- Nate Smith
- Albums and Singles
- Nate Smith
- Albums and Singles
The pieces are all pretty varied, andwith the exception of the first piece, "It's Like...," an irritatingpastiche of American idiom and slang voiced by Mandy Morrison, they areall highly intriguing listens. Two of the pieces are based around thesounds of public transportation: "57A" layers sounds of a train and aconductor in Vienna, and "68th Street" layers turnstiles and subwaystation sounds from New York. In both of these pieces, Gal processesthe recordings just enough to make it apparent that he's manipulatingthem, without covering up the sounds themselves. An unintrusive highpitched drone pervades through "68th Street," giving it an eerienessthat might be familiar to some MTA riders. "Tong-hua Yie-shi" is theonly non-manipulated piece on the disc, a straight field recording thatGal made walking through a Taiwanese market. There are an incrediblenumber of stereos blaring in the market, but Gal's mic is sufficientlydirectional that as he walks, he picks up each song, from theBackstreet Boys to the strangest Taiwanese pop, with the clarity ofchanging the dial on a radio. The most interesting sounds on the disc,though, happen when Gal lets himself completely process the fieldrecordings until he renders them virtually unrecognizable. "Bee Bee" is"based on the humming of the Brooklyn Bridge." It's hard to tell whatthis means or what sounds he took from the bridge - passing cars,maybe? - but he creates a 15 minute ghostly, ambient crescendo thatexpands itself not unlike Ligeti's famous 'Requiem' from the movie 2001(It's interesting but probably unintentional that the two pieces basedin New York have such dark moods). "lv, nv" is the golden track on thedisc: "The sound of money and slot machines as acoustical ghosts of acasino in Las Vegas." The sounds of the casino are barely existent inthis piece, replaced by their own processed resonations. It's hard tobelieve that sounds this relaxing and pleasant can be created from thechaotic din of a gambling house. What really makes the disc as a wholesuch an incredible piece of work is that it's clear from the brief butinformative liner notes that Gal is excited by the naturally occurringworld of sound and music: "The personal discovery of music withinnature as well as within the routines of everyday life keepsfascinating me." His fascination can be infectious, and if you allowyourself to get caught up in Gal's world-as-music, the CD becomes anengaging series of small sonic journeys.
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- Graeme Rowland
- Albums and Singles
In fact Silas fits in so well that I end up wondering whetherthe sci-fi writer story could be a cover for yet another Jones and/orWilliams noise entity even though they assure me that this is not so.Just take for instance the opening child's toy chime, out of time synthsquelches and closing door slam of 'View from a Room' which could allquite easily be deployed the same way by Pendro. Named in remembranceof a 1975 tube disaster, 'Moorgate' revolves around a wondrously densenoise drone of the kind so loved by Berkowitz, Lake and Dahmer,shuffling like steam train shunting. 'Warlock Hill' has a brighterfeel, with an uplifing rising keyboard line and pleasant little goodtrip pings. Even though the title 'Setting the Clinch' is pure FflintCentral, this track moves to a simple dancebeat with distant echoingghost traces of early Non. Much of "Lilliput", especially thedecelerating backwards voices and percussion of the title track, has afading photograph feel, like a partial shadow of half glimpsed memoryof something too shocking to bring to full consciousness. 'Lilliput'itself could actually be 'Setting the Clinch' played in reverse throughsome dirty effects. This is perhaps the spookiest Fflint Centralrelease I've heard. The 'Garden of Pale Children' is a nightmarish walkthrough the dimly lit tangled limbs of tortured miscreants singingtheir unfortunate spirit songs and is a track Coil would be proud of.'Chamber 7 Vat 3' closes the door to Silas' disturbing world with ahorrific rotting futuremachine belch which I could imagine working verywell as background music to the tense scene in 'Aliens' where theydiscover the alien hive. If you are yet to dip your toes into the fetidpool of the FFlinty Ones then this and 'The Oxide Heresies' of Pendroboth make good starters that should leave you wanting to hear more.
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- Graeme Rowland
- Albums and Singles
These two mixes of the title song to afilm about a small Alabama community are very much in a retro VinceClarke / Erasure mould. I'm much more taken with the reoccurring themesof the emotive instrumentals that Vienna based composer Gammon providesfor the bulk of this half hour soundtrack to a 22 minute filmconcerning everyday life in a quiet quilting community presumablybereft of hard ass power electronics performances. This lilting suitebubbles along in a way which ought to appeal to fans of the lightermore dancefloor orientated beat driven side which those fluffy suited'gay music' troubadours Coil displayed on tunes like "Protection" andthe themes from 'gay film maker' Derek Jarman's "Blue". Much of themelody comes from what I think is a harmonica, but it sounds more likemelodica in the context of Gammon's beats. Even though the closingbackbone mix of Khan's "Stitches" opens up a bass synth rhythm thatinitially sounds like something Wir might've discarded as too obviousin the early nineties, the vocals are just too 'gay' for even someBrain reviewers. Played over this bass line, Kid Congo Powers' briefslide guitar fills also begin to bizarrely recall shapes that nighthave loomed on a Wir "First Letter" out-take, although this track ismuch more linear and mundane. I'd be curious to hear more from Gammon,especially if he was exploring more experimental avenues. In timehonoured Brain tradition I'm left thinking that perhaps this elegantbut less than essential music would sound more poignant in the contextof the film? And hopefully Eigentone are selling it for less than fullprice, as five instrumental variations on a theme and two versions ofthe same track don't really add up to a full album.
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- Rob Devlin
- Albums and Singles
Founding guitarist Paul Sinclair left the group in1996, after their first major tour, and four shows into their touropening for Swervedriver, bassist Steve Peruzzi disappeared. Undaunted,the band continued, and with the return of Sinclair recorded this,their third proper LP. The return of Sinclair has truly rejuvenated theband, as "Sound" is the most cohesive and striking release Sianspherichas ever put to tape. True, if you don't much like space rock, fuzzyguitar, vocals you can hardly hear, lots of delay, or Sianspheric,chances are this release will not floor you. But if you have even amild like of any of those things, this release is definitely for you.Gorgeous melodies abound, like on "To Myself" and"Childrenrunningthroughovergrowntallgrass," and most songs on therecord take what seems like an inordinately long time to reach an apex.Once the track climaxes, though, it's worth it. Sianspheric are alsothe first candidate for my new phrase, "pulling a Mogwai," where on"Tous Les Soirs" ("all the nights") everything starts off quietlyenough before punishing your ears for daring to listen. In fact, thequiet pretty moments are almost in abundance here, more so than on anyother Sianspheric release. It's easy for bands to attempt this soundand fail miserably. Happily, Sianspheric's success in the pastculminates in this roster and album. Another fine release from a bandthat could have imploded but stuck it out.
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- Nate Smith
- Albums and Singles
The liner notes make it a point to note that thesounds have not been altered or processed after recording: "What youhear is exactly what the audience heard." That's only partially true,as listening to this disc in your bedroom is going to have a muchdifferent effect than it probably had on the audience in the chapel.That being said, the pieces on the disc are all texturally rich, warmthough electronic, and each evolves slowly and resolutely over time outof drones, noise, tape hiss, and the reverberations of the chapel. Ofthe five pieces, the first, "Figure 2.01," is the most hauntinglybeautiful. A low drone builds slowly over the 17 minute piece (mostlikely from Hudak), underneath wind-like washes of sounds that echo thestorm outside. Eventually the washes give way to static and the popsand clicks of Lescalleet's tape machine. "Figure 2.04" is anotherhighlight: a low moan permeates underneath bell-like tape loops untilboth are buried under escalating noise and hiss. Lescalleet workswithin an analog medium, manipulating and amplifying tape noise and thesounds of the chapel itself in real time on reel-to-reel tape. It'snice to see someone utilizing the reel-to-reel; even though it might bea clumsy and awkward tool by today's standards, it's a uniqueinstrument with a long historical track record and in live performanceis much more interesting to watch than the glow of the apple from apowerbook. Though the static and noise that Lescalleet creates wouldn'tbe very interesting without the backing of Hudak's tones and drones,the fact that you can hear Lescalleet working his instrument on the CDmakes this disc a step above most live recordings. Still, it's apparentthat no listen to this disc can duplicate hearing it live in thechapel.
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- Rob Devlin
- Albums and Singles
Thecrescendoes are often laidback, never reaching a totally satisfyingrelease, but instead subtlely raising eyebrows with an interestingchange. After a series of EPs and a full-length on Temporary Residenceand a full-length on Resonant, Tarentel released this, their thirdproper full-length, on San Francisco's Neurot Recordings. And what isnew? Well, this time, the drums are a lot less present to start with,at least more than they have been in the past. Tarentel never reallysettle on one sound, as experimentation is a major tenet to theirmusical manifesto. More attention is paid to atmospherics on "Order,"which makes for a far more synthetically organic sound, if that makesany sense. The addition of human voices is eerily used, layered on topof a bed of piano, bass, and keyboards. The most frightening part isthe addition of ghostly whispers here and there, with weird noises likecables banging together added for effect. It's Tarentel's scariestrecord yet, but also their seemingly most planned and structuredrelease to date. The more experimental they get, the more need there isfor a definite matrix to play in. Every move here seems calculated,something I never would have expected. And with four compositions overthe 8 minute mark, "Order" is also classic Tarentel, with a few shortertracks thrown in for added flavors. Overall, this release is more ofthe same from Tarentel. But sometimes more of the same is the bestmedicine. samples:
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- Jessica Tibbits
- Albums and Singles
He has taken on boardsuch talents as Ian McCutcheon, Darren Seymour, Nick Holton and MarkVan Hoen (on whose Locust album 'Morning Light' Halstead made a briefbut memorable vocal appearance) to assist with the recording in variousfacilities. His remarkable songwriting abilities have always invitedcomparisons to both Nick Drake and Tim Buckley, but rarely has theirinfluence been so clear as on this release. The pervasive sleepymelancholy and sumptuous lullabies of 'Sleeping on Roads', however, arethoroughly Halstead's trademarks. "Martha's Mantra (For The Pain)", anunderstated ballad of sex and religion is a particularly strikingexample of his talents. That said, it is rather surprising that thisalbum isn't as catchy as these elements would suggest. With theexception of more standout tracks such as "See You on Rooftops" and"Seasons," the songs tend to amalgamate indistinguishably after awhile, leaving the impression that Halstead may have benefited from astronger production team. The contributing artists help to balance outthe dominance of the acoustic guitar with subtle touches of cello,organ, trumpet and light electronic elements, but the guitar remains abit heavy-handed. On the other hand, being such a clearly-focusedrecord, it is most likely that his intentions were on the modest side,and in this respect, he seems to have succeeded.samples:
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- Jessica Tibbits
- Albums and Singles
Cross his previous work, the pop-gospel of Spiritualized, and notparticularly strong songwriting, and you get this, their debut album.The Slowdive factor is evident with the pretty male and female vocalharmonies and dirgy guitar. It's an admirable effort, and by no meansan unpleasant record, but unfortunately, something just isn't clickinghere. The general lack of charisma despite the obvious skilledmusicianship of Savill and Hewson smacks of some of the more mediocre'90s Brit pop bands. In terms of production, 'Last Night' is aknockout: undeniably dynamic and very well assembled, but it couldbenefit from the talents of a seasoned songwriter to balance everythingout.
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- Mark Weddle
- Albums and Singles
Austere is the word that immediately comes to mind whenlistening to these ten very sleepy, very subdued songs. Mildly jazzykeys, guitar, bass, strings and winds just barely blanket the spaces inand around Burello's unassuming, almost spoken word vocals (all inEnglish, best I can tell). It's all very casual, very quiet, very slow,very relaxed and, in some way I can't quite adequately explain, veryFrench. And 36 and 1/2 minutes later it's time for bed. There's not toomuch in the way of memorable melodies or lyrics really, just brieflyused or underdeveloped phrases. They're all pretty but too often theycome and go with frustrating ease, such as the way "An Itch" begins tobuild a promising groove then aborts it less than a minute later or thegorgeous piano refrain of "The Whimps" is best used in conclusion. Ohwell. C'est la Vie!
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- Nate Smith
- Albums and Singles
This secondalbum by Eric Melzer on Ronnie Martin of Joy Electric's Plastiq Musiqlabel (home also to Soviet and Travelogue) embraces every tired andworn-out element of electro and new wave. The vocals are vocoded onevery single track, except for the self-titled intro, in which analogbleeps and tones swirl around a monologue depicting Norway Squared as afuturistic plastics factory. "The future is closer than we think, andNorway Squared is there to lead the way." That is, if leading the waytowards the future is programming uninteresting drumbeats and blandsynth melodies. The vocals and lyrics seem intentionally jokey, butjust because something is slightly ironic doesn't excuse its badness:"My synthesizer talks to me, my synthesizer told me to free, then itsaid 'you can't synthesize love'" Melzer lists over 60 of his 'recentinfluences,' including both "bad synth pop," which makes sense, and"anyone trying something new for a change," which doesn't. Noticeablyabsent from the list is the Cure, whose "Let's Go To Bed" Melzer bitesnearly note for note as the chorus of "It's Only Pop." Additionally,the opening of "From One Ballad To Another" sounds so much like CyndiLauper's "Time After Time" that I initially thought it was a sample.The lesson to learn from Norway Squared is that just because you ownmodular synths doesn't mean you can write a good song. It isuninspired, unoriginal synth drivel like this that gives the wholeelectro revival a bad name. -
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