Emeralds give Pocahaunted (we're getting to them) a run for the money in terms of productivity. "Landlocked" is their half of a tour split with Pain Jerk (Japanoise). There's some kind of Side A/B tour cassette, and a limited/OOP 12". Plus a full cd album, and maybe others... And that's just 2009!
"Geode" from Emeralds (2009)
That's from the self-titled vinyl record. In the Best of 2009 lists, it was odd how often someone would list either only that one or only the cd release, but seldom both. I've only got the cd...
"Alive in the Sea of Information" from What Happened (2009)
Now, getting to the music! Deploying the Harmonium line-up (2x synth, 1 guitar), Emeralds apparently just improvises on and on and on... Then they pick out the best stuff and that's their material. I mentioned how you won't lose where you are within Jonas Reinhardt. Well, you're very probably going to lose your way in the world of Emeralds - regularly. Song sections barely exist or move, pieces just drift to the surface temporarily before submerging. Most often not noisy, it's from another even more ambient part of the Krautsynth heritage. And honestly, sometimes it's New Age sounding, or it can remind me of Paul Simonon talking about his brother listening to Yes. "I lifted up the headphones, and there were just birds twittering." He wasn't being complimentary.
I'm not entirely sure yet. I like some of it already, sometimes it seems like stuff I could like with some close listening, and sometimes it just seems like messin' around. But even if just messin' around, they're undeniably pretty good at it.
Just checked their discography: in 2009, there were actually two tour cassettes, plus a split-cassette, and another 7" I didn't mention in the original summary. Plus lots of stuff in the previous few years, plus apparently the three guys are pretty active in releasing solo and side projects.
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