Artist
Label
Al Chem
Weird Fiction
Art Yard
/
2026
LP
€24.99
ACAYLPx1
180g vinyl, tip-on sleeve
Incl. VAT plus shipping / Orders from outside the EU are exempt from VAT
Tracklist
1No Hopper
2Prophet
3No Tower
4Baudelaire
5No Hopper (Instrumental)
6Ladder of Perfection

Originally released on Art Yard in 2017. A solo album displaying a collection of foggy electronic dub meditations recorded between 2000 and 2005 by Berliner Ring member Alexander Christou under his Al Chem guise.

In 2009, the label Art Yard sent a probe into the outer regions of contemporary electronic music, releasing Berliner Ring's »Orbital« album, a dub techno hymnal for Berlin’s orbital ring road. Drawing together the disparate elements of invented instruments, modified keyboards, customized rhythm and string machines, it was built around moods and themes drawn from the Berlin landscape.

One member of the Ring, Alexander Christou, also a part of the Berlin electro rock group Elecdrones, recording for Katzensonne. The band were »not interested in the crafting of chunks of music ready to be consumed«. Christou has since been recording under the moniker Al Chem, crossing analogue and digital realms, synthesizing a kind of philosopher’s stone. As Al Chem, he released on Tummy Touch Records, and now follows with a collection of foggy electronic dub meditations recorded between 2000 and 2005 in a full album.

In the battle to harness the elements, ancient mists permeated Chem’s music. A murky, mercurial humidity saturates the project. A distinctly north European descendant of dub, a kind of Seventh Seal that Bergman could have made, if provided enough hydroponic infusions.