Quote from: Zeno Marx on January 04, 2026, 09:12:53 PMlistening to the 25YLOKI compilation from 2016, and I was reminded of both how good Fir§t Law could be and that nobody talks about him. It's in that Clock DVA > LOKI > Galakthorrö > John Carpenter soundtrack realm. Not exactly in this forum's wheelhouse, but not outside it either. Anyone have a favorite Fir§t Law or care to talk about him? He's often uncredited for his mastering on classic dark ambient/death industrial LOKI recordings. Is LOKI his label? Or just a resident mastering tech?
I always had thought Loki was the Inade guys' label, and Wahnmann was yes, pretty much their standard go-to guy for post-production. Or that's what its always seemed like.
First Law is a bit of an outlier and oddball on the label, which might be why it isn't mentioned much. Instead of the more straight up "dark ambient" and ritualistic elements you get with Inade or Herbst9, instead its a mix of dark ambient with psychedelia and Tangerine Dreak-like krautrock elements (not that that's a bad thing, by any means). But that kind of "cosmic" sound that's present across Loki's roster is there as well, so its not THAT much of an outlier. It just goes about it in a different way. If the typical Loki sound is a "massive presence reaching out from a vast void," First Law is "drifting peacefully through vast spaces while stoned."
I always like Beyond IO and and Chaos Structure quite a bit, although its been a while since I've pulled any of his stuff out. The psychedelic elements do make it so I have to be in the right mode for it, kind of like LPD, but it hits a certain sweet spot nicely.
