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Ampersand Etcetera – 2002_05
Ambient & microwave & electronica & experimental lowercase & postclassical
& minimal & techno & etcetera
The theme started as San Francisco, with the c74 set and The Foundry's latest.
But the number of disks at &etc kept growing and so did this issue. Typical
of the way things work round here – the best laid plans.
06 will be an issue special to us (so perhaps not really a special issue).
Then for subsequent issues Joel Stern and friends, Drawing Room, Hons, Moir Drammaz,
Philip Gayle, Redmond, Vertical Vestige, possibly some EA (on the way), more hard-copy
No Type, and what more hits the box.
jeremy@pretentious.net
&
http://ampersandetc.virtualave.net/ampersand.html
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
Various Artists
360 degrees: a foundry project
Foundry/Hypnos fou.15
http://www.foundrysite.com/360
The latest Foundry(/Hypnos) disk takes as its theme a story by Michael Bentley:
a project which stalled (see the on-site PDF), but saw a new life following the
Archipelago set, when Bentley invited a range of local musicians to choose a chapter
and create a soundtrack to it. A theme by Rhomb, written when the story was first
conceived, opens and closes the album, and the individual tracks are linked by
interpolations that create a seamless continuity. Extracts from the story are
present as liner notes, but there is no spoken narration.
A solar wind, or waves, that end in a rumble thunder runs through Rhomb's theme
over which synth chords loom, analogue ringing notes slowly build a melody, and
provide a stately, dramatic opening, with gongs suggesting a hint of the orient.
A gentle space ambient from eM, 'Reflective' has drifting high tones, a deeper
base and calls that echo and burr, light loops supporting our free fall. An underlying
tone that rises and falls stepwise supports the ratchets knocks and bloops of
Jonathon Hughes' 'Viscous space'. A hollow crackling and a slow tonal synth build
over the computer noises, which are joined by rhythmic motors and radio sqwals
to build quite a head of steam. 'Staars' (by High Skies) is the most predictable
track, something of a TD-influence with tuned percussion, long note melody, light
percussion and a sample that sounds like an astronaut relay, but is nonetheless
enjoyable and works well in this context.
In 'Shrine' Mark van Hoen and Seofon process vocals into layers and snatches looped
to form both the melody and part of the rhythm, the rest coming from a variety
dits and pops, with a swirling moving high ringing sound completing the mood,
sliding into a dubby section before a clattery fade. 'Zargasso' suggest the Sargasso
Sea to me, with big drifting wash tones containing a hint of voices, noises and
tones in fading wave-echoes and an undercurrent of droning white noises. There
are suggestions of rhythm which become a slow beat, with a dub-bass and then a
jazz trio in there. The rhythm speeds up over bubbling, drops and wooshes fade.
Swizzly high tones, bubbling radio noise and a big machine hum form the basis
for Thermal's 'Embers', weaving around each other, developing and changing, joined
by chitters and dits that echo while a throb builds, and finally computer chatter
over the long fade. Strange radio transmissions are captured in 'Superfield',
rapidly corpuscular to begin with then joined by layers of bloops, after which
metallic rolls crackles and rumbles all come together in this dramatic piece from
Kim Cascone. Which echoes into the '360 theme redux' where chords and notes from
the first erupt, distant and hollow, the wind increasing, and joined by ticking
taps and buzzing, into a final thunder rumble. Not forgetting the 6 interpolations
by eM, 30 second minatures of rumble dits scrathes buzzing and bubbles that anonymously
glue the tracks together.
This is not a compilation, but a collection of specifically written tracks to
fit the themes and developments of Bentley's story, with an overall sound reflecting
the space element. The result is an impressive album which coheres while allowing
stylistic diversity, and also presents some great individual contributions. Another
excellent product from The Foundry.
&&&&&&&&&&&&&
The Freight Elevator Quartet: Fix It In Post (live 1997-2000)
Interface: ./swank
Amnon Wolman: Dangerous Bends
Km Cascone: Dust Theories
Tesu Inoue and Carl Stone: pict.soul
Various Artists: C74 001-007
Cycling ’74 c74-001, 002, 003, 004, 005 & no number
http://www.cycling74.com/c74
Cycling ’74 has creates music software, and all the releases on the label
use it – most specifically Max/MSP either directly or as a performance interface,
and in conjunction with other instruments. Neither a musician nor a programmer,
I can’t pretend to fully understand what’s going on. But from some email
and exploring the site, it seems Max is a graphical programming environment developed
at IRCAM, used much more broadly than music but extensively in electroacoustic
circles (many of the artists in the CDCM Computer Music Series use it for example).
MSP is a collection of objects which are linked to create audio patches. The ways
to use it are various – from writing a program, providing some source sounds
and then basically letting it run, to feeding a live feed through the computer
and tweaking the program on the run – and apparently allow a unusually fine
control of detail.
On the Cascone disk there is a stand-alone version that shows how one of the remixes
was done, and it seems to create an algorithm (shown as a pathway, with forks,
actions and so on) that takes the samples, selects parts and ‘plays’
with them, and there are some aspects that you can vary real time as well as eight
presets. The 5 sec AIFF file from the Cascone track is on the disk, and you can
use that or try the remixer on your own sample (probably best about 5 seconds
long, as one of the decisions is which bit of the sample to sample). Mac users
can fiddle with that, or download a full working demo of the software and play
with a series of patches used for the other remix. Christophe Charles also uses
Max to create the randomiser that is the basis of Undirected.
Anyway, the computer and program can be used as the focus or as an adjunct, and
the first five disks from Cycling ’74 demonstrate that. Perhaps the purest
expression comes with Dust Theories. Like many recent Cascone releases it is a
flowing cloud of shimmeringly static small sounds looped and layered. In 'Dust
theories 1' a cycling bubbly background has twits and chitters over, joined by
low level space-tones which will run through the whole piece. There is some echo,
and then a dancing tone comes in, generally the early layers gradually fade as
new ones develop over. It becomes busy, scrapes and ratchets join, flittering
spirals, buzzing: busy and edgy. Finally winding down to a ditty slow fade. In
'Dust theories 2' the dust sounds like messages from space, swirling and pulsing,
a tonal backdrop and what sounds like water, high fireflies. Again, the sounds
build in density then disburse again – Cascone has referred to them as algorithmic
lifeforms, and they have that sense of liberty, but with his controlling hand.
With 'Edgeboundaries 123' there is a busier, faster mood, with thick ditty clouds
of sound, swirling and sounding like virtual insects; joined by a building hissy
pulse about half way, and fast soft thuds to the end (the sound is called New
Density in the PR). Three excellent tracks of microsound/lowercase ambience. Ben
Neville's remix of that track hooks Max to drum machines, and the result is a
fabulous cracked rhythmed collection of fragments with tones and echoes that collapses
out. The remix of 'ResidueBondage' by DJ4'33" is gentle, long tones and little
sounds dancing that builds with drones pulses taps and whizzes to a full rumbling
conclusion.
The other artist to focus on the program is Amnon Wolman – actual instruments
are only credited on 2 tracks. The opening (title) track includes Anton Lukoszevieze
on cello, which has been used to create a huge wall of shimmering sound like drills
and metal plates, which then gradually unwinds to resolve into a subtle ringing
– a marvellously moulded transition. The remaining tracks are less intensely
focussed. 'No stopping any time' (with Michael Burritt on some identifiable marimba)
shifts between and around a low ringing/buzz that pulsates and shimmers with strings
and drone into a more industrial machinery sound, resolving finally into a voice
tone, organ and tunes percussion. Another growling wall of metal sound in 'Traffic
circles ahead' becomes a shimmer that pulses and fades into a soft hissing wind,
regenerates to be more consistent gentle then otherworldly and then into a long
fade with whispering and light ringing. There is more stridency in 'Detour' which
sounds almost like a shopping centre with lift bells and the echoey hollowness
of a site recording, more ringing joins in, an industrial soundscape, bursts of
light, pulsation. A strange banging develops into activity, and the sampley feeling
returns, but then we drift into a delicate final third. 'Picnic suite' completes
the album with a slow building complex shimmer/pulse/tone that gradually modulates,
full of subtle components, light and deep. This is an album of delicately handled
electroacoustic pieces that entrance and entice, very earphone friendly.
Interface demonstrate the complexity available through synthesis algorithms –
an improvisatory acoustic violin/bass duo has expanded their instruments to include
various electronic sensors (of pressure, bow acceleration, tilt axes and more)
and touch interfaces (mouse pad under the fingerboard, foot pedals, sleeve on
a digeridoo etc) that trigger and control the computers and integrate them into
the performance. (Their extensive liner notes are further extended at a webbsite:
http://www.music.princeton.edu/~crb/interface). Unfortunately at times it seems
like the concept has overtaken the music – and in the usual improv sequencing,
they have opened the album with 'Sphism', the most extreme example. The computer
swirls chitters and noises form a too busy cloud around the recognisable percussive
and bowed components. Later on 'Scrb' has similar elements but seems somehow more
directed and 'Swank' (all tracks start with an S, has this one a subconscious
message?) is more playful and tentative with vocal samples thrown into the mix.
While these three tracks remind me of the more academic aspects, the others on
the album are more balanced and inviting. 'Spogo' combines high and slow violin
with swirls, whistles and computer sounds in a delicate interplay, and there is
more restrained subtlety in 'Sedan' where the violin sounds more like an organ
resonant and overtoned. The didgeridoo ('Sdoo') adds rhythmic depth (and percussive
samples) as the computer dances around the pulses, with more of the fine violin
work. 'Sdrone' is again more abstract, but includes a deep rumble, lighter more
restrained effects and rising and falling density, and the album ends with 'Sdude'
where once more violin and plucked bass has a well balanced relationship with
the computer whizzery. Interface are pushing the possibilities of combining acoustic
improvisation with computer enhancements, which has led them to be a little over
enthusiastic with the technology at times, but for the vast majority of the album
they reach the point where the two strands effectively support each other, and
provide interesting and emotive musical force.
Inoue and Stone bring their ambient/pop sensibilities together in this collaboration,
and Max is one of the tools they use, creating shifting soundpieces from a diverse
range of sounds. '%.disk' cycles chitters that gradually become more irregular
with long organtones, offering a range of scenes before a relaxed buzzy end. This
sense of carefully crafting intricate and varying constructions continues throughout
– '@.fine' opens with a cloud of fast forward fragments – blips, guitar,
voices – sliding to a quiet shimmer, returns slightly distorted, then loose
and crackly to a ringing and squeak, while '!.tuning' is a more stable collation
of noise pulses, some melodic some sine waves, in a relaxed musicality. A metronome
pulse underlines the fragmented Max-y sounds on '#.transparency' with a deep slow
whoosh that coalesces into voice-like structures, to sweet ringing finale. Rhythmic
ditty echoes in '^.error' are followed by an almost Oriental sound in '&.restart'
over a deep pulse that comes and goes, a lighter touch in this rhythmic cycling.
Light again in *.healthy' with a ringing and backwards tone with other noises
crackling about, shifting and looping too, before a shift into the building percussion
of '(.ram' jingly and fast, and some identifiable piano. Rapid ditty parts in
'?.digit' with more gentle ambient components provides a nice contrast before
a short abstract click/cut finale in 'bitA'. A bright and enjoyable album –
and by this point you begin to get a fell and ear for the Max/MSP sound.
And finally, the first album. FEQ started as a synth/didgeridoo/cello/drum machine
ensemble, but have added guitars, samplers and lap-top programming into the mix.
This album, their fifth, re-presents album and previously-unreleased material
recorded live and then assembled from a number of sets (2 tracks are from seven
concerts each, spanning 12/98 to 10/00). What Stephen Kreiger has created is a
seamless mix that seems to present the experience of a FEQ concert – the
pieces are segued together, balancing faster and more relaxed ones, a few 'previously
unreleased' improvs throughout, ending with 'File under futurism' a rocking number
with D'n'B rhythms that would have you stomping for an encore. Because FEQ are
that sort of an improv quartet – complex rock-jazz-electro fusion. Throughout
there is a fascinating colouration of computer, synth and electronic sounds, drum
machines and loops that vary between playing brief solos and framing rhythms,
the other instruments, and then the cello of Rachel Finn. I am a sucker for a
good bowed instrument, and the cello flows throughout here adding texture colour
melodies and just plain beautiful sounds. We move from the light opening of 'Pomoerotic'
into its semitribal rhythms, all the elements driving it along, through the rocky
'Transform/disappear' into 'Downtime is becoming less of an option' that has some
touches of the Balenescu's Kraftwerk and some spacey synths. The pace eases with
'Seeming', the cello is restrained and there is more of a Max-sound, and is quite
lovely. A bright jolly improv 'Acmend's revenge' leads into a middle section where
the guitar shifts to the foreground (in 'Transparent' and 'How does it feel to
be going out of style' where the strummed guitar loops with some visceral deep
thuds). 'Gilgamesh' builds slowly with an angular synth solo, lightly rolling
into the forceful rhythms of 'Bring me to my mental health' (part of a sample,
which have popped up throughout). The didgeridoo is obvious on 'Cellophane' where
it combines with Gypsy cello for a Middle European flavour. More breezy and jazzy
in 'Ahmed goes to heaven', guitar returns (picked) with breathy synth and percussion
in 'Infrared', a brief 'Excerpt from 'Berlin'' leads into the finale. A very enjoyable
album – nicely paced and pasted together, a pleasure to listen to.
When you hear about a label based around some software, it seems likely that there
will be a restricted sound. These five releases confound that presumption. And
the sampler I got includes tracks from the next two releases that indicate another
direction the interface can go: the extract from William Kleinsasser’s Available
Instruments (due very soon) combines a modernist romantic solo-piano with subtle
computer interpolations, probably through a Max-patch, and then Leslie Stuck delivers
some more Max-ed orchestrations on Pas which sounds like it is mainly harp, surrounded
by percussive electroacoustical effects (I hope – hint – to be able
to give a full review of these when they appear).
All in all, a fascinating new label that successfully spans a very diverse musical
space.
Which also scores highly as far as visual aesthetics and design presentation:
digipak bifold card covers designed by Lilli Wessling Hart, a fine-art photograph
filling the front except for a frame, in which the artist/title fit above the
photo. The cd is in the centre panel, and the cover opens revealing integrated
minimal designs, sleeve notes well placed: a unified feel but individual. The
FEQ cover diverges in minor ways – disk on the right panel, more colour,
generally busier, grainy video-image cover – and was designed by Stephen
Kreiger.
&&&&&&&&&&&&&
i:wound
Ram nam sataya hai
Worminside
'Prisonblood (murder, 1, 2, 3)' (9am)
all Cd-r
'_ _'
Verato Project 002
http://www.iwound.freeservers.com
i:wound is a sound artists who works with site recordings and manipulations, and
these disks cover a broad time and style range.
Ram comes in a folded card sleeve with a pin through (rather like Morte aux vaches)
and a collage of pictures of India, reflecting the nature of the music which was
recorded on a journey in 1996/97, released in 1998. It opens with a track, 'City
of Shiva' that takes the time to develop its moods" there are three parts,
the first interweaves crowd recordings with drums and singing of various styles,
then we shift into a still centre with river and bird sounds, resonant gongs and
quiet voices before the drums and singing of the big finale. The 'City of Kali'
is more kaleidoscopic with many short events – talking looped and processed,
big drums and percussion, crowds chanting or in the market, building up a rumble
that loops to the end. The first half of 'Home of the jagannath' loops phrases
and a D'n'B-ish rhythm that come and go with female chanting, to switch to a deep
tonal pulsing and distant washing sounds. Another unstable soundscpe in '-radio
beijing interlude-' which starts with a slowed gong and mullah call over a slow
beat, before singing crowds with various instruments, rapid chatter and bells,
then a snatch of popsong, looped chant, horns drums and bells, a song and tin
percussion, crowd, fast tabla horns, mumbles and coughs – unstable but sequenced
and edited to maintain your interest. Finally 'The torch of naxalbari' where voices
are fragmented and layered, and a poem is almost inaudibly intoned – a quite
spooky melodic sound broken into by a rising gothic noise, after which dense looped
sites complete the track – supermarket, working rhythms, crowds singing lightly
modulated.
From a later visit to India (98/99) and mixed last year comes Worminside, delivered
in a sewn batik-cloth sleeve. The combination of site recordings with drones and
percussion continues: 'Mumbaislums' opens with a solo singer and then market sounds,
a breathing noise that swings around and hollow percussion. Sounds are echoed
and separated, an electro-buzz begins and continues into more street sounds, a
distant chanting, percussion entering in the last minutes with backwards pulses.
In 'Kamathipura lanes' a deep speakershaker runs with the site recording, echoed
chants and watery sounds. The drones provided by b9 are apparent here, and noisey
horns provide a climax. With 'Concentrated male energy buzzing like the flies
around the corpse of a dead dog at the edge of the wasteland' the sounds of a
temple festival – singing chanting gongs – have a fast beat coming and
going below them, then a simple childlike song that builds into more celebration,
and finally looped and echoed children calling and a buzzing fly. Some choral
music that sounds like it came from somewhere else opens and runs through 'Ardnarishvara',
becoming modulated and combining with a more bollywood pop song. A voice over
is atalking abou sex education, and other samples are used echo jumpily later.
The latter part is quieter with a pulsing undercurrent. And finally 'Shivarati/reprise'
opening with an announcement, then singer and tabla, electropercussion and drones
follow and we shift through various parts of the celebrations, underscored by
more drones, very percussive, ending in loops percussive with whistles and scratches.
These two releases nicely extend the phonography concept, layering and combining
site recordings with other material to create dramatic soundscapes.
Shifting away from India, the Prison Blood 3" cd-r (complete with metal grid
insert) is 'a manifestation of my psychologist work in a prison psychiatry' and
is composed from sounds including a testimony…, the stolen prison tapes,
the us radio broadcast of an execution and footage from a deportation'. While
there are dark aspects to the other disks, this takes it to a further level. The
first 30 seconds is silent, then a child sings (with crackling noises) and a voice
intones '30 hertz'. A German speaking, intense and somewhat disturbed, and a warm
sine wave becomes more apparent (40 htz is announced, then 50): this buzzing becomes
intrusive and disconcerting as the piece continues. There are noises around the
speaker – almost like a basketball bouncing – who is edited but not
a German speaker, I am not sure of the subject and cutting. A female voice, possibly
from a radio, takes over, again in German, I think, but the sine-music is becoming
an audio-barrier to understanding. A male voice returns, then at 9 minutes, the
recording the execution in 1984 of Ivan Stanley starts: the witnesses enter, then
the governor (we hear the events in the background, and hear the radio reporter,
edited down a little, talking to Colonel Low and Mickey), the condemned enters,
is strapped in, formalities ensue, straps are attached, eventually the electricity
is turned on. The descriptions are quite cold and disturbing – the sine wave
has risen to an almost imperceptible level and form a soft buzzing so we can hear
it all, accompanied by a strange distant banging echo. After a shortened 5 minutes
doctors enter the chamber to confirm death, and the body is removed. Briefly a
ringing takes over and shouting from the deportation about 'human rights'. Silence.
A dark and confronting piece ends.
And finally '_ _' deals with September 11 2002, through an extended collage of
television announcers and reporters, commentators, politicians and witnesses,
all gathered from the media between 11am and 3pm that day and mixed on the 13th.
The voices create a web of overlapping messages, mainly in english but also other
languages, the volume and density rising and falling, occasionally interrupted
by other noises. It is a carefully constructed piece that carries you back to
those hours when the electronic media were at their most hypnotic, watching the
same images repeated, listening to each minor piece of information, latest theory
of responsibility. The essay inside the paper sleeve is more probing, looking
at the US's awakening to the real world. The resulting collage is, surprisingly,
somewhat cool as the voices wash over you, capturing the mood of confusion without
expressing the shock and outrage that we felt. Perhaps i:wound was being too careful,
as this is a delicate project; but I think that perhaps it was created too soon
after the event, while still overwhelmed by the impact. However, as record of
that miasma that overtook you during that time, it is successful and a brave move,
and continues the diverse output from this interesting soundartist.
&&&&&&&&&&&&&
Formatt
Fragments
http://users.pandora.be/formatt
Formatt is Peter Smeekens, a Belgium based musician who has had some MP3 material
on .tiln and Aesova, and now presents a mid-length cd-r of pieces that aim to
'achieve a blend of warm, fuzzy analogs and clean, colder digital signals and
patterns'. He has succeeded impressively in combining laptop-glitch with a more
sensuous base. In the first track he juxtaposes a resonating metal sound (probably
a guitar) with blips and crackles that shift through fast and slowly, while a
warm thrum underlines the chattering computer, shots and light rhythm to give
a surprising depth to the second track.
Demented drum machines drive the third track, spiral into a techno-melodic piece
with a slower bridge, but rhythm driven. In 4 a fractured shot-like percussive
attack is paired with a hollow tone melody, the balance between the two shifting.
Loopy edgy and brittle elements create the insectivorous electro of 5 over distant
heartbeat percussion, followed by a very echoey tonal and buzzing mellow and contemplative
piece. Seven has a deep slow rumble (that could be manipulated speech) for dits
and sonar crackles to swim in. And finally a dub mix, where the bass, shuddering
noises and cracked rhythms are sent into an echoey beat space.
The whole album is less than thirty minutes long, but in that time Formatt has
suggested some interesting new possibilities for ambient glitch. Definitely one
to investigate getting a copy of.
&&&&&&&&&&&&&
Rolf Julius: (Halb) Schwartz
x-tract x-t 2001
http://www.podewil.de
A new label, associated with an arts centre, with a simple but effective presentation
– a card sleeve with differently shaded and sized versions of a painting
of a cd on the cover (on the two I have got, the other is for issue 7).
I hadn't heard of Julius, but there is a nice liner essay with some details, and
the music tells its own tale, of course. The seven tracks here, from 1989-1998,
are profoundly minimalist electronica – profound in its many meanings.
Each piece is long, and consists of varying clatterous chitter that forms a base
for slight and subtle changes. Tones emerge that could be cellos 'transformed
dozens of times' while the undercurrent could be his 'arsenal of interval buzzers
…[that] behave unpredictably'. In 'Fur die erde' the base is a light clattering
that could be machines – adding machines or printers – or electronica:
over this distant bleeps tones and plings make occasional sorties, and voices
seem to bubble away within (probably/perhaps an acoustic mindtrick). While _nothing_
happens, there is enormous activity. As the name suggests (to an anglophone) 'Fast
schwarz' has a faster twitter, accompanied by a deep speaker vibrating bass and
soft tone shimmers: throughout the balance between the elements shifts slightly,
and within the twitter different aspects seem more projected.
The two parts to 'Vier schwarze rechtecke' are similar in structure – a slow
dittering with a hint of Morse over the surface, deep bass, soft tones and a crackling
that slowly permutate with some more obvious changes as elements shift in and
out, with an oboe-tone more prominent in the second part. Rapid ringing tones
with a skeetering over the surface, squeaks clicks and dits of little motors,
power 'Seestuck'. 'Musik fur den blick nach oben' might have been recorded live
– in any event it is the most 'obvious' piece here. There is a lighter, more
spacious looping base (modulated a little) over which much more apparent 'events'
occur – tones, bloops, plings and banging, some relatively extended. Finally
'Tanz auf Takashima island 1' throws your preconceptions into doubt, as the piece
sounds very like manipulated site recordings – the base sounds distinctly
insect-like (chirruping, buzzing) and there are gently looping chimes. These are
joined by some radio squiggling and a building whitenoise buzz.
This is a wonderful album of minimalist delights – hypnotic stasis that piques
the interest through supple manipulation of minor changes. Highly recommended.
&&&&&&&&&&&&
Eric Aldea
Saturno Cipolla
0101-Ici D'Ailleurs
http://0101-music.com
An album of sensuous music originally composed for various presentations by the
La Baraka company. It opens with a brief looping of a vinyl crackling flute sliding
into voices, before a harmonium sets up a drone over which two flutes dual. A
blowy, slightly processed Middle Eastern and a cleaner more South American trade
melody over the drone before the final couple of minutes that focus on the drone,
which seems to contain other elements – light clicks, a hint of flute. A
buzzing follows combined with simple backward sounding strings and tapcreak shifting
into a string sustain with more another flute (though at times it sounds like
strings). The flute eventually starts to breakup and tonal pulses develop and
then a slow string melody. Around 8 minutes in a radio whistling enters and takes
over and a more random computer/phone tone finishes the piece over a pulsing strings.
The next two pieces, from the same dance, take a more electro direction, the first
with a base of a moaning humm, computer squiggles creating a rhythm with the clicks
pops and tones. A louder buzz becomes the focus for the shifting clicks and then
a percussive rap. This continues in the next track with a rapid didadah then computer
squiggles all becoming louder and driving with a tonal scifi melody over. This
dramatic mass fades back to the tapping that opened the track. The next extract
has a slow melancholy or funereal string melody, single chords some overlapping,
that start to link (perhaps gated) to an electroacoustic effect (possibly a woobly
voice) not unlike some of the Max material. A simple but dramatic affect.
The last two tracks are not from any dancepiece: the first is another luch string
piece, the melancholic beauty magnified by the cello solo; while the final piece
has a slightly wacky backward sounding rhythm loop, slow strings and plucked guitar,
into which a wood percussion line and stuttering synth join, then a whooshing
that takes over and the leaves the strings and a soft synth whistle to fade.
A delightfully unexpected album, this is beautiful and enjoyable music, that gracefully
unfolds and combines close-to-classical elements with electronica.
&&&&&&&&&&&&
And of course, all past issues, with hundreds of reviews, on site.
Copyright for these reviews remains with me, Jeremy Keens. Artists and labels
are free to use and quote them as long as they acknowledge Ampersand and don’t
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do pass on the web address or my email address so new readers can find me. Thanks.
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