Walls

VINYL FORMAT. Walls are a band from London made up of members Sam Willis (of Allez-Allez) and Alessio Natalizia (of Banjo Or Freakout). Having met in 2009 while Allez-Allez were remixing Banjo Or Freakout's Mr. No, they quickly realized that the natural combination of Alessio's guitar playing and haunting vocals together with Willis' emotive synth-lines and sample manipulation magic was a match made in heaven. "We're particularly influenced by artists such as Neu! and Harmonia - Michael Rother's guitar work, and Mobius and Roedelius' synth work really pushes boundaries yet remains melodic and euphoric. It's easy to make noisy and difficult music, what's harder, and feels natural to us, is to make music that skates along the edges - melodic, but with a sense of sadness, hope and euphoria at the same time. Kompakt feels like such a perfect home for us as a label - emotion, personality, individuality, quality of sound etc. - these are all things we feel about the music coming from the label." Walls tightrope this fine line to remarkable lengths. Take "Hang Four," where the slo-mo techno rhythm finds an easy bond with Alessio's lush guitar picking. "Cylopean Remains" immediately conjures the potentials of a jam between Animal Collective and Boards Of Canada - rolling beauty combined with epic strangeness to the most cerebral degree. Destined to be one of Kompakt's most unparalleled releases in their history, Walls has a lack of concern for the boundaries of genre distinction, but easily fit uniquely between the classic "sound of Kompakt" and the bliss of Pop Ambient.