eL-Hortobāgyi Hortator (László Hortobãgyi)
Thessalien Stoa Paradosi
eL-Hortobāgyi Hortator (László Hortobãgyi)
Thessalien Stoa Paradosi
Boomkat Product Review:
The golden pigeon has landed: László Hortobãgyi’s screwed psy-trance and expansive new age dubs are collated by contemporary enigma Nikolas Rafael Hadjilaskaris in a masterwork of playful, fantasy tekgnosis for new label Ελχελέλ (ElHellEl) - think Amorphous Androgynous playing a secret ECM stage at Boomtown, or Mark Snow jamming with Rex Ilusivii and Suns of Arqa in Goa. It’s fucking beyond!
El-Hortobãgyi Hortator is a mind-blowing intergenerational hook-up between legendary Hungarian composer László Hortobãgyi - a key catalyst of asymmetric new age since the early ‘80s with releases on labels ranging from ECM to Bahia - and his spiritual brethren Hadjilaskaris, who may (or may not) be a gadge affiliated with Heat Crimes and The Death of Rave (not to mention the internet mythology of the Burial and Kode 9-favoured Live Adult Entertainment). Compiled from self-released CDs issued around the early 2010s, ‘Thessalien Stoa Paradosi’ is a 74 minute odyssey into richly imaginative, dream-textured modal zones that highlight Hortobãgyi’s visionary, tekgnostic spirit and wits at play via a prism of anachronistic software and hardware-derived works that see the original 4th world protagonist merge and re-articulate links between ‘80s / ‘90s psychedelic dance and new age musicks, and the styles that would derive from them over the decades. No doubt it’s one of our favourite of 2024.
On 11 parts ranging from arabesque dervishes thru expansive, time-slipping mutations of pariah dance musicks such as psy-trance and dubstep rave, Hortobãgyi’s unique mutability and imagination is clearly comparable to that of Hadjilakaris, and sees tones recognisable from his ECM album ‘Kurtágonals’ (as part of the Hortagonals trio), or his 1989 solo landmark ‘Tranreplica Meccano’ placed in fresher, uchronic contexts. It’s all there in awesome opener ‘Tabladabka’, with its stirring strings and bestialien vox anchored to screwed psytrance groove like a febrile Vladimir Ivkovic blend, and cannily escalating BPM over its 8 minute duration. Or similarly in a standout ‘Metabla’, where early 2010s nEuro dubstep encounters Indian classical tradition and free party trance-dance in ways that made us genuinely LOL at first listen, and which are surely emblematic of Hortobãgyi’s endearing humour and dare-to-differ tekkerz.
In procession from soaring Eastern European choral-meets-tabla flourishes in ‘Laudanum’, thru turbulent tribal trance on ‘Ummasumma’, to a blissed raga ‘Anandagat’, and the 10 minute half-stepping Goa sand trampler ‘Akanboltan’, it all hews faithfully to Hortobãgyi’s vision while indelibly timestamping his own authority. We’re spoiled for choice for faves, but pushed to pick any it’s got to be the denouement of penultimate, 10 minute piece ‘Sezamida’, when the tablas and pluming vocals give way to a Fairlight synth bass and winks at Jan Hammer’s godly ‘Crockett’s Theme’ across the ages, surely staking its pseudo-soundtrack ambitions most clearly.
Ultimately it’s an album crafted with a deep well of romance and imagination, but doesn’t take itself too self-seriously. It suggests - not tells - and brilliantly plays with anticipations of the culturally conditioned mind, cultivating its own fantasy ethnomusicology in the process. An absolute triumph of modal maximalism, utilising the still affective riches of the past thru a shard-like prism of ingenuity and innovation. Or in other words; an ElHellEll lot of fun when heard spangled or otherwise. Do not miss!
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Boomkat Product Review:
The golden pigeon has landed: László Hortobãgyi’s screwed psy-trance and expansive new age dubs are collated by contemporary enigma Nikolas Rafael Hadjilaskaris in a masterwork of playful, fantasy tekgnosis for new label Ελχελέλ (ElHellEl) - think Amorphous Androgynous playing a secret ECM stage at Boomtown, or Mark Snow jamming with Rex Ilusivii and Suns of Arqa in Goa. It’s fucking beyond!
El-Hortobãgyi Hortator is a mind-blowing intergenerational hook-up between legendary Hungarian composer László Hortobãgyi - a key catalyst of asymmetric new age since the early ‘80s with releases on labels ranging from ECM to Bahia - and his spiritual brethren Hadjilaskaris, who may (or may not) be a gadge affiliated with Heat Crimes and The Death of Rave (not to mention the internet mythology of the Burial and Kode 9-favoured Live Adult Entertainment). Compiled from self-released CDs issued around the early 2010s, ‘Thessalien Stoa Paradosi’ is a 74 minute odyssey into richly imaginative, dream-textured modal zones that highlight Hortobãgyi’s visionary, tekgnostic spirit and wits at play via a prism of anachronistic software and hardware-derived works that see the original 4th world protagonist merge and re-articulate links between ‘80s / ‘90s psychedelic dance and new age musicks, and the styles that would derive from them over the decades. No doubt it’s one of our favourite of 2024.
On 11 parts ranging from arabesque dervishes thru expansive, time-slipping mutations of pariah dance musicks such as psy-trance and dubstep rave, Hortobãgyi’s unique mutability and imagination is clearly comparable to that of Hadjilakaris, and sees tones recognisable from his ECM album ‘Kurtágonals’ (as part of the Hortagonals trio), or his 1989 solo landmark ‘Tranreplica Meccano’ placed in fresher, uchronic contexts. It’s all there in awesome opener ‘Tabladabka’, with its stirring strings and bestialien vox anchored to screwed psytrance groove like a febrile Vladimir Ivkovic blend, and cannily escalating BPM over its 8 minute duration. Or similarly in a standout ‘Metabla’, where early 2010s nEuro dubstep encounters Indian classical tradition and free party trance-dance in ways that made us genuinely LOL at first listen, and which are surely emblematic of Hortobãgyi’s endearing humour and dare-to-differ tekkerz.
In procession from soaring Eastern European choral-meets-tabla flourishes in ‘Laudanum’, thru turbulent tribal trance on ‘Ummasumma’, to a blissed raga ‘Anandagat’, and the 10 minute half-stepping Goa sand trampler ‘Akanboltan’, it all hews faithfully to Hortobãgyi’s vision while indelibly timestamping his own authority. We’re spoiled for choice for faves, but pushed to pick any it’s got to be the denouement of penultimate, 10 minute piece ‘Sezamida’, when the tablas and pluming vocals give way to a Fairlight synth bass and winks at Jan Hammer’s godly ‘Crockett’s Theme’ across the ages, surely staking its pseudo-soundtrack ambitions most clearly.
Ultimately it’s an album crafted with a deep well of romance and imagination, but doesn’t take itself too self-seriously. It suggests - not tells - and brilliantly plays with anticipations of the culturally conditioned mind, cultivating its own fantasy ethnomusicology in the process. An absolute triumph of modal maximalism, utilising the still affective riches of the past thru a shard-like prism of ingenuity and innovation. Or in other words; an ElHellEll lot of fun when heard spangled or otherwise. Do not miss!
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