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- Albums and Singles
Clinic's members are notoriously shy, not identifyingthemselves in the liner notes here, and wearing doctor's masks inrecent press photos. But with this release, they are stretching out interms of exposure, even appearing on Craig Kilborn last week. And theyshould promote the hell out of this record: "Walking With Thee" is anamazing sophomore album release, showing the true potential of Clinicas innovators of modern music. 'Harmony' kicks off the album with animpressive start, part 'Tubular Bells', part harmonica-based bluesproject. Elsewhere, their sound reflects a more diverse musicalbackground, allowing the band to produce truly original mood music ofthe highest quality. Ade Blackburn, Clinic's vocalist, is the real starof "Walking," as on each track, he puts his vocal frailties anddynamics on display for all to hear, though it is hardly a detriment totheir sound. It's a hypnotic bouillabaisse, a recipe for disaster forsome bands, but Clinic make it all sound so easy. Overall, a slightdeparture for the band vice previous releases as this one is a littlemore consumer friendly (read: marketable and stomach-able for themasses), and it's a little lazier than their more avant-garde fair, butstill just as brilliant as their back catalogue. Highly recommended. - Read More
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- Albums and Singles
Rich Kid is his distorted-ragga-jungle project, and I have tosay it kicks enormous ass. I suppose some people might not like theragga part of it, but I love it; nothing like angry Jamaicans and fuzzyreggae samples. All of his tracks are excellent, and for thosenew-school Panacea fans, he offers a "Panacea remix" of an oldBloodclaat Gangsta Youth (aka DJ Scud) track. I suppose that warrantsthe huge "PANACEA" on the cover... trying to sucker in fans, anyone? Asfor DJ Scud, his stuff is wonderful as always, but I have to say I'm alittle disappointed on how little of it there is that's actually new.0nly one track is new, the appropriately titled "Stormtrooper." Hisstuff is noisy and balls-out as usual, and his last track (from the'Gun Court' 7" with Shizuo) veers on being sheer noise. Very good stuff(but we've heard it before! Give us MORE!) from the lovable TobyReynolds (how's that for a hardcore name?). A wonderful and worthypurchase, but you might want to think about it if you already own thevinyl that contains the source of most of the tracks here. - samples:
- DJ Scud - Badman Time
- Rich Kid - Version
- Bloodclaat Gangsta Youth - Kill or Be Killed (Panacea remix)
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- Albums and Singles
Utilizing silenceas well as dramatically somber horn and string arrangements, thefinished product serves as an appropriate backdrop to Denes' dark storyof cannibalism/vampirism and imperfect love. In some of the mostgraphic scenes, the music becomes far more lush and unbearably sad whenplaced in context, such as with the aptly named "Killing Theme". Here,strings and woodwinds compete with the horrors of torture andmutilation, leaving the listener chilled and uneasy to say the least.However, this is where the soundtrack's flaw lies. Without the benefitof viewing the movie, the temptation exists to skip through the lessexciting tracks, such as "Maid Theme (End)". Clocking in at just alittle over 40 minutes, the CD also includes an extensive 24 pagebooklet featuring scenes from the film, which is a wonderful treatsince so few record companies seem willing to put money into such"frivolities." I'm a sucker for packaging. - samples:
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The stylesflip-flop all around between groovy, laid back, super-cool vocal tuneslike "Bluesbreaker," to the campy, kitchy soon-to-be classic, "BahamaBanana," beefy instrumentals like the album opener and first single,"Enter Spacebar," stunning, monumental digital orchestral movementslike "Himnalalala," and "Happy Sunny Song," short guitar interludes, tothe cute yet questionably motivated album closer, "Superman." It's nosurprise that with the schizophrenic variety of styles and saturatedinstrumentation this album took six months to record, even with thehelp of super producer/guru Thor of Thule Musik Studios and despite theduo's decade of extensive experience in the Icelandic music scene. Atany given moment, the songs bear a multitude of influences, like thevocal styles of Can's Damo Suzuki, basslines as fierce as some ofPrince's strongest hooks, hyper psychedelics from cheap organs orping-pong old-school game-like sounds of Kraftwerk. Toss in the quirkyartwork like a cover which features Scandinavian-looking children ofthe mid-80s pasted into a rank basement discotheque and a booklet whichfeatures collages of photos with black-and-white stock imagery and theend result is undeniably one of the most unique yet entertainingreleases I've heard in a long time. What are they feeding theseIcelandics? - samples:
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- Albums and Singles
Each of the 11 individual artist discs are limited to 250 forsale copies and the 12th disc will be a compilation of tracks from allof the artists. The only way to get any of these is to get them all viaa subscription. I took the financial plunge and I'm already happy Idid. ARC and Aidan Baker first collaborated at Toronto's The AmbientPing weekly live event. This disc features 56 minutes worth of materialrecorded there this year with additional overdubbing by Aidan Baker.Richard Baker and Christopher Kukiel lay down tribal / Middle Easternrhythms in the form of drums, percussion, kalimba, djembe, dumbec andtabla while Aidan handles guitar and various other instruments."Transform" sets the tone as richly textured ambiance and activerhythms blend, the percussion slowly melting away by the 11th minuteleaving just the dreamy background loop. At this point, comparisons toStars of the Lid are unavoidable but warranted. On "Arise" the rolesare reversed as the lazy guitar chords and frayed notes (I'd almostswear I hear whale song in there somewhere) are sparingly flecked withthe gentlest plunks of percussion. "Writhe" and "Slight Return/Raze"seem to add more buried tape samples and miscellaneous otherabstractions, mixing and alternating the ambient and rhythmic elementswith perfect grace. Lovely, absolutely lovely. The best thing youhaven't heard so far this year. The next disc is 'The Canadian SpellingProgram' by Hellothisisalex. Oh, and those other better known names? Acertain San Francisco based duo as Vague Terrain Recordings and V/Vm.Make some room in your budget right now, and visit www.pieheadrecords.com for series subscription info. - samples:
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- Albums and Singles
The reversal occurs in"Particle and Transfiguration" finding the cornet giving a re-occuringbattle cry over top of the controlled chaos of the drums and theoccasional stab on the vibes, which I'm pretty sure were notoverdubbed. "Lifelines" is a rolling, catchy vibe-augmented compositionwith the rhythms shifting between 6/8 and straight double time, and aparade sounding bass drum that gets you right in the chest. "ExponentRed" presents a slippery, repetitive synth bass line in which themelody is played off of while tightly tuned drums groove along nicely."Two Concepts for the Storage of Light" begins by sounding almost as alullaby from the vibes with cymbals swells, gradually building withunison lines with the cornet which plays along nicely over crashingdrums. About halfway through the tunes 9+ minutes, the second 'concept'appears with a groovy synth bass line, fast and busy swing feel on thedrums and cornet themes and solos. The busy and noisier "Memoirs of aSpace Traveller" closes with a showcase of Taylor's beautiful nylonstring guitar work over what sounds like a respirator (space helmet?).Recorded and mixed by John McEntire at his Soma Electronic MusicStudios with help on a few tracks from Ken Brown, this disc uses thefree jazz idiom with different elements and ideas brought into fold, asthe title suggests, making for some interesting listening. - samples:
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- Albums and Singles
samples:
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- Nate Smith
- Albums and Singles
Much moreoffensively bad than the M. Behrens' disc, the pastiche of music thatis not even Marchetti's own is pretentious in concept and anunenjoyable listen. Though I understand the irony of using the tool ofan audio collage, which is an important part of the history ofexperimental music, and comprising this collage partially ofexperimental music itself, I find very little value in the year 2002 bylistening to this sort of experiment - if it were created 40 years ago,perhaps, but not today. The disc's pretentiousness is increased bymaking the 9-second silences between pieces their own indexed trackswith titles like "Silence Simple" and "Silence du Chaman Blanc."Marchetti writes, "For a while, I have been reading 'Shamanism andArchaic States of Ecstasy'...in which I found descriptions ofrituals...these were not far from a place of spirit that I have wantedto share. The composition is able to make the listener live with mymythology, more aware of the world's potential forces." I understandMarchetti's wanting to convey his own world to the listener, but bylistening to musics that aren't his own, I don't feel enlightened byMarchetti's world, nor do I feel like I want to be.
The M. Behrens disc is less pretentious than Marchetti's, but stillvery self-absorbed. The pieces, which follow some sort of World War IIera technology battle theme, are comprised wholly of Behrens' olderworks that he's re-evaluated and re-processed for this project. Theextensive, personal liner notes by Behrens explain a good deal aboutthe processes used to create these pieces and the concepts which he'sintertwined within them - mostly coming from a book called "The SecretWar." But since most listeners haven't read this book, and a good dealof listeners don't know the early M. Behrens pieces that he's samplingfrom, the concepts and processes become much less important to thelistener than they are to the artist. The music itself is less annoyingto listen to than Marchetti's collage, but on its own it's not verygripping, and its unclear how it fits in with his elaborate concept. Alarge part of the disc is so quiet that it requires serious attentionand concentration for long stretches of time. When sounds finally dorise to a normal level, they're not interesting enough to be worth theeffort. Intransitive should be commended for releasing conceptual workslike these, and much of the rest of the Intransitive catalog is quiteinteresting, but these two discs are too entrenched in the artists'personal worlds to be very interesting, even to a listener who'swilling to give them a try. - samples:
- M. Brehens - 1939
- M. Brehens - 1941
- M. Brehens - 1943
- Lionel Marchetti - Cinq
- Lionel Marchetti - Sept
- Lionel Marchetti - Un
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- Rob Devlin
- Albums and Singles
All songs getthe Giant Sand treatment, though, which makes for capturing music. Noone likes a cover album where the artists try to sound just like theoriginal, and Giant Sand do anything but that. Black Sabbath's 'IronMan' is realized as a loping lament about a lost soul rather than theshredding document of heavy metal it once was. 'King of the Road'becomes a modern lounge track, Nick Cave's 'Red Right Hand' sparserthan the original and therefore infinitely scarier. Every song soundslike the world Gelb lives in: shifting sands in the dark light, dirtycantinas, and hunted men. It's quintessential Arizona desert music, thesoundtrack to the misunderstood outcast movie of our time. As always,there's Gelb's haunting voice, somewhere around the darker part ofBruce Springsteen and the more understandable Neil Young, making themost of every note. And the revolving cast of characters this timeincludes Polly Jean Harvey, whose 'Plants and Rags' is also covered,and Neko Case. The last three tracks are recorded live, including onecomposition from Gelb's album "Confluence" featuring Jim Fairchild(Grandaddy) on guitar and running well over nine minutes. It's a veryexciting record, full of interesting sounds and songs. It's also one ofGiant Sand's strongest records, showing the innovation and range theyare capable of, even with music that isn't theirs to begin with. - samples:
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- Graeme Rowland
- Albums and Singles
- Graeme Rowland
- Albums and Singles
Matthews sometimes just loops a two tone fragment,at others crushes the guitar into thin spidery high pitcheddigi-screech. Veering from rattling unwinding machine cog splintersthrough short patches of sparse plucking hum calm to loose freeformthunderous excavation textures, they stay just ahead of thrummingabstraction with some odd but simple rhythmic moves that skip merrilyaround complex dissonant edges, unfurling repetitive patterns,coalescing and fragmenting. They make a fine unfettered noise and knowhow to effectively build and release tension. Whilst "She Is Nice"charges forth in hectic flux, "Builder Bloomsberg" opens with arepeated dipping strum over click clack loops that slowly morph into afluctuating bipolar drone where the sound sources seem to merge. ThenMoor builds an ever more discordant fractious guitar onslaught overMatthews' pulsating loops. The track climaxes with the computer rippingthe strings from the guitar and strangling an unsuspecting studioengineer. So that didn't really happened but since this is a recordingimagination can color the events it portrays. Kaffe Matthews' last solorecording to reach these ears 'CD Cecile,' seemed to dispense with theviolin that she'd previously used as a sound source, at least in anyrecognisable form, so it's quite good to hear her take on the guitarhere. Mostly guitar remains recognisable as such, but occasionally, ason the low drone eerie ambience that concludes "Here Is Your Coat," thelaptop textures seem to hold sway. This would probably be much more funif you could see how Andy Moor's attacking the guitar as he's quite avisual performer if his days in Dogfaced Hermans are anything to go by.Something I find a little strange about recordings of improvisation isthat they often grow with repeated listenings. This might seem tocontradict the essence of improvisation, which is instantaneous actionand reaction, but perhaps makes sense of the point of actuallyreleasing improv recordings in the first place. At first this CD seemedto out stay its welcome at almost the full seventy minute mark, butafter a few plays seemed to be over in a flash. Maybe the machine cogswere the atonal sounds of time compacting and unravelling.Occasionally, as on the Instant Chavires gig segment of "Here Is YourCoat," it's almost like a lighter fleet footed cousin of the heavyrecord shop emptying storm of the FM Einheit / Caspar Brotzmannencounter preserved on 'Merry Christmas.' If you ever wanted to hearthe spikiness of the Ex in a much less anchored setting then this issomething you should hear and I'd also recommend that fans of SonicYouth's more wayward freakout tendencies check this out. - samples:
- For sound samples go and have a look at unsounds.com as Graeme's feeling especially lazy this week.
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