Stephen Hummel's SubtractiveLAD moniker encapsulates the sounds he strived at producing at an early age with roots firmly planted in the jazz-improvisation scene. The relatively recent progress of computer technology, however, has allowed Hummel to design most of his own instruments, creating a sound that is both extremely personal and unique. Giving Up The Ghost (his debut release) is about hope and the ability to keep moving forward. Loss and sadness are balanced with feelings of transcendence and fragility. Threaded emotions and evolving rhythms seemingly transmit an aura of pure sonic ambience. Warm analogue frequencies cycle around reflective moods while skittering beats continue to expand throughout the inherent mangling of electrical wires. Distress signals of loosely tied, emotionally driven electronics allow Hummel to creatively blend the surreal ambiences of Boards of Canada with the pulsating rhythms of label-mates Proem and Vesna. The title track delivers swirling atmospheres cemented with dense, dribbling beats and sweet ambient fluttering while the epic track, "Remain Removed," is a cascading, melodious entity that charges itself with flowing percussion. Elsewhere on this debut release you'll find plateaus of enriched rhythms tugging at the heartstrings, drifting into oblivion. As an emotional snapshot of the heart, Giving Up The Ghost fuels the mind with magnetic electricity and a sense of optimism in a world full of chaos.

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Speaking of ghosts, the spirit of Arovane drifts through so much of Vancouverite Stephen Hummel's SubtractiveLAD album that a Blindfold Test would invariably identify any one of this album's tracks as the work of Uwe Zahn. Giving Up The Ghost is especially kin to Atol Scrap in Hummel's controlled and measured sculpting of material and in the music's wistful, melancholy ambiance (not to mention a conspicuous Boards of Canada influence in the church-like synth chords of “Nothing Is Enough”). Yet while clearly indebted to antecedents, Hummel's album ultimately impresses for the strong emotional core that emerges over the course of its unfolding; an audible human heart clearly beats at the core of this particular machine.

Like Zahn, Hummel creates nuanced and atmospheric epics whose lush blankets of warm analogue shimmer seem to gently emanate from some spectral aether. Nowhere is that more evident than on the second piece, “Remain Removed,” even if the warped and blistered sounds in its latter moments signify the emergence of more conventional sounding electronic tropes. Certainly the album possesses an aggressive dimension (i.e., the frenetic beat skitter and bass throbs of “Martyr Relief Unit”), but what really surprises is the album's unexpected move into softer, peaceful realms at its midpoint. The sixth piece, a beatless interlude entitled “My Quadrant” signals the move, as does the next, “Neostasis,” all gentle tones and peaceful ambiance, and the eighth, “Fixing A Shadow,” with its Tides-like wind sounds and harpsichord synths. The advent of the ninth piece, “The Natural Whirled,” reveals that Hummel has sequenced those gentler pieces in order to masterfully build towards this peak. The composition itself begins with gentle synths amidst silken background textures and then symphonically escalates, becoming progressively more lush when propelled by softly clicking beats; following a pause, the strings drop away to better expose the lovely synth melody with which it exits. The next song reintroduces a more aggressive feel before the album ends with a peaceful coda that one might hear as an Arovane-Eno-Boards of Canada homage.

Though the album's sound isn't new, what impresses is its compositional dimension and the manner by which its pieces evolve. Unlike electronic albums whose tracks seem more like static snapshots, the full-fledged compositions on Giving Up The Ghost delineate a clear trajectory through contrasting moods which ultimately cohere into an album experience. Despite its machine-based production, a perceptible dimension of sincere feeling declares itself, suggesting that its title is better thought of as suggesting transcendence rather than resignation. sutemos

Stephen Hummel and his SubtractiveLAD project may be unknown to you, yet but after this album the world will hear this name. Debut album of this Canadian guy called Giving Up The Ghost was released on February 15th. It has surprised even such experienced members of n5MD team as Proem and Portland. Even Mike - the head of this label - spreads out beautiful phrases about it. When you hear the first sounds of this album you understand that it wasn't just a thing of self promotion. SubtractiveLAD IS gorgeous. This album has been playing in my computer all through the week and continues to annoy my colleagues. It is working. Its cold makes want to create something.

Deep, emotional, full of loneness and longing. It is very strange for me to say but it is a fact - Stephan has managed to create something unique. And it is very surprising because lately a rare artist manages to succeed in this and in the most cases these names are already written into the history of electronic music. Debut artists usually fail in making unique stuff. But at the same time it is easier for them to do so - they have no limits, no forms that restrain them later. Money counts here, too and this kills a lot of unique talents. n5MD seems to be different from other labels that tend to use some pressure on artists to get products they want to sell. This one seems to be free and independent. This might be the reason why n5MD has so many fans. This might the reason why the label releases tens of beautiful albums...

You will find everything in Giving Up The Ghost. There are good and bad details inside of it. Everyone of you would strike out different tracks from this album and I have no doubt that you WOULD strike out something. Some tracks were spoiled by my wish they could last forever (especially the end of Remain Removed track). Some tracks were weaker and do not fit the gorgeous context of this album. Anyway, in general Giving Up The Ghost is an astonishingly great album. The best place in it is Martyr Relief Unit - strange hypnotizing trance music. Nontraditional arrangement of sounds creates a wonderful effect. My heart is drowned. The Natural Whirled - this one is even better. My body starts to shake during these magic 8 minutes. It is necessary to listen to it for 20 times. Nidus - perfect IDM made according to all theories. It only lacks some innovations but it is effective and beautiful, anyway.

An astonishing debut of SubtractiveLAD! splendid magazine

There's nothing quite like hitting Vancouver's pavement fresh after the rain, soaking up the sun and watching the city come alive again. SubtractiveLAD's Stephen Hummel -- a native Vancouverite himself -- understands that innately. Giving Up The Ghost is awash in watery analog synth and crystalline beats that flow and fold nicely into each other. These pieces represent the IDM ideal, the development of electronic motifs into recognizable songs. Hummel's debut also goes further than most electronic albums by establishing a clear thematic arc.

The album opens with the toy piano sounds of "Freckle", which quickly builds into a sampler of all that follows: melody, layered atmosphere, inventive bass, stuttering samples and solid beats all maintain their respective trajectories while clearly contributing to a vision. The epic "Remain Removed" lays the groundwork for the remainder of the record , although it feels infinitely shorter than its eight-minute run time. When Hummel blows his load almost halfway through with "Martyr Relief Unit", it's rather misleading -- the last six tracks provide a denouement worthy of the stodgiest Russian author, effectively casting Giving Up The Ghost as the ultimate come-down record.

The beat-free "My Quadrant" segues into the minimalism of "Neostasis", with as many stripped-down layers as a synth is capable of producing. And while the title track and closer "Homage" provide a nice bookend to the openers' one-two punch, "Fixing A Shadow" is really the song that brings Hummel's ideas together. It beckons and broods, at once providing a beacon of light and a cautionary tale of loss.

Borrowing liberally from the palette of sound developed by groups like Boards Of Canada and Mouse On Mars, SubtractiveLAD brings surprisingly few original ideas to the table for a record so steeped in heart. However, for all its derivativeness, Giving Up The Ghost succeeds where others fail. As a storyteller, Hummel's talents are clear —- surging and shrinking, striking and retracting, he has crafted that rarest of creatures: an electronic album that's difficult to pigeonhole as mechanical. grooves

On his first full-length, Vancouver's Stephen "SubtractiveLAD" Hummel draws creative insight from the coarse crunchiness of n5MD label-mate Proem, the bleak urban soundscape design of Berlin's Arovane, and the delicate metropolitan ambience of Terre Thaemlitz's sadder, more impressionist compositions. And yet regardless of this seemingly strong current of influence that runs throughout, Hummel's work is still his own: an expressive epic that, despite one or 2 forgettable efforts. holds suprisingly strong as a whole.

With the violently bitter opener "Freckle," it seems like the listener is being prepped for a rough, drillcore-filled ride, but instead "Remain Removed" then drags the pace down enough to warm up the listener for what will follow. Indeed from the regret filled "Nothing is Enough", where its electronic sting trades with a simple and wistful line of falling chords, to "Nidus," with its into of temple bell adding a reverential feel to the second half's nimble crunchiness, to the captivating narrative of "Martyr Relief Unit," Giving Up's best work are yet to reveal themselves.

Both merciful, dreamlike respites, the ethereal "My Quandrant" and "Neostasis" melt their cathartic sadness into the listener's ears, dissipating into blissful, harmonious vapors. But Hummel's crunchy desolation returns on "The Natural Whirled," a composition that slowly weds cold beams of metallic percussion atop a uncertain, falling melody. After the phrase is dropped out, the beats are brought back in for a rising conclusion.

In closing with "Homage," SubtractiveLAD acknowledges his influences with an intensely warm, bleepy sketch, but also finishes the disc with a proper and deeply emotional gesture to its listening audience, a gesture that underscores the excellence of this debut release. There is so much wonderful sound to be found here of a genuinely heart-felt quality that it;s easy to overlook its derivative style. Highly reccommended. e/i mag

SubtractiveLAD emits radiating electronics that is sure to set precedence in 2005. Stephen Hummel's SubtractiveLAD moniker encapsulates the sounds he strived at producing at an early age with roots firmly planted in the jazz-improvisation scene. The relatively recent progress of computer technology, however, has allowed Hummel to design most of his own instruments, creating a sound that is both extremely personal and unique. Giving Up The Ghost (his debut release for n5MD) is about hope and the ability to keep moving forward. Loss and sadness are balanced with feelings of transcendence and fragility. Threaded emotions and evolving rhythms seemingly transmit an aura of pure sonic ambience. Warm analogue frequencies cycle around reflective moods while skittering beats continue to expand throughout the inherent mangling of electrical wires. It's the distress signals of loosely tied and emotionally driven electronics that allow Hummel to creatively blend the surreal ambiences of the Boards of Canada with the pulsating rhythms of label-mates Proem and Vesna. The title track delivers swirling atmospheres cemented with dense, flickering beats and sweet ambient fluttering while the epic track, "Remain Removed," is a cascading, melodious entity that charges itself with flowing percussion. Elsewhere on this debut release you'll find plateaus of enriched rhythms tugging at the heartstrings, drifting into oblivion. As an emotional snapshot of the heart, Giving Up The Ghost fuels the mind with magnetic electricity and a sense of optimism in a world full of chaos. Recommended listening. modsquare

Stephen Hummel creates extremely emotional, intelligent, and divine work under the moniker SubtractiveLAD. As I sit here listening to the dreamscapes within Hummel’s music I am taken into a land of mystery, passion, and allure. The texture the artist chooses to use enchants me back to electronic music of the semi-recent past. Perhaps Hummel was once influenced by the sounds of Eat Static or something long forgotten from the world of Planet Dog? No matter from where SubtractiveLAD draws his influence, Giving up the Ghost is a captivating epic in sound exploration. Ambient sweeps stretch and expand over terrain-like silk and soft-fallen snow. The listener is left suspended high above the evergreen tree lines to take in the immense radiance which ebbs and flows in a sea of sonic breezes.

Enough of my synaesthetic babble—let’s break this release down using a few key tracks. You must note that no piece in this collection is less than five minutes long and I personally consider this a positive thing as Hummel gives us more time to delve into his world. Some of the best work on this collection comes to us in track one. Hummel brings it on straight from the top of this release with “Freckle.” Over eight minutes in length, “Freckle” sets the tone and general atmosphere for the entire release. Drifting synth sweeps and angular beats bring to the listener a laid-back and relaxed ambiance. Moving on we come to “Nidus” (track four) and find an intro which may remind one of a Steve Reich composition in slow motion. The track proceeds into a movement of swift tech-ridden beats and somewhat garbled extractions of synth sounds. Very creative use of instruments of Hummel’s own creation. That’s right, Hummel designs most of his own instruments and it shows in his control and unique quality of production. Finally, “Giving up the Ghost”--the title track for this release--is not at all what I expected. It leaves the listener with a sense of hope and contentment. The track fluctuates from intense beat filled glory to simplistic breaks which give the listener time to catch his or her breath. Very roomy and comfortable. Your journey through Hummel’s creation is almost complete but please remain in your reclined position as the final track delivers an abstract star-scape of audiovisual delight!

I’m sure you will find yourself playing this release over and over and it will mature each time you listen. I thoroughly enjoyed this epic CD and it comes highly recommended so go out and get it! georgia straight

Fans of England’s Warp Records will find much to admire in this album by Stephen Hummel (a.k.a. subtractiveLAD), if not much that surprises them. The press notes accompanying the record make explicit reference to Warp’s Aphex Twin and Chris Clark, comparisons borne out by the free-floating melodies and choppy rhythms which are the disc’s defining features.

The fact that Hummel is one among literally thousands of artists working under Warp’s anxious influence aligns him more closely with a global community of bedroom producers than with any Vancouver-specific scene. It is to the producer’s credit that this album surfaced to the top of my listening pile not because of its local provenance, but because of the sensual pleasures it offers. Derivative or not, Giving up the Ghost is one of the 10 best computer-music albums I’ve heard this year.

The disc’s qualities are largely attributable to Hummel’s restless compositional strategies; where too many of his contemporaries are happy to tease out a series of criss-crossing loops, subtractiveLAD is constantly pulling elements in and out of the mix, never allowing a song to conclude in quite the same way it began. This is especially true of the album’s best track, “Remain Removed”, which starts off as an airy ambient number before being plunged into a roiling swamp of nasty synth riffs and ghostly percussive echoes. Like many of the songs here, this one subtly evokes the transition from day to night without ever saying a word.

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