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Polymath

A Polymath is a person whose expertise spans a significant number of different subject areas.
In music, Cycler connected the term with a trip through various perspectives of sound. It seems that something is very familiar to your ears, yet everything is new. There's chaos and structure, chill and energy. The tracks progression leads the listener into a state of high musical meditation. It relaxes you by providing just a glimpse of explosive hidden energy. It's like having the force of Obi-Wan Kenobi but not feeling any urge to use it. Everything is chill. And cyclic. "

Ioan Bârladeanu was born on May 16 1980 in Constan?a. He studied Product Design at The "George Enescu" Arts University of Ia?i, currently living as a freelance artist in Bucharest, Romania.
Either if he's working on specialty movie props and prototypes or not, Ioan often finds a mental refuge into sound creation. It's a mind-soothing mantra, starting with an initial phrase, tweaking and rearranging it into a result often different from the initial impulse, as his thoughts also rearrange. As he has a special consideration for rhythm, repetition, cycle, the name "Cycler" occurred.

  • Artist / Producer
  • Release Date
  • Lenght
  • Available Formats
  • Cat. num (physical)
  • Cat. num (digital)
  • Label
  • Mastering
  • Cover
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  • Cycler
  • 03/2012
  • 45:02
  • Digital
  • raum-net-22
  • Raumklang Music
  • Cycler
  • Cycler
  • Cycler

Additional information

Digital, Unlimited

Reviews:

blackaudio.wordpress.com [03/2012]

Given that the idea behind this release is to venture into dipping their toes into different sound perspectives, it is perhaps quite apt that Cycler have chosen to call their album ‘Polymath’.

Cycler, have a very clean and precise pronunciation of sound varying from pop driven blips and beats flirting with IDM and the odd flash of ambient soundtrack like pads that fill out the gentle harmonies to great effect, such as the blissful ‘Dream Recorder Tape’.

If truth-be-told, the perspective does not hold up much for me as ‘Polymath’ is a linear electronic album, albeit a solid one at that. The trouble with clearly stating your album has a varying perspective of sound is that the concept falls short when there is little evidence to the claim; the ideas may vary but the sounds do not across the entirety of this release.

However what Cyclic have done is produce a damn solid electronic album pure and simple, with some genuine moments of excellence (‘Alien Crystal Desert’ and ‘Narcosis’), with a production that reeks of clarity and a good starting block to pave way for future releases.

My only real downside to this release is how it approaches human emotion as it mirrors the concept of feelings rather than conveys them, and with a little more attention to how these plastic electronic sounds translate to the listener, they could be onto a winner.

7.5/10

woundsoftheearth.blogspot.com [03/2012]

Basics:
Debut album from IDM producer Cycler. Cycler provides an interesting downtempo trip with a focus on skillfully programmed melodic synthlines and lowkey beats.


Good stuff:
+ The major thing to notice about this release is the excellent sound design of the melodic synths. Each track has a number of layers of (probably FM-based) synth-based elements, which pulsate with complexity and constantly mutate, adding movement and interest. He is able to take these sounds and morph them into catchy and dreamily nostalgic melodies. This alone makes Cycler stand out amongst the new crop of standard issue downtempo IDM producers.
+ In addition to melodic content, there is also quite a bit of synth-based bleeps, bloops, rises, etc. strewn throughout each track. These kind of little details take a record "to the next level" in my opinion, and show that the craftsman sincerely put much time into his work.
+ I really like the mood of this release. Though there are no big pads, which you'd likely expect, through the use of big reverb and some delay, Cycler is able to take his melancholic melodic content and fill it out with space; kind of like taking a 2D drawing and adding the third dimension. Like most good IDM, this is the soundtrack to a sad, but nonthreatening, future; or perhaps these are the dreams of a computer.
+ The beats aren't anything special, but they serve as proper foundations that keep the tracks steadily moving forward. They mesh quite well with the other elements.

Bad stuff:
- My only suggestion, and this is mainly just a personal preference, is that I would've liked more intricate, glitchy beats.

Summary:
A really good release. One of the main reasons I am drawn to IDM is the use of strange, complex noises & tones (wondering: "how the heck did they make that sound?") and turning this into listenable, atmospheric music - Cycler delivers exactly this. This reminds me of older IDM stuff, which is my favorite kind; the stuff that sounds like the dream of a hibernating machine. Fans of Eedl, Atmogat, Jega, early Arovane, etc. check this out! I will certainly be keeping an eye out for whatever else this guy creates in the future.

Overall Rating: 8/10

adnoiseam.net [03/2012]

I have no background information about this artist but was quite convinced by this release. A 11-track album of delicate glitch and long, dreamy melody, "Polymath" is neither an overly brainy thing nor a kitsch affair. It's quite subtle, modest but sharp and well executed, reminding a bit of the early releases on N5md. Balanced and flowing well, without the industrial touch of many other similar albums, this is something which picked my interest to listen to more music by Cycler.

Tracklist

01. Broken Mirror
02. Reflux
03. Stutter
04. Robot Has A Bad Dream
05. Dream Recorder Tape
06. Industrial Sunset
07. Alien Crystal Desert
08. Switch Bounce
09. Narcosis
10. Polymath
11. Letter To My Dead Lover With Vel

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