- Richard SanFilippo
- Albums and Singles
While most Hands bands tend to get lost among each other and feelsomewhat homogenous (Winterkalt? excluded), Cybernetic:Fuckheadzmanages to stay fresh, thanks to the seemingly never ending assault ofthis album. It lets up only for a vocal sample here or there, andpounds away for fifteen tracks at nearly seventy minutes. In a genreperilously on the edge of staleness, if not already over it,Cybernetic:Fuckheadz has found a way to keep it interesting, as thebeats press on, yet varying the tempo and style on each track, thelevels of surface noise and distortion constantly fluctuating, and themore typical techno sounds, when they do appear, become so altered asto be barely recognizable and always keep you interested. Every beat,every noise is important and clearly discernable. Unlike some similarprojects, you don't gloss over anything because you've heard it before.This is industrial strength techno as it always should have been. Tothink anything else is to be stuck somewhere in the mid-nineties.
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- David Piniella
- Albums and Singles
Although the group started out as solely Spruance,Bungle drummer Danny Heifitz and bassist Trevor Dunn, it has expanded(especially live, where multi-instrumentalists Spruance, Heifitz andDunn can only play one role at a time,) to include violinist EyvindKang, percusionist Willian Winant, Bungle saxophonist Bar McKinnon andvarious others. But enough background, what do they sound like?Middle-eastern-techno-surf-guitar is probably the most honest answer.Their earliest material was comic book noises you might expect from aMr. Bungle side project, but SC3 quickly progressed into it's own; acombination of spiritualy-tinged eastern melodies, surf guitar, deathmetal and electronic techno. "Book M" is their most recent album, it'sliner notes filled with notes more apropos to conspiracy theorymanifestos, with it's talk of the holy grail, hints of the crusades ofthe middle ages, knights templar and illustrations of some sort ofhermetic crypto-calligraphy. Whatever all that stuff means, the musicitself is excellent and well worth seeking out. Plaintive melodies bysoaring violins and quiet hand drums followed by electronic breakbeats,followed by surf-rock drums, stuttering bombastic rock blastbeats segueinto melodic breaks that sound orchestrated; often in the same song. Iknow this fusion sounds kind of unlikely to sound good, but I swear itnot only works, it works well."Book M" (and SC3 in general,) is very much about spirituality andreligion, and the album is divided into three sections: Hearing Fire,Seeing Fire and Being Fire. Included in "Book M" is 'Zulfiqar III' aremix previously only available on abriefly-limited-and-then-very-out-of-print 7", as well as (reworked)studio versions of some of the material ("Combat for the Angel") fromtheir previous album, the excellent live "Eyes of Flesh, Eyes ofFlame". It strikes me that this would be a good way to introduce thosewho are not into world music into it; there's a foreign-ness to thisrecord, but it's electronic and rock facets might make it morepalatable to those unused to something purely non-western. This is axrecord of high quality instrumental fusion (of really disparateelements, true,) which should not be missed.
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- Richard SanFilippo
- Albums and Singles
Theprevious album sleeves are adorned with runes and the records oftendeal with themes of power and war. "Noisient" isn't much different,except that, almost surprisingly, it's not about the Second World Warand it's impact on Europe, but the relatively unexplored (60s hippiebands excluded) Viet Nam war. The first side of this ten inch slab ofwhite vinyl from Old Europa Caf?, "Noisient 1", begins with a distortedand delayed sample of a soldier recounting his experience in SoutheastAsian jungles, and moves into a wet grind of sputtering analog soundsand repeated loops. Compared to most Folkstorm tracks it's slow andquiet, lacking some of the frenetic and discordant moments of the cds."Noisient 2" also begins quietly, with rumbling dark drones, and paleinfrequent beats covered with surges of static and a repeated,indecipherable vocal sample. Throughout "Noisient 2" you're waiting forthe inevitable payoff: the climax of a pure wall of noise, and ofcourse, you get it. The drones give way to analog vibrations that hidevocal samples and shift toward the logjam of noise and growled vocals.But again, it's almost quiet, lacking the impact of earlier Folkstormmaterial, and not quite what you expect from an album dealing with war.Nordvargr stopped recording as Folkstorm fairly recently, so thisrecord is the beginning of the end of this project. In the meantimehe's moved on to his own 205 Recordings and the Toroidh dark ambientproject, of which "Noisient" seems to be the perfect precursor. -
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- Jessica Tibbits
- Albums and Singles
'Dead Media' suffers from the same lackluster,drippy songwriting as its predecessor. Frontman Darren Hayman includeson the inner sleeve an extensively detailed list of all the equipmentthe band used on the album, and you'd think with the pride they take intheir capable equipment, they'd at least be able to pull off somedecent songs. All those well-documented vintage analog synths only endup sounding awkward, out of place and handled in an amateur manner. Infairness, the band does some interesting things electronically, and totheir credit, seem to be making a sincere attempt to move in a newdirection and avoid lapsing into hashing out the same type of materialover and over again. But songs like "Trouble Kid", which is sounbelievably banal lyrically (yet somehow oddly catchy musically,despite a frightening hard rock guitar riff) I find it shocking thatthis comes from the same man who wrote "A Hymn to the Postal Service"(although Hayman himself admits on the band's website in regards to thesong: "This is pretty shameless"). Did I actually hear: "I'm gonnasquash him flat like a bug / With my new Timberlands" or am I trappedin some warped parallel universe?? "Peppermint Taste" and "Half a Life"are equally awful, but without a redeeming pop hook. The band'senthusiasm for their new sound is evident, and thus it makes it evenmore difficult to write such a negative review, but unfortunately, inthis case there seems to something to be said for sticking to somethingthat works well. -
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- Richard SanFilippo
- Albums and Singles
The songs are called "I", "II", "III", and "IV", thesleeve is grey on black, and the record is heavyweight black vinyl.There is nothing to indicate how you should think, leaving the music toits own devices. "I" builds slowly and steadily with stiflingly slowbeats, under a wash of subtle analog vibrations that flicker around anappropriately eerie vocal sample, creating an intensely alien mood."II" continues to drown you in the same vein, although a bit noisier asthe sound sources feel increasingly found, such as a metal chairdragged across a concrete floor. Analog frequencies sputter in and out,but they're always cold, until it all coagulates into a miasma ofnoise, deliberate beats, and muted cries of anguish. By the end of theside, you're broken. If you're brave enough to flip the record, "III"starts the attack all over again. Whispers and growls from the murkyshadows return over the slow pounding and drone, increasing you'resense of anxiety. Like all great artists, Brighter Death Now excels atcreating internal tension, so as the music progresses, it heightens andbuilds upon the sense of paranoia, fear, and oppressiveness it'salready instilled. The last track, "IV" rumbles on, seeminglyincorporating bits of all the previous tracks into itself, a harbingerof the end. It's the death knell, as even the volume grows, and the lowfrequency bass grips you and begins to crush-the semblance of orderbreaks down as it echoes and pulses chaos. This record is damn good. Goout and find it. Play it, just not in the dark.
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- Rob Devlin
- Albums and Singles
Theirmusic is mostly an instrumental or vocals-garbled wall of distortednoise that occasionally contains a melody. This, their secondfull-length, features a line-up change with the only original mamberremaining being Matthew Middleton on guitars and vocals. All theperformances on the record are recorded with so much distortion, thatit is virtually unlistenable. That, and undecipherable. Basically,unenjoyable. It's like Dick Dale meets the Revillos and the Archers ofLoaf with Trans Am and Mogwai trading off on the mixing duties. Vocalsare double-tracked here and there, but neither are understandable, andit's all so extremely lo-fi and warped that it's laughable andpointless on virtually every track. Vocals and sounds are actuallybroken up, too, so the whole is often uneven. When you hear the hornson "Sufi," you're hoping for a way out. Sadly, there is none. The vocalhistrionics ("OH YEAH!," "UHHH!" and "OWWW!" are common) and sonicconfusion are here to stay. And stay. And annoy. There are some goodmelodies here, on occasion, and a few good uses of effects, but nothingto write home about. Try the sound samples and listen for yourself, butI say stay away. You'll learn nothing, and you'll want the time backyou spent listening.
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- Rob Devlin
- Albums and Singles
And how is it? Very muchthe same, actually. Which is both a blessing and a curse. If you likethe Fanclub, you'll probably like this set as much as any recent one.However, if you miss "A Catholic Education," you'll still be missingit. These are straightforward, middled tempo, well-produced power popsongs dealing with relationships. There is no real "rocking out," andthe sonic palette is pretty much the same on every track. It's notamazing. It's not original. It's classic Teenage Fanclub, and it'spretty good. But that's about it. The album opens strong with "I NeedDirection" and "I Can't Find My Way Home," but then you realize it'sall going to be like this and it settles into mediocrity. The albumtitle doesn't help. Nor does a song title like "Dumb Dumb Dumb." Again,though, the writing talents of Norman Blake, Gerard Love, and RaymondMcGinley are in full display. It's to be expected. The song remains thesame, and the tradition remains, as member Paul Quinn reportedly leftin the midst of recording "Howdy!" They've had a long run, and they'renot ready to cash it in yet. But like Del Amitri, the glory fades andfades with each release.samples:
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- Mark Weddle
- Albums and Singles
The jams of "Inception" are, asadvertised, pretty much just that: germination of ideas, creativefoundations. Demos really. The twitchy electronic hybrids of ambient,noise and techno that was their signature at the time is of courseevident and the production is clean, but this is not thickly textured,fully polished, fully realized product. I hoped for diamonds in therough, something spectacular yet inexplicably unreleased, but the factis the crème de la crème found its way in finished form to the albumsand EPs. But at least the rabid completists, those willing to shell out$20 per disc, get more insight into the process. As well as more of thelate Dwayne Rudolf Goettel's output, considered by many to be thecrucial creative component of the original grouping's magic. MarkSpybey is credited on 4 tracks but, unfortunately, his vocals arenowhere to be found. "Sidewinder Snake" from the "Sidewinder" EP promois mysteriously resurrected as "Left the Radio On" and "Tweeter Blower"from the "Charlie's Family" soundtrack reappears in a disappointinglyless noisy and rhythm-less form. "Krackerzz" stands out as a possiblyfinished track that didn't make a final cut, understandably so.Overall, everything sounds too flat and too thin. It just makes me wantto listen to the brilliant "Furnace", "TEOSP" and their accompanyingEPs instead.
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- Rob Devlin
- Albums and Singles
The name itself is a misnomer: a word that identifies smallerstreams. Amundson clearly creates oceans of sound which are easy to getlost in. On this, the self-titled debut, Rivulets are joined by AlanSparhawk and Mimi Parker of Low in their traditional roles, as well asLD Beghtol of Flare and Three Terrors fame with other flavors. Sparhawkalso produces the set, and its release is on Low's own Chair KickersMusic, which couldn't be more appropriate given the overwhelming toneof the release. If you had to describe this music, you could call itsad core, but that would almost be demeaning. This record is affectingon myriad levels, piercing through the mediocrity to introduce Amundsonas a true talent. His slight voice is mesmerizing, holding notes forextreme effect, crawling under your skin and through your cerebrum atthe same time. The music itself is somber, minimal, but not simple. Ittakes a rare band to know when to let the current sound stand, and whensilence is best. This is the new Minnesota sound, the sound Rivuletsembody and join. Amundson's lyrics are those of a true poet, too, usingwordplay, pauses and that voice to convey an entire range of emotionsand evoke imagery that the listener can appreciate with all senses. On"Swans," he asks "Have you ever fell into an armageddon of love?"Haven't we all? "Four Weeks": "And I just want to get it over with...she's says I'm desperate. I'm desperate for you." It's pure beauty.Don't wait. Get this release and hear it for yourself.
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- Maurice Underwood
- Albums and Singles
Minimalistic in it's use of sound sources, thisdisc manages to be fully immersing nonetheless. Overdriven static rubsup against smoove groovin' hip hop on 'Check Me For Props' and thenoise nearly takes over completely on the remix that followsimmediately after. 'Venom8888 Pirate Radio' has thick, chunky beats,electro-vocal samples worthy of Afrika Bambatta and a great restraineduse of distortion. 'Battleline remix' sounds like v/Vm duking it outwith Kid 606 in an ozone wasteland and 'Eat My Pussy Please' has a lowdown feel that would be excellent for nocturnal cruising. All told anentertaining listen and well worth the price of admission.
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- Graeme Rowland
- Albums and Singles
He likes to let the computer play itself andrandomness plays a large part in the locust chatter of his computermusic, but the influence of early electroacoustic pioneers is alsofelt. Track titles are mostly in the Autechre computer geekspeak mode.However the opening 'mothersboard' not only has two regular words, butcouples crackling dissonance with emotive melody in a way that ought toappeal to anyone who found "Endless Summer" by Fennesz an engaginglisten. Cray likes to let errors remain in the music, but thedistracting sudden split second of silence in the middle of the openingtrack makes this seem a bit shoddier than it might have been. Themelodic ambience buried in swathes of glitch and static screamingcontinues on 'forna', and there's also a suitably oblique but strangelybeautiful CD-ROM video for that track. After that dissonance begins tofill up the tank, although the fractured remains of what could've beena hesitant bass line occasionally peak through the spiralling mists of'usker'. Melody seems to recede further into the background with eachtrack. Environmental recordings form the basis of the Cray soundworld,and 'usker' might feature some aviary chatter, but everything has beenso mashed up it's hard to tell, and for the most part his continualquick sonic stutter could just as easily have been entirely computergenerated. 'mar562001' lays some intermittent slabs of dense noiseagainst a pebbledash backdrop, then the following 'wdd56- broadband'erupts into rapid spurts of splintered floor shaking flotsam whichrecede as a filigree digital tide of harp like runs washes over. By thetime the relatively sparse coda 'rdOblst' hacks drone loops up into adecelerating rotor blade suite, the track titles have become about asabstract as the music. Check out www.bip-hom.com for more soundsamples. - Read More
