On this small CDR run, the long standing power electronics duo of Kevin Tomkins and Paul Taylor (better known as Sutcliffe Jugend) re-reinvent themselves after the more experimental Between Silences album. While that release consisted of multiple, subtle shorter tracks, this disc is only five songs, bookended by two massive pieces, and calls to mind the ferocity of their older work as Sutcliffe Jugend.
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With a nearly equal ratio of songs and atmospherics, this second album from Atlanta’s Deerhunter falls just shy of greatness. The group meanders a bit, searching for what to say at a crossroads somewhere between mood and melody. When they do find their footing, however, there’s a lot to be excited about.
If a random Turkish-English dictionary isn't lying to me, then "kurtlanmak" is a word that can be translated as "become infested with worms" or "to become agitated... go stir crazy." The definition is fitting for the music. Kurtlanmak was originally released on Utech records in an edition of 200 copies; this release features a remastered version of that track and a dreary, visceral companion piece that slowly works its way into the body and begins to dissolve it.
This review is long overdue. This disc has been slipping up and down the pile of music that I feel has to be covered for a while now. Whenever I find myself getting around to playing it, I’m left thinking what an incredible debut release this is, and that the word needs to be spread. So finally five months later I’ve gotten my finger out. This four-tracker was recorded at Glasgow's Nice & Sleazy and captures the drums/guitar duo of Jack Figgis and Gordon McDougal in a form that belies the fact that this is their first release. The playing scarcely contains the music’s constructive but experimental nature and the very obvious sense of molten energetic live playing.
Ten different covers exist for this album, each of them photographs taken by Christy Romanick. Having seen all of them laid out on a table at the Brainwaves festival, for which this recording was made, I had trouble believing the liner notes when I read she used no digital means to compose these photos. The purity of the images matches perfectly the music Windy and Carl wrote for this album. The serenity of the autumn season suggested by the title is communicated perfectly in the first seconds and the frozen beauty of the recording, like Romanick's photos, is unique and stunning.
Like the title implies, the songs on this mostly electronic compilation share a similar chilly aesthetic. They also share a tendency to stray into dark territory, making this collection an excellent soundtrack for an eerie winter’s night.
Through the album’s vein-like title and the glorious red tissue of this disc’s gatefold, Menche is being quite insistent about the subject matter of Jugularis; the human heart and its physical functions. Pumping through a myriad of veins and arteries, this album is the sound of blood propelled around the body by the steady drive of this vital organ. Except instead of the familiar and secure pulse of its beat, we are invited to hear the mini-rhythms of blood vessels driving and populating these three untitled behemoth sized tracks.
The title of this new Tigerbeat 6 sampler doubles as a good pick-up line to use at the next DragonCon. It features 20 tracks drawn from the current stable of TB6 talent; familiar faces like Kid606 and Knifehandchop rubbing shoulders with up-and-comers such as Drop the Lime, Phon.O and Eats Tapes. I'm happy to report that the TB6 bratty punk-tronica aesthetic is in full, frenetic effect.
Normally live albums fail to capture the magic of being at the show, instead they end up as souvenirs for those who were there or extra materials for completists to collect like archaeological specimens. However, this CD documenting a meeting of two legends of minimalism is a beautiful recording that seems to capture much of the magic that went on that night. Maybe those who were there would contest this statement but An Aural Symbiotic Mystery is still a stunning composition.
