Music for the Tactile Dome & The Prime Revealer EP - Jonas Reinhardt (#9, 2011)

As I mentioned in the history of Jonas... at first I liked them (2008), then I forgot them (2010), but they came back strong again (2011)! With one EP & one full-length album - both terrific.

Let's start with the Music for the Tactile Dome LP - the cover of which is far below, along with the assorted information links at the bottom of this post.

For some reason, internet evidence of "Eos the Dawn" (download / stream @MySpace) is disappearing... That was how I learned about the impending return of Jonas Reinhardt - and now it's reduced to appearing only on a discontinued website & MySpace. O yeah, and on Astral MP3 comp Volume 6 (***current download link***)!

That is quite a trip. Start over at the beginning & see if you can figure out how you got there. It begins with four distinct synths, but I still can't tell whether they drop out to be replaced or if it juggles 4 mutating lines throughout.

Jonas Reinhardt - Smokey Jotus from Not Not Fun on Vimeo.

About a month later, "Smokey Jotus" (video & D/L) showed up, also at Altered Zones. This was getting interesting... So interesting I put it on the next blog comp, Vol. 5 (***new download link***). Those drums are addictive, and you kinda have to squint to parse all of the synth strains freaking out - especially with the dazzling video rolled out. Visuals done by the album cover artist!

I had missed it at the time, but somewhere in there Self-Titled Mag posted an interview, along which they had included a preview of "Neuköln" (mit D/L) - a wild David Bowie cover? And come to think of it, that one appeared on Volume 7 (***download link***), an instant classic. Also, many of those Prins Thomas collaboration tracks are available for download and streaming at the Jonas SoundCloud, although they are mostly quite different from the works under discussion here.



"The Tactile Dome" from Music for the Tactile Dome (2011)

Whoa, I did everything all out of order... Felt good. But honestly, the opening salvo on the LP itself also satisfies. Kind of a semi-titular track. Kind of ring-modulator cycle. On Side A, we also get the burble & drift of the eventually Floydian "To Lord Eminence" and the harsh & elliptical meander of "Hander Zander."

The remaining tracks on Side B are all still up at ye olde MySpace: self-destruct alarm "Arise Tempi," mellow New Age meditation "Headband Harvest," and amorphous closer "Leaving the Touch Taboo."

Vinyl edition of 650, but I'm gonna move on to the EP now...

Jonas Reinhardt - Only Pharoah from Isabel Salvado on Vimeo.

Seven months after all the previous AZ entries, they posted up that video from the new etched-out The Prime Revealer EP (with free download). Which I dutifully included on the blog comp Volume 8 (***download link***).

Yet another side of Reinhardt, that one (and the video) bring to mind the British hauntology of the Ghost Box label. Although with some familiarity, you can hear the Jonas sound asserting itself gradually with progression.

I should pay more attention to video & cover artists, which again in this case are the same person: Isabel Salvado. The EP cover is confusingly the image above the LP discussion above. At the moment, her website discusses the artwork...

Design intent: The LP album design ... While the sum of the artwork's objects relate to the pluridimensionality of Jonas Reinhardt's music, it is centered in this project... Jonas Reinhardt engage listeners by bringing forth the concepts of their albums. Hence, I attempted to make my complements agree with all parts.

The top opening of the jacket extends the volumetric distortion of the images when it's widened to pull the record. The side openings of the structure show the sahara desert' sand which is continuous from front to back, adding to the three-dimensionality of the package. Moreover, the labels of the vinyl display inner aspects of the correspondent front and back images of the jacket. Having little idea of how the vinyl etching was going to look like, the labels were made not to go against the etches. Some of the ways the objects interact with each other and with the holder are exemplified below.

Yeah, each vinyl side has a wide swath of etchings outside of the music bands. It's very cool! I didn't know the video & cover were done by the same person, nor any of those details, until I was writing this post. Good stuff... I'll try to do better next time.


The Prime Revealer by Jonas Reinhardt

Electro-kraut-pulse to the Gates of Heaven!! (and/or hell...)

Despite the ability to download both (title track via down-arrow there), you should consider grabbing this fantastic EP. Limited edition of 500 from The Great Pop Supplement. Website indicates they might still have some in stock maybe - e-mail label with inquiries & orders. Or maybe try Phonica Records in England?

Nine down, one to go. Then another 10 again...

Genre - Krautronics
Official - jonasreinhardt.com/
Myspace - myspace.com/jonasreinhardt
Location - San Francisco, CA

Review - Foxy Digitalis
Download - Amazon, iTunes
Purchase - The Great Pop Supplement [EP] /
Forced Exposure [all others]