david kristian - music from the mermaid room CD
Wikkid Records

I've praised this electronic music producer from Montreal in the past and after hearing him perform live once more at Mutek 03, I must confirm that David Kristian is the supreme Canadian "IDM" producer. Deep and prolific, Kristian’s music is as polyrhythmic as the best of Richard James/Aphex Twin and as melodic as the most heart felt Michael Paradinas/Mu-Ziq productions. Long before bedroom hobbyists like Manitoba and Solvent garnered any reviewer’s ink, Kristian was the first Canadian to make in-roads into the British scene of the ‘90’s, sharing an EP with Squarepusher’s Tom Jenkinson and releasing tracks on several influential labels. Now the far-sighted entrepreneurs at Wikkid have made the commitment to release the best of Kristian’s vast unreleased library of beat-oriented tracks on a series of nine CDs! This first sampler is just a taste of the exquisite intelligent techno, electro and analogue stylings that should firmly establish Kristian’s polyglot talent.
- Chris Twomey  (Tandem)

Disc of the week - IDM pioneer, sound engineer and certainly one of Montreal’s most accomplished and prolific electronic artists, David Kristian is at it again. Following his heralded release on Piehead, local imprint Wikkid has just released Music from the Mermaid Room, the first in a 10-part retrospective CD series culled from Kristian’s immense DAT library of unreleased tracks created from ’93 to ’02. Spanning from his emotive, Boards of Canada style analog melodies to eerie, minimal ambience to his more dense, electro-driven pieces, Kristian’s uncompromising vision and unrelenting search for as yet unexplored sonic universes are the thread that binds each track to the next. Add to that his natural talent for scoring films that lends a dark, cinematic feel to each track and you’ve got a great comp. An excellent cross-section of this local legend’s work that leaves the listener yearning for more. Thankfully, more is on the way. 9/10
- Raf Katigbak (Montreal Mirror/ Vice)

"Techno in the truest, purest sense of the word, not IDM, not tech-house but pure robot music and superb.  David Kristian is one of the more prolific yet adventurous electronic producers in Canada..." "Every tune is well crafted with catchy melodic hooks."  "...a masterful example of dark robot music with masterful drum programming and exemplary imaginative keyboard lines. How Kristian manages to be prolific and deliver high quality music is something of a mystery."
- I. Khider (Exclaim!)

Kristian: a near-legendary local producer known for eccentric electro, d n' b and experimental audio curiosities released over the last 15 years with Alien8, Interchill, SPV and more.  This compilation gathers noticeably listener-friendly tracks recorded over the last decade.  Thirteen tracks that I would characterize as lo-fi, nostalgic and pleasantly simple, lull the listener into a popping, crackling womb-like comfort zone. IDM with emotion, electro sans clash, these timeless essentials point deep into a robotic future yet remain imbued with a childlike innocence.
- Steve Lalla (Hour)

This collection is an attempt to gather the best of David Kristian's back catalogue of unreleased tracks from the early 90s up to the present. This first CD Showcases material from the upcoming 9 volume series of the same name, plus material only previously available on vinyl. The selection process required many hours of listening, transfers (sometimes from disintegrating tapes), remastering, and editing; although the material which appears in this volume has been reformatted, no enhancements have been made. The only changes which were brought to the tracks were in consideration of length and sound quality. Also, we have chosen to "shuffle" the material on this and other volumes in order to present the wide variety of styles which characterize David's output.-  Wikkid Records