From abenn Sent Tue, Oct 27th 1998, 19:33
From abenn Sent Tue, Oct 27th 1998, 19:33
On Monday, I received a tape thru the post from "Heatsink", who's on the list, as part of a swapsie we were doing ... and in the evening, I listened to it whilst I was in da music room, up at the top of a ladder, trying to sort out some more space in my record shelves. (I neeeed to build some more shelves desperately, the situation is gettin ridiculous ... sooooo many books, soooo much vinyl ... but i reckon when there are some free shelves available, and i'm tucked up in bed at night and da house is all dark & quiet, that the records and the books have a right ol fisticuffs, bashin each others' lights out, the records sayin "WE should have first place on Aless's shelves, as we're tall and skinny and she can fit waaay more of us on da shelves than any of you fat shorties!" and the books going "yehhh, but we are full of knowledge and worlds of wonder & wisdom to feed her mind and WE don't scare her little cat with scary soundz like you lot do!" and then the books go and scratch big nasty grooves in da vinyl, and the records go and nibble all da corners of the books pages just in spite!) Anyways, so there I was, up me ladder, and going up ladders always make me all dizzzy anyways, then when I heard Heatsinks soundz, I was like "fuckin ell", twirled my senses right around, almost fell off ... had to come down off da ladder for safety's sake! and the lads in the house heard the tape too, and all came upstairs to listen, and were soo focused on listening they dint even start messin about on the bongos or keyboards or pick up the bass to jam along with the tracks, as they're usually prone to doing! and soooo, a little review ... I normally don't like doing a review of music, (don't mind doing a review of a night tho, dats cool), as I live in fear of sounding like one of those up-yer-arse NME journo tossers, showin off all their big words in a flurry of flouncy pseudo-intellectual claptrap, so I'll just share a few brief impressions. DEV:NULL & VACUUM These 2 tracks, which flowed into one another, sounded like a posse of cool aliens conversing with one another in a "static electricity" language, amidst a ghostly lunar landscape, dark, eerie, explorations on an alien planet. This would stand proud alongside any of Aphex's tracks from his Ambient works. CIRCUIT 2 Speeding up the tempo here, to this hauntingly beautiful evocative track with pure tones, which sounded like choirboys voices ringing and echoing thru the darkness, with fucked up static beats interspering and interjecting throughout it all ... felt to me, like a kind of "Holiness", 1998 styleee. ACCEPTANCE Crushing, resounding soundz echoing through, bouncing off each other whilst a lush somber melody reverberates in the background. SAFETY HUB ohhhh this was one is just utterly, utterly beautiful! A jazzy, trip-hoppy piece with a tender piano melody trippin thru, whilst a laid back trip-hoppy rhythm skips and slopes thru ... a perfect soundtrack for chillin on a blazin summers day, when you're lyin in the long grass, brimfull of happiness or lying on a Cornish beach at night, gazin up into a sky just flooded with stars ... blissfully sublime! Reminded me of the vibe I get from my Return of the Durutti Column album. BLIND -STICK Beautiful resounding, ringing vibes meandering over a background of buzz, bzzz, buzzzzin electronic arpeggios. INTEGRAL Here the tempo is stepped right up, to techno,techno,techno but of a jazzy variation. Snare drums and those Spanish shaker tings (can never remember wot they're called) drivin up the tempo ... and a thumpin techno beat pounds thru as the marimbas amble thru on a laid back melody, calming the techno maelstrom into a chilled space, whilst the buzzzin electro static beats are still frizzin and frazzlin thru, piercin thru the music with their sharp jazzed spikes, as the track fades out on a calm of sweeping, luxurious streched out organ soundz. Absolutely gorgeous! I have listened to this tape about 4 times since I've got it, listened to it in the dark with my headphones on to reeeally focus in deeply ... and if Heatsink's not signed up with anyone alreadys, and if there's any bigwig Record Label folks a'lurkin on this list, then they should move it, pretty pronto to investigate his soundz & snap him up sharpish before someone else gets a'hold of him! Huuuge respect to HEATSINK! Aless