SEHT - Application Antarctica Download Form
[CPSIP, www.cpsip.co.nz]
MICHEL BANABILA - Hilarious Expedition
[Tapu Records, www.banabila.com]
NORMAL MUSIC - Acid Takes
[Acid Fake, www.acidfake.tk]
Ambient music comes in many different shapes and forms.
New Zealander's Seht's [aka Stephen Clover] foray into the spectrum
'Application Antarctica Download Form' is a calming experience. It doesn't
matter how this record was made or what instrumentation was used [or not
used for that matter]. What counts is the final effect. Drones are very
much present in every single bit of the 50 minute recording. Thick
pulsating drones turn into delicate little hums that then in turn become
even more faint. Atmosphere throughout is very luscious. Though the
humming is rather delicate, after a few minutes, intensity in your ears
grows to such proportions; you start to hear things that aren't really
there. I think they call that an audio illusion or something of the sort.
It's amazing to listen to these audio forms and follow their paths on their
lonely journey towards their ultimate grave. Even when lazy beats arrive on
'Phone Order', the mood is very still and unchanging. Then we come to the
name of the record. I wonder if Antarctica is as chilly as these wondrous
drones. There is a certain set of music that I listen to when falling
asleep. With ease, I'm adding this record to that collection. Dreams were
made for this release.
Michel Banabila's 'Hilarious Expedition' is a partial failure of sorts. On
one level, it acts as a soundtrack to films ['Mamma Please Call Me' and
'Never Let Go'] and theatre productions ['Eiland', 'Beam Me Up', 'W3' and
'De stem van Tamar'] but on the other hand it tries to be an ambient record
all in one go. As they say, you can't have your cake and eat it too [well,
very few actually eat their cakes!]. The theatre and film soundtracks are
too broken up and too all-over-the-place to make for an enjoyable listen.
Various voices [in all imaginable languages] are interspersed with minimal
instrumentation [tons of samplers, violin, bass, cello, ud, flute, guitar,
trumpet, etc.]. Simply put, the pieces are too broken up to make any sense
or reason without the particular visuals for which they were written. The
second disc in the 'Hilarious Expedition' set is a more coherent piece of
work. It looks like here Banabila really took the ambient mission to heart
and actually produced a very satisfying piece of work. Light beats, heavy
samples and occasional voices are thrown into the mix and make up a
delicious stew for the mind, as it takes a well deserved rest. While my
mind is split on the release, I'd still recommend the second disc for fans
of the ambient genre.
Coming from the mysterious Macedonian Acid Fake label, we get the 'Acid
Takes' CD-R release. Normal Music is a trio made up of Rafael ' guitars and
beatmaster of the group, Thomas ' field recordings and rumbles and Jeff on
drones, autoharp and tapes. This is organic music with glitches, bleeps and
bits thrown in for good measure. At times the music appears to sound like a
field recording of a lonely beach, while at others, it resembles a quiet
assembly line of drilling machines that lightly press looped sounds into
your mind. Scratchy records, synths galore, samplers and other tools take
this production to higher levels. We can only hope Normal Music's next
release is as satisfying as this one.
Tom Sekowski
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RECENZJE
+ Yunx - In The Heat Of The Night
+ Wolfram - Thinking Dust
+ Wieloryb - Voice Tract Droga głosu
+ The White Stripes - Get Behind Me Satan
+ Tocotronic - Pure Vernunft Darf Niemals Siegen
+ John Tejada & Arian Leviste - Back To Basics
+ Repair - Convenient Arrangements
+ Portable - Version
+ Savas Pascalidis - Hounted House
+ Northern Lite - Temper
+ Monne Automne - Teco
+ Meat Beat Manifesto - At The Center
+ Michael Manning - Public
+ Kosmetyki Mrs Pinki - KMP Vol. 1
+ Korsakow - Ears
+ Kemi & Amox - Poison Ivy
+ Go-To-Cat-Man-Do
+ Ferenc - Fraximal
+ Echo Depth Finders - The City Of The Dolls
+ Jack Dangers - Loudness Clarifies/Electronic Music From Tapelab
+ Jack Dangers - Forbidden Planet Explored
+ Crossover - Cryptic And Dire Sallow Faced Hoods Blast Off Oblivion
+ Bus - Feelin' Dank
+ Bronnt Industries Kapital - Virtute Et Industria
+ Kevin Blechdom - Eat My Heart Out
+ Joey Beltram - Live At Womb 02
+ Ammon Contact - New Birth
+ Cisco Ferreira AKA The Advent - T.R.I.N.I.T.Y.
+ 15 Minut Projekt - Live In Punkt + Suplement
+ Ot-Vinta - Darma ja najwsia cybuli
+ Bożyczi - Kotyłasia, oj jasna zoria z nieba
+ Slough Feg - Atavism
+ Das Scheit - Superbitch
+ Elwing - War
+ Six Organs of Admittance - The Manifestation
+ Cul De Sac & Damo Suzuki - Abhayamudra
+ Erg - Nefryt vs Malachit
+ Tatsuya Yoshida / Kazuhisa Uchihashi - Hercules Icy Club
+ Faun Fables - Mother Twilight
- - - - - - - - -
+ Jason Ajemian - Who Cares How Long You Sink
+ Various Artists - Melodic Today
+ William Basinski - Melancholia; Water Music; Water Music II
+ Borah Bergman / Lol Coxhill / Paul Hession - Acts of Love
+ Mise En Abyme - Jesquibel; Brad Adkins - Big Red
+ Alvin Curran - Toto Angelica
+ Faruq Z. Bey with Northwoods Improvisers - Ashirai Pattern; Azuar' Live at CMU Park Library Auditorium; Griot Galaxy - Live at the D.I.A.
+ Alex Keller / Meri von Kleinsmid - Searching for the inverse square; Meri von Kleinsmid; Ex Vivo
+ Jacen Solo - Virgo; Michael Manning- Public; Yunx - In the Heat of the Night
+ Rainer Lericolais - Reader's Digest; Musique du film Les Enfants Gates
+ The Magic Carpathians Project - Sonic Suicide - Ethnoise # 1
+ Dufus- Ball of Design; Dub Trio - Exploring the Dangers of
+ Maximo Park - A Certain Trigger
+ Anthony Curtis - Book of the Key
+ Sophie Agnel / Olivier Benoit - Rip-Stop
>> Seht - Application Antarctica Download Form; Michel Banabila - Hilarious Expedition; Normal Music - Acid Takes
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