- Administrator
- Albums and Singles
![](http://brainwashed.com/brain/images/gbvhalfsmiles.jpg)
Read More
- Administrator
- Albums and Singles
![](http://brainwashed.com/brain/images/lutherandtoby-karny.jpg)
Read More
![](http://brainwashed.com/brain/images/hardman-shirts_and_pistols.jpg)
- Administrator
- Albums and Singles
![](http://brainwashed.com/brain/images/hardman-shirts_and_pistols.jpg)
Read More
![](/images/easyblog_images/1/b2ap3_large_coleclough-makrunaminya.jpg)
- Administrator
- Albums and Singles
![](/brain/images/coleclough-makrunaminya.jpg)
Read More
- Administrator
- Albums and Singles
The most popular electronic French duo since Air have finally had their internationally acclaimed album issued in North America through Mute. Unfortunately, hearing this after the extended period of hype, I was expecting something more. Rather than hearing the masterpiece as so many have exploded about, my ears tell me this could easily be the most overrated album I can recall in a long, long time.
It's like very bad New Age, except that it's packaged for the hip kids rather than the boring yuppies. For 12 tracks, this band pushes all the right emotional buttons: making grand climactic wooshes—like the most masturbatory Alan Parsons or Emerson, Lake and Palmer moments—but the six minute long crescendos never go anywhere. Each song is a buildup and buildup with absolutely no payoff. By the halfway mark, I feel as if I've heard six intros in a row and no songs.
Just like Air, I find M83 completely onanistic and dull. Maybe we can blame this one on classical French playwriting, expressed in something like Waiting for Godot, where there was no climax, and the whole time was spent anticipating something that never comes. However, the writing on Dead Cities is amateurish, as the songs are incomplete, with directionless meandering. By the end of the album, my time has been robbed and I've got even less respect for the critics and fans who have inexplicably gushed over this sad excuse for music.
For existing M83 fans, it's worth noting that this US edition comes with a bonus disc of five audio tracks and two music videos.
samples:
Read More
- Administrator
- Albums and Singles
![](http://brainwashed.com/brain/images/venetianhugechrome.jpg)
Read More
- Administrator
- Albums and Singles
![](http://brainwashed.com/brain/images/metalux-waitingfor.jpg)
Read More
- Administrator
- Albums and Singles
![](/brain/images/david_grubbs-riddle.jpg)
For a good chunk of his latest disc, A Guess at The Riddle, the literary and very musical David Grubbs pulls off a lot of very catchy, jangling guitar-driven pop songs in which the only other instrumentalist is drummer Adam Pierce (Mice Parade/The Dylan Group). Although Grubbs does some bass guitar overdubbing, on tracks such as "Knight Errant," "A Cold Apple," and "One Way Out of the Maze," it's so low in the mix and masked by his guitar; the positive outcome, perhaps intended, is that it then feels like listening to a very tight and dynamic duo riffing off of each other. Greek cellist Nikos Veliotis (featured in Grubbs' recent live performances) adds his swooping harmonics, which, along with the electronic augmentation of Matmos, turns "Hurricane Season" into a brewing and ominous piece worthy of its title. The snappy and extremely catchy "Pangolin" tears along to powerful yet unamplified electric guitar and broken bass lines which pack a lot of intensity into a brevity of under two minutes; no fancy guitar solos required. Although no recording equals that of live performance, there are a lot of moments on A Guess at The Riddle where it feels like I'm in a small club, listening intently at the edge of the stage.
samples:
Read More
- Administrator
- Albums and Singles
The electrified gong that radiates through the beginning moments of "Makruna" and continues through its 38 minute duration marks a phantom presence that galvanizes the whole of these recordings. The track "Minya" was originally recorded as a solo live performance in 1999, but it used elements of sound that had been previously recorded by both Colin Potter and Andrew Chalk. Only 111 copies of this performance were made, but now a reworked version—along with two new tracks—has been released in an edition of 500 copies.
Makruna Minya is a quiet and carefully paced record. "Makruna" reverberates with the humming and quiet pulse of gong, but also bubbles over with the sound of a small creek, the voices of individuals on the street or on the television, stone plates scratching over each other in circular patterns, and the uneasy sound of steam passing complacently through small pipes. The palette of sounds is very natural and, as a whole, the track progresses uniformly with changes taking place on a subconscious level. As the slate rubbing together becomes louder, children laugh and yell very low in the mix, and marbles jumble together in a bag. As soon as the commotion dies away, the sound of the gong has become clearer, the distinct shuffle-and-crack of walking on grass or leaves becomes audible and bird calls shift and stutter in the mix. All of this sounds relaxing on paper, but Jonathan Coleclough has a way with sounds that make them feel positively unsettling. The gong strikes illuminate the surrounding environment and fill the sky up with a dark oil that blocks out the sun and gives the world a blue tint. The children no longer laugh, but sound as if they're crying and the television reports sound frightened, almost paranoid in their delivery. Whatever it is that is happening feels consumingly hopeless. "Makruna" fades away into the orchestral "Minya," a piece composed of synthetic tones, oceans crashing onto the shore, and the strange distortion of radio signals. The tones on "Minya" are all descending and are, at times, reminiscent of human wails or sorrowful moans. The sounds continuously wash out with each other, each sound following the movement of another until a chorus of whispers and pseudo-screams crash down and reset the pattern. "Minya" is a more physical composition than "Makruna" and it circulates with a heaviness that is almost tangible. "Minya" moves so ferociously that it shakes itself towards its own destruction and by song's end it is reduced to a deep and growling bass tone that has been stripped naked of its previously chaotic glory. One final screech gets away before "Makruna Coda" hushes the album towards its end. The final sounds are from "Makruna" but are not washed away in a sea of processing. What I thought was a gong is now just a bell and the mysterious voices now sound as though they are being yelled down a tunnel flowing with water. The sounds fade away and leave a deep impression of the last sixty tumultuous minutes that does not dissolve. After the music has stopped churning, Coleclough's compositions will thrive and remain in the mind like a residue that grows and grows. 
Read More
- Administrator
- Albums and Singles
![](http://brainwashed.com/brain/images/charles_hayward-switch_on_war.jpg)
Read More