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nor elle
When
nor elle´s debut album "Phantom Of Life" (mole013-2)
was released in march 1998, it was still kept a secret, that the
producer of the album was Norman Feller aka Terry Lee Brown Junior
- the House DJ and producer from Darmstadt (near Frankfurt / Germany)
who has had a severe impact on the develop-ment and rise of the
genre Tech-House. Under the pseudonym nor elle, he continued his
atmospherical explorations with the sophomore album "Slapstick" (mole038-2)
in september 2001. |
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He
stayed more than true to the Mole subheading "Listening Pearls" and employed structures from diverse musical backgrounds: stopping by at Dub and then straight again into Downbeat. It is especially due to the focus on Downbeat what makes nor elle´s
music so completely different from that of his much better known
other alter ego.
Norman Feller began DJing in 1989 and soon thereafter, he released his first tracks on vinyl under various pseudonyms. 1994 was the turning point in his career when Norman decided to completely dedicate himself to music. In the following year he invented the House-oriented project Terry Lee Brown Junior which allowed him to create his own sound on the label Plastic City: |
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Laid-back
and sophisticated Tech-House. Mole Listening Pearls fans may like
to tune in into his well established compilation series "Terry´s Café", which is the Listening Pearls´ counterpart
in House music. With his Plastic City label comrade The Timewriter aka JFC, he remixed the two Alphawezen tracks "Gai Soleil" and "Electricity Drive",
which were released as a single release in June 2002 on Plastic
City.
In March 2006, the third album called "Kombologi" was released. This time, the name of the album is a little bit spiritual. Spirituality means the consciousness and the action resulting from it. The soul or the mind are the origin of an transcendent authority and relate to a higher reality. This could be also found in music.
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"Komboloi" is the prayer chain of the Hilandar cloister on the mountain Athos, the monk's republic on the Greek peninsula Chalkidiki. Following this relic, the new phenomenal work of nor elle is called "Kombologi". An album that moves the center of the consciousness and touches with it ´s
soul and mind like no other.
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"Kombologi" is
an almost quite epic work of uncommon emotional density. The album
performs like a kind of musical novel that leads in wonderfully
warm sounds and beats into the most wonderous spiritual corners
of the world. The album tells stories from a light unconcerned
life. The music is not in search for anything, it is just arrived
and achieved its aims. There is no need to transport messages,
just enjoy and reflect.
"Kombologi" functions as an inspiration and projection
screen. All electronic sounds feel like a warm foam bath. The beats
gently caress the body. A quite easy acoustic guitar covers with
sudden feelings of happiness. Out of the speakers warm wind is floating
directly from the blue sky above the desert. The voices are reflected
in the horizon as mirages of the nicest places of the world.
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With his project "nor elle" Norman Feller has created three of the most perfect downbeat albums with climax in sound culture, virtuosity and calmness.ÊAll albums are masterpieces and landmarks, supported by miraculous guest musicians.ÊMusic from the origin of an transcendent authority which creates the relation to a higher reality.
However - of course - "nor elle" continous with producing new tracks and in autumn 2008 the next album find its way to the shops. A new album with a new concept: A story framework for the listeners with the possibillity to stimulate their own imagination and ambience:
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The night was very long. The head feels like a small tin where the mixed vegetables are swimming in salty water. Standing on the wet black pavement of this scant lighted street where the orange light of the street lights turn everything in fruits covered with a thin layer of vanilla sauce somehow the thoughts are joking with awareness. Many questions should be answered now: Why are all the windows dark? Should there be more orange light so that it seems it would be possible to eat the street to get home fast?
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Well, eating the street. Eating the street until the door of home arrives in front of the face. And then eating everything that surrounds the house. The rest that would be still there could be silence, could be solitude or nothing. Walking to the next station? No. Laying down here for sleep? Under no circumstance. Waiting until something happens? Maybe the first people going to work? Passing by? Never. But wait Ð there are some car lights coming closer. ItÕs a taxi. Ok, stop it and get in. The instruction to the driver: "Get me home!" And he drives a never ending ride. There is nothing left to say. From the moment he started the engine it was clear this ride is home. Laying the head back. Enjoying the race of lights running through the cabin of the car, the endless transforming reflections on the windows. Everything passing by outside is like the blurred colour of a huge painting. Then the sleep arrivesÉfinally.
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ÒT a x iÓ is the 4th album of nor elle aka Terry Lee Brown Junior. After ÒPhantom Of LifeÓ (1998), ÒSlapstickÓ (2001) and ÒKombologiÓ (2006) nor elle defines his own borders of down beat and lounge once again.
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Concentrating on wide scapes reduced melodic insinuation this time, the album seems to work as a screen. Like a movie without dialoque or a documentary without comments the music gives room for own imaginations and projections. Creating an atmosphere of a nocturnally taxi ride Terry gives a theme, but the rest is up to the listener. Where the taxi drives, how fast or slow, wether the driver is a good or bad one may depend on the mood of the one who to dives into the calm and fantastic world of these wonderful narrative tracks. No instruction is included but leaning back and letting fantasy fly over a warm street at a coast, through a forest or the centre of an illuminated city.
With this album nor elle created a masterpiece of emotionally charged music with the right instinct for great room effects and innovative sounddesign.
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