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Artist: Sutcliffe Jügend
Title: Pigdaddy
Catalogue No: CSR92CD
Barcode: 8 2356644812 9
Format: CD in jewelcase
Genre: Power Electronics / Experimental
Shipping: 21 April
Download from Cold Spring: 11 April
The Sutcliffe Jügend filthy dirt-mess of an album that is Pigdaddy is now available on Cold Spring. Six stories of mind-f**king depravity. Pigdaddy contains some of the most fucked up, histrionic and downright bizarre vocals ever recorded. The music is created using the most basic sound sources. The overwhelming sense of moral decay makes this Sutcliffe Jügend's most original album yet. Pigdaddy is Beyond Perverse. Sexual transgression never sounded so dirty. Hear Pigdaddy and you will never feel clean again. Cover painting by Kevin Tomkins.
Tracks: 1. Insult | 2. Defacer | 3. Pigdaddy | 4. Filth | 5. Dirty | 6. Nonce
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Pansonic DVD
By Edward Quist
"KUVAPUTKI" (Cathode Ray Tube)
blastfirstpetite
PTYT 009
Release Date : March 31st, 2008
The first ever Pansonic DVD release by Edward Quist, American digital
visual artist.
A live performance, close filmed.
A redux digital film based around a Pansonic performance from their
New York stop of their adventerous 1999 Round The World Tour.
The film is a hyper-real abstract reflection of the duo, in the final
year of the last century. Whilst the documentary core remains, the
footage is twisted and shaped by Quist into a new form in conjunction
with Pansonic's improvised set.
Vaino & Vaisanen are immersed in the imagery of the cathode which
seems to live and infect their physicality over the course of the
three parallel films until they merge with their own sound and Quist's
mesmerising visuals.
Sonar Electronic Festival described the film as "A beautiful and
unique film capturing the very essence of a Pansonic live
performance…. which really is quite an achievement"
SxSW Music Festival calls it "An embodiment. Probably the most perfect
electronic music film yet"
ICA Film London "Suprisingly watchable. Forty minutes of unswervingly
moderne, super intense sound & visuals"
Duration 38.05 miins
Trailer Clip @
www.embryoroom.com/kuvaputki/kuvatrailer.html
ALL REGION NTSC / AVAILABLE NOW FROM BFP MAIL ORDER
www.blastfirstpetite.com
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The DVD comes packaged in a beautifully simple oversized letterpress package, numbered and with a 7"x7" print of artwork and credits. On the DVD there is both a 37 minute video that shows the actual process of capturing the sound, as well as a MP3 file of the same material for causal listening on the go. Intentionally, I listened to only the mp3 file at first, which I would also recommend that the reader does as well. It is more fascinating to hear the result of such unconventional techniques before actually seeing them at work, and letting ones own creativity go to work.
As expected from two drummers, albeit unconventional ones, the sounds are heavily focused in percussion. The track opens with a chaotic jumble of rattles and bangs, before stripping away to more conventional, but subtle, metallic percussion clangs. Other sounds that are present could well be the sound of metal bouncing around in an iron pot of boiling water, amplifier feedback, rocks clattering, engine hums, etc.
The most accurate description of this work is that it functions as an ethnography of sound, the nuanced experimentation with everyday objects that are rarely examined in their sonic properties. Again, listening to the audio portion of the work is a good starting point I believe, because when watching the video material reveals the proverbial man behind the curtain, it is all the more interesting.
The video portion is based on a combination of scenes showing the more esoteric percussive techniques, such as the use of bones and seashells, interspersed with subtly changing nature footage that makes for a perfect companion to the sound. Just as in the audio portion, it a studied examination of nuances that surround us in the world that go unexamined.
Granted, this is a somewhat difficult work, but for anyone who has an interest in the obsessive study of sound and the music that is around at any given time, it is a compelling document that allows for a look inside the creation of this type of material.
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Previous recordings involving paper and accordions as source material makes it clear that Monteiro is adventurous to say the least. But here, using only his voice and processing, he creates a tense, violent world of sound that hangs with the best of "extreme" musicians without feeling like a rip-off or a poser. Instead, subtle shifting walls of drone electronic sounds are met by outbursts of pure modulated anger, screams cutting through the thick tense air. At other times the drone is layered with sinister organic elements, what could be guttural groans or the sound of breath that sound like something threatening just over the horizon where it cannot be seen, but its presence clearly felt.
I mentioned a sense of musicality in the introduction to this review, and it does clearly manifest itself in the structure of the work. Rather than feeling like a slipshod collection of sounds slapped together, it instead feels composed and tactfully planned out, from quiet interludes into harsh, noise outbursts that wouldn't be out of place on a Merzbow record, back to more pensive passages that cause the listener to more closely contemplate the darkness.
My previous reference to Aube was not a simple point of comparison, because both artists have that same raison d'etre when it comes to obsessively using and manipulating a rudimentary sound source as a basis of composition, but structurally is where they depart. Perhaps due to his prolificness, Nakajima often relied on the same overreaching framework on his tracks that made them somewhat tedious. Monteiro, on the other hand, has a much more dynamic flow that causes the listener to be genuinely surprised when the sound shifts from subtle to brutal. I know I caught myself being jarred on more than one occasion with the forceful transition.
The fact that this is all sourced from the human voice makes it even more interesting, knowing that such dark and tense sounds lurk within everyone, just needing to be coaxed out and given a tiny bit of electronic treatment. Perhaps the metaphor can be made that the work represents the dark, disturbed element that lies just beneath the surface of everyone, but regardless of how it is interpreted, it's a great listen.
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This is one of those rare 'dance' CDs that doesn't make heavy use of voice samples; instead it utilizes field recordings and organic sounds (such as flowing water and movement in an echo-prone corridor for example) and artfully marries them to the electronically-sourced elements into something which is at once very accessible and yet markedly experimental in outlook. This offering, while offering some concessions to the rhythmic industrial/IDM/d'n'b scenes, also looks to other areas of the musical spectrum like ambient/dark ambient and musique concrète, while also showing a willingness to play around with parameters and conceptual frameworks at the same time.
Above all, it is a quiet album. The music, rather than being an overbearing barrage of repetitive beats, is more concerned with seeping into the consciousness subtly and with a minimum of fuss. Sounds and drones hang about in the background almost, interspersed with blips, squeaks, small percussive noises, those organic sounds mentioned above, and the occasional burst of electronic rhythm. The overall effect being to give the impression that this is more of an everyday narrative than a species of beast intended to inspire an exodus to the dancefloor. It's more like the kind of background noise encountered while walking from any suburban home: natural and incidental sounds that normally inhabit the sphere of the consciously ignored simply because they are so familiar and commonplace. Here the sounds are taken out of their natural environment and context, and so elevated into the realm of the exotic and alien, enabling us to once again to look at the world with fresh eyes and to re-acquaint ourselves with it.
The best thing about this is that it goes about accomplishing this mission with a quiet understated self-confidence and self-assurance, as if it is better to introduce the ideas gradually and surreptitiously rather than shout it from the rooftops. Even those tracks that DO feature extended beat workouts, like "Treatment" and "Diskuss," use it as a fully integrated element of the whole and not the be-all and end-all as is so often the case; that in itself marks it out for consideration.
I consider it a pleasant change to listen to an artist who attempts to inject a little difference into a genre that seems to thrive on constant formulaic reiterations, and to change the emphasis from the hallmark beat-driven physicality and metamorphosing it into a more cerebral artefact. Anders has been highly successful here in that respect, carving out something fairly unique and listenable in the process.
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Last year was a busy year for the members of Silver Mt. Zion. They recorded an astounding album and subsequently toured with Vic Chesnutt and performed a special one-off performance with Patti Smith. Along the way their planned live album, Fuck You Drakulas, was abandoned. Indeed, when I asked them about the live album after a Vic Chesnutt show I was deeply disappointed at the news of its cancellation as I knew there were new songs on it waiting to be heard. Sensing my disappointment I was reassured that it's OK, there's a new studio album on its way. So for the last three months I have been giddy waiting for 13 Blues for Thirteen Moons and finally here it is, bearing with it those songs originally on Fuck You Drakulas.
Instead of getting straight into the album, there a dozen very short tracks of feedback roughly playing the melody to the first song, "1,000,000 Died to Make This Sound." The song's title brings back memories of that revelatory moment of turning over the sleeve of Godspeed's Yanqui U.X.O. to reveal the infamous web of bloody association between the major labels and the arms industry. After a quiet and fairly typical Mt. Zion intro, the song suddenly erupts into a tempestuous refrain driven by a pounding guitar and cello assault. The lyrics are a venomous accusation of greed towards the music industry, taking swipes at the majors for their bullish anti-piracy tactics and towards the bland bands who rip off their fans with overpriced merchandise and music empty of sincere feelings ("Silk-screen that, ye twits, across thy Internet").
The quiet side to their music is not totally lost in the clamor; "Black Waters Blowed/Engine Block Blues" and "BlindBlindBlind" are both reminiscent of their more recent albums. The former has all the ups and downs expected from a classic SMZ song and the latter is a tender slow-boiler which explodes in a joyous chorus calling out to the good guys. However, the first time listening to these last two songs was a bit of a drastic comedown after the runaway train energy of the first half of the album. It is with repeated listens that these songs grow and blossom into the beautiful flowers that they are.
Throughout the album, the group continually set themselves apart from the crowd. They address all the pain, fear, sadness and anger conjured that many do not talk about let alone sing about. Their music spills out like a holy fire against the corrupt and the complacent: "There are ones that are liars and ones that don’t know." It is impossible to listen to this album and not feel like going out to take a stand against something that is wrong with the world (a feeling I often get listening to Silver Mt. Zion). As they put it themselves a few years ago, for those of us growing up in a dead, insincere musical wasteland: This is our punk rock. To hear these songs and not be roused is to be dead.
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Ringer locks together gloriously rich synthesizer arpeggios; 'Wing Body Wing' slips from crisp clusters of disco percussion to Steve Reich polyrhythms; and in between are another two euphoric ripples of sound, 'Ribbons' and 'Swimmer'. These are tracks that make you think of Berlin - Dakar - Detroit - but they could only have been made in London. All four are headphone epics, but are mixed in such a way you know you have to hear them at Plastic People or The End.
The techno heartbeat comes from Kieran Hebden's regular DJ residences over the last couple of years - but also from his ongoing collaborations with legendary jazz drummer Steve Reid. Whether in the studio or live, Kieran and Steve often click into the kind of deep 4/4 grooves that can depart in any direction with a little adjustment.
Ringer carries that minimal pulse over into Four Tet, and while Kieran's trademark recuttings of jazz breaks may be less in evidence, his feel for harmony and melody is, as always, unmistakable.
Tracklisting
1 Ringer
2 Ribbons
3 Swimmer
4 Wing Body Wing
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One of the reasons this album works so well is that Dee's supporting cast never takes the spotlight. Instead, their contributions bring a whole new dimension to songwriting that was already great to begin with. These songs take us through a variety of moods, from the triumph of the title track that opens the album to the somber yet beautiful "You'll Find Your Footing" that closes it. While these pieces and others, like "A Compass of the Light" and "Flowers on the Tracks," are delicate compositions evocative of her earlier work, there are also songs that pulse with a newfound vitality.
"The Earlie King" is striking with its strutting rhythm, Caribbean-influenced bass line, and eerie violin sweeps. Coming across like something spilling out of a cabaret in a dangerous seaport, "The Only Bones That Show" is raucous and buoyant despite opening with the gritty lines: "I'm looking out from eyes that roll back white and I talk in tongues of blood and bite/And the only song I know is the calling of the crow." The enthusiasm is infectious, making this one of the album's standout tracks. Similarly irresistible is "The Dance of Diminishing Possibilities," in which Dee relates a childhood story about neighborhood thugs who demolish a piano yet can't destroy the harp inside it. "Big Titty Bee Girl (From Dino Town)" is an unusually bawdy song about ways to mistreat an albino, amusing lyrics that are further enhanced by Baby Dee's barrelhouse piano.
Besides venturing into new musical styles, Dee also challenges herself as a singer by varying her delivery style from song to song or even within a single track, and her voice has never sounded so confident. There are certainly some dark lyrical passages throughout these songs, but her exuberance and sense of humor provide a good balance. This is a fantastic album that should both thrill old fans and make plenty of new ones.
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Performing in an open-air venue a few months before they would record the second Durutti album LC, this concert finds Reilly and Mitchell playing together somewhat tentatively but the result is still enjoyable. Mitchell's style complements Reilly's quite well, adding a nice complexity to the music. They start out a little sluggishly on their first few songs, including an awkward breakdown in the middle of "Jacqueline" that features a drum solo, but they start clicking on "Sketch for Summer." The seldom-performed "Danny" follows nicely here, with the equally excellent "Stains (Useless Body)" and "The Missing Boy" trailing after. The wild and effects-laden "Self Portrait" strays into abstract territory before closing with the appropriately titled, "For Belgian Friends." At 40 minutes or so, it is a relatively short but satisfying set.
The biggest downside to this disc is the sound quality. The drums in particular are all over the place, with various pieces of the kit sounding like they were recorded in vastly different environments. Reilly's voice is hit or miss and a microphone falls off his amplifier during the performance, which he attributes to the horrendous PA system and substandard sound technicians in the interview that closes the disc.
Still, for a live recording, it doesn't sound terrible either. The nuances of the performance come through fine, and the songs sustain a nice mood throughout . The interview at the end is probably only for the band's strict devotees, but the music more than holds its own even for casual fans.
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Stapleton is listed as contributing to the first track, "Ohm," but it's unclear exactly what he does. The atmospherics the song delves into toward the end sound more like his style than does the voice that repeats the title as if in a mantra devoid of mysticism. It's a somewhat disappointing track given the personnel. More amusing is "As On a Dung Hill," in which R.K. Faulhaber lists self-deprecating traits such as "I am filthy/I am riddled with lice/Dogs, when they look at me, vomit/My skin is encrusted with the scabs and scales of leprosy an d covered with yellowish puss." Its playful organ and drums make it one of the more accessible pieces from the entire series and one of its most humorous. Matt Waldron's vocals and distorted guitar provide the backbone for "Kojack Witho ut the Hat," but the song is a little too repetitive without much of a payoff, and its novelty wears off after repeated listens.
While those three songs aren't without their charms, the real jewel is the nearly 40-minute "Kay-Loong-Meu-Tuk," which sprawls haphazardly in continuously cross-fading 8- to 34-second increments over 95 tracks, cycling through a variety of musical styles in the process. Parenthetically subtitled "(The Beginning of the End of the End of the Beginning of the End)," some sections hint at elements that may have been culled from previous Vault material. Yet it's no retread either. Other than the ending passage lifted from the recurring "Anhedonia," I can't pinpoint any specific tracks that may have been used, only general impressions. Either way, this song is wholly its own with high-tension drones, rattling machinery, rushing water, sparkling pianos, and a harrowing choir, among many other elements, that make it such a bizarre cinematic treat.
As an ending to the album and the Vortex Vault itself, this track may not be an echoing boom, but the haunting impression it leaves is no less subtle. It has been a fantastic run, and this sweeping epic seals the Vault shut unforgettably.
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The album starts off strong enough with the very brief but chirpy "Centipede's Dream" before giving way to "James Spader," which to me sounds nothing like the actor but is a good track nonetheless. The highlight of Growing comes near the halfway mark with "Mouth Breeder," which shows the group's best sides, combining quiet and melodic passages with heavier interludes. The piece then boils down to a brooding, dissonant ambience. That this dark and heavy sound is followed by what sounds like a perfect homage to Harmonia's Deluxe album impresses me no end.
If Sleeping People could keep these variations of style and mood throughout then I would be behind them 100%. Unfortunately the second half of the album sounds like they are going through the motions. My interest falls considerably by the time the last piece starts, ironically titled "People Staying Awake." Although the music is not bad, it is not setting my world alight either and I feel that what was a great EP has become a good but patchy album.
At their best, Sleeping People come across as a more melodic Pelican or a less samey Explosions in the Sky. These groups all have a similar appeal although Sleeping People do not seem as comfortable as an instrumental band as much as the others do. The way the instruments are arranged leave a lot of space in the mix. Due to this, many of the pieces sound like they are unfinished instrumentals waiting for the vocalist to put their lyrics over them. This emptiness in the mix spoils a lot of the music for me, the pieces end up sounding unbalanced. A ballsier approach to the production could have filled out the sound better, even my favorite piece "Mouth Breeder" sounds a little impotent at certain points.
Growing is an album let down by its execution rather than by performance. I imagine Sleeping People sound great playing this stuff live but surprisingly given Temporary Residence's releases normally having spectacular productions, this sounds a bit lacking. I would be willing to give them a second chance as there is promise there but as it stands this album will be taken apart and put into an MP3 playlist instead of sitting through the whole thing.
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