Esem delivers his debut for Merck, SERIAL HUMAN, a blend of IDM glitchiness and Detroit techno influences.
Right from the first track, "Tjiccli," there`s a melodic sense reminiscent of the Black Dog
mixed with the crisp staccato rhythms that modern IDM is known for; "Bleece," on the other hand,
sets the reverb on high and lets the echoes bounce off each other.
"Swift Urban Departure From What Was Once An Innocent Soul" (a long-winded title, to be sure)
speeds up into breaks territory for a ride with a digital assassin, while "Sofiatram as I Hear It"
is the ricketiest trolley system I've ever heard. "Square Lamp" layers its drum n bass with an
instrumental ode beamed in from outer space. "Outburst Nue" and "Kyes Ivrload" both
thrum with darkness and suppressed aggression.
Futuristic and fabulous.
scoundrel, discogs.com
Bored of a thousand chillout artists trying to do the exact same thing? Merck Records
(with its long list of very talented artists) bring us a wonderful CD from Esem,
the accomplished, talented and orginal act from Bulgaria, one of the rare acts that does their very own thing
without going overboard with glitches and noise. Yes, I am biased in this review.
Probably best defined as IDM rather than ambient, Esem showcase the darker and funkier side of chill-out,
bordering DnB at moments, touches of Ozric Tentacles styled psychedelia all with superb choices of sound
and a lot of imagination.
[...]
What can I say. This album is amazing. I love each and every one of the tracks here,
each track having a powerful flow and a story behind it, not going all over the place,
ot dabbling in excess effects and noises. Each track continues where the last one leaves off
and develops in a new direction, or just an old one with a twist, giving this album a very complete feel.
Pop it into your system, play, close your eyes and just listen. You won't regret it.
kaz, IsraTrance, read full
Da ist er also, der Nachfolger von esems Erstling "Enveloped".
Man kann nicht behaupten, dass er sich stilistisch sehr verändert hat.
Seine Beats und Sounds sind immer noch komplexer und synthetischer Natur, und entwickeln nach einer gewissen
Zeit des intesivierten Hörens ihre ganz eigene Dynamik. Es ist weder "Abfahr"-Musik noch eine seelenruhige Ambient-Soundfläche.
Nein diese Musik fordert einen auf sich mit ihr auseinander zu setzen, aber ist nicht aufdringlich, und schon gar nicht penetrant.
Für ruhige Momente bei einem Glas guten Rotwein, ist sie genau so gut geeignet, wie für eine Fahrt an einem verregneten
Sonntagmorgen zum Bäcker des Vertauens in der nicht zwingend notwendig nächst gelegenen Großstadt. Womit wir zu
einem weiteren Punkt dieser Musik kommen: die Urbanität. Ich kenne kaum eine Musik die das Großstadtleben in einer mit
den dazu gehörigen entsprechenden Alltagssituationen (U-Bahn Geräusche, spielende Kinder auf dem Hinterhofspielplatz etc.)
so versprüht, wie ebensolche auf dieser cd. Und das sagt jemand, der von der herrlichen Bergstraße kommt!
Karl Spielhaupter "fatlabrat", Amazon.de
Bulgarian George Marinov follows up his debut, Enveloped, by edging into
more shadowy territories. Influenced on one hand by Detroit techno and
its noir-ish urban futures, and on the other by '90s ambient, Serial
Human sees Esem seeking a personal voice within the somewhat impersonal
world of beat-driven electronica. It pulls one way, to variable effect,
toward the current trend of experimental sound design, and another, more
succesfully, toward a slightly retro-fitted IDM model. The Esem sound is
essentially about two things, swagger and synths, the former sharp,
brittle and propulsive, the latter sometimes warm, melodic, but edged
with a sawtooth resonance. [..]
e|i magazine, autumn 2003
[...] More than just a logical follow-up to his first album, Serial Human
shows Esem broadening his musical horizon as he ventures into more
complex sonic terrains. If this album is not the most innovative record
you`ll hear this year, it remains an interesting piece of work, based
on early nineties electronica yet brought right up to date with the help
of current technology.
themilkfactory
Tanto ritmo ed atmosfera in odore idm da una delle label attualmente piu
qualificate in questo settore: la Merck di Miami. 'Serial Human' e il
secondo album del talento bulgaro George Marinov nei panni di Esem, un
disco che sa offrire il senso esatto del viaggio, con quel piglio
galattico-cibernetico che solo fuoriclasse quali Autechre riescono a
tenere vivo in questo modo senza risultare asettici. Paesaggi fatti di
suggestive atmosfere e architetture ritmiche frattali, con suoni veloci,
precisi, scattanti e che a tratti riescono a sfiorare il limite che
separa l`idm dal rumore. Incredibile.
kathodik
[...] M3rck's Esem comes from Bulgaria and now London, where he
constructs likeably disconnected things of sonic paranoia and
future-shocked house music. Jude Law's murderous prostitute robot in
A.I. would like a lot of the electronics found here. Crude clicks
(`Outburst Nue`) and chimes `Bleece`) and a slow-growth of scribbling
ambient tiny-beats. While Esem has played in a low, low fog of war
before, this isn't as camera-shy as his work for deFocus. Serial Human
puts real-world/atmospheric bits, very urban things like subways and
street noise, in a lot of the right places. `Sofiatram As I Hear It`
quietly mutilates sounds of travel until you can hear suggestions of
crude glitch, beaten techno, Scanner LPs, and clamped-down San Francisco
avant-static, and you're not even sure Esem had anything to do with
it. [...]
getunderground
Whereas Enveloped was a drifting, atmospheric, all encompassing and
panoramically a beautiful experience, Serial Human is dramatic, severe,
tense, relentless and hugely compelling. Esem's ability to stamp his
mark indelibly on two such diversely themed albums is a testament to his
talent and Serial Human is yet another essential Esem purchase.
j.knapman, igloomag, read
full
The second full-lenght album produced by the talented Esem and released
by Merck. Serial Human is decidedly more up-tempo than the last album
(Enveloped reviewed in 2002), drawing heavily on techno, house and
especially electro without becoming generic whatsoever. The twelve
tracks on Serial Human display a darker and more intense musical side of
Esem and could be considered as a slight change in direction.
electronic desert / resurface, read full
I was afraid that this artists will get into a different style while searching for its own sound as this usually happens now.
I'm glad that my guess was wrong - Esem is travelling further through his own made track.
I can't deny that it has become more strict trying to fit into present musical flows.
But he isn't so strict so You can't even listen to his music.
Those who like Sense melodies or heavinly dreams more should choose his debut album and those who like technical, synthetic overloads which sometimes lead to IDM Drum & bass rhtythm (like Square Lamp) will choose "Serial Human".
[...] the ending of the album will please the lovers of lyrics...
Three sweet as sugar tracks await You: Upward Inslr, Alipe Lacks and Tawn. They leave a lot of sunny emotions.
But i have to admit that "Serail Human" is a neutral album...Only few compositions will stay in my mind, not the whole album...
I would put higher grade for "Enveloped".
sutemos, source.
alright. what can we expect from somebody who calls himself
7902103M1007040BGR. somehow completely friendly tracks, somewhere in
between clear arpeggios, a portrait of arovane on the studio wall,
those bladerunner-strings and a general love to strict science
fiction. tracks, which suddenly get the distorted bassdrums out and
start to strangely break, very quickly drop into the headquarter of
dark noise and finally arrive at thick, fat electro. what a trip! of
course, this can only be done by somebody who calls himself like
that. a very personal retirement-insurance. this guy is capable of
everything. helps a lot, stuff like that.
thaddi, de:bug
taking their pursuit of "severely electronified hip-hop"
global, miami's merck drafts bulgaria's esem for a dark ride through a
mountainous amalgam of shimmering electronics and murky splatters of
broken beatdowns. unfortunately serial human isnt totally gree from the
usual problems that plague idm artist albums; the good songs are truly
great, while some of the others are just fine.
"tjiccli" sprightly bounces along, layering more and more
complexities in a blurring hall of mirrors, and sounding completely
fresh, wile elsewhere, "bleece" resembles the backing track to
national geographic explorer. in essence, this imperfection indeed makes
esem truly human.
brion paul, xlr8r
the follow up to the previous cd. this cd very much dwells in the
shadows of autechre. there is alot of very, very obvious reference to
autechre. however the melodic content of the previous cd carries
through here, and once again the abtract percussive structures are
inhabited by wonderfully sweet melodies. a very very intricate and well
produced cd, this could happily sit on your cd shelf next to the ae
discs.
clint anderson
after his well received output on the (de)focus imprint, esem continues
to bring us warm melodies and some lovely synthetic sounds on his debut
lp/cd for merck. 12 wonderful tracks to choose from, all of the highest
quality. shouldn't have to say too much about this really, the music
sells itself. a highly recommended purchase!!!
smallfish
George Marinov (Esem), que ya publico en el tristemente difunto sello
Defocus su anterior Enveloped, se desmarca de muchos de los artistas del
actual panorama electronico, en ocasiones desabrido, ofreciendo una
brillante demostracion de musica electronica de alta calidad. Doce temas
que se erigen progresivamente en una acelerada trama de bpm`s
alcanzando la excelsitud emocional en momentos en los que sobrecogerse
en su escucha atonita. Desde Bulgaria, la electronica sigue vivaz.
masdesnowboard
[Boomkat featured new release: week beginning 07/03/2003]
Musically 'Serial Human' is not simply a sequel to his last album,
instead it departs and greatly increases the quality of music via its
sound - redirected towards aural grit and bit-crushed dsp crunches. Some
tracks have a real Yunx styled Detroit fuel in their engine, with tracks
like 'Cee' and 'Bleece' epitomising this sound best. Other tracks rock
in a colder fashion, dancefloor action through a digital wasteland.
Though the IDM scene has suffered from a fair amount of homogeny these
last few months, labels like Merck seem to consistently pick out artists
who keep the candle brightly lit. Recommended.
boomkat
[...] Maybe This Is The Sound Of Cynicism Kicking Into The Circuits As
The Producer Matures And Refines His Technique.[...] Another Exciting New
Discovery From The Ever-Reliable Merck, From A Relatively Unknown
Talent.
revolution records
(reviewing "outburst(then flat)", reworked version as
track 7)
Noch ein Kahvi-Track, der aber mal in eine ganz andere Richtung
geht. Statt Melodie un Happyness haben hier Monotonie und Filterbank das
Sagen. Der Track erinnert schon an die fortgeschrittene Gehorbildung aus
dem Hause Plastikman: Minimale Verschiebungen, Beats nur als Gerust, um
nicht vollig den Boden unter den Fusen zu verlieren. Nette
Kopfhorer-Music.
de:bug
reviewing "outburst then flat"
Basically this piece has two distinct elements: a cyclic beat against a backdrop of constantly morphing noise.
The beat glues it all together and remains confident no matter what's going on around it.
It's not what I would call a `driving` beat; instead it gives the impression of trying to get
somewhere but not quite making it. It keeps slipping back down. It's a cool effect.
And it never gets repetitive, despite the fact that it doesn't change one bit.
It's a rhythm that sounds very fresh to my ears, and one I will probably never grow tired of.
The morphing noise, on the other hand, defies description. You'll have to listen for yourself.
It sounds sharp yet organic, harsh yet warm, and rough in a really smooth way.
It's like having your brain polished with fine sandpaper. It tickles.
Please, put all preconceptions aside and download this file.
scene zine monthly, october 16th, 2003
