From martin burbridge Sent Fri, Feb 19th 1999, 22:49
fennesz "hotel paral.lel" mego cd i only really noticed fennesz around the time of "plays", and found this mego release from 96 and picked it up. apologies if its already been talked about and reviewed (i know, i know, archive grumbling bastard). from realaudio of the "instrument" 12" and descriptions of crackly pop and talk of guitar samples, i was at first caught off guard. the 1st track is a slithering noise fest, not aggressive and thuddy, but angular and unsettling. a hollow drone like wind is punctured w/ an abrasively textured metallic clicking as sparks of noise fly off everywhere. what follows is highly varied in length, tempo and rhythm but consistently presented w/in a skipping and shifting framework of sound. muted guitar, scratchy feedback, skipping cds, throbbing bass, that blue monday stomp, and blissful ambience, are all filtered through minute glitches and defocusing distortion to produce an impressionistic beauty. by the time the last track evaporates in a guiter picked dub skip bleep and fuzz, the only thing i can do is hit play again. -martin