Received my copy of AMPH's "Polar / Mongol" today (thanks Peter!!!) and I must say I really liked the minimal looks of it. Just a simple record sleeve with an A4 sized insert, both good quality printings. The beginning was quite awkward since I accidentally played the side A on wrong speed but it still sounded very good to me. "Polar" is quite droney track but there's still a lot going on in the background. I might be making this up but I'm sure I heard at least breezing of the wind and cracking of ice (when its cold enough ice makes those sounds) and in case my observations were right, it makes perfect sense with the track title, "Polar". "Mongol" takes my mind from frostbitten winter to summer heat, starting little bit calmer with what I recognized to be field recordings of bugs and trees swinging in the breeze. The intensiveness grows throughout the track, being total mayhem in the end (involving wildlife making strange noises) and when the intensiveness levels hits the roof the track starts slowly fading towards the end in the finest tradition, presenting yet another example of the skills of this duo.
In my opinion the sound quality on side A was very good and the levels were in perfect balance but on side B, especially when the track was in its most intense, the sound got little out of focus and the highs took over little bit too much. But maybe I just should take my pink dress out of the closet and start dancing ballet...
Anyway, the release was very impressing and enjoyable in every way and I think it's nice to see one of my favorite labels, Sprachlos Verlag, taking their business to a next level, still, being able to maintain their high quality standards.
