It's been a while since I've heard something as delightfullymind-altering as this split record between Szkieve (also known asDimitri della Faille, of Hushush fame) and Ammo (also known as JohnSellekaers and C-Drik, of Xingu Hill/Ambre/Dead HollywoodStars/many-others fame). Szkieve's piece is, truly, a masterpiece. Itbegins subtly enough with some warm and inviting drones, but the funbegins soon after when gentle high frequencies (and I mean "gentle" -there are high frequencies present, but with my sensitive ears, mosthigh freqs drive me nuts, and these didn't) begin to massage yourbrain. The drones multiply, spreading quickly, and changing so subtlyyou only realize it once you think about how attention-grabbing thepiece is. For some reason the whole of 'Perturbacée' left me feelinglike there was a UFO hovering outside my window, locking me in astasis-field. In other words, this is damn powerful stuff (all 20minutes of it). Ammo's side is decidedly different from Szkieve's; theambient approach is still taken, but Ammo focus on using samples andcut-ups (including some beautifully somber small orchestral snippets)to create a mood. And they quite wonderfully do so. Sometimes lush andrelaxing, sometimes skittery, the Ammo piece was a nice cool-down afterSzkieve's mind-melding track. Further props must go to the lovelypicture disc (yum, moths!) and the excellent pressing: usually ambientmusic and picture discs go together like oil and water (Inade's"Quartered Void" 7", anyone?), but this record sounded wonderfulthroughout. A top-class release from the under-rated Ad Noiseam (andlimited as well, so snag it now)!
samples:
- Ammo - Terra Amata
- Szkieve - Perturbacee
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