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Leaf
This gap-filler disc from Murcof is Leaf's way to buy time and keep the name fresh before the release of the next proper Murcof album, but it's no less inspired, all the same. Beginning with a 10 minute epic of film score orchestration and minimal techno thump, Utopia establishes early on that Murcof is dealing with a larger scope and a more developed tone than many of his contemporaries. Jan Jelenik's clicky, jazz-spliced remix of "Maiz" is the perfect groovy counterpoint to the album's creeping, moody opener. Sutekh gives "Memoria" a tweaked techno workout with plenty of glitches and squiggles that pop out over the monotone bassline and piano chord. "Utano" blends dark cello and brass timbres with twinkling electronic percussion for a while, then drops out the techno trappings for a more experimental approach to the cinematic loops and swells that other artists tend to leave in the background. It's refreshing for someone working with beats not to make the beats the primary focus for a change, and Murcof is able to bend and arrange sounds with a composer's rather than dj's ear. The remaining remixes are mostly placid and unremarkable; not an affront to the source material but certainly not as clever as they'd like to be or as necessary. "Una," the second to last of the un-remixed tracks takes symphonic and operatic fragments and glues them to a stuttering dsp-laden beat that is just short of club-friendly, but not so overblown as to draw unneccessary attention to itself. The "Colleen Mix" of "Muim" could easily figure in a Chris Nolen film as its all backwards pianos and heavy string passages that conjure up the grimy noir of "Memento" and the slick isolation of "Insomnia" equally. The remixes are all solid, sometimes taking an ambient detour that's welcome amidst the electrobeats, but Murcof's originals clearly stand out as the best tracks here. If nothing else, Utopia performs its role by making a case for watching for the forthcoming album and possibly for picking up the back catalog.
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Piehead
Mnemosyne's debut album builds slowly with a solid if sleepy foundation of guitar, bass, and drums that wouldn't sound out of place in the Kranky or Constellation stables. The Toronto trio is fronted (if that's really the right word) by experimental guitarist Aidan Baker, whose voice on the title track rises just barely above a whisper in a style reminiscent of early Labradford. But from there, Mnemosyne depart from the somnambulant formula of muted minimalism by swelling guitars up with distortion and kicking in drums and crashing cymbals. The result is a bit darker, more psychadelic, and more varied than their post-rock forebares, but it also results in something that probably has a much wider appeal. It wouldn't be far off to imagine my stoner friends from High School who went to Pink Floyd laser light shows getting seriously into Mnemosyne's hypnotic twirls of guitar and dubbed-out percussion, but recovering goths will also appreciate the atmosphere of tracks like "Dark Grove" and "Unreal Space." Thankfully, Mnemosyne seem less concerned with whether they are impressing the weepy Projekt crowd or the Drag City chin strokers, and they carry on making moody, genre-hopping space rock. Occassionally, as on the 12 minute album closer "Aqualisp," the instrumentation gets a bit too dry and literal, causing the psyche-improv to drift uncomfortably close to jam-band territory where it feels like every instrument needs room for a solo. Luckily, Rodin Columb's straightforward bass holds everything together just long enough for the band to get back on track as they rip into the loudest creshendo (saved somewhat predictably for the end). Though they never really achieve all out ROCK, they do manage to crank the volume, distortion, and delay on everything to give the album's trip a final dose of hash-fueled paranoia. Alhough Mnemosyne can easily be seen as a confluence of influences that have done this sort of thing before, their own take on a soundtrack for that bad-acid trip is well worth exploring. It somehow manages to be both familiar and disorienting at the same time which is kind of creepy, but good.
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Piehead
Having listened to and zoned out on this release at least half a dozen times, it should be obvious what it is that is so compelling about [sic]'s compositions of dusty long drones, deep ambient spaces and bump-in-the-night tension, but it's not. On the one hand, this is difficult listening: all uneasy sounds and dischordant timbres rubbing up against one another to create an ambiguous feeling of dread. On the other hand, for those familiar with the work of like-minded artists like those featured on the quasi-legendary "Isolationism" compilation, [sic] fits perfectly into a already-defined niche of dark, brooding ambient characterized more by its claustrophobia than by its use reflection of space as an expanse. I could tell you that Gorilla Masking Tape is a beautiful, haunting record, or that it's alpha-wave inducing at the right volume, or that it's a perfectly quiet record for people who lead unquiet lives, but none of that really captures the force that these tracks embody. Perhaps the record's most defining characteristic is that it is indeed so malleable that it can be both loud and quiet, both serene and disturbed, both beautiful and terrifying and that it does all of this effortlessly. I often wonder what more can be said about music like this that is both barely there and a force of nature all at once, depending on your volume knob. I always think that it will be impossible for someone to release yet another essential dark ambient disc in a world where artists who do this sort of thing tend to have voluminous discographies of equally affecting work already. I think that, and then I hear a record like Gorilla Masking Tape and it suddenly all sounds fresh and important and essential again and I'm left wanting more. It doesn't get much better than that.
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Leaf
This gap-filler disc from Murcof is Leaf's way to buy time and keep thename fresh before the release of the next proper Murcof album, but it'sno less inspired, all the same. Beginning with a 10 minute epic of filmscore orchestration and minimal techno thump, Utopiaestablishes early on that Murcof is dealing with a larger scope and amore developed tone than many of his contemporaries. Jan Jelenik'sclicky, jazz-spliced remix of "Maiz" is the perfect groovy counterpointto the album's creeping, moody opener. Sutekh gives "Memoria" a tweakedtechno workout with plenty of glitches and squiggles that pop out overthe monotone bassline and piano chord. "Utano" blends dark cello andbrass timbres with twinkling electronic percussion for a while, thendrops out the techno trappings for a more experimental approach to thecinematic loops and swells that other artists tend to leave in thebackground. It's refreshing for someone working with beats not to makethe beats the primary focus for a change, and Murcof is able to bendand arrange sounds with a composer's rather than dj's ear. Theremaining remixes are mostly placid and unremarkable; not an affront tothe source material but certainly not as clever as they'd like to be oras necessary. "Una," the second to last of the un-remixed tracks takessymphonic and operatic fragments and glues them to a stutteringdsp-laden beat that is just short of club-friendly, but not sooverblown as to draw unneccessary attention to itself. The "ColleenMix" of "Muim" could easily figure in a Chris Nolen film as its allbackwards pianos and heavy string passages that conjure up the grimynoir of "Memento" and the slick isolation of "Insomnia" equally. Theremixes are all solid, sometimes taking an ambient detour that'swelcome amidst the electrobeats, but Murcof's originals clearly standout as the best tracks here. If nothing else, Utopia performs its role by making a case for watching for the forthcoming album and possibly for picking up the back catalog.
![](http://brainwashed.com/brain/images/murcof-utopia.jpg)
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Piehead
Having listened to and zoned out on this release at least half a dozentimes, it should be obvious what it is that is so compelling about[sic]'s compositions of dusty long drones, deep ambient spaces andbump-in-the-night tension, but it's not. On the one hand, this isdifficult listening: all uneasy sounds and dischordant timbres rubbingup against one another to create an ambiguous feeling of dread. On theother hand, for those familiar with the work of like-minded artistslike those featured on the quasi-legendary "Isolationism" compilation,[sic] fits perfectly into a already-defined niche of dark, broodingambient characterized more by its claustrophobia than by its usereflection of space as an expanse. I could tell you that Gorilla Masking Tapeis a beautiful, haunting record, or that it's alpha-wave inducing atthe right volume, or that it's a perfectly quiet record for people wholead unquiet lives, but none of that really captures the force thatthese tracks embody. Perhaps the record's most defining characteristicis that it is indeed so malleable that it can be both loud and quiet,both serene and disturbed, both beautiful and terrifying and that itdoes all of this effortlessly. I often wonder what more can be saidabout music like this that is both barely there and a force of natureall at once, depending on your volume knob. I always think that it willbe impossible for someone to release yet another essential darkambient disc in a world where artists who do this sort of thing tend tohave voluminous discographies of equally affecting work already. Ithink that, and then I hear a record like Gorilla Masking Tapeand it suddenly all sounds fresh and important and essential again andI'm left wanting more. It doesn't get much better than that.
![](http://brainwashed.com/brain/images/sic-gorilla_masking_tape.jpg)