- Richard SanFilippo
- Albums and Singles
Pardon thepun, but the sample is a good indication of the entire album, cold andstark, at times interrupted by dark fluctuating rumbles with theslightest hint of a beat. Intriguing vocal samples, like a Germandomestic argument in "The Arguement" and old recordings of secretagents in the title track, pop in and out of the recordings, allexpertly timed. The music glides effortlessly from electronic drone andnoise to what could very well be actual instruments such as organs andviolins, but are most likely sampled, and the album still manages toretain its penchant for peculiarity. Cruelty Campaign's strength liesin illustrating the oddness of the modern world. They distill soundsand noises that are part of the every day, and often taken for granted,and incorporate them into dark and gripping pieces best described as asoundtrack for the Earth of a parallel dimension. 'Distressed Signals'is without a doubt an exceptional postmodern pastiche as it cobblestogether numerous found sources, including the cd's artwork, into adocument that many electronic bands would do well to learn from.
samples:
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- Graeme Rowland
- Albums and Singles
There is certainlyenough guitar feedback screaming from this stunning Fat Cat Splinter toconvince most people that Xinlisupreme are familiar with at least onelevel of musical excess, which is appropriate considering that theirname could be shortened to xs. They consider their music to be tender,strange, spiritual and violent. It's also hypnotically mind altering.It's a rollercoaster ride drenched in headcleaning melodic feedbackthat'll very likely satisfy anyone who still hankers after a mythicalfollow up to My Bloody Valentine's benchmark 'Loveless'. There are alsonods to the dense freenoise of Sonic Youth's early rock, butXinlisupreme have distinctly over the top tendencies which somehowcould only have arisen in Japan. They often centre tracks on onemonstrous looping distorted guitar riff around which lighter rapidlyshifting sonic satellites spin. Stir in primitive hotwired drum machinerhythms, some deliciously discordant piano runs and occasional buriedmumbled vocals and you have a recipe for the most exciting popnoise ofthe first quarter of the year. The opening salvo 'Kyoro' sounds like a cousin of 'Death Valley '69'swamping an overloaded drum machine battling with an imaginary TV themefor the Feedback Olympics. 'Goodbye For All' slows the pace with amassive loping riff that drops out to two small repeated notes beforelurching back full on. Vocals appear for the first time on the fourthtrack, the yearning 'All You Need Is Love Was Not True' whichpreviously appeared on a 7" late last year and marks perhaps theirpoppiest tendencies. The album title comes from the only song withdecipherable lyrics, 'Amaryllis' which is relatively reflective, thecalm in the eye of the hurricane. The standout tracks emerge towardsthe end. Both open relatively calmly before big noise breaks out. Theeerily discordant 'You Died In The Sea' is only topped by the longesttrack, 'Fatal Sisters Opened Umbrella' which starts out dark and tiredwith submerged emotive vocals then lights a long fuse which ignitesskyward fireworks for the biggest noise eruption yet, a feedbackfairground bliss out. 'Nameless Song' winds out with sparse tablapercussion and some two tone wind instrument but nevertheless can'tresist a rush of guitar pyrotechnics latterly. The only new album I'veplayed as much as this so far this year is the Elders of Zion's "DawnRefuses to Rise". Both bands use very different means to the end ofrocking out big time minus cliché, and both embody very differentaspects of the apocalyptic.
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- Administrator
- Albums and Singles
The star of this compilation is Tarmvred, who contributes two excellent tracks: "Subsnow" and "Drifter," both of which are great tracks, but not as cool as those on Subfusc simply because they're shorter and SIDstation-less. Oh well... I was very pleasantly surprised by Antigen Shift, whose track "Epoch" was a nice electronic-tribal thingie which was very entertaining. Same with V.O.S., who contribute an excellent dark ambient skull-f*ck piece that, like all good dark ambient tracks, seems to just swallow you whole. Wilt's tracks are interesting, and sound somewhat like an intergalactic space-rat trying to nibble and claw its way through your bedroom walls. (No drugs were used in the listening of this album or the writing of this review.) I was disappointed, however, by Kreptkrept, Re:pro vs. Acclimate, and C2, who all contribute substandard beaty-industro-techno-type tracks that failed to catch my ear. A well-rounded compilation, however, and definitely something to keep an eye out for.
samples:
- located at http://www.adnoiseam.net/label/mp3/mp3.htm
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- Rob Devlin
- Albums and Singles
Listening to "Songs," it's clearwhy Shibayama is so well-liked in his home country, and so worthy ofnotice here. The music of Nagisa Ni Te is often thrown in with thegenre called folk-psyche, and although I hate labels, it's a fittingone. Slow, languid guitar lines develop a firm structure, building to adramatic crescendo of voice, guitar, and drums. It's a productivepairing, Shibayama and his partner in Nagisa, Masako Takeda. The musicis soaring, powerful, and the vocals are haunting, though I can'tunderstand a word. The melodies are impressive, too, reminiscent ofAmerican post-rock music without copying or being derivative. TheHallelujahs, by comparison, are more psychedelic rock, but equally asaccomplished for the time they were recording (1985-88). The unreleasedtrack included here, 'I'll Follow Soon, No Matter Where You Are' is asurreal number, sounding like CSNY mixed with the theme to Top Gun, butstill a great little pop tune. A great introduction to those who havenever heard of Shibayama or his music, "Songs" is the kind of legacyany musician would be proud of, as well as a strong collection ofunreleased tracks for true fans.
samples:
- The True Sun (Live)
- I'll Follow Soon, No Matter Where You Are (The Hallelujahs)
- Far Cry
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- Administrator
- Albums and Singles
I'll get started by stating my basic problem with Somatic Responses: they never really change. After hearing their first album, 'Circumflex,' I eagerly picked up some earlier 12"s and such by the Healy brothers, and they all sort of blended together. Their sound is unique, but almost to a point where all their songs sound the same. However, I did say they managed to innovate, and that is a very good thing. Melodies and strings come into play, including a few beatless ambient bits, which help to break up the album. The beats tend to be a little bit harsher and more complex than before, and are as schizophrenic as ever. Beat-wise, these guys are impeccable. When it comes down to it, though, this album doesn't really present anything new. If you're a fan of Somatic Responses, you will adore this album; if you enjoy them but aren't fanatic enough to wolf up the entire discography, I'd recommend just sticking with 'Circumflex.' (P.S. - the entire album is available at http://c8.com/c8/tunes/tunes-misc.html - buy it if you like it!)
samples:
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- Richard SanFilippo
- Albums and Singles
Pounding, heartbeat-like drums, scathing, heavilytreated vocals are reminiscent of other bands in the genre, but 'WarWithin Breath' does not rely on typical power electronic tropes, suchas impenetrable walls of noise that sound like television tuned tostatic. ExOrder uses rhythm (often militaristic) and bass to theiradvantage, to heighten a sense of tension and to hint at conventionalsong structure, only to rip it apart and blow it up. The noise isnuanced and the band uses repetition to their advantage, as you feelstuck at times, controlled, intensified by drones and fluctuations withan almost hypnotic affect, especially on "Crawling From The Ground".Every track, however, is distinct, you never feel like you're listeningto one long tedious song. 'War Within Breath' examines war, genocide,fanaticism, and resistance, the de facto themes of most powerelectronic projects, but they never come down in favor of any singleideology. ExOrder's 'War Within Breath,' rather hopes to express theviolence inherent to humanity. ExOrder typifies all that is best in thecurrent, and glutted, European power electronics scene.
samples:
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- Administrator
- Albums and Singles
A collection of previouslyreleased material available on the rare 12" EP or odd release as wellas new material never released, "Reclamation" is pretty good. Walker ispart of the school I like: minimal sounds, mainly percussive beats andminimal keyboards, with little or no added flourishes that detract fromthe overall mix. Unfortunately, the sonic palette limits the musicsomewhat, as is found on this release. A lot of the work is repetitive,with the same beats per minute and tempo, though it is a cut above therest in terms of composition. Walker makes the most of every track,throwing in interesting samples and making them part of the beat ratherthan sitting by hoping they make an impact on the listener. Thestandout tracks are ones where Walker breaks the mold he usually setsfor himself, manufacturing stuttering beats of fancy and grooves thatalternate bass notes of the lowest frequencies to get your ass moving.As a collection of previous work, this is definitely worth hearing, butI look forward to hearing what Walker produces next, as well as the newreleases on his label, Persona.
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- Nate Smith
- Albums and Singles
Improvised andrecorded live in 2001, the disc is a 40-minute set of processed samplesand electronic noise, split into 3 long nameless tracks. The first twosegments are characterized by layers of frenetic noise over a repeatingprocessed melody or percussion loop; the final track is theleast-structured and noisiest, with cut up samples of heavy metalguitar mixed in with the electronics. Of all three, the first track isthe most interesting: A 5-beat repeating drum sample creates a bed forother drum samples to build upon, which are manipulated to the pointwhere they sound like a free-jazz drum solo. But on the whole, theperformance is a bit less than stunning. Obviously this is not meant tobe the quintessential release for either Merzbow or Jazzkammer. But,like Pan Sonic's live-in-95 CDs released last year, it kind of begs thequestion, Why release this at all? How many live recordings of abstractelectronic noise can a person listen to? The argument can be made thatit's interesting because it's a collaboration. This may be true, butwith the exception of Carsten Nicolai's recent studio collaborationswith Ryoji Ikeda and Mika Vainio, most collaborations of this sort areless interesting than the artists' own works (for instance, Pan Sonicand Bruce Gilbert's "IBM" release from last year). And since it'simpossible to tell which sounds are being created by Merzbow and whichare being created by Jazzkammer, the purpose is somewhat lost. Thoughthe disc is far from mediocre, unless you really enjoy listening to theintensity of Merzbow all day long, I can't imagine this being in heavyrotation in your CD player. There are a lot better discs of electronicnoise improv out there, including by the artists' themselves.
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- Administrator
- Albums and Singles
After several listens to thisdisc, I've come to think of it as abstract audio painting as most ofthe tracks tend to have a lot of layering and overlappings happening(at times very subtle) with such elements as cornet, piano, guitar,voice, bass, synth patches and various sound manipulation. Severalcollaborators are featured bringing their angle to the mix. Sam Prekopappears on the opener "Time Coded Single" with prominent and repetitiveguitar lines which flow nicely with a conversing, at times distantpiano. Matthew Lux (bassist Isotope 217) appears on "Strange Logics"providing what at times feels like the percussive element of the trackagainst layered cornet long tones and bursts. He again appears on "TheShaping Light" along with Ken Brown, Tania Bowers, Casey Rice andMichael Kandel. For me, this track has the most direction, perhaps dueto the number of collaborators working together. John Herndon appearson the closing, title track providing background reverby drums againsta subtle, sweeping, rapid tremolo sound, cornet stabs, various swellsand creepy whispers. This disc definitely makes for some cool headphonelistening. - Read More
- Mark Weddle
- Albums and Singles
Subtitled "An EmergencyBroadcast", Greif specifically borrows from Orson Welles panic inducingradio broadcast version of H.G. Wells "The War of The Worlds". But theidea is expanded, metamorphosed into a metaphor for humanity's warswith ourselves (note the change to singular in Greif's title) andtechnology: disinformation, technological "advancements" and organicversus digital life. And ultimately, someone or something out therewill receive the signals we project into deep space and come todispatch of us with ease. The 55 minutes is conceptually divided intothree 3 track parts - 'exhale', 'meeting' and 'aftermath' - but itflows as one continuous piece. Greif's approach here is similar to"Alice", only far less narrative and far more obscured as his soundcollages characterize the data glut. Often fractured bits of reports,speech and Conet Project style number station transmissions are foldedinto found sounds, static interference and electronic textures. Attimes it's disorienting, frustrating and confusing for you, thelistener, as if you were desperately trying to tune in a frequency tofind out what the hell is going on. Other times it's soothingly ambientand carefree such as the culminating liquid gurgle fade, as though nomatter what, even if they wipe us out or we wipe ourselves out, itwon't much matter. Another great idea skillfully brought to fruition byMr. Greif.
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- Richard SanFilippo
- Albums and Singles
Presentperfect uses loops in order to illustrate theimperfections of analog. From the band's website: "Even the sine wave,and the seductive curvature of science, in its universe of ideals, cannot be considered analog. For every complete cycle there isdiscontinuity and interruption. It is not the amount of something butthe amount of nothing that distinguishes pitch." While the idea isintriguing and the music attempts to explore and express some of thescience and mathematics behind electronic music, in the end, it's notfocused enough on the music itself. I found little here to beemotionally, or intellectually, engaging. The first track, "WintersTuesday," at about sixteen minutes, could easily have been pared downto half that time and managed to make it's point—the drones becomeexcessive and border on monotonous, the kiss-of-death for ambientmusic. The same can be said for many of the other tracks, whoseexcessive length create a sense of detachment, you wait for it to moveon, hope it moves on, and it rarely does. But there are some greatmoments on this CD. It may be worth picking up solely for theunfortunately too short "Digital Bath," which actually moves toward abeat-oriented and noisier realm. It was enough to make me wonder howgreat a rhythmic Presentperfect album would sound. The surroundingtracks just do not sustain a momentum that propels me through the albumas a listener. In the end I felt much like the drones on this CD: flatand distant.
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