Apologies...

Sorry for the lack of posts, various things in life got in the way of me posting (but not in the way of my record buying, funnily enough...). (ab)Normal service will be resumed pretty fuckin' soon.

Emptyset: Medium (Subtect)

Be careful what you wish for, 'cos this is fucking dark. Emptyset are a pair of Avant-techno Bristolians with an ear for texture and atmosphere. To describe this album properly, I first need to give you the backstory:

Medium is the first non-studio-based production by Emptyset, recorded on location in the remote Woodchester Mansion in Gloucestershire. The collection of tracks explores the duo's preoccupations with the elemental properties of sound and bare, rhythmic structures and overlays it onto the textural possibilities of space and material. The project marks their first act of adapting their analog-based studio system into an architectural intervention, pushing extreme bass and feedback into the irregular spaces of the unfinished building. The rural mansion, which remains an incomplete remnant of the Gothic revival and a place studied by both architectural researchers and psychic investigators, provides a rich source of texture as the sparse palette of sine waves and noise is adorned with the intricate details of the space. Medium emerges as an act of translation, remodelling the house through sonic impulses into a state of audio, a fluid, transformative gesture and a process mirroring the sonar impulses of the bats residing within Woodchester's rooftop sanctuary. The project, supported by the Woodchester Mansion Trust, was provided technical support by the renowned Bristol-based sound engineer Mat Sampson, who managed the array of vintage microphones and preamps distributed within the building along with the central monophonic sound system.

So, what does it sound like? Great monoliths of fuzzy reverbed electronic steamhammers knocking nails into the air around you, occasionally feeding back to increase the intense pressure. Dark matter creeping between the speakers echoing around the room.

Needless to say, I like it very much.

Lockerbie: Olgusjor (Kapitan Platte)

A long time ago, I had to interview a Norwegian band called Lorraine and I spent a great deal of the interview telling them what a misguidedly ugly name they had - the only Lorraines i had ever know were Lorraine Chase, a girl at school and the title of a really shit Bad Manners record. They didn't agree and, in fact, I think I lost them after telling them that all I knew about the Norwegian music scene was that it was famous for 'church burners and murderers'.

Anyway, Lockerbie - an Icelandic band on a German label with a name that brings to mind a terrorist atrocity that killed 270 people. I think you can guess what my first question would be.

Ok, on with music but let's get the lazy comparisons over first. They are from Reykjavik and have a vocalist that sounds, at times, rather like Jonsi. But they are not a Sigur Ros tribute band - they have a much better sense of instrumentation for a start, using trombone and a myriad of strings to give a joyous uplift to this lovely melodic pop music. Perfectly crafted and with a sound that bridges the gap between post rock experimentalism and the commercial side of things, this debut album is an absolute pleasure. Most of the music I listen to is decidedly downbeat in nature and so it makes a welcome change to hear something that oozes vitality like this. 

Make no mistake here - this is NOT light throwaway music but something with incredible depth that manages to sound like a celebration whilst still retaining a serious air of incredible musicality.

Now, make way for some more downbeat stuff....

Strategy: Super Awareness is Fruit (Under The Sire)

Lovely clear vinyl 12" in clear sleeve - promised so much before I even placed it on the turntable. It is a single 20 minute piece split over the two sides and is the most exceptional piece of dub-techno-underwater-electro-psychedelia i've heard since the reissue of the first Porter Ricks album on Type a few months ago. It throbs away like a submerged heartbeat and, once it hits it's stride you just find yourself locked in and getting off on the depth of it all. I know nothing of Strategy - I bought it as part of a batch from Under The Spire recently after hearing a brief edit but, if this is anything to go by, I need to investigate further. Beautifully produced and deceptively intricate - this is wonderful music to drown in.

Concessionaires: Artificial Interface (Under The Spire)

Brad Rose is shaping up to challenge Steve Moore for the crown of renaissance man of analog electronic music - what with the Digitalis label, The North Sea and, of course, the utterly fucking amazing Charlatan. This is a collaboration with Pete Fosco playing barely-recognisable-guitar and appears to be edits and re-assemblies of much longer pieces to produce a seven track album of dark angular beauty. Each track is underpinned with a steadily undulating melody line over which is heard the rising and falling of effects-covered chords and notes and a sprinkling of other sounds over the top. 

The elaborate reconstructions of these pieces succeed in producing perfectly realised snatches of  atmosphere slowly unfolding before enveloping your senses. They are at their most gorgeous when the guitar is less evident (especially on 'Gazelocked') as the guitar sound is often metallic and sharp whereas the synths are much warmer in the main. 

I find that this is a very visual album and can't help myself hearing it as a soundtrack to a movie about a doomed space mission, there are moments of genuinely unsettling music ('Skeleton Summer' sounds like something Throbbing Gristle based their whole career on trying to create) and these are the most cinematic and also work as a counter balance to the more melodic pieces. I know that it's a cliché to compare electronic music to sci-fi soundtracks but, fuck it - i never promised to be original.

Minus Pilots: Hitting Up The Heavens (Eat, Sleep, Repeat)

My first piece of writing on this blog this year is ironic as i began 2011 with writing about The Minus Pilots and their bass/electronic/crackle odyssey 'Superior Proof of Cinema'. This one is a CD-only job but i will try and suspend my obsessive vinyl opinion for a while, and concentrate on the sounds that come out of the shiny little silver disc instead. In today's World of  individual tracks being given far more importance than complete albums, it is heart-warming to hear a multi (13) track album that works perfectly as a complete experience rather than being reduced to bite-size morsels of sonic frustration - to say that I hardly noticed where one track finished and the next began is certainly not doing it a disservice, as the overall feeling it conveyed was far more powerful for this fact. 

And this album is all about feeling the music rather than hearing it. The quiet textures of the tracks ebb and flow between your ears creating a sense of serenity and each ear will also occasionally catch a sound peculiar to its own channel like the music is wrestling with itself to gain your attention. 

It is a real struggle to describe this music as it is so rooted in it's own Universe - there really is nothing like it, no easy reference point to align it to, which makes it something rare and special indeed. 

No apologies really.....but a breezy look towards the future

Well, it's already February 2012 and I, unfortunately, failed in my goal to write about every record i bought in 2011.

Why?

Well, my friends, it would seem that life got in the way and i ran out of time to accomplish my stated goal.

Yesterday i conceded defeat and filed away about 50 of the albums that were still awaiting write-ups and vowed to return to this blog with earnest and start again - but this time to make no promises about writing about everything. 


I have also decided to link to samples of music where necessary - but only to officially sanctioned pages - needless to say, i will not be uploading stuff onto here. My goal is to support the musicians and the labels so i will not participate in anything that stops you giving 'em your money. Support them - they deserve it and it may make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside. In short, stop stealing.

Now, let's get on back to the music.