From s.f.w.d. Sent Sun, Feb 1st 1998, 19:54
From s.f.w.d. Sent Sun, Feb 1st 1998, 19:54
a few more reviews from former listmember and idea-man s/m ------- Forwarded Message Follows ------- septile - domestik life 12" [ntone NTONE28] rhy chatman, a new york based classical minimalist composer, who akin to sonic youth guru glenn brannca writes mostly for the guitar [specialising in "just" tuning and intonation], teams up with 2 conscripts [jonathan kane & dj elated system] from NY's arty-celebre-venue/cum-label 'the knitting factory' to craft 4 carefully constructed rhapsodies of what i sha;; call, for want of a better term "renegade funk" ... "domestik life" & "bleach" amble in a conjenical and understated manner, repressed opium shuffles marked with soft modal brush strokes that shift like the desert sands, eiree sax cut-ups and brief snatches of manipulated dialogue [incl. mr. kerouac] flicker mirage-like resurrecting the evocative otherworldly spirits first conjoured up on hassell's "fourth world", miles's "in a silent way" and eno/byrne's "my life in the bush of ghosts", soothing yet paradoxically unsettling...something unpleasant is lurking just out of view. on the flip "septile" is an exercise in the fine art of juxtaposition, backwards cymbals, strangled guitar motif's and frenetic rhythms clatter deliriously against each other whilst "rotate" rides into town on a [late 70's] material-like discordant off-kilter claustrophobic funk groove..excellent..released 23/2/98 various artists - altered states of america sampler 12" [lo recordings LOEP007] switch//1990..NEW YORK MUSIC SEMINAR//tony wilson and factory records swagger into town drunk on the success of "madchester", wilson chairs a discussion panel titled "WAKE UP AMERICA, YOU'RE DEAD!' which heats up as the factory team pile on the triumphalist rhetoric, resulting in derrick may storming out with the immortal words [to wilson] "take out your little 2 inch white dick and go dog yourself" //switch//1998..tony wilson's record label hasn't released a decent record for nigh on 7 years and this 6 track sampler presents a cross-section of america's brightest bent on taking up his challenge.. funnily enough then [sack the researcher] that the ep kicks off with 2 tracks from CANADIAN label suction..but hey what's a border between friends.."half eaten drum machine" [solvent] prowls restlessly on a creaking gescom-esque staccato rhythm whilst acidic lava bubbles under the surface, "it has much grain" [lowfish] is pure dirty city elektro which it has to be said reminds me far too much of underground resistance's 'base station 808' with it's distorted 808's and winding brittle 303's, side one's parting shot is from california's lesser [previous release : "welcome to the american experience" 12' on vinyl communication, which gets my allegiance alone for having a track titled "markus popp can kiss my redneck ass"], pure information barrage, akin to the picking up the needle and skipping at random 5 sec intervals through the high velocity polemics of squarepusher whilst channel surfing cable TV with the volume up full, mindless but fun. NY's carpet bomb are already picking up kudos from the like of warp & mixmaster morris on the strength of the 2 microstudio 12"s they released last year, kundalini display the same reckless abandon that made microstudio's 13m culture jamming epics [miles circa 'live evil' jamming with 3rd eye foundation & fuxa perhaps] such compulsive listening, fully exploiting the tension between acoustic [impulse / live] & electronic [precision / sequenced] composition, performance and recording methods the remaining 2 artists on da flip-side, i have scant knowledge of, perhaps some kind soul could fill the blanks in..anyhow..slicker's "cnimmus" cha cha's the night away, bass and guitar double up to provide contrasting harmonics via a simple sliding jazz motif that locks with the bossa-nova rim shot riddims to form a tight instinctive groove very much reminiscent of city fellows tortoise or bundy k brown's 'directions in music', matmos close the proceedings, or should i say wind doooowwwwwnnnn under a haze of dreamy atmospherics, slow-mo ping ponging hip hop beats, buried slide guitar licks and trickling hypnotic organ runs..release date for album : march 1998 regards s,m -- http://dialspace.dial.pipex.com/mfr/ [scottish..elecktronic..label] talent wanted....no special qualifications... whether you're beautiful or your bright... history could be on your side.. xxxx@xxxxx.xxx /// occasional noisy soundfiles (np: burundi challenge.rm) http://www.sonic.net/~brap/ blackdog, vvm, whitezone-l, slipdisc C.Gosselin, PO Box 8264, Santa Rosa, CA 95407