[mn027]
Stelladrine
You'll Never See Your World Again

1. Destination Earth
2. Astrosurfers of Tomorrow [ mp3 excerpt ]
3. You'll Never See Your World Again [ full-length mp3 ]
4. Beyond The Stars [ mp3 excerpt ]
5. Scientists and Madmen
6. Cycloptic Disintegrator
7. The Future Isn't What it Used to be
8. Galaxiae Pacieferum [ full-length mp3 ]
9. Attack of The Radioactive Freaks
10. Positron Annhilation Chamber [ mp3 excerpt ]
11. Martian Dreams [ mp3 excerpt ]

Total time: 50:06 min
Format: CD, clear jewel case, 550 copies
Release date: September 28, 2005
Price: 11 €

There is a reason that the 50's are referred to as science fiction's Golden Age on the silver screen. After all, what other era has so prominently featured such a vast bestiary of mad scientists, bug-faced monsters and fearsome aliens? It was a time when inversing polarities and shutting down generators were all the rage, and square-jawed heroes in jumpsuits led the way across the unknown. A time when science was alternatively mankind's ultimate salvation or its impending doom. A time when the future meant something.

"You'll Never See Your World Again" is a sonic journey to this future. Theremins whistle and sing, electronic equipment bleeps away and rocket engines whir in this exploration of what lies beyond the blackened expanses of space. In this case it happens to be fifty minutes of melodic cosmic ambient, catchy lunar beats and space-age guitar ballads, and that's without even mentioning the manic robo-surf rock of the second track. Gorgeously adorned by STPo's colorful artwork, this is an invitation to all adventurous cadets out there.

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Vital Weekly (by Frans de Waard, October 05, 2005)

Of an entirely different nature is the CD by the likewise unknown (for me, at least) Stelladrine. Maybe you think seventies when hearing the word 'concept album', but 'You'll Never See Your World Again' is a concept album, about space invading, rockets and time travel. But with the cartoon like cover this is all highly tongue in cheek: it's more a fifties view than say the recent 'War Of The Worlds'. Stelladrine uses synthesizers, drum computers, even guitars and voice snippets from old films ('they are electronic computers, not human beings') in order to make a take on 'Forbidden Planet' with healthy dose of humor. Quirky, up tempo music most of the time, with a spaghetti western sound on the guitar and theremin in 'The Future Isn't What It Used To Be'. It's all very retro futurist stuff and it's a most pleasant album for lovers of electro, sci-fi and such like.

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Connexion Bizarre (by M., November 14, 2005)

"People of Earth: attention! This is a voice speaking to you from thousands of miles beyond your planet!" a mechanical and slightly garbled voice announces, briefly accompanied by a wailing theremin. This solemn (if authoritative) announcement sets the tone of French project Stelladrine's "You'll Never See Your World Again", a collection of soundtrack and ambient pieces filled with nostalgia for the classic future of vintage science-fiction film and television of the 50's and early 60's.

An enthusiastic and optimistc retro-futuristic soundtrack, it effectively evokes the naïf and larger-than-life epics of intrepid explorers, scientists (good, evil and mad), bizarre aliens and weird monstrous creatures. Though not groundbreaking, the music in this album certainly fulfills its purpose of conveying a sense of nostalgia with inspired and skillfully composed sound collages, drones and ambient soundscapes even though it seems to wander off on occasion. The use of guitar further adds human feeling to the tracks where it is present, at times making them drift towards another staple of 50's pop culture, surf-rock (and not just in the obvious track "Astrosurfers of Tomorrow").

Perhaps due to their collage nature, 'action-packed'tracks such as "Destination Earth", "Scientists and Madmen" and "Attack of the Radioactive Freaks" are the immediate ear-grabbers in this album, contrasting with more reflective/ambient tracks like "Martian Dreams" (an homage to Ray Bradbury's "Martian Chronicles"?) and the ballad for theremin and guitar "The Future Isn't What It Used To Be". "Cycloptic Disintegrator" falls somewhere in between, as a soundtrack composition that evolves into something else (and maybe could have been further explored).

Not for everyone and certainly an acquired taste, this is an amusing and interesting release that should be approached with tongue firmly in cheek. Vintage science-fiction enthusiasts will surely find "You'll Never See Your Word Again" extremely appealing as it is indeed a fine soundtrack to (re)live the excitement and bright promises of an imaginary future past, exploring the outer limits.

[7.5/10 for general public, 8/10 for sci-fi aficionados]

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Funprox (by JS, December 04, 2005)

I have no objection to a great portion of humour in life, but when it comes to music and art in general, I get the shivers of funny attempts. The music can be enjoyable, but should I, as a listener, take it seriously? Or is it all a big joke?

Stelladrine is a project that chose for a humoristic angle in their release. The entire concept of ‘You’ll never see your world again’ is that of a bad science fiction movie from the fifties. Comic-book-style layout and comic-book-style drawings of space-men, ufo’s and space monsters beaming rays to earth. Deliberately cheesy spoken word samples, like ‘People of earth; we will take over your world, unless the leaders of our worlds can unite in friendship’ dominate the record.

Probably very funny but I’m not laughing. So let’s stick to the music. Spacious ambient- electronics is what you can expect from a project with this concept, and it is exactly what you get. But it isn’t bad at all. It’s wild (‘Astrosurfers of tomorrow’), weird, sometimes fast and sometimes even melodic (‘The future isn’t what it used to be’). Swirling electronic sounds, bleeps and high-low frequency shifts makes this record a strange but interesting experience.

I have to say the track ‘Cycloptic disintegrator’ (picture it) is one of the best tracks. Pretty minimal electronic glitch and cut up structures with a pounding sound throbbing in the background, suddenly accompanied by a slightly moderated guitar loop.

So the concept isn’t my piece o’ cake, but I bet there are some comic-book collectors and sci-fi adepts that will rejoice in the fact that there will be an attack of radioactive freaks. This record is for them.

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Radium (by vtl, December 16, 2005)

Stelladrine, tuo yksi Mechanoise Labsia johtavan Tirdad C.K.:n monista projekteista sai olla seuraavana vuorossa kanavoimaan miehen luomisvimmaa. Lähinnä industrialista ja voimaelektroniikasta normaalisti ammentava artisti tuntuu olleen harvinaisen hyvällä päällä, sillä You'll Never See your World Again on poikkeuksellisen hyväntuulista, leppoisaa ja peräti hieman kieliposkessa tehtyä musiikkia. Futurama-henkisistä kansista huolimatta onneksi mistään huumorimusiikista ei ole kuitenkaan kysymys.

Siinä missä edeltäjä Le Rire des ?toiles oli ufo-teemaltaan uhkaaava, synkkä ja jopa aggressiivinen, on sen seuraaja rentoa 50- ja 60-lukujen sci-fi-elokuvista tunnelmansa, sekä monet samplensa ammentavaa pehmeää avaruusambienttia. Kaikkein yllättävimpinä elementtinä on mukaan tullut paikoittainen kitarointi, joka vaihtelee hervottoman Astrosurfers of Tomorrown elektronisen surffirokin letkeästä riffittelystä Beyond the Starsin vahvasti efektoituun maalailuun. Homma kuitenkin toimii yleensä erinomaisesti ja psykedeelisin tripin sävyjä omaava jälkimmäinen teos on raukeassa avaruusleijunnassaan yksi levyn miellyttävimpiä kokemuksia. Saman voi sanoa myös albumin toisesta pitkästä äänimaailmasta Martian Dreams, jonka hidas rytmisyys ja tasaisesti kehittyvä utuisan toismaailmallinen, mutta rentouttava äänimaailma kestää kuuntelua kerta toisensa jälkeen.

Vastakohdan rauhalliselle maalailulla muodostavat äänimaailmaltaan kokeellisemmat teokset, jotka sisältävät paljon mielenkiintoista piipitystä, ujellusta ja sähköistä dronea, sekä suurimman osan sampleista. Niiden toteutuksen onnistuneisuus on tosin hyvin kaksijakoinen. Toisaalla kappaleet ovat sekavia (Destination Earth ja Scientists and Madmen) tai teosten ylisamplaaminen jaksaa huvittaa vain kerran (Attack of the Radioactive Freaks), kun taas toisaalla samoilla elementeillä yllytään kekseliään hallittuun häiriöäänien leikkiin (Cycloptic Disintegrator). Parhaiten homma pelaa elokuvamaisessa nimikappaleessa, jonka aloittava uskomaton kitaran ja sähköisen ujelluksen duetto hakee vertaistaan.

Muutamien kappaleiden ylilyönneistä huolimatta You?ll Never See Your World Again on erittäin persoonallinen ja onnistunut julkaisu, joka tulee ottaa konseptista huolimatta vakavasti. Kitaran mukaan ottoa ei kannata pelätä, sillä se toimii nimenomaan lähes nostalgisena tunnelmanluojana ottamatta kertaakaan dominoivaa asemaa, ja luo siten albumille sen kuuluisan viimeisen silauksen. Mikäli musiikkimaku vain kestää tällaiset pienet erikoisuudet, ja/tai itsensä usein varsin vakavasti ottava teollisuusmusiikki on alkanut hieman tympimään, suosittelen tutustumaan.

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Gullbuy (by Carl, January 18, 2006)

Stelladrine is the work of music artist Tirdad from Paris. His recordings sit closest to the NYC punk/electronic pioneers Suicide.

You'll Never See Your World Again includes peices with 50s American Sci-Fi movie dialog, theremin, sampled sounds, field recordings, ambient drones, and pulsing electronics.

The CD sounds like the French band KG at times. Like KG, Stelladrine are rough around the edges, but the sounds are pure as a result - there is no glossing of mediocre sounds by smooth production.

Destination Earth start off the disc with 50s American Sci-Fi movie dialog.

Astrosurfers of Tomorrow places Stelladrine close to Russian labelmates (her work is distributed by Solzne) Messer Fur Frau Muller, or their side project Messer Chups.

You'll Never See Your World Again is a calm instrumental with a guitar drone that may remind you of Velvet Underground.

Beyond the Stars stars off with an ominous sound that immediately brings you to Porno Base, from 23 Skidoo's 7 Songs EP. As the song goes on, it becomes a slow burn with a disturbed ambient drone simiar to the work of NZ artist Omit or Australian artist Minit.

Scientists and Madmen brings Sci-Fi dialog into an electonic pulse.

The Future Isn't What it Used to be engages the listener with drama and sound, and movie dialog quotes such as:

There are no limits to the imagination, and man's ability to make reality out of his visions, is his greatest strength. Through this skill, he has been able to accomplish time and space.

The track also has lots of theremin on it.

You'll Never See Your World Again is an interesting album. I'd love to hear more of Tirdad's work - there are numerous releases on the label he runs, Mechanoise Labs.

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Score, Baby! (by Kristopher Spencer, April 01, 2006)

Taking its inspiration from sci-fi b-movies of the 50's, Stelladrine's You'll Never See Your World Again promises a kitschy listening experience, but actually achieves something different. Instead of offering "space age bachelor pad music" Stelladrine favors a techno-based sound of electronic textures and machine-made rhythms.

With track titles like "Astrosurfers of Tomorrow" and "Beyond the Stars," one expects a sort of pulpy romanticized vision of intergalactic space travel and adventure, but the actual listening experience is more reminiscent of a dystopian sci-fi soundtrack experience. Dialogue samples seap through dense electronic textures that are reminiscent of Louis and Bebe Barron's Forbidden Planet soundtrack.

While YNSYWA isn't melodically memorable, it definitely achieves its aesthetic aim: an otherworldly listening experience.

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Crucial Blast Webstore (April 05, 2006)

A glance at the song titles on Stelladrine's You'll Never See Your World Again might give you an inkling as to this projects background...tracks like "Destination Earth", "Astrosurfers of Tomorrow", and "Attack of The Radioactive Freaks" do little to hide Stelladrine's total immersion in old-school 1950's Sci-Fi B-movie culture. These 11 tracks mix together extended ambient drones and spaced-out cosmic ambient electronics swirling around your head, spacey theremin freakouts, weird, sorta "surfy" robotic instrumental rock, glitchy electronic cut-up, and lots of looped sci-fi film soundbytes and collaged soundtrack edits, creating a weird sort of film-score instrumental post rock/electronica that evokes visions of all kinds of mad scientists, rocketships, and bug-eyed aliens, served up as homage to the Golden Age of Science Fiction. You definitely need to be a fan of this era of science fiction cinema to really appreciate what Stelladrine has done here, capturing the retro electronic vibes of movies like This island Earth and The Day The Earth Stood Still as pure, cathode-ray, late night ambience. We think this album is alot of fun, and retro sci-fi soundtrack fans will love this stuff.

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Virus Magazine (by Michael Casano, June 20, 2006)

Now you can listen to the sounds of the future brought to you straight from the golden age of science fiction’s glorious past.

“You’ll Never See Your World Again” is another gem released by the Mechanoise Labs label.

Stelladrine carves out a world made out of chrome, along with the beeps and buzzes of strange circuitry, and plenty of flashing lights and machines with lots of buttons to press. But wait, there is more.
Combine the multitude of machinery and noisy mechanics with an array of interstellar samples of “scientists and madmen” and other omniscient beings from galaxies afar, and you have an altogether cinematic soundtrack in black and white.

There is a strong, yet forgivable and absolutely necessary, sense of cut and paste, and at times this method works exceptionally well, such as the collaged narrative and sound found on “Attack of the Radioactive Freaks”. Ultimately, if you love vintage late-night bad-dialogue sci-fi like I do, then you’ll love this CD. Earthlings with neither a sense of imagination nor humor need not apply.

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Terrorverlag (by TG, December 22, 2006)

Mein Gott, was haben wir denn hier vorliegen? Der bzw. die Verantwortlichen haben mehr als offensichtlich ein Faible für Science Fiction, ferne Galaxien und Aliens – das zumindest beweist schon mal das Artwork, das billige Superhelden-vs.-Alien-Comics aus den 50ern zum Vorbild erkoren hat. Großer Pluspunkt, da die Zeichnungen so schlecht ausfallen, dass sie schon wieder gut sind. (Außerdem mag ich das grüne Krakenalien hinten auf dem Booklet, das gerade den Helden verschlingen will.)

Weiterer großer Pluspunkt ist die Verwendung von diversen Film- und/ oder Hörspielsamples, und das nicht nur für Intro bzw. Outro, sondern in beinahe jedem der elf Tracks. Hier kann ich aber gleich meine erste Beanstandung anmerken: Ich will hier nicht auf Copyrights herumreiten, aber ich würde schon gern wissen, aus welchen Filmen die Samples sind, aber leider ist nirgendwo ein solcher Hinweis angegeben. Dafür aber, dass bei „Cycloptic Disintegrator“ eventuell Interferenzen mit „human-designed playback devices“ auftreten könnten. Das kann ich nicht bestätigen, denn das Rauschen, das sporadische Klaviertastenbearbeiten und Ticken, das dort zu hören ist, finde ich nicht seltsamer als die restlichen Geräusche des Albums. Womit wir auch letztendlich bei den Klängen angelangt sind, die hier gut 50 Minuten lang aus den Boxen kriechen und wummern. Tja, neben angesprochenen Samples, die z. B. von wahnsinnigen Wissenschaftlern oder extraterrestrischen Intelligenzen handeln, kommen hier noch wabernde, manchmal zögernde Rückkoppellaute zum Einsatz, sowie hallendes Fiepen, Gitarrenriffs, Loops – und überhaupt ganz viel verzerrtes Fiepen. „The Future isn’t was it used to be“ zeugt nicht nur von glorreichen Titeln, sondern auch von fast schon romantischen Akkordabfolgen. Etwas nostalgisch vielleicht, aber durchaus gut hörbar.

Zu Recht stellt sich die Frage, wann man dieses Konglomerat an trashigem, zukunftsweisendem, altmodischem Science-Fiction-Noise denn hören sollte. Vielleicht auf ein portables Medium ziehen und damit durch die Gegend wandern; oder während man extravagante Experimente durchführt – dazu bietet sich fast „Attack of the radioactive Freaks“, wahlweise aber auch „Positron Annihilation Chamber“ an. Tatsächlich finde ich das Album ziemlich cool und kann es all denjenigen, die sich durch die Beschreibung nicht abgeschreckt fühlten, eigentlich fast nur empfehlen. Denn: „do not panic. Our aims are peaceful.“

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Blood Ties (by xdementia, July 21, 2007)

Stelladrine is from an era that never happened where the deep reaches of space are explored by scientists using rudimentary mechanical equipment to reach their ends. A world where the first contact with extra-terrestrial intelligent life occurred over 50 years ago. This is another project from the apparently eclectic Tirdad CK of Necromondo that explores the pulp sci-fi of the “golden age of science fiction.” There are plenty of samples used here ranging from laugh-out-loud absurdity to deeply haunting voices floating through space.

From the colorful comic-styled artwork to the wailing theremins the vision and aesthetic remains consistent throughout the release. With 11 tracks there is a ton to take in here, so many different takes on the classic sci-fi feel are demonstrated through use of samples, sounds, rhythms and the occasional melody as well. I'd say this has a bit of a digital sound but the production is very well done with clear highs/lows and a ton of great uses for delays, reverbs and synths.

You'll Never See Your World Again starts off with it's most accessible tracks with the rhythmic “Destination Earth” and then almost meandering into an IDM style with “Astrosurfers of Tomorrow” but it's not contrived at all with too many experimental elements and odd sounds interrupting the flow of things. “You'll Never See Your World Again” is the most melodic piece with a simple guitar line and floating sounds, spoken samples, and drones flowing alongside it.

Stelladrine tells a story here though, the first part of your journey here is beautiful, a peaceful journey leaving the confines of Earth's pull and projecting yourself into deep space. But nothings ever perfect and things begin to go a bit awry in Beyond the Stars which is decidedly darker but also a bit more beautiful with repetitive spacey industrial rhythms and screeching slinky-like drones combined with subtle melodies. The journey continues with memorable samples, deep dark echoing sounds and drones, synth atmospheres and squealing machinery.

There are so many great tracks and moments here it is impossible to write about all of them because I am constantly discovering them. But one of the most effective tracks here is “Galaxiae Pacieferum” which is perhaps also the darkest. It features whirring delay lines, and industrial drones aplenty but forms a bleak view of blackened space. It clocks in at only about 3 and a half minutes and features a manipulated echoing sample stating: “they closed their eyes, they cried peace” ringing out into the nothingness.

This is a unique and original statement with deep atmospheres and offbeat experimental ideas as well as some musical influences. I haven't heard anything like this at all before and it's so consistent and well done it just amazes me, like the thoughts and dreams of the future.

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