- Graeme Rowland
- Albums and Singles
![](http://www.brainwashed.com/brain/images/ibmoval.jpg)
Bruce seems to steer Pan Sonic away from cleaner tones and into the rougher more distorted textures they tend to save for climactic moments. IBM falls somewhere between the title track of Gilbert's phenomenal 'Ab Ovo' & the onslaught of nis noise opus 'In Esse' in terms of (un)easy listening, but maintains more of a semblance of continuous rhythmic structure. It makes the excellent new Pan Sonic CD 'Aaltopiiri' seem somewhat genteel in comparison. If fellow Wire and Dome man Graham Lewis' Ocsid project sometimes summons the sound of rampaging elephants then this is a mammoth stomp to the end of the tusk jousts. They are not just fiddling about, that's for sure! This will not go down well with the pop tone zone, but is probably easier to chew than the forty minute 'Soli' from 'In Esse'. It could be useful to compare it to the live Pan Sonic / Gilbert tracks on the 'Rude Mechanic' CD (Piano) - good as those tracks were, IBM is more focused and effective.
The 7" has two faster beatier tracks whilst the LP has three extended noise workouts which are really too dense to be described as drones. Parts sound like Pan sonic munched by grunge pedals. That Gilbert electric saw sound which seems like the death cry of CD's mangled by endless layers of distortion is alive and kicking and kicking and kicking. Who needs titles anyway?
The collaboration was recorded in 1998 at Vainio's London flat overlooking the Oval cricket ground. (Presumably the thwack of rubber on wood was heard between takes, but you'd never guess.) Perhaps due to Pan Sonic's opinion that "Too much digital processing 'eats' the sound" this release appears only as a pair of lavishly packaged 12" and 7" vinyl records on the ever eccentric and essential Mego label. Words of warning - if you get it by post be careful which way you open the sleeve (it has a kind of reversible gatefold design) as the 7" might fall out on the floor like mine did! No audible damage done - its so noisy you'd probably never notice anyway!
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- Mark Weddle
- Albums and Singles
![](http://www.brainwashed.com/brain/images/burntfriedmanlove.jpg)
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- Administrator
- Albums and Singles
Similar to the Tortoise and New Year albums, the newest Labradford audio document also heads down the path of re-examining older concepts through current methodology. (And like the New Year, this was also recorded with assistance from Steve Albini in July of 2000 in Chicago.) The trio return to a certain purity of earlier albums with the absence of additional players which colored the last few. 'Fixed::Content' could be the most personal recording a group like Labradford can get while remaining completely instrumental. The album is an exercise in patience, symmetry and impressionistically represents the group as the trio they are.
Side one is completely filled by "Twenty," which reintroduces the interstate trio with a warm sub-bass frequency pulse combined with two guitarists paying careful attention to each other. It's the establishment of foundation and order, of which the rest of the album is to follow. Bobby Donne has put down the bass this time out and has become the strong force of the left channel as guitarist throughout the entire CD. Mark Nelson's guitar work predominates the right channel while Carter's organic cushion and foundation spans both. Taking its time, "Twenty" appropriately passes into different phases, starting with a long play of guitars and drones, then adding slow, glitchy electronic beats and graceful lead notes emerging from the organic keyboards, finishing with a static-esque hum through fade out. Side two follows a similar formula of both guitarists playing complimentary melodies on each side while breathy electronics take the foundation. Side two is also notably broken up into three songs of relatively equal length, which can also be interpreted as representational of the trio.
samples:
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- Mark Weddle
- Albums and Singles
![](http://www.brainwashed.com/brain/images/lumelume.jpg)
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- Administrator
- Albums and Singles
Premiered first at Sonar 2000, this release could very well be an impressionistic aural painting of a thunderstorm which gets closer and closer, unleashes its wrath and then breaks.
For over two minutes it (a 43 minute-long one-tracker) is completely silent. At the 2:10 mark, a stab of a guitar riff, ten seconds later another seemingly identical one. After a succession of twelve almost equally spaced apart stabs they begin to arrive more frequently, spaced apart now only by five seconds of silence. The frequency of attacks increases before long as it's now down to two seconds. 5¬Ω minutes into the disc the storm arrives with a barrage of guitarrorism from heavy metal riffs all played simultaneously. Layers upon layers appear to flow in but for all I know it might have been done all on a four-track.
I remember doing recordings like this as a teenager on a four-track recorder, so I can safely say it is quite possible to trick the listener into believing they're hearing more than what's really there. If your ears haven't bled dry by the 32¬Ω minute mark then congratulations! You're rewarded by silence again. The silence continues through the end of the disc, without surprise stabs thrown in to scare you. At the end I'm left with a few issues with this disc. Are we, the listener supposed to question the purpose of this CD? I am having a hard time trying to figure out what type of person would actually enjoy this and listen repeatedly over time. I'm also wondering if this was a knock-off for Lopez or did he spend years making this absolutely perfect. For me, this recording could be very handy at stop lights when some chump in the next car is blaring tacky rock-rap, tired classic rock or unbearable pop. I'm sure it could also possibly into uses like voice mail or promotional radio spots down at the station too.
sample:
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- Mark Weddle
- Albums and Singles
![](http://www.brainwashed.com/brain/images/connellyblondeexodus.jpg)
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- Mark Weddle
- Albums and Singles
![](http://www.brainwashed.com/brain/images/rieflinconnellylargo.jpg)
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- Mark Weddle
- Albums and Singles
![](http://www.brainwashed.com/brain/images/callascavengers.jpg)
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- Mark Weddle
- Albums and Singles
![](http://www.brainwashed.com/brain/images/fluxprivate.jpg)
- Mark Weddle
- Albums and Singles
![](http://www.brainwashed.com/brain/images/jellobecome.jpg)
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- Carl Thien with Jon Whitney
- Albums and Singles
![](http://www.brainwashed.com/brain/images/lemonjellyky.jpg)
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