01: 031 02: 027 [mp3 preview] 03: 034 04: 010.2 05: 038 [mp3 preview] 06: 008.2 07: 022 08: 018 [mp3 preview] 09: 039 10: seek error

Moscow independent label Shaped Harmonics is glad to present you the first CD release of the debut album by Stereo Modus duo from Siberia. The duo has been created in Novokuznetsk in the year 2000, there are Alexander Gorbatch and Valery Yakovlev into this project. They released Navy EP demo cd-r in 2000, and two years later - Pour Lille Milles MP3 cross split EP with LLAC. Then another one year is over and Stereo Modus is ready to release their first long play album. "Ex Tempore" is lyrical as fairy tale, album for people tired from all the noise and stir of a big city. Light and soft soundtrack for cycling twosome - it makes beautiful reality even more beautiful. Stereo Modus gets away their listeners from depressions - by beautiful melodies, slowly rhythmes and a little bit of stories from the early Orbital and late Gimmik. At the same time they make home melodious electronic minimalism and very sure debut.

Igloo Mag:: "...music is a personal variation of the new melodic-electronica music, and fits very well with the other artists who are a part of Shaped Harmonics so far: Ambidextrous, Syntetika, Supremus Plastice and Novel 23..." Stereo Modus are two people from Novokuznetsk, a city located in the Siberian part of Russia and in a distance of about 3500 km from Moscow, where the label Shaped Harmonics is based. Ex Tempore is the debut album of Alexander Gorbatch and Valery Yakovlev who have previously released two demo CDR EPs. Shaped Harmonics is one of those labels that are building a relationship of trust with the listeners and fans, releasing music with carefully shaped harmonic melodies. The fifth part of that mosaic of sound is Ex Tempore with its ten tracks and 45 minutes of gentle and intimate music, simultaneously minimal and expressive. This time the melodies are not too concrete and most of the tracks are not meant to be precisely remembered; as a result almost all of the track-titles are random numbers. The music is a personal variation of the vastly growing melodic-electronics genre, and fits very well with the other artists who are a part of Shaped Harmonics so far: Ambidextrous, Syntetika, Supremus Plastice and Novel 23, all of them are from Russia. Good, sincere and enjoyable electronic music without the complex territory of experimentation. Boban Ristevski De:Bug:: Hurrah, gleich zwei neue Nachrichten. Erstens geht Shaped Harmonics, dieses tolle russische Label weiter und zweitens einfach toll. Mit Stereo Modus bekommt Russland seinen ganz eigenen Solvent. Einfach so. Frohlich verspielt und gnadenlos analog spinnt sich Stereo Modus einen Synthiepop zusammen, der mich aufjuchzen lasst. Mittendrin dann wird es plotzlich ein bisschen technischer, aber ob nun ein DSP oder doch ein alter Oscillator lacht, ist mir eigentlich ziemlich egal, Hauptsache die Sonne scheint. Lasst diese CD nicht an euch vorbeirauschen. Nein, sowas will niemand verpassen. Thaddi Herrman Absorb:: one of those releases that remind you of half a dozen other (and better) acts, this is nevertheless some pleasant, warm electronica. ten songs of well-crafted benign crunch and glitch with the emphasis on pretty melodies, stereo modus recalls much of the scene that emerged from labels such as delsin, defocus and toytronic at the turn of the millennium. this sounds like i'm damning it with faint praise: it makes lovely listening, and is emotive in a slightly poppy way, but i'd be a liar if i said it wasn't dated for something coming out in 2003. best tracks are the wistful '038' and '022' which nod more than a little heavily at cim. however the syncopated rhythms and relentless adherence to the same sounds really mark it out as superannuated before it's even begun. elizabeth wells InterMix:: Sydney-based distributor Couchblip!'s ongoing partnership with over 25 international electronic music labels continues to reap new treats for the listener with the local release of this new full-length album from Russian duo Stereo Modus. The geometrid sleeve art by St. Petersburg artist Artem Tsys offers a pretty good indication as to the abiding tone throughout Ex Tempore - glacial melodic tones float and refract over slow crunching beats, but rather than encircling you in ever-tightening loops ala Boards of Canada, many of the tracks follow influences more touched by New Romantic and new-wave pop. In fact, second track '027' recalled Black Celebration-era Depeche Mode and New Order as much as it did Orbital's 'Belfast' to this reviewer. Extremely crisp and pristine production means that the intricacy of these tracks is done justice; '034' features stuttery clipped hi-hats and glitchy stabs, while moody synths build a lush web of tones below. Final track 'Seek Error' - the one track not represented by a stark numerical title on this album, ups things to a Squarepusher dnb tempo, while scattering samples of Japanese movies over clunking precussive hits. Throughout, the mood is predominantly tuneful, and while Ex Tempore is definitely a soundtrack for brooding, it's never really dark or menacing. A quick trawl through Ex Tempore will probably evoke thoughts of your late 80s 4AD records or the Cure's 'Disintegration' as much as it will any Warp or Leaf releases in your collection. Recommended for fans of Plaid, early Autechre and Disjunction Reunion. evil chris