New track up with some charming guest vocals from Skokk.

Hey there,

I added a new tune to my profile. Its a live rendering from my dialogues performance in edinburgh two years ago - a piece called 'Underwater Orchestra'. It was orginally performed on speakers submerged in a fish tank, and captured with a submerged microphone along with lots of stirring & bubble blowing noises...but I seem to have lost the original so this is the maxmsp quickie record version instead. More details on www.xahdrez.com if you want em!

Hope you're all well

Take care

Nick



Click here for more information!

"...minimalist but heartwarming electronica. Nice warm electronics atop understated beats. B side track one is my favourite (can't figure out the tracklist) coming on like that Bitstream at their warmest. In fact this reminds me of a lot of the City Centre Offices stuff." (Norman Records)

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"As with label mate randomNumber, Xahdrez began his musical output as a member of a post rock group - in this instance, Too Many Zeros and a brief stint playing trumpet for the Broken Family Band. The Second Half Of Nothing is a 5 track EP of emphatic beauty and delicate ambience on the club / label offshoot Vacuous Pop. Mixing about almost everything, from understated electronica, live instruments, subtle changes that speak volumes and crisp beats delivered with an almost surgical precision. First track 10080 is reminiscent of Chalm by Sirconical, adding a live jazz sound to a hip hop / electronica aesthetic, as the bell chimes of The Sedonic Hill and EP closer In Night create a mountain of seductive emotions from vertially nothing. Hold 10 is the vintage drum machine fire of To Rococo Rot and Venezuelan Coins In The Caracas Metro manages to combine the essence of Martes by Murcof, with inspired post dub elements." (Angry Ape)

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"Xahdrez The Second Half of Nothing (Vacuous). With previous outings for the likes of the Loud Leper and International Dubplate Mafia labels plus a short spell playing trumpet in the Broken Family Band, Xahdrez is the electronic alter ego of Nick Wilsden, who over the course of time has been known to take charge of the trumpet for the Broken Family Band. Here we find him locked in his bedroom with just the laptop for company carving out sweetly distant sounding spatial landscapes. The second half of nothing features five perfectly arranged suites of glitch electronica each individually exploring varying aspects of atmospheric moods. Opening to the sounds of the twilight daze of the almost stately elegance of 10080 all at once haunting, regretful and yet regal, it sleepwalks amid a terrain of fragmented grandeur interrupted by clicking beats and past echoes to suggestively stumble into the dainty but delightfully comatose Sedonic Hill (mistakes Ive made). Here the snoozing array of icicle pop toy electronic lullabies are at play under the cover of darkness, starry eyed and teasingly playful. Hold 10 is more organic in outlook and presentation, the lulling calm it endows with its clock work dynamic holds you hypnotically beneath its spell to be caressed lovingly by the lunar pirouettes within only to alter trajection towards the end for a spot of old time Atari tennis ping pong. Over on the flip the sounds become a lot more malleable and fleshed out on Venezuelan Coins in the Caracas Metro greater attention to sound progression and rhythmic interplay begins to come to the fore, a simple bossa nova underpin is splintered by weaving brass arrangements all spicily incumbent amid a lonesome celestial playing field. In night wraps up the set, cavernous skins are soon shed and in their place the chatter of digital speak converse in fuzzy logic, part abstract part nursery room a bit like those early Jean Michel Jarre compositions being detached from their vibrant codas while their minutiae mechanics are given a spring cleaning. All in all a very much seductive and twinkling like release more please." (Losing Today)

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"A Cambridge, Nick Wilsdon semble avoir quelque peu d�laiss� ses activit�s au sein de groupes post-rock locaux pour se concentrer sur Xahdrez, projet electronica men� en solo. Apr�s un premier EP, Anbit, publi� par Loud Leper Music, il revient � la charge avec un 5 titres / 10" qui fait acte de son savoir-faire. Sa musique fait la part-belle aux soundscapes et aux notes organiques, aquatiques et chaudes, ainsi quaux beats pr�cis qui lorgnent parfois vers le hip-hop. Vous laurez compris la musique de Xahdrez ne se caract�rise pas par son originalit� (WARP est pass� par l� il y a quelques temps d�j�) mais par une mise en ambiance intelligente et un souci du d�tail certain. Des sons aig�s et fluctuants parcourent le tout, prenant le relais de pulsations profondes et graves, et sont lapanage de cet univers fait de clair-obscurs." (Autres Directions)

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"82 out of 100

The second of Vacuous Pops recent releases takes the musical themes explored in the randomNumber EP to far greater extremes. Minimalism is the order of the day here, with 5 tracks of extremely subtle, low-key electronic instrumental material in which the emphasis is firmly placed on art rather than entertainment. The result is a challenging blend of sporadic melody and expanses of fragile, almost random, sound, mood pieces that occasionally drift away altogether, mimicking perhaps gradual and temporary losses of consciousness interspersed with the strained, eclectic logic of half-sleep. The effect is enticing and seductive, given the right context and frame of mind, with warmth added to what could otherwise be a slightly sterile sound by the use of vinyl as a medium. The obvious parallel with mainstream culture to be drawn is that between Xandrez and Kid A/Amnesiac period Radiohead the former at their most melodic resemble the latter at their least, with echoes of Pulk and Treefingers colouring 10080 and Hold 10, not plagiarism so much as the development of an artistic idea. The atonal, arrhythmic expanses serve to reinforce the moments of melodic coherence to great effect, allowing the slightest concession to conventional musicality to produce an almost euphoric effect, a nominal but effective reward for the patience involved in absorbing the rest of the piece. This is by no means as accessible or instantly intelligible as the randomNumber release, and as such is (perhaps deliberately) much harder to pidgeonhole. It is certainly a recording that relies heavily on both mental and environmental conditions, unable to function outside of a suitable context, and with long segments of little action, the process, like reading Proust, is a two-way commitment, requiring a readiness to endure the mundane in order to achieve the full effect of the experience as it unfolds. Aimed unflinchingly at a niche market, this is a fine example of electronica stripped to its bones, exposing the fragile elements that generally shape a more robust whole. Unlikely to appeal to a mass audience, this is nonetheless a very worthy addition to the collection of anyone with a more sustained interest in the potential of music at its most vulnerable." (Music Shopper)

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"Oxford Contemporary Music team up with Vacuous Pop Records for tonights gigin-a-gallery happening. Excellent events these, providing an outlet for some of the more unusual electronic and world music acts around to perform in an environment more suited to their sound than a sweaty old venue. And course, since the gigs start at 5.45pm and fi nish by 7.30, you can still saunter off to a sweaty old venue for some proper rock and rock action afterwards, or go to the theatre or late night shopping or whatever it is you people do on Thursday nights. Anyway, tonights show is from Xahdrez, aka Nick Wilsdon, formerly of The Broken Family Band, now forsaking his post-rock dalliances for a low-key form of laptop-generated soundscaping and glitchy ambience. Discreet electronic sounds are augmented by trumpet and other instruments and it all adds up to a slightly somnambulant journey through several shades of fuzzy colour and texture. Exactly the sort of music youd want to listen to as you gaze wistfully at abstract pieces of modern art. No moshing now, you understand?" (Night Shift Magazine)