Although more organically earthbound and less sonically expansive overall, this triumvirate of nascent offerings doesn’t simply dispense thin sketchy outlines for Weaver’s latter-day technicoloured presentations.
album review
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..reassuringly sustaining a reputation for molten brilliance in the live arena, it’s arguable that Prolapse’s creative stock has never been higher. Which makes another dive into the group’s historically healthy working relationship with BBC radio producers and DJs suitably enticing.
...these records, finally, are perhaps two sides of the Monk coin -- one a stretching and contortion of what was already there, one pinning Monk to the mast of improvised music and sailing off into the whorling void. Big up yourselves, everyone concerned.
An impressive set of tunes with real sonic depth, concluding with the soft plumage of “‘Concrete Conversation”‘s undulatory rhythmic with croaking robotics slowly frequency combed to silence.
Slow ‘n’ steady, lulling mirroring sounds -- then just when you think it’s grasping towards some om-like union, a repetitive carpet of agitated frets throws things splendidly off-piste, the canvas suddenly gripped in an overfed rebound and answering recoil.
...the whole is a -- dare I say -- pretty but disconcerting melange of electronic elements that veer between noise and rhythm. It's certainly not the kind of textural play of musique concrète or noise, but it's also not so sedate as to qualify as ambient music.
As a treatise on self discovery, the album works really well; the wide variety of songs, the welcoming closeness of the players and the willingness to attempt the road less travelled here and there makes for a pleasurable listening experience.
...arrives with the strong expectation of being another consistent concoction. Dutifully and rewardingly, Phelan and co. don’t abuse such presumptions with the honourable Hullabaloo.
The blustering guitar, dirty, squalling sax and tumble-drier drums really bring to mind a drive through a desert that is alive with discordant debris...
...sounds and ideas that can sate listeners’ appetites on subliminal and intuitive levels, whilst also pushing them to sample new additions on the artistic menu. Enter then, two distinctive albums which do just that, in varying degrees.
...bassist and composer Guy Segers returns with the ever-evolving hydra-headed Eclectic Maybe Band. It feels that each album is a push on from the previous, with the number of personnel involved on Domestic Dragon amounting to thirty-five.
This is a fairly legendary record in the world of crate digging. It goes for eye-watering amounts on Discogs, so a re-issue is very welcome. It's absolutely a weird record that everyone should hear. The reason people usually pick up on it is because it bears a resemblance to acid house.
Cherry Red have gratifyingly decided to reissue Popol Vuh’s first and fifth albums though their Esoteric imprint, respectively Affenstunde and Einsjäger und Siebenjäger. Divine providence was surely at work here, and so... I will here provide some little written devotion.
...they porously pull at the framework, cursively hint to the heritage but flex fresh perspectives; this is a living thing after all -- museums can wait.
On record there are over a hundred guitar tracks on each track -- live, where I see them at The Troxy, there are just two hooded men, standing in front of a veritable Stonehenge of amps, all labouring and straining under the force of the sound. Which is where the true music comes from.
The bright-eyed yearning that all the players show throughout is what makes the album so listenable. Once again, Keith and the players have concocted a collection that is easy on the ear but with hidden depths.
The 4AD label, and Pixies as part of their roster, were exemplars of this sort of thinking, with their single and EP releases unique works of art in their own right. The collection of the b-sides from their original six UK singles was originally released on CD in 2001, but here they have been remastered and augmented by live tracks ...
The washed-out, sun-bleached image on the cover and the faraway look in his eyes conveys a lot of the aesthetic of the songs here which, ably assisted by Heine Hansen on piano, Anders Holm Jensen on drums, Morten Lundsby on bass, Jakob Riis Holm on guitar, Eliel Williams Lazo Linares on percussion and Aksel Falgren on keys, look into the distance, lifted by the desire to go beyond, blurring distance, time and style into one fluid whole.