- Administrator
- Albums and Singles
I saw this bandlive about 4 years ago as one of five people in the audience and wascompletely stunned by their insane and delightfully tastelessperformance. I hadn't heard anything about them since, so needless tosay, I was very surprised to see this 7" turn up. The music isincredibly amusing, and highly innovative in its own ways. Using aplethora of eccentric samples, they combine a kind of extreme congodancin' funk to create this surreal music. This release also comes witha free ingrown toenail! Definitely for fans of Negativland, Nurse withWound, Volcano and the Bear, and the likes. They have several otherreleases available through their record label, Nerve Rust, which youcan contact at Box 211, Athens, GA, 30603, USA. Tell them Brainwashedsent you.
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- Daniel McKernan
- Albums and Singles
Thoughjudging by the instrumentation alone, this album seems to have no realconsistency to it, there is definitely a certain "Echoboy mood" thatglows through the whole disc, in instrumental and vocal tracks alike.The single of the album, "Kit and Holly," is a lovely blend of pleasantsounding keyboards and a nice guitar melody that mix very well with thelyric, "I've got to keep on running..." Great music for the road or forwalking around town with headphones, dancing to yourself. There aremany tracks that consist of simple keyboard programming with guitar orbass strummed down on top, making a nice, quaint sound. The album isreally well produced and constructed, especially for a debut. Echoboywill soon be playing in Barcelona at the Sonar Fest 2000, as well asother European dates. www.echoboy.comsamples:
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- Mark Weddle
- Albums and Singles
- Mark Weddle
- Albums and Singles
In October they spentless than a hundred pounds for half an hour of studio time to recordthe "Spiral Scratch" EP, the first independent, do-it-yourself, selfreleased UK punk record. The 4 songs that make up the EP ("Breakdown","Time's Up", "Boredom" and "Friends of Mine") were done live in thestudio, most in 1 take, each with a single guitar overdub. They'reexactly what you'd expect from the early days of punk ... simple,cynical, sarcastic, catchy, brief and explosive. Howard Devoto's lyricsare more personal than political, delivered in a nasally whine over thetight and talented (in punk terms) rhythm section of Pete Shelley,Steve Diggle and John Maher. The Devoto fronted Buzzcocks is thedefinitive line-up as far as I'm concerned.
The album that followed, "Time's Up", has slower, less abrasiveversions of the 4 EP songs plus 7 more songs including the classics"Orgasm Addict" and "I Love You, You Big Dummy". If you're a fan of anyearly UK punk (such as the Sex Pistols, The Clash, The Damned, etc)these two discs are just as essential as "Never Mind..", "Damned,Damned, Damned" and "The Clash". Kudos to Mute for giving a shit aboutthe past and re-issuing them ... this is really important stuff forhistorically minded music aficionados such as myself and gives everyonea chance to discover vital music. The "Time's Up" disc also includesthe "Breakdown" video with footage from the first gig and both discshave really nice inserts chock full of pictures (most from Devoto'spersonal collection and previously unseen), liner notes, interviews andlyrics. My only complaint: why 2 discs? The EP is a whopping 10 minutesand the album less than 30, so why didn't they just put it all on 1? Ohwell, both were reasonably priced. Thanks again Mute ...samples:
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- Jon Whitney
- Albums and Singles
- Daniel McKernan
- Albums and Singles
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- Daniel McKernan
- Albums and Singles
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- Mark Weddle
- Albums and Singles
Ambre and Spybeycollaborated via mail late last year, the latter sending the formertapes which they then used in the 2 week recording sessions. Sfumato isa painting technique of blurring or softening sharp outlines by subtleand gradual blending of one tone into another to create a vague senseof movement. A perfect title for this album. The bulk of the 14 Frenchtitled tracks are composed of deep drones, found sound samples andambient atmospheres. The music is primarily minimal, but not tediouslyso, melodic with gradual introductions and shifting of sounds. A fewtracks add subtle bass programming while a few others are simply brief,bizarre sample collages meant to break up the flow. Spybey's patentedreverb drenched environments are clearly evident on at least half thetracks. Although the album is best listened to start to finish, the 2lengthiest tracks are standouts. "L'horloge de Calcutta" ("The Clock ofCalcutta") is a mesmerizing pulsation that slowly builds up an intensetension for what seems like an eternity but is really only 9 minutes."Le Printemps des Abîmes" ("The Spring of the Abysses") is amasterpiece of deep drone that dissolves into a beautiful melody cloudin the final few of it's 8 and 1/2 minutes, bringing the album to agentle finale. Altogether, "Sfumato" is a very pleasant surprise sinceI had no idea what to expect from Ambre. They did a fantastic job ofusing Spybey's sounds with their own. Next up is Spybey & Harris"Bad Roads, Young Drivers" in July then Ambre & Harris in latesummer. As of May 31st there were 15 of the 100 subscriptions stillavailable, so if you're interested go to hushush.com immediately beforethey're gone ...samples:
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- Daniel McKernan
- Albums and Singles
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- Michael O'Conner
- Albums and Singles
And in every waypossible, it was well worth the wait.A return to the almost-structured style of the first Musick is veryevident, but there's less of the languid, poppy touches which clutteredits predecessor (namely the synthesizer wank of "Red Birds Will Fly OutOf The East And Destroy Paris In A Night" and the overly-pleasant "TheDreamer Is Still Asleep") and an even deeper sense of space andstructure within their mixes. The entire disc flows from beginning toend - starting slowly with "Something" and a what appears to be apartially cannabalized version of the aforementioned "Red Birds," nowcalled "Tiny Golden Books."
Coil (credited this time around as John Balance, Peter Christophersonand Thighpaulsandra, along with guest vocals by Rose McDowall) bringsomething very special to the plate when they step up with a worthyrelease, and this stands as one of their best. No matter what one'spersonal opinion of their occultish interests and thematics are, theymake it work in a way that even the most grounded and dispassionatematerialist can appreciate. Beautiful melodies and lyrics emerge fromfractured beginnings - "Ether" begins with chopped-up noises, but whatemerges is a shining, piano-laden tribute to intangible forces,something Coil seem to surround everything they produce with.Similarly, the haunting twang of a detuned guitar or jews harp threadsits way through "Where Are You?" as the entire track unfolds and thencollapses back upon itself.
"Paranoid Inlay" and the album's closer "Batwings (A Limnal Hymn)" areworth the import price by themselves. Both feature Balance's excellentvocals heavily; his voice is both gripping and disturbing, but he'scapable of producing such a beautiful sense of mystery and wonder whenthe mood calls for it. "Paranoid Inlay" is an ode to the renunciationof both indulgence and abstinence, as Balance asks himself "what do Ineed to give up?/crystaline ladders/shiny things/mirror balls," while atheramin sings to scattered drum machine glitches and organ stabs inthe background.
"Batwings" may very well be one the best thing Coil has ever producedin their long history. More synthesizers glitches and screeches openthe track, but a sombre organ piece emerges to gel the entire tracktogether. Balance's vocals become poetry behind an alien soundscape,and the entire track ends with a multi-language soup of achinglybeautiful chanting. Otherworldly doesn't begin to describe it.
The first 500 subscribers also received CD copies of the liveperformance Coil did as Time Machines back in April as part of theCornucopia Festival in London. While it's sure to become a sacrifice toEbay, our modern god of greed, it's a great treat for fans who probablyweren't able to make the long journey to the UK. Hopefully, half-rumorsof more live performances in America will eventually come true.
In the meantime, "Musick To Play In The Dark Volume 2" is more than enough to tide us over.
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- Daniel McKernan
- Albums and Singles
Their new direction is improvisation andall-out jamming, and the music on this disc is some of a very joyousand new nature to the Pink Dots. The lyrics are wonderful, of course,sticking to Edward’s excellent story-telling style, but most of themhave a more rhyme-schemed, verse, chorus, verse style that is very outof the ordinary for him. Niels van Hoornblower’s winds are throughoutthe disc, as well as Ryan Moore’s distinct dub style and TheSilverman’s wonderfully eerie and spacey keyboards and effects. Martijnde Kleer mostly plays guitar, it seems, but also adds in superb violinson such tracks as "Skeltzer Spletzer." The CD really brings you back tothe show, with a spellbinding and uplifting feeling - upbeat and moresolemn tracks alike. As Edward said in a recent interview, a lot of themusic on this disc "could never, in fact, be repeated."
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