For a while now Thomas Köner has been more of a myth than a reality. Among the drone and ambient set his name has long been spoken with reverence as an originator of dark ambient, but because his seminal early albums have long been out of print, one had to take claims of his importance and greatness solely on the basis of faith. As a result, like many legends, Köner's early albums have grown in stature, in part because of their scarcity. When it was reveled earlier this year that Type would be reissuing them there was understandable anticipation for what had become the white whale of dark ambient. Type's release of Köner's first three albums as one package is more than just a public service project, it's downright inspired, placing each recording in the context of Köner's evolution as a visionary artist. Each subsequent release builds upon and expands Köner's sonic experiments, and played back to back, paints an epic portrait of a soundworld that begins on the surface of a bleak tundra and ends burrowed far beneath the frozen earth.
"Nanutak", Köner's debut album, begins the series. Originally released in 1990, the recording features 11 untitled tracks that play like a single epic slab of sound, broken up into smaller movements and progressions. Köner manipulated gongs and treated cymbals as source material to craft the album's cold dark minimalism. In the process he created a soundtrack for the end of the world, both metaphorically and literally. Inspired by Robert Falcon Scott's tragic Terra Nova Expedition of Antarctica, the record is a bleak unrelenting work that mirrors both Scott's fatal trek to the South Pole, as well as the lifeless ice scape he attempted to conquer. Beginning as haunted drones, as the album progresses, subtle patterns and rhythms emerge, but never to the point of dynamism. There is a static nature throughout Köner's debut that reflects the endless ice field of Antarctica. That static nature coupled with the bleakness of the drones makes "Nanutak" one of Köner's most difficult recordings to enjoy, but in the right place at the right time it will haunt and devastate.
"Teimo" follows and is a leap forward in Köner's development. It is here that Köner developed the drones that made him one of the early progenitors of dark ambient music. Originally released in 1992, the album laid down a template that would be followed by many of the ambient luminaries who made up Touch Music's stable of artists throughout the aughts. The drones are fuller, and while they don't quite shimmer (you would need to introduce some light into the proceedings to get a shimmer, and Köner's recording is wholly devoid of light), they expand, pulsate and breath. Granted that breath is visible as it hits the cold air, and all that expands before it are endless darkened glaciers, but there is a sense of life on "Teimo" that was not present on the frozen dead world of "Nanutak".
"Permafrost" is the most fully realized album of the three, in keeping with Köner's evolutionary trajectory. Song titles map a descent through snow, ice and into the frozen ground beneath, while Köner's drones paint the appropriate soundscapes for each step deeper into the earth. As the album progresses, the drones engulf the listener further until one is wholly absorbed. The album culminates with the titular track featuring a lo-end rumble that sounds similar to the kind of intros that Sunn 0))) would open their earth-shattering doom epics with some ten years later. The piece doesn't so much grow as it swells, eventually submerging the listener and surrounding them in layers of frozen terra firma. It's a cavernous piece that dominates the senses like a white out. "Meta Incognita" follows and takes us further down, burrowing into the depths with a hellish sounding drone that evokes Dante's frozen lake where the worst of the damned were contained.
"Permafrost" would be a masterwork if it were made today. The fact that it was originally released in 1993 makes it a prophetic and visionary work. The same could be said for each of these albums. It's kind of astonishing that so much of what Köner is doing here has seeped into doom, drone and ambient music throughout the aughts, yet these recordings predate the decade of doom and drone by nearly ten years. While these recordings are superb in their own right, as a historical musical document they are essential. Thankfully Type has had the understanding, vision and respect to bring these recordings back out of obscurity and into the light where everyone can now appreciate and understand why Thomas Köner really does deserve the reverence and adoration that he has received over the years from experimental fans and musicians alike. This is one of the finest reissues of the year.
Listen to "Permafrost" here
Thomas Köner - Permafrost by _type
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