarren, Effekten, Feedback, Stimme, Found Objects, Field Recs, Loops und manipulierten Samples mit Fostex 4-Spur-Kassettenrecorder verwandelt er die Plagen schlafloser und albtraumatischer Nächte in Klang und onomatopoetisches Stammeln. Daher neben ‘blauraum’ und ‘allein mit’ die aus dem Unterbewusstsein stammenden Kürzel ephes, cap eyv, tezwo, ele, pezwo und „akystret“. Verklanglicht in mulmigen Spuren und dröhnenden, schäbig schillernden, sirrenden Schichten. Als tönende Zeit, die sich nicht aufhalten, sondern höchstens in Wellen und kreisender Wiederkehr des Gleichen etwas verlangsamen lässt. Mit ‘läutendem’ und anschwellendem Gitarrensound, brummig rumorender, traumentschleunigter Verunklarung, einschlagenden Akzenten. Mit hell flimmernder, dunkel harfender Gitarrenharmonik. Mit klagender Wehmut zum Klingklang der Saiten und fräsender Psych-Gitarre zu zittrigem Drone. In dröhnender Tristesse als Weh, das nicht vergehen will, das eher noch aufquillt und unaufhörlich anbrandet. NM fingerpickt die Saiten zu flimmerndem Tremolo und harfigen Lauten, doch das Mulmige ist ein Dauerzustand. Und zuletzt zerrt ein böser Wind an Folien, während die Drones, das Feedback weiter dröhnen, selbst nachdem es für einen Moment beinahe still zu werden scheint. Aber Stille und süße Träume sind eh nur fauler Bauernfängerzauber.” - Rigo Dittmann

Adverse Effect Magazine, 2024:“Seven more or less ambient pieces that sound like they were recorded live by this German artist who appears to have been active for around fifteen years. There are light and refined electroacoustic touches inflecting everything with a subtle dynamism which typically works well with such music, too. Everything sounds pleasant enough to draw one back for repeated listens, anyway. More than I can say about a lot of such music. White vinyl and very, very limited… naturally.” - Richard Johnson

Lost in a Sea of Sound, 2024: ‘In a world devoid of life, where structures and equipment deteriorate in constitutional accord, a somber feeling emanates. Work being done, happiness and struggles of all involved, all are gone. What remains are massive decaying finger prints, of at some point in distant past, an “ancient civilization”. This release titled Akystret by Ypsmael guides thoughts in this direction. Composed within are massive aural drones filled with ghostly currents and eddies of a vanished society. Akystret tells the story in sonic meter exquisitely, almost as if a walk amongst a myriad of ruins would have this composition as the soundtrack. Ypsmael, the project by German resident NM, draws on an internal beauty exposed with fleeting frequency. There is true difficulty in making magnificent sounds from the heaviness that surrounds us. Many times we are thrown into the pounding static abyss, a pulverized conscious reaching for a foothold in the ethereal. Listening to Akystret, we seem to drift, aloof of the molecular density transforming thoughts into metamorphic rock. Within the seven selections of Akystret, the feeling of forlorn is imparted while the spirit still holds to a frequency of higher vibration. This is very special and very difficult to achieve. Well done Ypsmael.’ - Ken Lower

Loop Music Magazine, 2024: ‘El músico experimental radicado en Alemania, Ypsmael está activo desde 2009 plasmado su trabajo en presentaciones en vivo, la grabación de discos, contribuciones en emisiones de radio, artes visuales, escénicas e instalaciones sonoras. Sus actuales colaboraciones incluyen a Hans-Joachim Irmler, Ross Scott-Buccleuch y dúos en curso con Eloine aka Bryan Day, Simon Whetham y Stefan Krausen. «Akystret» es publicado este año por Chocolate Monk que está gestionado por Dylan Nyoukis (junto a Karen Constance forman Blood Stereo) y fue masterizado por Simon Scott (solista experimental y batero en Slowdive). Es una presentación en vivo que incluye temas grabados en East Anglia en los años 2011 – 2013. Algunos cortes son nuevos donde Ypsmael toca guitarras, pedales, voz, feedback, grabaciones de campo, objetos encontrados, loops, samples en directo y manipulaciones con grabadora de casete de 4 pistas. Instrumentación y dispositivos electrónicos empleados para crear siete piezas envueltas en densas y oscuras atmósferas, donde también asoman melodías edificantes que son insinuadas por las guitarras como se muestran en “Cap Eyv”. “Tezwo” muestra la base ambiental que crean las guitarras como si se convirtieran en violines arrojando un halo sinfónico a lo Stars Of The Lid. Es el track más largo del disco y buen motivo para que se desplieguen las bellas atmósferas que se envuelven en loops infinitos. Ypsmael teje hábilmente la creación de evocadores paisajes sonoros tan inquietantes como conmovedores.’ - Guillermo Escudero

It’s Psychedelic Baby! Magazine, 2025: ‘Akystret is like a midnight mixtape captured on an old Fostex…melding live East Anglian jams, a bruised Brighton baritone, and the soft rustle of wind on sleepless nights into a soundscape that whispers its own secret story.’ - Klemen Breznikar

Chocolate Monk, 2024: ‘In parts soothing and interspersed with claustrophobic fogfall, Akystret contains some new sounds by Ypsmael alongside material from 2011/12, parallel to when Box of Black was recorded. A dear friend’s old Fostex 4-track was used for manipulating a Brightonese baritone guitar + layered fx and sounds of wind rustling in dissolving foliage, among other things. Almost all of these tracks are based on live recordings into one mic, made during Ypsmael live shows around East Anglia and in a sullen boxroom turned home during a prolonged episode of insomnia. The title Akystret is mere sound, a one-word extract of leaving a digital handheld recording device running when trying to find sleep, recording own somniloquist mumblings during short and nightmare-ridden patches of sleep from the same period as when the tracks were recorded. A kind of onomatopoeic mystery resonating from a voice and in a language other than one’s own. Or perhaps of one’s own but from a place only to be accessed in a state of nausea and exhaustion, to an extent that unconscious speech meanders its way from the meaningless cosmos of the mind into a vacant vessel for sound, much akin to what Ypsmael is.’ [Label release notes]

Wysing Arts Centre, 2012: ’[…] All three of us enjoyed Ypsmael’s “Akystret” most; he started by playing an electric guitar and then repeated a recording of the original playing, layering that over with new improvised sections and adding bits and pieces of pre-recorded footage, building into a cloud of sound.’ - Donna Lynas [blog article after the first Akystret performance]

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more reviews and info on https://ypsmael.com/

Electroacoustic improvisation

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