"Geist" has multiple meanings in the German language, including ghost, spirit, mind, mental, mindset (as in Zeitgeist).
And all of these are fitting descriptions for the sounds on this label.
The label also re-issued several Alec Empire solo albums that were originally published by the Force Inc sublabel Mille Plateaux.
Alec Empire - The Geist Of Alec Empire (GEIST 001)
Released at a time when digital access to sounds was limited. So you couldn't just listen to your favorite sounds from the past on a streamed website.
Thus this compilation scraps together a lot of material from various sources, and most were very hard to access at that point. So it made high sense to at least release and have them on this 3xCD!
While these tracks cross and zig-zag across a myriad of genres, I think there is actually a clever way to describe them: it's a collection of tracks by alec empire that can not be slammed shut into the hardcore / breakcore drawer.
My favorite pick here is "the report" because, well, this is just a track to die for.
Rope - Rope Hotel (GEIST 002)
Imagine a 70s funk / rock band that did instrumental jams for blue movie backing tracks, and then uploaded their souls to a computer and now reaches out from the digital world into the real world by creating sounds with newer technology and equipment.
*this* is how i would describe the sound of this album!
Like A Tim - Yeah Right (GEIST 003)
Techno and Acid legend Like A Tim makes a cameo on Geist Records.
No acid techno on here, though.
Maybe one could call it Ill-n-Bass, Fun-DM or Couch Beat.
I feel this is one of the only DHR releases that was "too contemporary" to its own times and might be a bit lost to the modern listener.
Still, it got its charm, and I'm sure it got its fans, too.
Like A Tim – I Like It When You Don't Like It (GEIST 004)
An extended play, and an exquisite corpse.
The sounds are at places close to fun-tronica, idm, big beat...
At parts the tracks resembles toy synthesizers or video game music.
If you liked the other releases by Like A Tim this label, then you like-ly won't go wrong with this one.
She-Satellites - Poison Lips (GEIST 005)
Another album that might be hidden "too far away" on the Geist sublabel.
Because it deserves the spot light. This is liquid brilliance poured into crystalline cups that become music, sounds and tracks by a strange metamorphosis.
The she-satellite shines down on you, watches after you, guides you, and might even destroy you, if you stray too far from the path...
Like A Tim - I'm Serious (GEIST 006)
The follow-up to the 1998 album.
And, like the name explains, this one is a lot more serious, darker, and harsher.
The light, meme-like silliness is still in these tracks, though - at the same time.
As for the rest, see my earlier review.
Rope - It's No Fun To Compute (GEIST 007)
Does the title contradict Kraftwerk?
This is less sleazy jazz-inspired instrumental indie rock (like the first album), but there is a visible IDM, Aphex Twin, even noise influence.
Hanayo - Gift (geist 013cd)
Who doesn't know Hanayo?
This CD shows her teaming up with various stars of the then contemporary underground - and some are still well-known today!
Each add their special gift or talent to that of Hanayo; and the result is what you assume.
A great idea, a great concept, and a great compact disc release on the very geist records.
Tatsuhiko Asano - Genny Haniver (GEIST 014CD)
An artist from Japan on Geist.
If a lounge-café that caters to the sophisticated urban bohemians was secretly run by alien gun runners that smuggle anti-matter bombs through the solar system. Then I would expect this album to be the background OST to the whole affair.
Hanayo - Joe Le Taxi
2 tracks from the "gift" album, and 2 alternative mixes.
Various Artists - Geist Sampler 1 (geistfree1cd)
Compilation with tracks from other Geist releases.
Nic Endo - Cold Metal Perfection (GEIST015CD)
Almost "hidden away" on the Geist label, this is one the most precious gems in all of Digital Hardcore.
It ain't Hardcore though. It is without genre, beyond genre.
You know noize music, right? And Nic Endo is good at that. But this one is not exactly Noize - it's more like a lateral genre, that co-exists in relation to it, but exists only in the works of Nic Endo:
Un-structured, amorphic sounds, without any predefined rhythm, melody, concept. Shapeless, formless, like the noise genre - but instead of noise, with *any* and *all* sounds. Everything can happen here, even beats, spheres, pads, vocal snippets, synthesizers...
But, as I said, the ongoing sound always manages to evade order and structure in the end - it's tied to, linked to, bred out of the chaos.
It's one of the few releases that really make you feel as if you stepped out of the world and are now living in a new one.
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