118 | the hermit – liber 4

With The Hermit’s new album, everything is about the number 4: the four elements – fire, water, earth, air – each represented through four tracks on an album that closes with “Abyss”, a mystical final track and psychedelic ambient journey into nowhere. The 16 tracks leading up to this finale expose The Hermit’s trademark sound consisting of dark post-industrial EBM references, early rave memories and contemplative synth improvisations, a hybrid which reminds not least of the legendary Analogue Bubblebath-series. But something is different this time: without any doubt, „Liber 4“ comes across as the most mature piece of work in The Hermit’s oeuvre so far. While his earlier works often had a sketchy appeal to them, apparently struggling to focus on one of the many ideas The Hermit brought to the table, his new tracks demonstrate a much more confident drive towards a singular goal for each of the highly diverse tracks, which finally are spelled out in all consequence until the very end. A track like “Hermaphrodit” would have suited the likes of Robert Görl and Gabi Delgado, “There Is” sounds like the early AFX sharing a cigarette with Front 242 in a chillout room somewhere during the 90s, while the sci-fi ambient funk of “Equation” reminds of the likes of Kenny Larkin. The Hermit’s works always used to be very diverse and mind-blowingly full of ideas. What’s new here: each and every idea gets the space it deserves and is spelled out to perfection.

„The most beautiful and deepest experience a man can have is the sense of the mysterious. It is the underlying principle of religion as well as of all serious endeavour in art and science. He who never had this experience seems to me, if not dead, then at least blind. To sense that behind anything that can be experienced there is a something that our minds cannot grasp, whose beauty and sublimely reaches us only indirectly: this is religiousness. In this sense I am religious. To me it suffices to wonder at these secrets and to attempt humbly to grasp with my mind a mere image of the lofty structure of all there is.” (Part of Einsteins Credo 1932)

artwork by the hermit
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some feedback:

NOAH PRED / THOUGHTLESS, BIOTOP, HIGHGRADE Interesting stuff, will download and check. – MY FAVORITE ROBOT / FUMOIR / MY FAVORITE ROBOT RECORDS, BEACHCOMA All around cool. My preferences are dzyu and Hermaphrodit, thanks! – SIMON SLIEKER / MACHINE LABEL, FNOOB Really strange and awesome. Thank you. – ANGEL MOLINA / MINIFUNK, ATLAS RECORDS, ESQUISI-TEKK RECORDS, SINEDÍN MUSIC bizarre release, not easy stuff, and that´s always good. Will listen very carefully, some interesting industrial / experimental track at 1st listening, thanks. – ANDREW WOWK / IN THE MIX, PULSE Some great leftfield, weird stuff. Will play on my radio show – ALESSAN MAIN / BOROBUDUR LABEL cool – GABRIEL FERREIRA / NINEFONT, ITEMS & THINGS Awesome music! thanks. Full support – LOUK / ZONE MAGAZINE, 24/7, RTE 2FM, SONIC SESSIONS Some of these are cool! – ROB HALL / SKAM some of this is great, some of it is just bat shit crazy – MAETRIK / MACEO PLEX / MOTHERSHIP, DUMB UNIT, CROSSTOWN REBELS, TREIBSTOFF Downloaded for Ellum DJs Maceo Plex / Shall Ocin, thanks for the music! – JAN-ERIK ZANDERSSON / UNIVERSUM NOLL Great – DUBIKS / DUBIKS We will support – DUKE SHIN / FREELANCE / FREAKEASY, BAD ADVICE, DARK + DEEP Inventive effort on this release! Standing out for me: the otherworldliness of Between, Equation’s beauty, Dyzu-Mi’s undefinable rhythm. – G02 / NXT RECORDINGS, NXT GRAVITY Thanks !! – CARL CRAIG / PLANET-E DL 4 C2 THX! – ROB WARNER / IBIZA VOICE Dope electronic here. Loving some of these tracks. – LERI AHEL / MUTANT DISCO RADIO SHOW AIRED ON PIOONER DJ RADIO, SPACE RADIOFM, MIXPEOPLEFM, DINAMOFM ETC „There is“ and „Behind“ for me. Thanks. – JUHO KUSTI / DEEP SPACE HELSINKI, SEMANTICA, MINDTRIP, BASSO RADIO thanks! – AURELIO CIANCIOTTA / WICKED STYLE full support… – LAURENT DIOUF / MCD MAGAZINE, WTM RADIO SHOW, WRECK THIS MESS RADIO SHOW another wtm’s playlist is coming soon…;) – RIYAZ KHAN / VIBE 105.5FM intriguing sounds ! – RIVA STARR Thanks for the music! – FRANCYS / HIGHWAY RECORDS, STREET KNOWLEDGE great work here, will play something for sure – MATTEO PITTON / DIFFERENT GROOVES checking the whole album – ANTON BANKS / THE VAULT RADIO SHOW I listened to a couple of these at random. Nice selection. I really like Pan. I’ll give the rest a proper listen and pick a few for my show. – ACOUSTIC RESOURCE / SONUS FM Great LP Awsome Traxx Big Thanks – ROBERTO FACCHINI / MONUMENT cool – SEBASTIAN / F.A.R.E.S / BASS AND SPACE some interesting sounds, thanks! – WUDEC / FARSIGHTED RECORDS downloading, thanx – ELECTRIC RESCUE / SKRYPTOM, REX CLUB, ASTROPOLIS will play some inside thanks – DOWNER/SCHIST / 99.9 BAY FM/THOUGHTLESS MUSIC/NEW KANADA Some nice grain and surprising turns on their album, it’s nice to be taken somewhere on a full length! „Aethyr“ is my fave on first play! – JAMIE STEVENS / BEDROCK, CHAMELEON RECORDS, MICROCASTLE A little too far out there for me this time. 10 points for creativity, though. – BEN BUITENDIJK / OBLIQUE MUSIC, ESHU RECORDS, OGUN RECORDS, MOSAIC, FIELD Very interesting release, not everything is my style, but its very good music :) Between has really great synthwork and Aethyr will be cool to play out – R.O.N.A.M Really nice and interesting. Will take the time to listen to the complete EP. – MARCUS L / AMENIIA RECORDS thx – WERNER NIEDERMEIER / BIOTOP, AYEKO, RUE DE PLAISANCE, BROQUE sick stuff. nice one! – MIKE HERON / BTE RECORDS, BTE PODCAST It sounds good – STANNY FRANSSEN / PRIMATE, AGILE, RECODE MUSIK, GIRAFE SAUVAGE Great tracks, not easy for my dj playlist, but they will get a spot in my private playlist – ANDRAS TOTH / SPECTRUM RADIO SHOW Hermaphrodite, Equation, Air of the Earth are soooo wierd i like them! – ZUNI / TRIBAL WAVES, DOPPLER SHIFT Dzyu, Aethyr, Teutobot and Euphoria are my picks – MUSIC COAST TO COAST a – MARKANTONIO / 1605, ALCHEMY, IMPACT MECHANICS, LOOSE RECORDINGS Downloading for Markantonio…thanks for the music ! – DEAN PAUL DE LEON / DROID RECORDINGS AND BLAKE CODE ;0 – STAS DRIVE / SUARA | CHAPTER 24 | NOIR | FAUNA&FLORA | MICROCASTLE | EINMUSIKA | MOTEK | MANUAL MUSIC Nice album, will check deeper all over here :) – ANAKHEMIA / VERSE69 brilliant album! – RODERICH FABIAN / BAYERISCHER RUNDFUNK steve hillage – LEANDRO GÁMEZ / TRUE TYPE TRACKS, SOFTWARE RECORDS An enormous album. A world apart in itself. – SEAN-MICHEL YODER / VINYLJUNKIERECORDS.BLOGSPOT.COM, BIG SHOT MAGAZINE, 365MAG.COM Amazing album! – RICHIE HAWTIN / MINUS downloaded for r hawtin – CLARK DAVIS / DISTRICT66 / KAPUTT / WALL MUSIC / HAMBURG will try…thx – SLAM / SOMA RECORDS Thanx – NAM SHUB OF ENKI / 4ZZZ Ace experimental techno:) – DANIELE SPADARO / DJ MAG ITALY A beautiful experience – SALAH SADEQ / TECHFUI / THE CRATE / TOGETHER WITH_ very interesting album thank you. – TEKNOBRAT / CHUO 89.1 FM & CKCU 93.1 FM VARIOUS OTTAWA RADIO SHOWS / RADIO OTTAWA CHUO 89.1 FM + RADIO CARLETON CKCU 93.1 FM Will play, support & test Thanks Teknobrat.. – FUTURE 16 / RECTOVERSION RECORDS surely interesting, i want to listen all the album better in studio. meanwhile i’m sure it’s a really nice work – STÉPHANE CHAMBORD / RADIO RESONANCE („DEEJAY ACADEMY“ RADIO SHOW) Difficile de croire qu’une seule et même personne se cache derrière cet album (ou alors : c’est le travail de toute une vie ?). C’est riche et diversifié : c’est tout ce qu’il faut pour casser les codes de la standardisation dictée par l’industrie du disque. L’aspect „copieux“ de la proposition ne permet pas de juger facilement l’oeuvre puisque plusieurs écoutes semblent nécessaires. Pour ma première écoute, les titres qui me paraissent „forts“ sont : Dzyu / Hermaphrodit / Equation / Euphoria Merci ^^ – MREL XAVIER / MACHINE groovy!!! – PATRICK ZIGON / BIOTOP LABEL great album! – JOHN SELWAY (CSM) / CSM, INTERPULL I agree completely with Rob Hall. – SIMON IDDOL / AUDIOPORN CENTRAL, MOARRR cool – LEATHAL AKA EL GATO AND PAUL LEATH / EL OTRO MUNDO PRODUCTIONS, FRICTION RECORDINGS, EOMSESSIONS.COM ONLINE RADIO, BLOO NEKO RECORDINGS, TECHNO RADIO Very innovative and intense!!! – JC LAURENT / HIDDEN RECORDINGS will test Aethyr. Good job. Thanks – NORI / POSIVISION (JAPAN), BNANA.JP (JAPAN), CLUBBERIA (JAPAN), WAX POETICS JAPAN (JAPAN), nice work, sick!! – BAIKAL / MAEVE, INNERVISIONS interesting – DEREK PLASLAIKO / PERC TRAX / ANOZER / SPECTRAL SOUND thx – LUIGI MADONNA / DRUMCODE Thanks for the music. – CEDO / MBS+C3K / URGENT FM Supporting on air via Charged radio – TONY VERDI / TIMETRIALRECORDS, ELECTROGENERATOR GROUP Very nice release!!! Downloaded by Tony Verdi. Thx!!! – ALEXXZANDER / URGENT FM & BIG ALLIANCE RECORDS Downloaded 4 Alexx Zander Johnson Thx – BRUNO SACCO / GRAVITE, CATALYTIC experimental as i like!