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Presumably the album title came from the snippet of dialogue that opensthe first track "Trip North." This soon gives way to subtle fluctuatingelectric drones, which sound like processed string bowing, accented byirregular pinging chimes. "After Fire" cuts abruptly in with thequenching flow of running water. It doesn't stick around long as theriver flows ever onward, and "Departure (Cellar)" is a much longermelancholic meditation on solo bowed contrabass. Although this startsoff sparse and forlorn it picks up atonal clattering creaking momentumwhich dissipates then builds up scattershot intensity as if mice arerunning all over the bass strings until a finale of long low boweddrones builds an altogether heavier intensity which finally peters outto a fine point. "Plums" rest on a loop both percussive and droning,over which arch higher string rattlings. Cut to high to mid rangeelectronic squeal and slowly emerging cocoon like eerie insectambience. Finally the insects taste fermenting sugar and roll drunk infiddling ecstacy. "Lo Speed Chase" ups the anthill with some overtlyrhythmic whimsical wiggling that constantly threatens to up end itselfand although it seems to dance as if its laces are tied it managesnever to trip. "Everything Can Be Good Sometimes" brings back therunning water tapes for another spin as a backdrop for stuttering offcentre piano chops, weaving in and out like Steve Reich losing theplot, before they converge and a gorgeous bowed melody like a lo-fiTortoise caught snoozing erupts quite unexpectedly. Latterly the pianoruns haywire again and this feeling of chaos just about to break outbut held in check recurrs. "Attic" seems to be a companion to "Cellar"and is aptly titled as it builds more soaring, towering structures fromsimilarly thick squeaky bowings, rising to plink plunk crescendo. Thefinal short track "Crossing Kingston Bridge" seems to be a fieldrecording of tuneful whistling over echoing footsteps. This is a greatdisc to have on low as dawn breaks, and seems to paint an idiosyncraticengaging picture of a journey. Sound samples can be downloaded from theLucky Kitchen. -
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It kicks off with "North School Drive", aconsummate Clientele track in every way: warm, shimmering guitar anddelicate, lilting and nearly incomprehinsible vocals. "BoringPostcard", a minute-long piece which sounds like an urban fieldrecording, follows. The third track, "Emptily Through Holloway", is thefocal point of the EP; an atypical Clientele track only with regard toits relatively epic length of just over five minutes. Finally, "LastOrders" is a notable departure from their signature sound: a soloinstrumental piece on piano. As much as I anticipate the forthcomingdebut album that the band has hinted at releasing some time in thefuture, I think perhaps I would be just as content if The Clientelewere to continue to put out their material in a suitably quaint, steadystream of 7" singles. - samples:
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Clinic's members are notoriously shy, not identifyingthemselves in the liner notes here, and wearing doctor's masks inrecent press photos. But with this release, they are stretching out interms of exposure, even appearing on Craig Kilborn last week. And theyshould promote the hell out of this record: "Walking With Thee" is anamazing sophomore album release, showing the true potential of Clinicas innovators of modern music. 'Harmony' kicks off the album with animpressive start, part 'Tubular Bells', part harmonica-based bluesproject. Elsewhere, their sound reflects a more diverse musicalbackground, allowing the band to produce truly original mood music ofthe highest quality. Ade Blackburn, Clinic's vocalist, is the real starof "Walking," as on each track, he puts his vocal frailties anddynamics on display for all to hear, though it is hardly a detriment totheir sound. It's a hypnotic bouillabaisse, a recipe for disaster forsome bands, but Clinic make it all sound so easy. Overall, a slightdeparture for the band vice previous releases as this one is a littlemore consumer friendly (read: marketable and stomach-able for themasses), and it's a little lazier than their more avant-garde fair, butstill just as brilliant as their back catalogue. Highly recommended. - Read More
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Rich Kid is his distorted-ragga-jungle project, and I have tosay it kicks enormous ass. I suppose some people might not like theragga part of it, but I love it; nothing like angry Jamaicans and fuzzyreggae samples. All of his tracks are excellent, and for thosenew-school Panacea fans, he offers a "Panacea remix" of an oldBloodclaat Gangsta Youth (aka DJ Scud) track. I suppose that warrantsthe huge "PANACEA" on the cover... trying to sucker in fans, anyone? Asfor DJ Scud, his stuff is wonderful as always, but I have to say I'm alittle disappointed on how little of it there is that's actually new.0nly one track is new, the appropriately titled "Stormtrooper." Hisstuff is noisy and balls-out as usual, and his last track (from the'Gun Court' 7" with Shizuo) veers on being sheer noise. Very good stuff(but we've heard it before! Give us MORE!) from the lovable TobyReynolds (how's that for a hardcore name?). A wonderful and worthypurchase, but you might want to think about it if you already own thevinyl that contains the source of most of the tracks here. - samples:
- DJ Scud - Badman Time
- Rich Kid - Version
- Bloodclaat Gangsta Youth - Kill or Be Killed (Panacea remix)
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Utilizing silenceas well as dramatically somber horn and string arrangements, thefinished product serves as an appropriate backdrop to Denes' dark storyof cannibalism/vampirism and imperfect love. In some of the mostgraphic scenes, the music becomes far more lush and unbearably sad whenplaced in context, such as with the aptly named "Killing Theme". Here,strings and woodwinds compete with the horrors of torture andmutilation, leaving the listener chilled and uneasy to say the least.However, this is where the soundtrack's flaw lies. Without the benefitof viewing the movie, the temptation exists to skip through the lessexciting tracks, such as "Maid Theme (End)". Clocking in at just alittle over 40 minutes, the CD also includes an extensive 24 pagebooklet featuring scenes from the film, which is a wonderful treatsince so few record companies seem willing to put money into such"frivolities." I'm a sucker for packaging. - samples:
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The stylesflip-flop all around between groovy, laid back, super-cool vocal tuneslike "Bluesbreaker," to the campy, kitchy soon-to-be classic, "BahamaBanana," beefy instrumentals like the album opener and first single,"Enter Spacebar," stunning, monumental digital orchestral movementslike "Himnalalala," and "Happy Sunny Song," short guitar interludes, tothe cute yet questionably motivated album closer, "Superman." It's nosurprise that with the schizophrenic variety of styles and saturatedinstrumentation this album took six months to record, even with thehelp of super producer/guru Thor of Thule Musik Studios and despite theduo's decade of extensive experience in the Icelandic music scene. Atany given moment, the songs bear a multitude of influences, like thevocal styles of Can's Damo Suzuki, basslines as fierce as some ofPrince's strongest hooks, hyper psychedelics from cheap organs orping-pong old-school game-like sounds of Kraftwerk. Toss in the quirkyartwork like a cover which features Scandinavian-looking children ofthe mid-80s pasted into a rank basement discotheque and a booklet whichfeatures collages of photos with black-and-white stock imagery and theend result is undeniably one of the most unique yet entertainingreleases I've heard in a long time. What are they feeding theseIcelandics? - samples:
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Each of the 11 individual artist discs are limited to 250 forsale copies and the 12th disc will be a compilation of tracks from allof the artists. The only way to get any of these is to get them all viaa subscription. I took the financial plunge and I'm already happy Idid. ARC and Aidan Baker first collaborated at Toronto's The AmbientPing weekly live event. This disc features 56 minutes worth of materialrecorded there this year with additional overdubbing by Aidan Baker.Richard Baker and Christopher Kukiel lay down tribal / Middle Easternrhythms in the form of drums, percussion, kalimba, djembe, dumbec andtabla while Aidan handles guitar and various other instruments."Transform" sets the tone as richly textured ambiance and activerhythms blend, the percussion slowly melting away by the 11th minuteleaving just the dreamy background loop. At this point, comparisons toStars of the Lid are unavoidable but warranted. On "Arise" the rolesare reversed as the lazy guitar chords and frayed notes (I'd almostswear I hear whale song in there somewhere) are sparingly flecked withthe gentlest plunks of percussion. "Writhe" and "Slight Return/Raze"seem to add more buried tape samples and miscellaneous otherabstractions, mixing and alternating the ambient and rhythmic elementswith perfect grace. Lovely, absolutely lovely. The best thing youhaven't heard so far this year. The next disc is 'The Canadian SpellingProgram' by Hellothisisalex. Oh, and those other better known names? Acertain San Francisco based duo as Vague Terrain Recordings and V/Vm.Make some room in your budget right now, and visit www.pieheadrecords.com for series subscription info. - samples:
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The reversal occurs in"Particle and Transfiguration" finding the cornet giving a re-occuringbattle cry over top of the controlled chaos of the drums and theoccasional stab on the vibes, which I'm pretty sure were notoverdubbed. "Lifelines" is a rolling, catchy vibe-augmented compositionwith the rhythms shifting between 6/8 and straight double time, and aparade sounding bass drum that gets you right in the chest. "ExponentRed" presents a slippery, repetitive synth bass line in which themelody is played off of while tightly tuned drums groove along nicely."Two Concepts for the Storage of Light" begins by sounding almost as alullaby from the vibes with cymbals swells, gradually building withunison lines with the cornet which plays along nicely over crashingdrums. About halfway through the tunes 9+ minutes, the second 'concept'appears with a groovy synth bass line, fast and busy swing feel on thedrums and cornet themes and solos. The busy and noisier "Memoirs of aSpace Traveller" closes with a showcase of Taylor's beautiful nylonstring guitar work over what sounds like a respirator (space helmet?).Recorded and mixed by John McEntire at his Soma Electronic MusicStudios with help on a few tracks from Ken Brown, this disc uses thefree jazz idiom with different elements and ideas brought into fold, asthe title suggests, making for some interesting listening. - samples:
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samples:
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- Nate Smith
- Albums and Singles
Much moreoffensively bad than the M. Behrens' disc, the pastiche of music thatis not even Marchetti's own is pretentious in concept and anunenjoyable listen. Though I understand the irony of using the tool ofan audio collage, which is an important part of the history ofexperimental music, and comprising this collage partially ofexperimental music itself, I find very little value in the year 2002 bylistening to this sort of experiment - if it were created 40 years ago,perhaps, but not today. The disc's pretentiousness is increased bymaking the 9-second silences between pieces their own indexed trackswith titles like "Silence Simple" and "Silence du Chaman Blanc."Marchetti writes, "For a while, I have been reading 'Shamanism andArchaic States of Ecstasy'...in which I found descriptions ofrituals...these were not far from a place of spirit that I have wantedto share. The composition is able to make the listener live with mymythology, more aware of the world's potential forces." I understandMarchetti's wanting to convey his own world to the listener, but bylistening to musics that aren't his own, I don't feel enlightened byMarchetti's world, nor do I feel like I want to be.
The M. Behrens disc is less pretentious than Marchetti's, but stillvery self-absorbed. The pieces, which follow some sort of World War IIera technology battle theme, are comprised wholly of Behrens' olderworks that he's re-evaluated and re-processed for this project. Theextensive, personal liner notes by Behrens explain a good deal aboutthe processes used to create these pieces and the concepts which he'sintertwined within them - mostly coming from a book called "The SecretWar." But since most listeners haven't read this book, and a good dealof listeners don't know the early M. Behrens pieces that he's samplingfrom, the concepts and processes become much less important to thelistener than they are to the artist. The music itself is less annoyingto listen to than Marchetti's collage, but on its own it's not verygripping, and its unclear how it fits in with his elaborate concept. Alarge part of the disc is so quiet that it requires serious attentionand concentration for long stretches of time. When sounds finally dorise to a normal level, they're not interesting enough to be worth theeffort. Intransitive should be commended for releasing conceptual workslike these, and much of the rest of the Intransitive catalog is quiteinteresting, but these two discs are too entrenched in the artists'personal worlds to be very interesting, even to a listener who'swilling to give them a try. - samples:
- M. Brehens - 1939
- M. Brehens - 1941
- M. Brehens - 1943
- Lionel Marchetti - Cinq
- Lionel Marchetti - Sept
- Lionel Marchetti - Un
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- Rob Devlin
- Albums and Singles
All songs getthe Giant Sand treatment, though, which makes for capturing music. Noone likes a cover album where the artists try to sound just like theoriginal, and Giant Sand do anything but that. Black Sabbath's 'IronMan' is realized as a loping lament about a lost soul rather than theshredding document of heavy metal it once was. 'King of the Road'becomes a modern lounge track, Nick Cave's 'Red Right Hand' sparserthan the original and therefore infinitely scarier. Every song soundslike the world Gelb lives in: shifting sands in the dark light, dirtycantinas, and hunted men. It's quintessential Arizona desert music, thesoundtrack to the misunderstood outcast movie of our time. As always,there's Gelb's haunting voice, somewhere around the darker part ofBruce Springsteen and the more understandable Neil Young, making themost of every note. And the revolving cast of characters this timeincludes Polly Jean Harvey, whose 'Plants and Rags' is also covered,and Neko Case. The last three tracks are recorded live, including onecomposition from Gelb's album "Confluence" featuring Jim Fairchild(Grandaddy) on guitar and running well over nine minutes. It's a veryexciting record, full of interesting sounds and songs. It's also one ofGiant Sand's strongest records, showing the innovation and range theyare capable of, even with music that isn't theirs to begin with. - samples:
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