Audiopile Review: Basque experimental-punk and free-jazz artist Iker Munduate makes a drastic shift away from his roots, embarking on this maiden voyage under his own name that tills the fertile territory of Japanese Environmental music. Munduate joins an ever-growing crowd of Environmental Music devotees—Unknown Me, Green-House and Oval Angle are just a few who spring to mind—who have been studying the masters in an attempt at drawing the genre toward their own practice and into the 21st century. But Manduate hits the sound so directly that anyone going in blind to this album would be forgiven for mistaking this as an unheard Hiroshi Yoshimura or Inoyama Land track, though this should also not be mistaken for outright mimicry so much as a tranquil homage to the greats. There is a great attention to the minimalist detail among the airy synths and whirring ambience, Munduate crafts scenes that underscore the Environmental aspect—mist rising above a coniferous forest at dawn or a contemplative slow drip of rain atop a koi pond are the zen-like scenes that might play out in the mind’s eye if you can find the space to retreat into it. Perfect reprieve music for the inundation of bleak screens that we find ourselves swallowed whole by these days. Not gonna last long, edition of 250.

“Heavily influenced by 80’s ambient & New Age music from Japan & Spain, (fans of Hiroshi Yoshimura, Finis Africae, Suso Saiz or Fumio Miyashita will feel at ease here) Iker Munduate presents 12 compositions of highly serene & contemplative minimal ambient music. Wind blowing through the trees, raindrops rolling down the windows, the sounds presented on this album are meant to complete the environment you are in. Filled with subtle textures and soothing harmonic content, the music blends into the patterns of day to day life, accompanying us within an already existing familiar landscape. Therefore, it is recommended to listen to this record on speakers allowing it to mix with the sounds already present in our surroundings.”

Iker Munduate Thusberg is a Basque multi-instrumentalist born and raised in San Sebastian and with strong ties to Mikkeli in Finland, where half of his family are from. A fine arts student at Bilbao’s UPV (Basque university), his interest in sound, art and design has led him to combine all these different disciplines and convey them into his music and his work (LP cover is designed by Iker himself).
After self-releasing various tapes and EP’s experimenting with minimal approaches to production and composition, “Argi Zantzuak” is Iker’s first solo album, and is a long departure from his previous outlets. Prior, He’s been actively involved running “Azkar Zintak” (punk/emo/hardcore tape label), playing in bands like Tenpera & Comic Sans (both aligned with the same style as the label) as well as taking part in the local Free Jazz/Improv & Noise scene performing as a drummer. Together with being present in the underground scene of San Sebastian (Distopia Mutante, Kontenedora…), He has performed at the international festival of experimental art MEM in Bilbao, and at the conference of video creation and sound experimentation Nokodek, in Hendaye, France.