30 October 2016

Administrator

Albums and Singles

Unlike most Benoît Pioulard enthusiasts, I connect most strongly with Thomas Meluch’s recent instrumental side, so I was a little bit heartbroken when he decided to end his recent hot streak in that regard with a return to more song-based work.  Personal preferences aside, however, Meluch's latest release is an intriguing and unusual one, as he seems to be simultaneously growing more ambitious with his arrangements and more abstract with his structures.  He also seems to be making a conscious effort to be a bit more upbeat and effervescent, albeit in his own muted way.  The overall result admittedly has a "transitional album" feel at times, but The Benoît Pioulard Listening Matter definitely takes Meluch's "ambient pop" in a subtly more sun-dappled, blearily vaporous, and fragmented direction.

Kranky

The listening matter in question teasingly opens with a brief and gorgeously lush drone piece ("Initials B.P.") before the understated and elegantly orchestrated pop extravaganza begins in earnest with the following "Narcologue."  Tellingly, the very first lines that Meluch sings are about how he finally found the song he wanted, but it disappeared.  For better or worse, that statement is probably the overarching theme of the album, as The Benoît Pioulard Listening Matter is chock full of great hooks and melodies that feel effortlessly tossed off or aborted prematurely.  This is very much an album of wonderfully glittering moments of maddeningly ephemeral pop genius.  The best example of this tendency is probably the wonderfully driving and uncharacteristically rapturous "Like There’s Nothing Under You," which exasperatingly bows out after just over a minute.

Despite Meluch's casual disregard for fully exploiting his perfectly crafted hooks, he clearly put an enormous amount of work into meticulously layering and texturing all of these fleeting vignettes, peppering them with odd percussion and subtly hallucinatory field recordings.  Meluch has stated in interviews that those recordings often tend to have personal significance for him and trigger memories when he hears them again, which is an admirably sneaky backdoor way to infuse his somewhat mannered, deadpan pop with hidden depth and mystery.  I certainly appreciate that aspect of the album myself, as the evocative and subtle sublayers make for rewarding repeat listening.  That said, it is the actual songwriting makes me want to listen repeatedly in the first place, so the songs with the strongest hooks tend to be my favorites (provided they stick around long enough to grab me).  Aside from the lush and delirious first single "Anchor as the Muse," Meluch saves most of his best pieces for the second half of the album, particularly "A Mantel for Charon," which I would describe as stomping and soaring…by Benoît Pioulard standards, at least (it still manages to remain characteristically dream-like and soft-focus).  The jangling and clap-filled "The Sun is Going to Explode But Whatever Its OK" is yet another stand-out, as its joyous music is amusingly undercut by Meluch's deadpan delivery and dark sense of humor.

In a perverse way, the problems with The Benoît Pioulard Listening Matter are part of what makes it such an unusual and intriguing album.  Meluch seems to have been pulled in a number of seemingly disparate directions here, as Listening Matter sounds like he started out to make a glorious bedroom-pop Pet Sounds-style opus, but could not fully commit to it because being so nakedly poppy did not sit well with his muted, sleepy, and "underachiever" aesthetic: he avoids being gauche or heavy-handed to an almost self-sabotaging degree.  It also seems like Meluch is still (rightly) somewhat in the thrall of his recent instrumental bender, as a good number of these "songs" are brief, wordless interludes that would have been album highlights if they had stuck around long to leave an impression.  Aside from a handful of 3-minute pieces, this album rushes by like a goddamn whirlwind.  On the bright side, Meluch certainly did not lack inspiration or great ideas and he undeniably threw himself into presenting them all beautifully.  Consequently, The Benoît Pioulard Listening Matter is quite a likable album–I just cannot shake the feeling that there is an even better one lurking in this material that may have come out if Meluch had not condensed so many ideas into so short a span.

• Like There's Nothing Under You
• A Mantle for Charon
• Ruth

 

30 October 2016

Administrator

Albums and Singles

I had absolutely no idea what to expect from Jim Thirlwell’s latest opus, as I am still a bit shell-shocked from the overwhelming maximalism of 2013’s Soak and all bets are off with soundtrack work.  Also, Tony Oursler's Imponderable is quite a bizarre film by any standards.  Appropriately, the soundtrack is quite bizarre as well, though it is considerably more understated, melodic, and tender than I had anticipated: Thirlwell's eerie, dark, and eclectic vision beautifully mirrors the film’s own noirish pulp-meets-hallucinatory experimentation aesthetic.  Both Oursler and Thirlwell definitely share a puckish appreciation for the nexus where garish "low" art collides with higher, more cerebral fare.  That said, Imponderable is still a soundtrack rather than an original new stand-alone Thirlwell album, so its appeal is very "niche."  Devout Thirlwell fans will definitely not want to miss it though, as it is quite a unique release that takes his aesthetic in some unusual and surprising directions.

Ectopic Ents

It goes without saying that Jim Thirlwell is an interesting guy who chooses interesting projects, but teaming up with Tony Oursler seems like an especially perfect marriage.  By coincidence, I found myself in NYC over the weekend, so I was able to catch a bit of Imponderable at MoMA, its current home.  I am curious to see if takes up residence anywhere else, as it has some interesting technical demands that prohibit it from playing in a regular theater. More specifically, it is "presented in a "5-D" cinematic environment utilizing a contemporary form of Pepper’s ghost—a 19th-century phantasmagoric device—and a range of sensory effects (scents, vibrations, etc.)."  I personally did not find the occasional red houselights or wafts of perfume to be especially crucial to the experience, but it is easy to see how the artist might feel differently.  Vibrating floors and scent infusions aside, Imponderable is a one-of-a-kind film just from its subject matter alone, as it is a complexly layered fantasia on director Tony Oursler's family history mingled with his longtime fascination with "stage magic, spirit photography, pseudoscience, telekinesis, and other manifestations of the paranormal."  The overall effect is unpredictable and disorienting in the extreme, as it feels like watching weirdly stage-y and stilted reenactments of multiple unfamiliar films while deeply in the throes of an acid trip.

Appropriately, Thirlwell’s soundtrack is similarly kaleidoscopic and phantasmagoric, flitting seamlessly from squelching and goopy vintage synth kitsch ("Symphony VII, Part II") to jaunty accordion romps ("Giggle Water") to gorgeous, exotic reveries ("Chinese Ghost").  The album’s centerpiece, however, is the comparatively lengthy "Spark of Life," an oasis of lush and darkly Romantic balladry amidst a wilderness of eclectic instrumentals.  Though it admittedly boasts a few over-the-top goth/theatrical tropes (church bells, a raspy throat gurgle) and very film-specific lyrics ("automaton will rise again"), Thirlwell’s tenderly incantatory vocals elevate it into something quite haunting and compelling.  Hearing an actual, naked human voice intrude into an album that otherwise sounds like a bizarre B-movie fever dream is quite striking.  I actually like all of the longer pieces quite a bit though, as Thirlwell seems to be at his most outré and inspired when he has a few minutes to stretch out.  In "Night Nurse," for example, he manages to find room for an interlude of strangled strings, a drone segment featuring eerily quivering feedback, and a darkly hallucinatory music box coda.  Elsewhere, he embarks upon a beautifully lush and melancholy reverie in "Faerie Bust" and deftly condenses all of the album’s disparate themes into a single piece with "The History of Magic."  I also quite liked the brief "Demonologia," as its gnarled, industrial-damaged collage aesthetic is much closer to my personal sensibility than the rest of the album.

Generally, my problem with soundtracks is that I just do not understand why they exist or why anyone would want to listen to music that is disembodied from its intended context.  I recognize that that is a harsh stance, but the whole point of a soundtrack is to provide color and mood for a more complex and layered whole without being intrusive or stealing the focus.  As such, soundtracks are fundamentally not meant to stand alone.  That said, I am not a crazy person, so I acknowledge that some soundtracks transcend their original intent.  The Imponderable score arguably does just that: while it is too closely thematically tied to what is on the screen to exist as a completely independent entity, it is also far too vivid and rich for its only life to be as a mere backdrop.  As I was watching Imponderable, I appreciated how beautifully the underlying music enhanced the scenes, but realized that it is probably very easy to watch the entire film without ever noticing the sheer depth, breadth, and imagination of Thirlwell’s score, which is definitely its own singular work of art.  That seems criminal, so I am delighted that this window into Thirlwell’s skewed genius remains open for me to explore at my leisure.

• Spark of Life
• Faerie Bust
• The History of Magic

 

23 October 2016

Administrator

Albums and Singles

From Steve Hauschildt:

"Strands is a song cycle that is about cosmogony and creation/destruction myths. The title alludes to the structural constitution of ropes as I wanted to approach the compositions so that they consisted of strands and fibers which form a unified whole. This was so the songs could have the appearance of being either taut or slack without being fundamentally locked to a grid. So the sounds/tones have a certain malleability to them and sound like they're bending through time. It's also grittier and more distorted than my previous albums. I wanted to try and capture that moment in nature and society where life slowly reemerges through desolation, so it has a layer of optimism looming underneath. The music represents this by seemingly decaying at times but then reforms and morphs in a fluid way back to its original state. I was also inspired by the movement of rivers, particularly their transformative aspect and how they're in a state of flux and change, in particular the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland where I live, which notoriously caught on fire thirteen times because of industrial pollution in the 1960s and before. I was very interested in the dichotomy of oil and water and the resulting, unnatural symptoms of human industry. It's a very personal record for me as it is a reflection of my hometown where I grew up and where it was mostly recorded."

Out October 28, 2016 on Kranky.

23 October 2016

Administrator

Albums and Singles

Monument Builders is the new album from loscil, the ambient/electronic project of prolific composer Scott Morgan. It was primarily created on sample-based instruments in Morgan's century-old Vancouver home. Like that aged space, this music is also rough-hewn, with rickety samples of boiling kettles and resonant moving air. Recordings from a vintage micro-cassette recorder contribute distortion, rattles and textures that serve as both percussion and abstract aural color.

According to Morgan, the genesis for the album may have begun as he viewed an old VHS copy of the American experimental film Koyaanisqatsi. "Something about the time-tarnished visuals and the pitch warble on Philip Glass's epic score added a new layer of intrigue for me," says Morgan. "Glass has always been an influence but lo-fi Glass felt like a minor revelation, as if the decay was actually enhancing the impact of the film's message."

The investigations on Monument Builders also took inspiration from the anti-humanist writings of influential philosopher John Gray, as well as photographer Edward Burtynsky’s iconic aerial photographs of pollution and environmental destruction. "Gray’s writing, particularly his book Straw Dogs: Thoughts on Humans and Other Animals, reinforced a bleak notion I had that we humans don’t have much say in how it all turns out," says Morgan. "With Burtynsky, I was struck by the fact that something so strikingly beautiful could be the result of large-scale waste and exploitation."

Monument Builders was composed during a period in which the life-and-death battles of close friends and family forced Morgan to examine his own feelings on mortality. In the course of that introspection, Morgan found himself buoyed by a feeling of celebration and a stubborn sense of survival – an acknowledgement of what it means to be able to breathe and create amidst the clash of love and chaos. Ultimately, Morgan hopes the music here can offer listeners solace while leaving room for exploration and surprise.

Out November 11, 2016 on Kranky.

23 October 2016

Administrator

Albums and Singles

Brian Lustmord's latest opus, allegedly first begun 15 years ago, attempts to evoke the immense void and mystery of space using a host of cosmological recordings from NASA and others as his source material.  There are a number of serious hurdles standing in the way of that ambitious and quixotic objective, sadly, but Dark Matter boasts enough flashes of inspiration to make it an interesting and valiant struggle.  Though serious Lustmord fans will probably be delighted to hear Brian revisiting similar territory to his classic The Place Where the Black Stars Hang album, his epic vision is hobbled a bit by the limitations of the format.

Touch

Dark Matter opens with its strongest and lengthiest piece, the 27-minute "Subspace," which is centered around a wonderfully eerie, distant, and forlorn-sounding two-note melody.  While that "hook" is the most important part of the piece for me, such touches are quite peripheral to Lustmord’s central vision here: Dark Matter is primarily an album of deep throbbing drones, cavernous rumbles, ominous whooshes, volcanic bubbling, and distant crackling.  Therein lies the root of my issues with the album, as Lustmord is first and foremost a brilliant and exacting technician fixated on mood and texture, while his interest in being a composer is clearly of secondary concern.  To his credit, a lack of attention to melody and harmony makes perfect sense thematically, as space is ostensibly a soundless void.  Veracity and thematic purity do not always make for a great listening experience though.  On this particular piece, however, Brian strikes an excellent balance between composition and sound design: "Subspace" gradually becomes subsumed by drifting emptiness and mysterious crackles before a second strong theme emerges from the lonely void in the form of something that sounds like a whale song.  It is a genuinely satisfying arc.  That balance is the exception rather than the rule, however: if the entire album stuck with that precarious and unpredictable ebb and flow between form and formlessness, I would probably like it a lot more than I do.

Aside from "Subspace," Dark Matter often sounds like it is on dark ambient autopilot.  Each piece ultimately boasts a showstopping set piece, but there are a lot of lengthy, frustrating lulls between flashes of actual greatness.  For example, "Astronomicon" has a wonderfully haunting final motif, but it takes about 15 minutes to get there.  Of course, Brian was not actually on autopilot for this album and that is where things get thorny.  Part of the problem is that Lustmord (much to his chagrin) was one of the primary architects of the dark ambient genre, influencing a host of other artists in the '90s.  The resulting glut of lesser, yet very similar, music necessarily made Lustmord feel a lot less special.  As a long career in film and videogame and sound design can attest, Brian is head and shoulders above most of his peers in the actual mechanics of his craft–unfortunately, however, an amorphous flow of subterranean rumbles, deep throbs, crackles, buried howls, and whooshes in the hands of a dilettante sounds a hell of a lot like the same thing done by a master on most stereos.  Without anything resembling melody or rhythm, the only obvious differences between similar artists in that milieu are largely technical and conceptual.

Naturally, Brian is well aware of his predicament and has noted in the past that his rare live performances are partly done just so people can hear how Lustmord is actually supposed to sound.  Consequently, Dark Matter is fundamentally a bit an indulgent and insular release, existing almost as a site-specific work designed solely to be experienced on Brian’s own amazing home stereo system, as he has observed that very few people will be able to properly experience its visceral and seismic low frequencies.  Another problem is that sonically trying to evoke the bleak immensity of space is inherently futile (space's sounds are generally at wavelengths that we cannot hear) and conveying infinity in an absorbing way is also no picnic.  Trying to hold my attention for 70 minutes with hollow whooshes, clanging metal, cavernous gurgling, and muted roars is a similarly unpromising endeavor, so it takes a lot of patience, attention, and volume to fully appreciate Dark Matter's secrets.  Having to wait a quarter of an hour for both "Astronomicon" and "Black Static" to fully evolve into something remarkable is far from optimal, but both are great once they finally catch fire.

The more I listen to Dark Matter, the more I find myself conflicted about it.  The only things that I am certain of are 1.) an enormous amount of work went into it, and 2.) an album is hopelessly inadequate for conveying the full majesty of Lustmord's vision.  I wanted to love Dark Matter and I lamentably do not, but the reasons for my vague sense of unfulfillment were initially hard to nail down.  At first, I thought this was a significant regression from the crazily ambitious and divergent The Word as Power and that Brian’s day job has begun to bleed a bit too much into his art (at normal volume, Dark Matter would provide a perfect atmosphere for a dark sci-fi game or film). Those assessments are not entirely off the mark compositionally, as Dark Matter definitely retreats to Lustmord's longtime comfort zone, but it is equally true that this album may very well be Brian’s magnum opus, albeit with some asterisks.  I am not going to say that Brian was too ambitious, but I do believe that his intent here far outstretched the capabilities of the medium: Dark Matter is an album that begs to be experienced on a grand scale (like an earthquake) rather than just heard.  As such, it is a bit underwhelming and easy to ignore for long stretches in its current form, but it is not hard to imagine these three pieces feeling like the voice of God if they were experienced at apocalyptic volume in the right context.

• Subspace
• Astronomicon
• Black Static

 

 

16 October 2016

Administrator

Albums and Singles

First issued in 1971 and out of print for over three and a half decades, Black Mass is the sole release from Canadian synth innovator Mort Garson under the Lucifer name. A fully electronic-based record, much of the album has a distinctly vintage sound to it, largely due to the electronic instrumentation that was still in its infancy. However, some moments shine through as truly innovative for the time, and with the resurgence of interest in modular synthesizers, it is the perfect time for it to be resurrected.

Black Mass Rising

Make no mistake:Black Mass is certainly a record of its time.Not just in terms of the equipment used, but also the imagery.In 1971, the record is an early entry in the post-Black Sabbath evil landscape, and contemporaneous with early satanic bands such as Coven and Black Widow.This is also in cinema, being right in between Rosemary’s Baby and The Exorcist.With the real world immersed in the fear of the seemingly occult-tinged Tate-LaBianca murders, this era was when the seed was sown for the 1980s satanic panic.

Outside of this historical context, Garson’s work is less disturbing than it may have been upon its initial release.Synthesizers are no longer new and spooky, and the various forms of heavy metal have driven satanic imagery into the ground.So the twittering scales and white noise bursts as percussion of "Solomon's Ring" lack the creepy impact they may have had 45 years ago, but it still sounds good for what it is, especially in its creepy, lurching conclusion."Witch Trial" is another composition in which the instrumentation screams 1970s, but with a nice eerie passage placed in the middle.

The moments where Garson deviates from this formula are the stronger ones."The Ride of Aida (Voodoo)" is built upon a percussive electronic backing that, I assume, is supposed to be a synthetic approximation of tribal drumming.Which may not be entirely successful, but with its tape manipulated voices and percolating synthesizers, the result is still compelling and has a unique sound all its own.The synthetic bells and manipulated choral tapes of "Black Mass" give more of a genuine, rather than schlocky creepy feeling to it, even if it is still very obviously of the time it was released.

"The Evil Eye" also demonstrates Garson doing well in creating an atmosphere.Distinct, but sinister melodies and abstract electronic sound effects are effective, and the more rhythmic, percussive second half is excellent."Voices of the Dead" also avoids the more cliché synth sounds and instead mostly sticks to open, expansive passages and the result are something closer to a proto-dark ambient mood.

Make no mistake:Black Mass in 2016 has a kitschy, campy feeling to it that cannot be ignored.When listening to it in the context of when it was originally released, the intended darkness is a bit more effective, but of course its impossible to fully listen to it without thinking of modern sensibilities.But even today, with its dated sound and less-than-sinister imagery, the record is still a great one that, not only captures the old school horror movie vibe, but also some compelling early synthesizer excursions.

samples:

• The Ride of Aida (Voodoo)
• Black Mass
• Witch Trial

 

16 October 2016

Administrator

Albums and Singles

In the over three decades since he first began the project, Paul Lemos has guided Controlled Bleeding all over the sonic map, from the early power electronics days into 1980s industrial, and eventually jazz and prog tinged rock improvisations. It makes sense then that, for the first full length release of mostly new work since 2002 (releases since then have been either reissues or contained earlier work), he and his assembled crew of Chvad SB, Mike Bazini, and Anthony Meola have put together two albums of work that draws from all of these eras, and effortlessly manages to shift between periods of the band’s lengthy history at every turn.

Artoffact

Larval Lumps is actually two separate works combined into one single release.The first disc is a suite of five compositions that show heavy studio treatment and processing, while the second is a more immediate, almost live-in-the-studio set of recordings with Martin Bisi at the helm in 2011."Driving Through Darkness" launches right in with Lemos' virtuoso guitar playing and what sounds like an intentionally chintzy synth organ backing.The crew injects a bit of free jazz-like expressions into the mix to keep it fresh and energetic throughout, and the result is what could pass for an action TV show opening, even with the calmer guitar outro.

For "Carving Song", the guitar is present with a throbbing mass of synth noises, along with Lemos himself on vocals.His vocal style is right out of a 1987 Dossier industrial record, so they sit strangely alongside the prog virtuoso guitar and eventual weird, jazzy horns, but it is that exact sort of head-scratching weirdness that has kept CB so innovative all of these years.The tight rhythms and rich synth arrangements of "Trawler’s Return" may go in an relentless, thrashy direction, but the following "As Evening Fades" does the opposite, and instead the band manages to settle into an oddly relaxed, piano driven work that could easily slide into bland contemporary jazz, but never does.

The 22-minute "The Perks of Being a Perv" (parts of which appeared on the split album with Sparkle in Grey) is one of the high points of this whole set, however.For the first few minutes, it is all distorted noise and deep, pounding chug that could be a leftover from one of the band’s early Broken Flag releases.Before long, however, the more modern guitar sound sneaks in atop the distorted rhythms.The piece then becomes a tug of war from the old power electronics days to the newer, squalling guitar sound, shifting between the two beautifully, and resulting in many great variations on the same theme.

Compared to the first disc, the Martin Bisi sessions are more consistent in their sound and style, focusing more heavily on conventional guitar/bass/drum arrangements.While some of these songs appeared on Odes To Bubbler, this is the first release of the full recording sessions."Return of the Quiet" stands out exceptionally that, even with its rapid guitar and big, echoing drums, there is an inviting and comfortable warmth throughout.Both "Fusion Song" and "Swarm" sound like the band taking more of a jazz direction, with both having quick tempos, but ones that become looser and chaotic, free improv more on the former and almost punky on the latter.Electronics have a larger role on "Eye of Needle", even though they are still secondary to the guitar and bass leads.However, with its overall slower pace and softer arrangement, it makes for a memorable high point.

"Trang's Song" is a bit of an odd duck on the whole disc.Featuring female vocals and a more programmed sounding backing track, complete with house music piano appearances, there is a slightly amateurish but endearing quality to it, and it is actually a very fun little footnote to the record.The disc actually ends with an unlisted bonus song, which seems to be a deconstruction/remix of "The Perks of Being a Perv".It emphasizes that song’s more distorted and noisy elements, pushing the original further and further into strangeness.

Even with mostly contemporary work included, Larval Lumps and Baby Bumps is an odd but highly engaging combination of the various styles Paul Lemos has dabbled in since beginning his career as Controlled Bleeding.Somehow, even with all of these conflicting styles, there is a notable sense of consistency from song to song, making for a sprawling and weird, yet wonderful record that is unpredictable to say the very least.

samples:

• Driving Through Darkness
• The Perks of Being a Pervert
• Return of the Quiet

 

16 October 2016

Administrator

Albums and Singles

After a number of years listening to Celer's slow, expansive take on ambient and drone sounds, I would have never expected Will Long to suddenly start making house music. But he has, in a series of three double 12" singles (and compiled into a double CD compilation), and it only takes a few minutes to realize that it is actually a very good combination. Even with the addition of drum machines, Long’s knack for creating warm, inviting spaces of electronic music is still vividly on display, and with some assistance from ambient legend Terre Thaemlitz (under the DJ Sprinkle guise), it may be heralding an entirely new direction in his work.

Comatonse

Through my own personal contact with Will Long, I was aware that he had a strong interest in house music and its various permutations for a number of years, and after thinking about it briefly, the amalgamation of the two styles makes perfect sense.Both are electronic-centric genres that strive to do a lot with very little as far as instrumentation goes, so joining the two is not as bizarre of a thought as it may seem.

In fact, the first few minutes of the opening "Time Has Come" establishes this:the light electronic drone that defines many Celer releases appears shaped into an organ-like passage that fits the house style, married to intentionally stiff, synthetic Roland drum machine beats.With samples of Civil Rights era speeches peppered throughout, the mood and sound is as fitting for 2016 as it would have been in 1986, albeit with Long at the command, the pace is more pensive and the mix is more intentionally skeletal.

These elements recur throughout the seven pieces on disc one."Get in and Stay in" is more of a beat focused song, first a taut, stiff mass of hi-hat programming, and then a heavy kick leads the way, being more of the primary focus as the Celer-like drifting electronics surround the song in a warm, inviting haze.The latter half of "Under-Currents" especially embraces the beat, most explicitly via clinically sharp handclaps that cut through the mix wonderfully.

Each song features an overdubbed (not remixed or reworked) version by Terre Thaemlitz, using the DJ Sprinkles moniker that has been used primarily for dance and DJ related performances.Thaemlitz’s presence is perfectly fitting, being another artist who is well known for first a rich career in electronic ambient music, who then began to implement more in the way of conventional beats and rhythms under a different name.

The distinction between overdubbed and remixed is an important one, because Sprinkles mostly just adds elements to Long’s original recordings and minor production tricks.For example, "Time Has Come" has a slightly more bass-heavy presence, and the addition of a pulsating synth bassline throughout."Daylight and Dark" has some treated hi-hat sounds and additional layers of sequenced synthesizer, and eventually a denser reverb sheen later on.The most dramatic addition from Sparkles is on "Under-Currents":an additional drum loop appears right at first and stays throughout, as more electronics and layering make for a richer, more dance floor oriented performance that is a bit more distinct from Long’s original, but still retains its essential elements.

Even with the addition of beats, Will Long’s music is a bit too subtle and delicate to be fully club ready.Not that this is a shortcoming by any means, it is exactly what makes the music stand out.The overdubs by DJ Sprinkles/Terre Thaemlitz maybe push the recordings a bit more towards the dance floor, but the sound is much more intimate and cerebral, making it best enjoyed in quiet, intimate settings, rather than in a loud, thumping context that would obscure the delicate beauty of these works.

samples:

• Time Has Come
• Daylight and Dark
• Under-Currents (Sprinkles Overdub)

 

16 October 2016

Administrator

Albums and Singles

In 1984, long before anyone's grandparents were only a few keystrokes away from obtaining every morsel of information, this non-descript album cover appeared in the shops. Nowhere on the record were there band member photos or names and roles, producer credits, or lyrics. It was a gamble to purchase a costly import record if you were located here in North America, especially without hearing it first, but most of those in-the-know would gladly take that risk. In this case, it certainly paid off.

4AD

In only four years, 4AD had established themselves as a popular "collector's label," as they were an organization who reliably paid meticulous attention to stunning artwork, used solid top quality materials, and were behind critically lauded releases from Bauhaus, The Birthday Party, Cocteau Twins, and (then) ex-Wire members. CAD404 (C was for full length single album; 4 was for year 1984; and this was release 04) followed Modern English's final LP for 4AD (two years after their monster international hit song), the "Say You" single from Colourbox, and preceded the Cocteau Twins' "Spangle Maker" single. With these records, it was apparent that most groupsin the 4AD stable were established by now and the trends were shifting towards the more colorful, away from the somewhat dark, cold, mysterious first years.

Side one opens with crashing noise, followed by robotic drum machine, brooding bass guitar, and an ominous anthemic lead guitar riff more reminiscent of Martin Hannett productions of years gone by than anything from 1984. Even its title, "The Fatal Impact," is bleak and not surprising for what is probably yet another British group whose members grew up in a grey industrial factory town. The contrasting styles of tunes that follow opened all of us first listeners up to the diversity of the group, but also set us up on some preconceptions, which were destroyed sooner or later.

The drums, chugging bass, and abrasive guitar on "The Trial" provided more insight to the band behind the music. It's a rock band, right? The rugged instrumentation is no match, however, for the male singer's beautiful, brooding voice. His powerful, flawless voice feels like some stunning larger-than-life nordic hero has just hijacked a viking ship and is steering it with all his might. The next song sounds like an entirely different group, however, as all traditional "rock" instruments are foregone. What follows, "Frontier," would be more apt for a chase scene through a rainforest jungle, with all of the aggressive, fast-paced percussion, faint hums of a male voice, and a nearly incomprehensible, yet shimmering beautiful female voice. Whoever is behind this recording are certainly experienced for a debut record.

The trading off of vocal duties continues throughout the record, as a bombastic Perry-sung rock piece is usually followed by the more unconventional Gerrard-sung pieces, ending on the hammer dulcimer dominating "Musica Eterna," which gives a hint as to how the group's music was going to evolve.

In the years following, photos, interviews, magazine articles, press releases, and performances would help give the rest of us the context for who Dead Can Dance were and how they evolved to this debut and through subsequent albums. Brendan Perry and Lisa Gerrard were identified by the following year's Spleen and Ideal as the core of the group. Perry, born in England--but played in New Zealand punk group The Scavengers/The Marching Girls in the late '70s--emigrated back to the UK in 1980 with Gerrard, whose distinct vocal style graced some very short lived Australian groups. Group members for the debut included James Pinker, an early SPK member from New Zealand,percussionist Peter Ulrich, who continued to contribute to the group through Spiritchaser, and Scott Roger, whose name never appeared on any subsequent releases.

The debut album may sound slightly out of place, as it consists of music composed from 1980-1984, a time with rapid progression of styles and technology, from a duo with different backgrounds who brought different approaches to the songs they sung.

As a whole, this is a forceful debut. This isn't easy listening by any means. The biggest criticism over the years of the music on the record is that during the rock songs, the music can arguably tend to be derivative. The presence of Gerrard's vocalizations, hammer dulcimer, and unconventional drumming, however made the album unique, and those elements remained as a mainstay for future releases while the more aggressive rock arrangements faded.

For this reissue, the artwork has been faithfully restored. The album continues to be a beautiful item, lacking the abundance of information littering the space as its original issue, but don't throw out your MFSL remaster! There have been some complaints about the pressing have an abundance of sibilance, and I do hear it on this record. It's not a deal breaker but it is a reminder that this album should be accepted as not one for the high fidelity junkies.

16 October 2016

Administrator

Albums and Singles

The ongoing project by Los Angeles-based sound artist Richard Chartier (b.1971) sends you a new coded message of sumptuous distant drones and glacial orchestral heartrendings. Poised and polished slow motion pulsations tug at your emotions (but only a portion of them).

For those listeners desirous of the output of The Caretaker, Angelo Badalamenti, William Basinski, and other such dark wistful wonderment.

Pinkcourtesyphone is dark but not arch, with a slight hint of humor. Amorphous, changing, and slipping in and out of consciousness, operating like a syrup-y dream and strives to be both elegant and detached.

Please don’t hang up. This call is important. You’re coming with Pinkcourtesyphone… leave everything… it’s getting late.

Out November 25th, 2016 on Editions Mego.