- Matthew Amundsen
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- Matthew Amundsen
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This album is overflowing with garden variety house music, the kind found in garish, overpriced nightclubs and played ad nauseum at ear-splitting levels. These standard beats do nothing to stir up any excitement, let alone thoughts of dancing, and could be unnoticeably interchanged among themselves from song to song. Even the attempts at humor on this album fall flat, like the lame "Public Announcement Skit" in which Darth Vader claims that he likes touching himself in public or the equally stupid fake public service announcement about safe sex, "Black Fu Condom-mints Skit." The album's only true funk song, "Rollin' Paper & Bush," is actually decent, or at least more palatable than the rest of the album. More songs like this one would have been a drastic improvement. On the other hand, "Earth Hoes," which follows, is a forgettable, obnoxious track that seems inspired by too many ill-advised late-night viewings of Earth Girls Are Easy.
A joyless disappointment, Nuttin' Butt Funk has very few moments of interest and is best forgotten as quickly as possible.
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Lauded often as the zenith of their career, this album manages to be richer and more unified by actually being more disjointed: rather than the nine distinct pieces that made up Information Overload Unit, Leichenschrei is 14 shorter tracks that bleed over into one another, often invisibly. Taken as a whole there is a certain thematic linkage that pulls the album together into one of darkest, bleakest ones in existence, one that loses none of its power nearly 30 years since its release.
Thermidor/Side Effects/Mute
The most obvious differentiating factor between this and the previous Information Overload Unit is less of a reliance on raw, harsh noise strategies.While dissonance is still the norm here, it is placed within a more structured, rhythmic framework that feels more focused overall.While there is little hint of the more conventional, commercial tone their work would take afterwards, there is more form here for sure.
Rhythms—acoustic, electronic, and metallic—drive most of these songs, along with a more open use of analog synthesizers and sequencers.Rather than burying them in layer upon layer of distortion and effects, they're allowed to sound as they were intended in most circumstances.While it bears only the slightest hints of the synth pop rhythms that dominated their later work, there are some memorable patterns to be heard, much different than Information Overload Unit.
Another distinct feature are that the vocals, rather than being either harshly barked in German or obscured in effects, are instead more of a spoken word type, often rather clear and performed by either Graeme Revell, the late Neil Hill, or Sinan Leong (Revell's wife, who I think made Machine Age Voodoo worse than it could have been, but here is an acceptable presence), and are thematically either related to autopsies or sex.Very few albums feature lines as memorable as "…he tried to give me syphilis by wiping his cock on my sandwich," but it's here on "Post-Mortem."
Looking at the album in its original vinyl arrangement, the second half features more "songs" in my opinion: longer pieces that feel more fleshed out and structured, while the first half are shorter sketches that are more experimental overall."Despair" is the most conventional song here. It works with a repetitive bass guitar/junk percussion rhythm section, focused synthesizer work, and Revell ALMOST singing the lyrics.In a way, it almost heralds the transition of "industrial" from its early, experimental days when this album was recorded to the aggressive, synth driven dance music "industrial" became.
"Day of Pigs" comes in a close second for musical structure, with noisy electronics and muted vocals, propelled by bass guitar and a beautifully stiff analog drum machine.Structurally it adheres to traditional song conventions rather well, stopping and starting in all the right places.The repetitive synth sequence and erratic rhythms of "Wars of Islam" carry some additional early proto-techno/electro sensibilities to it:while sinister and messy, it’s not hard to hear how it structurally fits into both of those genres quite well with its tight sequences and repetitive rhythms and melodic synth lead towards the end.
One exception to the song orientation on this side is "The Agony of the Plasma," which pairs spoken word and muted musical elements with repeated loops of a woman’s scream and breaking glass, only feeling less like a sonic collage and more like an actual "song" in its closing minute.Its skeletal structure makes it perhaps the most formless piece on the album, and while it lacks in cohesion, it makes up for it in mood.
There are precious few albums that can present this level of violence and menace without coming across as cliché or forced, and I honestly can’t think of one that does it as well as Leichenschrei.Oozing with pure malice, it is also a timeless album that, if released today, would be considered just as brilliant as it was in 1982.I've personally owned this for over a decade and listening to it again for purposes of this review, it still felt fresh, with nuances I never noticed before being apparent.I suppose it was inevitable that SPK took such a nosedive in their career afterward, because I don’t think it would have been possible to top this album or create something even similar.It's a beautifully disturbing album that sounds or feels like nothing else.
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Ankersmit's first solo foray, last year's Live in Utrecht was praised by many, including myself, as a powerful and unique piece of abstraction mixing inorganic processed sounds with saxophone in an impressively diverse live setting. Here, with fellow composer Valerio Tricoli (3/4HadBeen Eliminated), the work is in a more traditional context, composed between 2008 and 2010, with the results being no less impressive than his solo live endeavor.
These five pieces embrace elements of both analog and digital, using both to create a unique balance that sounds like nobody else."Zwerm Voor Tithonus" wastes no time opening the album, immediately launching into shrill shimmering tones, radio static, and emergency sirens in a dense, aggressive mix that quickly disintegrates, leaving a spacious canyon of ambience, with lost fragments of sound echoing in the distance.Slowly the noisier vibe returns via layered and textural static, becoming disorienting and extremely obtuse, but fascinating all the while.
"Hunt" uses a similar template, putting heavily reverberated glitches and carefully restrained harsh squeals together into a dark miasma of sound.The impenetrable wall of sound eventually drops off to allow more subtle elements to be heard before becoming chaotic and messy again, with the multitude of unrecognizable sounds fully engulfing the composition.
Between these twin monoliths of difficult sound lie two shorter, more restrained and meditative pieces that weave the album together in a perfect balance."Brent Mini" is all subtle insect like cracklings and distant hums, creating a more tonal and sparse experience."Plague #7" uses chirpy synths and heavy drones to create a calm and peaceful, though still dense piece of music.
Closing the album is "T√¢hkt-e Tavus," which stands on its own conceptually as a piece focusing on Ankersmit's alto sax playing, which is slowly merged with a heavily treated, synthetic version of the same instrument, creating a wall of sound that is built brick by brick until the human and inhuman sounds are indistinguishable from one another.It is a brilliant work, both conceptually and sonically, and illustrates the strengths of these two young composers.
While they're working in a crowded field, Tricoli and Ankersmit have created an album that stands above many other imitators, carefully balancing the chaotic nature of their sound with careful and deliberate pacing and structuring.It's not quite light listening, but it is well worth the effort.
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J. G. Thirlwell's Manorexia project is perhaps the most idiosyncratic in a career of idiosyncrasies. As both a specifically solo project and one in which traditional structures are an afterthought, it excels in both the realms of modern composition and pure chaos. Those strengths are magnified on this album, specifically with the inclusion of a 5.1 surround sound mix on DVD, which one of the most creative and effective uses of the format I have yet heard.
Ever since getting my surround sound receiver I have been interested in this format, but too often it has become a novelty more than anything truly captivating or creative.What seems like the perfect panacea for counteracting the prevalence of file trading has seemingly fallen flat.Major record labels have used it mostly to pad out overpriced collector's editions, contracting journeyman engineers to go in and play with the master tape to create something that has little to do with the original artist's intent.Smaller labels, meanwhile, have mostly ignored the technology entirely, opting to instead embrace more difficult to copy formats like cassette tape as their middle finger to MP3 leeches.Many of the 5.1 albums I've heard just don't feel "right" in my opinion, with one exception being the Trent Reznor remixed version of The Downward Spiral which, regardless of opinions of Nine Inch Nails, showed just how strong the format could be, given the right amount of attention and creativity.
Dinoflagellate Blooms is also another high water mark for surround sound releases, perfectly suited for a format that uses five channels rather than the standard two.From the opening moments of "Cryogenics," I knew it was going to be a good disc.Initially pushing the stringed and plucked instruments to the front, while keeping the heavier, low register stuff in the back, creating an unsettling balance.Erratic, heavy horn blasts that resemble a trumpeting elephant pan around the room, as do rattling percussive blasts.It also gives that .1 part of 5.1 a work-out, blasting out a sonic-boom level bass outburst here and there.
"Anabiosis" is an industrial symphony, putting aggressive stabs and what sounds like guitar swirling around the mix, combining deep strings and dramatic horn blasts with quiet, wheezing moments of unnatural origins.All throughout it constantly develops and changes, never losing its cinematic intensity but conveying a variety of moves.
"Krzystl" goes right for the jugular when it opens, pushing sharp, violent static out of every channel that made me wonder at first if my receiver was breaking down, but only briefly.Between that and manic, chopped speech fragments that pan around, the infrequent quiet moments being quickly ruined by aggressive crashes and bangs, it an ugly, but thoroughly enjoyable piece of dissonance.
The middle tracks are surprisingly more restrained, working with more restraint than the opening pieces."A Plastic Island in the Pacific" doesn't really throw everything and the kitchen sink into the piece, but instead works with a spacious, but uneasy creepy vibe.Tones drone away, broken up by deep bass thuds, but menace never seems far away.
"The Perfect Patsy" goes back to the sweeping drama of the earlier pieces, characterized by muted strings that drone away, while the back channel are subtleties underscoring the main sounds.There feels like the urge to explode into the theatrical chaos from before, but it never quite happens.
"Kinaesthesia" goes back to the restrained tension, with demonic growls and sinister feedback panned around the room aggressively.Ominous ambiences, air raid sirens and bizarre sonic twitterings, eventually relenting only to leave a dark bass drone to remain.The closer "Struck" ends the album like it began, with messy percussive blasts and wheezing horns.With pounding orchestral chaos in the front and sound effects in the back, it's another piece that really takes advantage of the disorientation that 5.1 surround can bring.The bombastic, massive sound of the piece actually belies its relatively quiet ending, closing the album with surprising peace.
While the included CD presents the album in traditional stereo, Dinoflagellate Blooms feels like it was intended to be heard in 5.1, and thus I focused on that part of the album.The stereo version is no slouch by any means:Thirlwell could likely be putting his work out on nearly inaudible wax cylinders and it would still be captivating.The extra depth that the additional channels give makes a great composition even greater.
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Collecting ideas from fiction and philosophy, this release clarifies Florian Hecker’s reputation for playfulness and investigation. Like a rogue mathematician who is considering questions which most people will never consider, Hecker attempts to turn metaphysical query into sound. His response to the (strange and hilarious) notion of hyperchaos will be unpalatable for some; but others of us wouldn’t have it any other way.
 
Speculative Solution is partly an elaborate joke about predictability. The disc comes in a lovely dark blue box demanding adoration, with titles printed in silver letters. This object held my attention for days, not least as the box has a lid too tight to open without considerable effort. Turning it back and forth, though, meant further distraction from five tiny metal balls rolling around inside. Once open (with the aid of a second person) a dense booklet of theoretical essays is revealed providing weeks of pleasure, frustration and hilarity. During that time, I didn't actually bother to listen to the music.
More on the box: The 2008 documentary Boxes details Stanley Kubrick’s obsession with cataloging everything from crank letters to audition tapes and photographs of hats, storefronts and gates. Eventually, Kubrick came to demand the perfect box in which to store everything. This was to be of certain dimensions and not too loose nor too tight. While Kubrick may have found the Speculative Solution box to be visually pleasing in decoration and dimensions, I fear its functionality would have resulted in him giving the designer of the box a right bollocking.
Hecker's blogspot claims he is investigating "whether concepts of absolute contingency and hyperchaos offer a rigorous new alternative to the employment of chance and randomness in avant-garde composition." This is a question I feel ill-equipped to understand, let alone answer, despite dipping frequently into the highly enjoyable and fascinating accompanying texts from Robin Mackay, Quentin Meillassoux and Elie Ayache. There are some disparate references including Philip K. Dick, The Hitch-hiker's Guide to The Galaxy, Hume’s observations of billiard balls, and so on, and when approached in the right frame of mind, these somewhat impenetrable and preposterous writings become light and airy flights of logical fancy; at once engaging, funny and impressive.
Hecker suggests that the musical part of this project is best heard at loud volume through speakers and that headphones are not advised. I concur, and also strongly suggest that listening while driving be avoided since passages of hideous, jarring squealing, rapid-fire pulses, and unnervingly high-pitched frequencies may cause a serious multiple pile-up. My listening revealed that Hecker has facilitated a piece of musical closed-circuitry which seems to extrapolate from the starting point of the chaotic interaction between the metal balls in the box. The resulting sounds are a hyper-real edifice of (un)imagination which completely transported me to another place; albeit one from which I was somewhat relieved to escape. Clicking sounds akin to Chinese water torture, shoveling gravel, accelerating squelching electro-spasm, sudden jolts, bangs, and rare glimpses of extreme quasi-funkiness are just the start. Meanwhile, several tones had me reaching for the booklet in case I missed the small print which explains that bringing the box into your home gives Hecker permission to play a tune on your fillings using telescopic laser technology.
The more palatable periods resemble the space creatures from The Clangers attacking an electric piano, someone whistling through a baboon’s anus, and fleas jumping on the strings of an oddly-tuned piano. Also, sections of "Speculative Solution 2" have a narrower focus than other tracks and benefit from a chugging rhythm akin to the sound of a robot continuing to speak calmly while choking to death in a mud pool. That and liposuction being performed with (alternately) bagpipes and bellows. Having said that, "2"'s adherence to a stricter rhythm becomes dull compared to both the epic "Speculative Solution 1" and "Octave Chronics." Indeed Hecker seems to use this dullness to illustrate or mock predictability (and accentuates this by naming two tracks "Speculative Solution 2.)
My first time through the entire recording was intriguing and definitely unpredictable. I had to leave the room at one point, though, and listen from afar. So, for me, this is a disc which demands to be heard, but also demands to be put away for a long time before approaching again; in the hope of having an experience akin to the first unbelievable hearing. I must add, by way of perspective, that the box is a much more alluring and darker color of blue than the photo here and equally there is no way a few sound snippets can reflect the flow and surprise in this recording.
In his collection, Letters From London, Julian Barnes quotes (former editor of The Times) Simon Jenkins who states a logic whereby people find comfort in the existence of things which they themselves may never use. Thus, the Royal Family, rural post offices or train stations in places we will never visit, The Times, WFMU, poisonous fish, and so on, can have distant value for those who rarely or never use them. Similarly, I don’t necessarily want to hear music as chaotic and steeped in theory as Speculative Solution very often, but it’s comforting to know that it (and Florian Hecker) is out there.
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In 2009, filmmaker Olivia Wyatt flew to Ethiopia to document an indigenous music festival (the Festival of a Thousand Stars), only to learn upon her arrival that the government had canceled it.  Rather than admitting defeat, Wyatt opted instead to embark upon an epic road trip, visiting more than a dozen of the tribes associated with the festival on their own (very remote) home turf.  The mesmerizing footage of amphetamine-fueled spirit possession ceremonies, unsettling wedding rituals, and bizarre music videos that resulted boasts some of the strangest things that I have ever seen or heard.
I was initially a bit apprehensive about this release, as I don't have a very deep interest in tribal/indigenous African music.  Fortunately, Staring Into The Sun was a pleasant surprise on two fronts.  For one, there is some music here that is so bizarre and unique that it transcends mere "exotic curiosity" status and seems genuinely audacious and experimental.  The Borana Tribe's obsessively repetitious polyphonic singing is one such highlight, but it is the eerie and uncomfortably dissonant pan-pipe piece by the Dirashe Tribe that pretty much steals the show (the unpredictable horn blasts and ululations only make it better, as far as I am concerned).  Secondly, Wyatt's mini-book and film turned out to be much more fascinating and colorful than the music that they are ostensibly documenting.  That is not to say the music is inconsequential or poorly chosen, but it is an unavoidable fact that hearing a field recording from one of these performances is not nearly the same as experiencing it.  Wyatt's footage and writings provide a far more moving and intimate perspective.
The film follows an aesthetic that is typical of Sublime Frequencies films, as it is essentially a documentary with no conventional narrative arc or context/exposition.  Sometimes that can be a bit of an endurance test for me, as it is hard to keep sitting through a lengthy series of independent scenes that are not moving towards any convergence or resolution.  Fortunately, Wyatt has an impeccable eye for isolating and holding striking images which makes it very easy to get drawn in (and then trying to unravel exactly what is happening sinks the hooks a bit deeper).  The film would be most effective as a video installation–its a bit exhausting when taken in all at once, but it is the sort of thing that I could start watching at any point.
There are too many memorable scenes to recount, but the Herzog-worthy opening sequence of the Borana Tribe transferring water up a multilevel well was particularly mesmerizing.  As was the footage of a Hamar wedding–the groom has to run naked across a row of bulls and the bride gets whipped with sticks, as the resultant scarification makes her more alluring to men.  There is also quite a bit of surreal humor to be had, as Olivia breaks up her own footage with Ethiopian pop videos that resemble '80s MTV at its most kitsch, but with more AK-47s and long knives involved.  Again, however, the Dirashe Tribe handily eclipses everything else with their pan-pipe performance, as they look like a row of psychotic line-dancing ice cream men.  I'm sure that they will eventually surface in one of my nightmares somewhere down the line.
The accompanying book is a very entertaining and readable mixture of information about the various tribes and Wyatt's personal remembrances.  Again, she seems to intuitively grasp what is worth focusing on and what isn't.  She covers key anthropological and music topics (which instruments were played, etc.) with admirable concision, but thankfully devotes much more space to stuff like sex, hyenas, jail, and spirit possession.  It sounds like she had quite a trip.  I don't anticipate myself going back to the CD very regularly, but Staring Into The Sun was still a truly bizarre, fascinating, and eye-opening multimedia experience that captures some things that Western eyes and ears have seldom experienced.
Samples:
- Dirashe Tribe, "Dirashe Syncopated Panpipes"
- Borana Tribe, "Borana Singing Wells"
- Habesha 2000 Band, "Habesha Traditional Song 3"
 
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These two very different releases are the first formal full-length albums from Michael Jantz's solo guitar project, but he already has a lengthy discography behind him that spans many of cassette culture's most revered labels (Stunned, Housecraft, Digitalis, etc.).  While he covers a wide stylistic range, Jantz never seems like a tourist: he brings an assurance and a laconic charm to everything from banjo playing to neo-krautock.  In fact, he might be one of the only artists that I can think of that can seamlessly bridge the gulf between the rootsy steel string folks and the newer wave of loop-y, laptop-enhanced experimentalists.  He is not infallible though.
I had heard at least one Black Eagle Child tape (Poland?) prior to Lobelia's release this spring and I liked it, despite the fact that it hadn't left a particularly large impression on me. A lot of people seemed very enthusiastic about this project, so I figured I had probably just picked up one of Jantz's lesser releases–I maintained high expectations for Lobelia.  In one way, it succeeds admirably: Micheal’s rustic and lazily ambling banjo and guitar instrumentals sound far too accomplished and melodic to be emerging from the cassette underground.  There are several pieces that easily could be mistaken for subtly experimental '60s or '70s major label folk (there are nature recordings in the mix, as well as a gurgling child). That isn't a dig: Jantz is a skilled guitarist and there is lot to admire here.  Michael keeps things enjoyably airy, spacious, and organic throughout and knows how to craft strong melodies and tight, intelligently arranged songs.  Also, I enjoyed the bittersweet, sitting-on-a-porch-swing-in-the-dying-days-of-summer feel of pieces like the opening "Crandon."
Unfortunately, the problem with making such a pastoral and pleasantly melodic album is that it winds up sounding almost indistinguishable from a lot of other able guitarists making nice music.  Lobelia lacks character.  It also lacks bite–this is simply too polite and weightless for someone as maladjusted as I am.  That said, there are a couple of excellent departures, such as the woozy, melancholy shimmer of "I Forgot" and the muted burbling of "A Different River."  Jantz, at his best, is extremely talented and wrangles an unexpected amount of emotion out of his guitar.  On Lobelia, unfortunately, he is not always at his best: he seems quite content to play it very straight about ¾ of the time.  That is not a very high success rate, I'm afraid.  I'd classify this album as a handful of excellent songs regrettably embedded in a pleasant and inoffensive misfire.
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Although Pages On A Plane followed Lobelia by just a few months, Jantz overtly sounds like a completely different artist.  For example, there is nothing that sounds particularly folk-influenced nor is there any banjo or field recording present (though his daughter makes another brief appearance).  In a deeper sense, however, Michael is very much himself (only perhaps more so).  These five songs are characteristically unhurried, sun-dappled, and melodically strong.  And they're great.  All of them.  Naturally, part of this album's success is simply due to intelligent self-editing and sequencing: Pages On A Plane clocks in around a rather lean half-hour, but there is no wasted time.  Also, Jantz seems to have made a savvy leap forward in both his composition and studio techniques, as he deftly uses tricks like repetition, delay, and layering to give pieces like "I Am A Bunny" pulse and depth.  His use of processing is particularly effective near the end of "Long Reflector," where digitally mangled notes seem to fall to the ground and decay like leaves.
Those ravaged notes might be the only element of the album that could be construed as "bite" or "grit," but Pages On A Plane unexpectedly offers something even better (and significantly more rare): a palpable sense of playfulness and wide-eyed wonder.  The most successful example of this is the beautifully snowballing lattice of ringing arpeggios in the aforementioned "I Am A Bunny," but I am also quite partial to "Cycle To The Moon," which sounds like vibrant, loose-limbed, and fun detournement of a Neu! song.  The first two songs ("The Lost Button" and "Spring") didn't hit me quite as hard as the rest of the album, but they are still both pretty unimpeachable in a shimmering, ambient way.  I can't complain–Pages On A Plane is a flawless, oft-amazing effort.  I now understand why Jantz is held in such high regard, as he seems singularly able to tap into something pure and innocent when he is at the top of his game.
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Stunning and devasting from beginning to end, this Triosk member's solo debut emotes relentlessly, unrestrained by any prescribed genre boundaries. To futilely classify this pensive meisterstück, as some critics are wont to do, defies sense, as the piano-driven music in effect speaks for itself, in despondent whispers and virtual screams.
For Be Still, Sydney-based pianist Adrian Klumpes has constructed a severe, deeply isolationist soundtrack to depression, a complex feeling that grips so many these long autumn nights. Not even loosely related to the creative avant-jazz of the artist's primary band, "Cornerned" sets this self-abusive ritual into motion, with backwards loops like shards of broken glass amid the ivories. Glitchy ambience plays a larger role on "Weave In And Out" to the point where intently following along could lead to unintended strain. The far more minimal title track returns a uneasy calm which gradually and quite naturally builds into something almost fiery and provoking, a characteristic that reappears as an all-out tantrum during the album's frantic centerpiece, the ten minute opus "Unrest". A queasy interlude named "Why" follows before segueing into "Exhale," which plays out more like unhealthy venting than much-needed release.
Though we are led to assume that Klumpes is pouring out his emotions here, he still finds enough time to toy with ours as well. The last few beautiful seconds of the otherwise atonal "Give In" tease or, rather, torment with a freshly tinkling, and cruelly fleeting, pattern relieved of the atmospheric weight that precedes it. Closer "Passing Pain" bitterly refuses to acquiesce to the demands of those transiently clean moments, the now-familiar palette of black and white keys producing a frigid tonal climate assuring much misery even after waning.
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The next installment of the enthralling collaboration 'twixt h3o and those likely lads Autechre is ready to see the
light of day on Die Stadt and Simply Superior. This should make the previous two glow again with renewed
ardour, and provide a couple of answers, but many, many more questions.
This release will come in a special format: double DVD (5.1 Audio Version), in a custom die-cut, printed
envelope. Each disc features 2 hours of 5.1 surround sound, in both Dolby Digital and DTS soundtracks. Due to
the special nature of the format this title will come in a limited edition of 1000 copies.
To experience this work as intended, you will need:
- A 5.1 surround amplifier and speaker setup. A DTS-ready system will provide the best quality experience.
- A DVD player capable of playing PAL format video, or capable of converting PAL to NTSC format video.
A television or video monitor is optional.
Release Date: August 29, 2011
Suggested Retail Price: 25 EUR/37 USD
Disc 1 - "ah³eo"
Region: 0
Duration: 120 minutes
Media: Replicated Dual Layer DVD-Video
Soundtracks: Dolby Digital 5.1, DTS 5.1, PCM 2.0
Video Resolution: 720x576 (PAL)
Disc 2 - "ha³oe"
Region: 0
Duration: 120 minutes
Media: Replicated Single Layer DVD-Video
Soundtracks: Dolby Digital 5.1, DTS 5.1
Video Resolution: 720x576 (PAL)
Web Sites:
http://www.diestadtmusik.de/
http://www.simplysuperior.org/ae3o3.php
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Like many, my first exposure to Coil was via their Nine Inch Nails remixes in the early 1990s, which, as a middle schooler, perplexed me more than anything else. It wasn't until I was a bit older and had exchanged some mix tapes that I heard Coil properly, and "got" it. While I might be in the minority by not ranking this album as my favorite from them, Love's Secret Domain still stands as a distinct and creative album that is artistically, as well as technically fascinating.
 
Looking back, I'm somewhat surprised I didn't hear this album earlier, because not long after the aforementioned NIN period but before delving into their catalog, I was a whore for pretty much anything Wax Trax put out, and I was, in fact, into the label around the time this album came out.Looking back, I would have probably been a bit better off laying off the KMFDM and looking more towards this disc.
Personally, my favorite Coil works tend to be the ones I heard first, which were mostly from mix tapes culled from Scatology and Horse Rotorvator, to this day still my two favorite works from them.While those discs straddled the line between what used to be and what is now "industrial" (for the abstraction of "The Sewage Worker’s Birthday Party" there was the catchy "Panic"), LSD flirted with techno and house music, which was a bit less of my "thing".
In hindsight, it's only the two singles, "The Snow" and "Windowpane" that are overtly using stiff 4/4 beats and squelchy 303 synths, and consequently the ones that sound the most of their era.They’re not necessarily dated, but at the same time not as timeless as the other songs either.
In comparison, "Things Happen" sound of no era in particular: a hallucinogenic cocktail of difficult to identify songs and rhythms, all of which come together perfectly, polished off with Annie Anxiety's inebriated vocals."Where Even the Darkness is Something to See" carries a similar vibe:a cut and pasted didgeridoo and erratic rhythm come together into a bizarre mutation that is almost unidentifiable.
While the techno/house theme runs throughout the album, it does not define it, nor does it restrict it:"Chaostrophy" makes no concessions to rhythms and instead links swirling layers of noise with a melancholy horn melody to wonderful effect.The closing title track also is, to me, the perfect culmination of the album:John Balance's snarling vocals and menacing electronics beautifully pervert traditional electronic "dance" music.
The "hallucinogenic" tag I mentioned earlier is one that applies to pretty much every song on this album, and given its title, I don’t think it’s accidental.As someone who doesn't use recreational drugs, I cannot say with certainty the relationship of them to this album, but I can imagine the influence, if on nothing else the ideal of experimentation.
That's one of the most amazing things hearing this album today:it was recorded 20 years ago.The idiosyncratic sound of this album is one that, even with an absurd amount of VST plug-ins and technical know-how, would be extremely difficult to replicate.Here, with just rudimentary samplers, MIDI, and analogue tape, Coil created something more original and creative than 99 percent of the world.
It's hard to imagine what experimental and electronic music would be today if this album had not been released.Artists like Autechre and Aphex Twin are indebted to Coil and their willingness to misuse technology and re-contextualize "conventional" sounds to their own ends.Even with its house tendencies, Love's Secret Domain could be released today and it would still be as lauded as it has been for the past two decades.
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