Kallkällan (2024)

11/12/2023

"- the most personal and emotional music I ever wrote" Jordi Quer says about his new Nemini Parco EP for Kallkällan Recordings. Untamed, unrestrained and from the heart this release is something very special. We won't say more - listen! Available worldwide NOW.

https://kallkallan.bandcamp.com/album/tempus-fugit

4 track album

01/12/2023

https://kallkallan.bandcamp.com/album/tempus-fugit

THE END.

Tempus Fugit - the time flees. Nearly 10 years of Kallkällan Recordings.

22 digital, 6 vinyl and 3 cd releases.

New talents, acclaimed artists.

Hope, despair. Friends. Love and heart.

We say thank you and farewell with this outstanding EP by Nemini Parco.

Untamed, unrestrained and from the heart. Pre-order today, release Dec 11.

Thank you all, Frans and Sven

14/11/2023

FOR A LIMITED TIME ONLY (AND THEN NEVER AGAIN).

https://kallkallan.bandcamp.com/

13/11/2023

http://kallkallan.bandcamp.com

Very soon we will announce an outstanding new release by Nemini Parco, but before that:

1) Every order of the ALL-KALL-VINYL-CD has now been shipped. We are sorry for the delays and thank you all for support and patience.

2) We now offer the entire Kallkällan digital catalogue at a 75% discount. That means 30+ releases for less than €50. We will only offer this until next release is out (and never again) so do not miss out.

Thank you! //Kallkällan crew

Phuturistic, harsh and bunkeresque techno since 2014.

31/10/2023

KALL101 is now SOLD OUT. We can therefore no longer offer the ALL KALL deal. Contact us directly if you want a special deal on KALL102-108.

26/10/2023

https://kallkallan.bandcamp.com/merch/

EVERYTHING MUST GO! We are making space for coming new releases by selling the few copies we have left of our back catalogue. First come first served! All of our vinyl and CD releases (Kall 100-108). €9.99 incl. shipping.

Stay tuned for new announcements! / Kallkällan

08/10/2023

"March of human progress never travels in a straight line...
But our work is far from complete..."

New video for my track 'New World Disorder' released on Kallkällan's Ukraina compilation is up on my Youtube channel (link in the comments 👇)

You can buy the whole release for good here:
https://kallkallan.bandcamp.com/album/ukraina

24/08/2023

https://soundcloud.com/kallkallan/formal-method-canopus

FRANS BJÖRK / Kallkällan

- So we have arrived at the last track of the album and I would like to thank you for answering, explaining and informing. 'Canopus' has a hopeful, dreamy tone to it - is there a reason for that or is it just my interpretation? Beautiful track all the same, can you tell how it was made?

ROBERT KISS / Formal Method

- First of all thank you for this kind of (very long) Interview, I really enjoyed and hope that we could give some insights to the creation of the album, the aim behind it and also some knowledge, what was not as well known before.

- With this I wanted to make a closing track not as dark and rigid, and yeah it turned out like this, I’m not sure purely intentionally, but I think its not a bad closing at all. Also I found the vocal samples in a documentary I think, and I could well insert them into the mood of the track. However Canopus wasn’t that much of a happy event, as it marked the first french thermonuclear test, and with that France became the fifth nation to posess the deadliest weapons ever made by mankind (China has made a test before the french in 1967, in a hurry to keep up with the western superpowers, not long aftert their first nuclear test, but that could be another album with the other Asian and Middle-East nations’ programmes what went on from the 60’s onwards). The test occured on 24 August 1968 in French Polynesia with a yield of 2.6 megatons, as part of a series of five shots.

- Of course the list is endless, as several hundreds of tests were made during this period, and I could only pick the very most significant ones. Also there have been further tests conducted by China, India, Pakistan and North Korea.

A total of 2 121 nuclear tests have been done since 1945. As of 1993, worldwide, 520 atmospheric nuclear explosions have been conducted (including 8 underwater) with a total yield of 545 megatons, and an estImated 1 352 underground explosions with a total yield of 90 megatons from 1957 to 1992.

22/08/2023

https://soundcloud.com/kallkallan/formal-method-rds-220

FRANS BJÖRK / Kallkällan

- I read up on RDS 220 and it seems to have been an absolute monster of a bomb, can you tell us more about it?

- What was the environmental impact of these nuclear bomb tests? Are areas that were bombed still affected? Any examples that stand out?

ROBERT KISS / Formal Method

- The ‘Tsar bomb’ (official designation AN602) was the single largest nuclear device ever exploded. Is was a pure demonstration of power, that the USSR was capable to produce very high yield assets, but its propaganda means were much more significant, than its practicality, hoewever it was deployed from a modified TU-95 bomber. Originally designed to up to 100 megatons, the actual test occured with the removal of the uranium-238 tamper, which would roughly half the yield to approx 58 megatons, what is still an unbelievable number…. The detonation occured on 30 October 1961 at Novaya Zemlya (an island north of the russian mainland, in the Barents sea), and it was so huge, that the carrier plane (then 115 kms away from ground zero) dropped a whole km in altitude when it was hit by the shockwave, what itself circulated three times the planet before fading out (also a seismic shockwave in the earths crust travelled 3 times around). The flash could be seen from 1000 kms away, and the blast shattered windows a mere 800 kms away from ground zero. The mushroom cloud reached an altitude of 67 kms, with a diameter of 95 kms. Despite this enourmus numbers, the device itself was one of the ‘cleanest’ in terms of fallout, as the vast majority of the explosion energy came from fusion, and as the uranium tamper was removed, radioactive material release was minimal.

-If you may hear some similarities in the track with the first one, in terms of sound and style, its a bit intentional as the tsar bomb was kind of the ultimate culmination of Teller’s dream, what became the symbol of the cold war and nuclear deterrence.

- Most of the tests were carried out at very remote locations (mostly in the Pacific, but the russians tested a lot deep inside todays Kazakhstan), so we barely know exactly the impact. Actually environmental issues already occured at the Trinity test, but at that time scientists knew very little to nothing about the aftermath of a nuclear explosion. As more and more tests were carried out, more and more diagnostic studies were made, to examine the consequences. As these tests were mostly secret operations, little knowledge was given out about the results, including contamination, fallout and environmental impact. Later a lot of documents were declassified, so today we know much more about this, but we also have to know, that not only the tests resulted in contamination of their environments, but there was a significant industry made up to support these projects, where there were also a buch of incidents and accidents, what are quite high measured on the international scale of nuclear accidents. For example Three Mile Island/US, Windscale/UK, Mayak/USSR. All of these caused significant contamination around, not to mention the people who were injured. Byproducts can still be found in the soil, the waters and the atmosphere I think, however most nuclear byproducts ‘live’ very short as we know, but some of them can be dangerous even after a long time.

21/08/2023

https://soundcloud.com/kallkallan/formal-method-gerboise-bleue

FRANS BJÖRK / Kallkällan

- As we pick up where we left off; what was Gerboise Bleue?

- And a personal question; what would you say have been your 10 biggest influences when making music over the years?

ROBERT KISS / Formal Method

- Thats hard to answer, I think I couldn’t just tell you 10 things, as inspirations are constant and coming from everywhere, so I just can’t pick this or that. But for sure my aim always was to express my own vision of musc, of electronic music, no matter what style or form, just to put my own definitions into it. I can say that inspirations are coming from the world itself around me, not juts from music I listen to, but kind of everything else, like places, work, travels, feelings, impressions etc. I think thats why my music is so diverse, I simply can’t and don’t want to stick to one style or sound, so its also hard to define (even for myself) what style it actually is.

- Speaking of style, Gerboise Bleue can’t be easily defined as well, the rhythmic component is a very strict and tension heavy sequence, ever evolving from start to finish, accompanied by a kind of agressive speech and some flashing textures, ‘telling’ the story of the first french nuclear test, conducted on 13 February 1960 in the desert region of Algeria. With that France became the fourth nation to posess nuclear deterrence. However much of debate sorrounded the french nuclear programme, the tests went on and it is known, that also Israel was kind of involved in these and had full access to french nuclear test data. After the series of Gerboise tests the USSR broke the moratiorium of atmospheric tests agreed in 1958, followed by the US as well in the early 60’s. Despite all critics and international reactions, the french continued research and development into the thermonuclear field, but we will come to that later..

20/08/2023

https://soundcloud.com/kallkallan/formal-method-grapple-x

As we are now back in full effect we shall continue to publish the previously interrupted stories behind Formal Method's powerful album Ground Zero.

FRANS BJÖRK Kallkällan

- As I understand it Grapple X was Great Britain's attempt to regain power in world politics. Could you tell us more.

- And also. Do you think there is room for a project such as your album in the techno scene today? Do you want people to think or dance - or both?

ROBERT KISS Formal Method

- I will answer the second question first: I wouldn’t consider this as a pure techno album, especially in the regards that techno music is dancemusic at first, as I have so much more influences outside and beyond techno music and culture, that shaped the overall sound and structure of the album. So I think as an electronic music album it should have room, even it is so tight built around a very specific theme, but maybe the audience will decide, who knows. I would be happy if people would think a bit about what they hear, and what they may read and get to know if they look a bit deeper into it. I just deliver a background music for that, with a more restrained tempo selection, but rhytmically some of the tracks may be danceable surely, I didn’t had any intention to only do this or that.. The freedom of having no restrictions on genre or stlye allows to express a very own vision of sound design, what can go in any direction.

- In the late 40’s Britain was feared to be out of the balance of power what emerged after 1945, and was also heavily hurt by the war both economically and physically. But it was clear, nuclear deterence capabilities were a ‘must’ if they wanted to regain the place they had before. After GB was excluded from the Manhattan Project, immediate effort was put into own research, and after Operation Hurricane it was obvious to go thermonuclear to keep up the pace. Let me share a quote here from the Defence Policy Committee: "we must maintain and strengthen our position as a world power so that Her Majesty's Government can exercise a powerful influence in the counsels of the world."
The first series of Grapple tests (3 drops) were more of a failure or partial success. None reached true megaton range. Obviously Britain was several years back in technology and research, after the US terminated cooperation, so from that point of view the tests were still a step forward. Grapple X was finally a succesful design, it was dropped above the shore of Christmas Island in the Pacific on 8 November 1957, and the 1.8 megaton yield exceeded expectations.
Several Grapple tests concluded afterwards, and the british mastered all aspects of designs, until the ban of atmospheric testing commenced on 31 October 1958.
Again, the music is very srtictly structured here, I tried to express the tension what could have been felt back then, on all involved both scientists and personnel of the military, as well the political side in London. Vocal samples are of actual men who were there and witnessed the test in person, and I have to say it was very interesting to search for and hear these dialogues from documentaries and archive footages.

18/08/2023

We are very pleased and proud to announce the arrival of Formal Method's CD album 'Ground Zero'. It is an impressive and important work by a dear friend of ours. Due to various circumstances the album was almost a month delayed and we are very sorry for that. We would like to thank the artist and our followers for patience beyond what we would expect. Thank you, sorry and show some love for this masterpiece of an album.

All orders will be dispatched immediately. And we offer a compensation of choice for those of you that have had to wait for too long.

Do not hesitate, there are only 30 copies.

https://kallkallan.bandcamp.com/album/ground-zero

30/07/2023

FRANS BJÖRK / Kallkällan

What is the Third Idea and also, a personal question, if I may. You mentioned Chernobyl. The catastrophy in 1986 had a direct impact on my life since I lived in an area in Sweden that was hit hard by radiation from it. What are your memories from the catastrophy, or if you were born after, your reflections?

ROBERT KISS / Formal Method

I was only 3 years old in ’86, so I barely have any direct memories. But I think (and what I’ve read) only minimal information was given to the public here in Hungary, and of course we were still a Warsaw pact country at the time, so the directive was given obviously from Moscow more or less I guess. Today we know that the catastrophy could have been avoided, and not only the series of serious human failures led to the events what happened, but also the fatal design flaws. I strongly recommend to watch the series, as its really much close to the truth of what happened, and also greatly pictures the spirit of the age.

But lets jump back a few decades. We spoke about the first two ‘ideas’ already, the third was the full implementation of the Teller-Ulam design by the soviets, utilizing radiation implosion. The RDS-37 was a true staged thermonuclear device, and with that the USSR stepped up to the US in 1955, in terms of technology. Obviously the intelligence work of the soviet spy network contributed a lot to that, especially Klaus Fuchs, who has been delivering data since the very beginning of the Manhattan project. The ‘third idea’ is credited to Andrei Sakharov (who became later an open human-rights advocate, and was also granted the Nobel Peace Prize in 1975), but in his memoirs he stated that more of his colleagues came up with the same idea simultaneously, or at least were very close to it as well (he had no access to the papers and files Fuchs handed over, while others did, but its still debated today where or who the idea really came from). The test itself was successful, but ‘only’ yielded 1.6 megatons (only a tenth of Castle Bravo), however with it the soviets were in the the ‘megaton club’ as well.

Musically we can also hear, that we are in the more darker era already, the tracks in this part of the album are the most techno like I think, in terms of sound design and rhythm concept. This one is also based on a 4/4 structure with not much percussive elements, the kick and the bass give the impact, accompanied by some melodic textures and vocal samples.

28/07/2023

FRANS BJÖRK / Kallkällan

As we go on Castle Bravo is next. Please give us the historic background and if you will tell us a little about your interest in the Cold War era. Why is it that you are interested, and why is it important to you and to us?

ROBERT KISS / Formal Method

I’ll start with the second part: I think this era is probably the most important and controversial part of modern history, not just because it caused immense technological progress, but also showed that fate of mankind can depend on nuances, and that decisions of individual people can turn the tide of history in seconds. My really deep interest started I think after the mini series of Chernobyl, where I started to read about the beginnings of nuclear physics and everything else connected to it, as I wanted to understand why and how things happened, and also wanted to see how it affected our modern history, so I digged myself deeper and deeper into the topics. Not least there were also a bunch of hungarian scientists involved, so obviously I wanted to know the story of them as well. Actually some of them had very important roles in the formation of the arms race, what defined the whole era, and not just with their scientific contribution.

The Bravo test of Operation Castle became one of the biggest radiological disasters in history, however people barely know anything about it, as it happened in the middle of the Pacific (and we were not even a decade away from Trinity at the time). It was the first deployable size thermonuclear device, utilizing solid hydrogen fuel (lithuim-deuteride). They used two isotopes of lithium-deuteride (Li-6 and Li-7), however it was calculated that only the Li-6 will contribute to the reaction. As it turned out that was not true, so the yield of the explosion went to 15 megatons (a thousand times bigger than the ‘Little Boy’ dropped on Hiroshima), that was three times more than what was expexted. The bigger problem however was fallout. Beacuse of the weather conditions, and the much bigger yield, an extensive area of the Pacific ocean was contaminated, including inhabitated islands, and also a japanese fishing boat, what was in the area at the time. The fallout patterns reached also Australia, India and Japan, and parts of the USA and Europe. The aftermath of the test is still present today on the Marshall Islands. The effects of the explosion caused international concerns about atmospheric tests, what led later to the ban of above ground nuclear explosions.

The mood of the track also restores this very tense and terrifying situation, however the man speaking in it only refers to the experimental conditions, and gear used to record the effects of the detonation. Rhythmically its a straight 4/4 pattern, but very strict and militant, accompanied by a heavy analog bassline, giving the main structure.

TL Premiere #1306 (2023.07.14) : Formal Method - Castle Bravo [Kallkällan Recordings] ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ For this 171st Premiere of 2023, we have a track by the DJ/Producer from Hungary "Formal Metho

27/07/2023

FRANS BJÖRK / Kallkällan

Sloika is a personal favourite of Kallkällan co-founder Threatening Developments. Can you tell us about Sloika (RDS-6) and maybe also something about the making of the track?

ROBERT KISS / Formal Method

As we went towards the peak of the cold war, more and more experiments and ideas were tested to boost the energy release of the devices. One of these was Andrei Sakharov's so called 'first idea', where fissionable and fusionable stacks of explosive fuels were layered inside the casing, to utilize the way bigger energy release of combined fission and fusion reactions. Hence the nickname 'Sloika', what is a type of layered puff pastry. The 'second idea' was to replace liquid deuterium - an isotope of Hydrogen - with lithium-6 deuteride (RDS-6s), what was a solid material, and much more efficient and effective. Both designs were a dead end eventually, as there was no way to push the explosions into the megaton range, however a tenfold increase was achieved anyways in yield compared to conventional fission devices. The americans had a somewhat similar formula, from what Sakharov got his idea, which was the original 'Super' design by Teller, and was nicknamed 'Alarm clock', but never was tested from US side. With the track I wanted to somehow picture this layered construction, and it has also a bit unconventional structure, where layers of sounds step in or out after 3x8 bars throughout the whole track. Its probably the most dark mooded and rigid track of the album, and reflects the shadows of the era of the 50's, where scientists (but more the governments) were pushing the boundaries to almost infinite destructive power.

22/07/2023

FRANS BJÖRK / Kallkällan

- Ivy Mike is next. Please tell us a little about the track and the event behind the title.

ROBERT KISS / Formal Method

- With operation Ivy we stepped into a new age in 1952. Already in 1946 Klaus Fuchs and Jon von Neumann filed a patent for so called Radiation Implosion. However that method was never used directly in later experiments. In 1951 Stanislaw Ulam came out with the idea, that hydrodynamic shock could be used to initiate a thermonuclear reaction (they knew very early that fusion reactions can release energy magnitudes bigger than plutonium). With Teller involved they worked out the principles of the so called Teller-Ulam concept involving also Radiation Implosion. The Mike test was a proof of concept of this, it was not a practical device, because of liquid hydrogen used as fuel, the compartment built for it was the size of a two storey house. The test was succesful with a the 10.4 megaton was 500 times bigger than Trinity - just think about the size of that difference, and we were way not at the limits).

- This track of the album is one of my favourites in style and sound, it starts with a speech of some US minister or secretary I think, introducing with it a very mean and hypnotizing bassline. Accompanied with vintage style drums the track rolls into a warning message and massive hits in the breakdown, symbolizing the incredibly heavy impact what this test caused not just on science, but on our subsistence on this planet. Towards more textures and synth lines are introduced, and take the track’s heavyness forward as the whole distopic and dreamlike flash fades out to silence at the end.

21/07/2023

FRANS BJÖRK / Kallkällan

- Moving on to Operation Hurricane I would like to take the opportunity to ask you a personal question. During the making of this album, did you at some point have doubts? If so, about what, and how did you handle it?

ROBERT KISS / Formal Method

- That's a good question. About making the album I had no doubts at all, the concept was in my head way before the events of last year. About releasing it there was a bit of uncertainty, but at the end I wanted to raise attention on this topic, as it has an impact on today's life and fate as well, so its not something we should sweep under the rug...

- About Operation Hurricane: In 1943 with the Quebec agreement the British nuclear research program was merged with the Manhattan Project, and with that the UK, Canada and the US worked together, but after 1945 the cooperation was terminated by the americans. In 1947 it was decided to resume the effort, so Great Britain won't fall out of the circle of Superpowers. The test finally took place in 1952, at a remote island off the shores of Northwest Australia. The track starts with the countdown, accompanied with a very strict rhythmic pattern, going into the breakdown, where I think the only non-vocal sample was used, the actual rumble of the detonation, what was sampled from an original documentary. The strings here also resemble the release of the blast and the dramatic yet fearful atmosphere of the aftermath, making a slight contrast to the very solid, and militaristic rhythm what continues through the end.

20/07/2023

FRANS BJÖRK / Kallkällan

- RDS-1 was the name of the first Soviet nuclear bomb. Detonated in Kazakh SSR in 1949.

- Like Trinity 1945 this track is very tense. To me it also feels like some sounds in the track could be sounds from that time and place. Except for interviews with scientists and people involved, were you also inspired by sounds that were recorded during these tests? If so, any particular ones that stand out?

ROBERT KISS / Formal Method

- Yes, and it was an almost exact copy of the Fat Man, dropped on Nagasaki. The soviets had extended spy networks around the US, incuding the Manhattan Project, so this test was like an alarmclock for the americans, as everybody expected this event to occur only years later.

- The track itself resembles this alarming situation, but actually beside the vocal samples no others were used throughout the album, every sound was recorded from external gear. For this track particularly I used only the Korg Monologue, its independent oscillators are very usable to create dronelike textures and add a bit of movement if tuned carefully, and the LFO can be very rhythmic if set correctly. I combined these to have this very dense atmosphere. The man at the end speaks about the damage level on the artificial objects used to study the effects. It was taken from an original documentary as I remember.

19/07/2023

FRANS BJÖRK / Kallkällan

- Next track on your album is Trinity 1945. As I understand it named after the first ever test of a nuclear weapon, conducted by the United States of America in New Mexico.

- Listening to the track I feel a very strong tension. A combination of excitement and fear. Pride and horror. How did you achieve this very special atmosphere?

ROBERT KISS / Formal Method

- Indeed Trinity (the name was given by Oppenheimer) was the very first nuclear explosion test, actually a proof of concept, what was used later on Nagasaki (the Hiroshima device worked with another concept). The device named 'Gadget' made a yield of 15 kilotons, however the test itself was almost delayed because of weather conditions. This was the first time the scientists faced the term of nuclear fallout, and had the opportunity to study the movement and behaviour of 'mushroom' clouds.

- With the track I indeed wanted to paint the tension and excitement of the countdown, with some ever rising bassline patterns starting from very deep frequencies, and the release of the string melody in the middle representing the explosion itself. I also added the famous quote by Oppenheimer himself, what he later remembered in an interview. The deep hits accompanying Oppenheimer's speech add more impact as well, just like the shockwave hit the bunkers of the observers at that moment in time.

18/07/2023

FRANS BJÖRK / Kallkällan

- Hi Robert, first of all thank you for blessing Kallkällan Recordings with your album Ground Zero. A true piece of art in our opinion. We will present one track per day until the CD is released and I will ask you a few questions per instance.

- As an introduction: can you tell us a about the album theme? And perhaps a few words on the first track 'The Super'."

ROBERT KISS / Formal Method

- The pleasure was all mine, and many thanks for the support for this album, its really an honor to release it on your label.

- About the concept: I really much digged myself into the topic of nuclear testing, and as I got more and more knowledge I came to the point where I wanted to raise awareness of the damage and contamination these tests have caused on our planet, not to mention the enormous and fearful power we got with the possession of these assets.

- The first track is a kind of introduction to what the whole process culminated at the end, with the voice of Edward Teller, who was pursuing the build of a superbomb (the so called hydrogen-bomb) as early as 1942, way before the trinity test, but only could go on with his research at the end of the 40's, and here he is speaking about how he approached his colleagues to work with him on his ideas. The music for it is quite distopian and dark(ish), just to give a glipse of what we can expect going forward.

17/07/2023

Every now and then we are reminded of what good music really is. An expression - a statement, a story, a concept, heart, joy, suffering, memories, visions, love, anger, hope, fear, and so much more. Truly great music has a soul and is crafted with care.

So it is with great pleasure we present an album from the heart by Formal Method - Ground Zero. OUT NOW on bandcamp - LIMITED EDITION CD and major streaming platforms in 7 days.

https://kallkallan.bandcamp.com/album/ground-zero

Kallkällan