HBTS01
Ybalferran’s fourth studio album culminates the shift traceable throughout the log of his previous releases. Moving on from the fairly slow-paced timeline conventionally associated with the genres of his choice, on Karadi he takes a step towards the more erratic organisation of deconstructed genres of contemporary electronics. The dark layers of ambience and noise are still orchestrated by the intimacy of field recordings, however this time digitally processed to their core. The continuous flow of droning structures is now cut here and there by climactic events that mark the milestones of this transformation.
The work combines the artist's gift on storytelling with his interest in what is sublime, while using noise as a medium to conjure a captivating travel through imaginary landscapes. Karadi weaves abundant visions designed to evoke the state of uncanniness and nostalgia for one’s own native land.
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"it is rare to find music described as a resultant of electronica, industrial, ambient, drone and (even more so) noise that carries not only such a huge emotional charge, but above all spatial-melodic-sounding depth." - Anxious Magazine
anxiousmagazine.pl/recenzje/ybalferran-karadi/
The granular shifting of the material is, at times, quite heavy, as in noise-based and only occasionally, it turns out to be more ambient. - Vital Weekly
www.vitalweekly.net/1381.html
"Kotowski is definitely influenced by the both abstract electronica, post-techno and post-industrial ambient genres. But beyond this picture of some sort of consensual agreement between the listener who knows quite a lot about different movements and currents in electronic music, there is a vast territory of the musician's knowledge." - Felthat Reviews
felthatreviews.blogspot.com/2023/04/karadi-by-ybalferran.html
"The video track Karadi takes us into unsettlingly eerie industrial digital latitudes suiting the melancholic droney sounds. As if we were immersed in a post-post-modern episode of Kieslowski’s Decalogue, the communist-style buildings are opposed to a soft purple sky that contrasts against the grey harshness of the constructions’ material." - CLOT
clotmag.com/news/video-premiere-ybalferran-karadi-unsettling-scenes-of-digital-sublime
"Karadi, the latest release from Ybalferran, is an album of experimental electronic ambient, that also skillfully combines elements of dark ambient, noise and field recordings to create an impressive audio journey through imaginary landscapes." - This is Darkness
www.thisisdarkness.com/2023/03/24/frozen-in-time-this-is-darkness-playlist-march-2023/
released February 24, 2023
Mix: Błażej Kotowski
Mastering: Dino Spiluttini
Cover Art: Bálint Budai