Afterglow is the second release by Berlin based Blankrecords under the collective name of Blankmusic. Blankmusic can be seen as the heart of blankrecords and it´s all about live played and live looped electronic soundscapes, based on improvisation. A classical experimental approach clashes with electronic equipment and broken pop-loops. This CD comprises mostly live tracks by different constellations of the Blankrecords crew.

blankrecords.de

"Blankmusic isn't so much a group as it is an umbrella label for a modest number of Blank Records-related outfits—Fotomaton, Mini Pops Junior, Vincent, and Vethake again—though the eleven-minute “The Matter of Impuls” is credited to the collective Blank Music. With Vethake contributing to every song, the collection feels like a natural sibling to his solo release, and again song titles like “Haunted Road” and “Closer To Nowhere” signify as much. Vethake's haunted “Lament of Departure” carries on from The Subtle Life with a gloomy setting of bowed string scrapes, and the road ahead doesn't get much brighter. “Waiting Seems Poisoned to Me” depicts a dramatic night scene, “So Sigh and Fry” alternates between mournfulness and dread, and deep rumbles escalate into nightmarish buzzing during “Inside That Bottle.” Occasional traces of light penetrate the darkness in “Sparkle My Friend,” a ponderous moodscape of soft glissandi and pulsations. Not only in length but in dramatic reach, the disc's pièce de résistance is the masterfully realized meditation “The Matter of Impuls” wherein a haunted melodica drifts over ruined industrial wastelands, while Doppler shifts woozily mark the distance traveled. Uneasy listening to be sure."

(Textura.org, April 2006)