en http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/uk/ Thu, 1 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 Thu, 1 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 60 http://www.audioscrobbler.net/data/webservices http://www.last.fm/user/ConnectedDots/journal The Last.fm journal for ConnectedDots. Last.fm journals are a place to talk about all things music. http://www.last.fm/user/ConnectedDots/journal/2008/10/14/27zbci_the_silent_ballet_shameless_plugs,_volume_fourteen._goldmund_-_the_malady_of_elegance. Tue, 14 Oct 2008 16:40:07 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/ConnectedDots/journal/2008/10/14/27zbci_the_silent_ballet_shameless_plugs,_volume_fourteen._goldmund_-_the_malady_of_elegance.

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Type Records
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Score: 8/10

The music industry has the reputation of a shark, ready to swallow any of the dauntless men and women braving its trenches whole at a single misstep. It is fast-paced, unforgiving, the money is often short, the politics always long. Yet every now and then, you stumble upon a group of people that seem to stroll through these difficulties without noticing they were even there - a party of artists that just oozes serenity and that makes music like there is nothing wretched with the world they live in. In this case, I'm talking about the fantastic minds behind type records; Helios, Peter Broderick, Sylvain Chauveau, Tarentel, Xela, Ryan Teague, The Alps, Sickoakes... so many names that will instantly make an innocent smile appear on the face of any passionate instrumental music aficionado.

The man behind Helios, Keith Kenniff, is the perfect representation of what these guys consistently bring to the table. After a near-perfect young musician’s life that took him all the way to world renowned Berklee College of Music, he released the first Helios album Unomia and most importantly the critically acclaimed Eingya, putting him on the map as one of the new-generation musical prodigies. It would appear however that in Kenniff's mind, it was too short of an achievement to be behind only one of the most talked about up-and-coming instrumental acts of the 2000's; so in 2005 he released the beautiful Corduroy Road under the moniker Goldmund. Three years later, after last year's Two Point Discrimination and a few months short of the new Helios release, he's at it again with this very strong new longplayer The Malady Of Elegance.

Even though there's a huge difference in means between Helios and Goldmund, the very particular spirit and songwriting style of Kenniff is undeniably the same. Where Helios makes soft electro-acoustic ambient music, with intricate percussion work and delicate guitar playing, Goldmund is all about the artist behind his piano. Like fellow reviewer Zach Mills outlined so well in his take on Goldmund's last opus, there is a notable dedication to bring the listener as close as possible to the musician's own experience in his music. You hear pedals being pushed, hammers slamming chords, you feel the instrument responding to Kenniff's actions as if you were sitting next to him in his recording studio throughout the record. Needless to say, with such attention to detail, the production on the album is irreproachable; a standard that the nice people from Type seem to demand of all their artists. It's almost bone-chilling in pieces such as "Gifts," or "Now."

It isn't the only reason why the emotional value of this record is in such high grounds. Goldmund's compositions are akin to those of acclaimed minimal pianists like Max Richter or Hauschka, yet even the slightest comparison feels to the reviewer's heart like the most short-minded and useless act of namedropping, as his music is impregnated with such personal nurturing that nothing really resembles it. The slow-paced flow of the record gives out a delicate, almost shy impression on the ears, as if the musician was holding each note until the very last moment, making sure it has as much attention from the listener as it needs. The opener, "Image-Autumn-Womb," throws you out of this world into a dream-like state you can't leave until the last note of "Evelyn," the album's last track. During this journey through The Malady of Elegance, the music, coupled with the track titles, doesn't force a cinematic context to your listening experience as much as it suggests one, letting you complete the picture with your own background. I am deeply convinced that each listener of this album will live through it differently, as it appeals to such a wide range of feelings and thoughts.

"In a Notebook" brings out childhood memories with its nursery rhyme-like 3/4 time signature. "Threnody," like its title aptly hints, is the perfect soundtrack to the day after a sad occurrence with its melancholic and slow melody retaining a strong positive feel, almost saying "it's time to move on." The titles "The Winter of 1539-1540" and "Apalachee" seem to imply that somewhere in the record resides a common theme, as it is during that winter that Hernando De Soto's violent expedition for gold in Apalachee territory came to a brutal halt as the tribe fought them back in the town of Anhaica. I'm afraid there's not much more I know, apart from the fact that the former song sounds like a beautiful ode to a courageous struggle, while the latter expresses desolation, and a sense of emptiness. "The Gardener" sees Kenniff pick up his guitar again to accompany the piano line on a mysterious melody.

As you can see, it is very hard to describe Golmund's music without being extremely subjective. There's something in there, something that makes it so special. Both intricate and accessible, The Malady of Elegance is yet more proof of the unlimited musical prowess of Keith Kenniff. Giving high expectations as to what Caesura, Helios' next musical venture will be, this album fills the void left by Max Richter's latest awkward attempts at recreating the magic of pieces like The Blue Notebooks, and joins the ranks of the likes of Jóhann Jóhannsson or Takahiro Kido as to what neo-classical music is supposed to sound like. The only reason why I'm not listening to The Malady of Elegance day in and day out is that it would keep me from doing anything else. Yet another winner for Type Records.

Original Link: The Silent Ballet]]> http://www.last.fm/user/ConnectedDots/journal/2008/10/14/27z9vg_the_silent_ballet_shameless_plugs,_volume_thirteen._ciaran_byrne_-_nine_lives_causeway. Tue, 14 Oct 2008 16:22:35 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/ConnectedDots/journal/2008/10/14/27z9vg_the_silent_ballet_shameless_plugs,_volume_thirteen._ciaran_byrne_-_nine_lives_causeway.

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Psychonavigation
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Score: 7/10

Ciaran Byrne is a promising Irish electronic musician who had garnered some positive attention with his first release, Galtrim. Nine Lives Causeway, its follow-up, shows a more confident Byrne crafting even more efficient music that resembles Boards of Canada's. To make things clear, this is not an attack; we couldn't be further away from the realm of plagiarism, this is closer to an homage.

What made so many of us fall in love with BoC's music is, apart from their fantastic skills behind the board, their ability to mix the seriousness of IDM with a sort of goofiness that was achieved through unusual sounds and ridiculous samples. While Byrne downplays most of that silliness in his music, he retains a lot of the carefree overall feeling, barely hiding the complexity of his sequences that made an album like Music Has the Right to Children so enjoyable. He does indeed use the same array of sounds that made the two Scottish experimental artists such household names in IDM, but he comes up with quite challenging methods to make his music.

It would be easy in that context to fall in the "copycat" category, but Byrne put his own stamp in the very foundations of his album to make sure that doesn't happen. For example, where BoC records are very long and composed of short songs giving them a bit of a messy look, Nine Lives Causeway is over after 38 minutes of well-kempt music, telling the listener straight away that nothing here is random, and the same differences can be observed in the construction of each song. Except a few easily recognizable songs like "Happy Cycling" or "Aquarius," it would take quite an assiduous listener of BoC to tell every track from each other, as they often wander off path to experiment and give very little importance to format. While this isn't necessarily a bad thing (indeed, they do it well), Byrne's approach is very different; each song has a firmly defined personality that separates it from the rest.

To those of you who have neither heard of Byrne nor Boards of Canada (shame on you), let me break down Byrne's music on Nine Lives Causeway in further detail. Like most IDM recording artists, he uses drum machines and samplers to sequence the rhythmic parts, and they are in constant evolution even within a track, very rarely the same one measure to another. Both analog and digital synths craft everything from smooth ambient backgrounds to swift melodies, usually in the form of layered soundbites. Halfway between downtempo and ambient, Byrne is part of the school of electronic music that relies on texture and details to convey the soul of each song.

What makes a fan of Boards of Canada like yours truly love Ciaran Byrne's latest output could be seen as relief. A decade has passed since the release of Music Has the Right to Children, and while many tried, no artist has even come close to mimicking efficiently the style of the duo. With the overall disappointment that was their last album (The Campfire Headphase), the need for "filler material" until their next was starting to weigh heavily on the fan's shoulders. What Nine Lives Causeway offers is far more than that; Ciaran Byrne made the righteous choice of only reusing the surface of BoC's music, while giving it his very own heart. The means may be very similar, but everything you'll hear here belongs to Byrne's artistic spirit, and he's easily good enough to stand on his own as an accomplished musician. I, for one, am conquered.

Original Link: The Silent Ballet]]> http://www.last.fm/user/ConnectedDots/journal/2008/10/14/27z8f5_the_silent_ballet_shameless_plugs,_volume_twelve._the_doom_riot_-_slow_estate_dreams. Tue, 14 Oct 2008 16:05:31 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/ConnectedDots/journal/2008/10/14/27z8f5_the_silent_ballet_shameless_plugs,_volume_twelve._the_doom_riot_-_slow_estate_dreams.

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Dead Pilot Records
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Score: 6/10

Claus Haxholm is one of those multi-talented electronic musicians who has more aliases than the number of artists on an average independent record label. When he makes music under the moniker The Doom Riot, he delivers a smooth kind of drone that stretches slowly over long tracks. Dominated by the likes of Sunn O))) and its mastermind Stephen O'Malley, the genre has been losing momentum for a few years as originality is harder to come by. Then again, how is one supposed to sound original when faced with the minimalist, stagnant nature of drone music? Slow Estate Dreams might be the beginning of an answer to that question.

Haxholm took a very personal approach to making this record, breaking a few rules on the way. Where drone is expected to taste of metal, he decided to use softer influences, giving the whole album a shoegaze feel and appealing to emotions usually left untouched by this particular brand of music. Instead of the raw violence and pain conveyed by most drone records, Slow Estate Dreams expresses melancholy, introspection, and hints at sadness while retaining the modesty of never actually reaching into it. It explores further in the same direction as Earth 2 did, replacing the roughness of Dylan Carlson's creation by a strong sense of tact.

Most of the album's tracks are constructed around a single chord that is stretched, bent, and modified through effects along the course of the song. While this is Drone 101, Haxholm's electronic roots give a significant importance to the use of background samples and white noises, contributing to the spleen-like feeling of the record. It gives it a lo-fi aspect reminiscent of Duster, as well as an impression of speed that takes it yet a bit further away from drone's cornerstones. "Blue Light Cold as Regret," the fourth of eight tracks and arguably the highlight of the album, is a perfect example of how Haxholm uses those techniques to install this moodiness.

Unfortunately, the album loses focus after that; it seems like once the emotional message has successfully been conveyed, the process of repetition that is the core of The Doom Riot's music progressively fades from touching to dull. The real issue lies in the fact that all the tracks on Slow Estate Dreams are very similar both in form and in content, making it hard to be efficient for the whole duration of the record. The evolution of each song is barely noticeable, and the patience of the listener is put to test in the latter part of the album.

While this prevents Slow Estate Dreams from reaching its full potential, I must insist that it is a worthwhile effort, as it breathes life into a genre that has been all too quiet in recent history. I'm confident that Claus Haxholm has found his voice, and a few more months of crafting and polishing will surely make for great music in the future. Until his next release, Slow Estate Dreams is a must for disgruntled drone fans.

Original Link: The Silent Ballet]]> http://www.last.fm/user/ConnectedDots/journal/2008/08/19/24e8o0_the_silent_ballet_shameless_plugs,_volume_eleven._anoice_-_out_of_season. Tue, 19 Aug 2008 01:23:42 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/ConnectedDots/journal/2008/08/19/24e8o0_the_silent_ballet_shameless_plugs,_volume_eleven._anoice_-_out_of_season.

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Score: 8/10

After the release of the indispensable solo work of Takahiro Kido, here comes Anoice's Out Of Season, a project under the terrible pressure of topping 2006's Remmings. Out of Season takes on the dreaded role of the album that comes after the fantastic debut, the one which can supposedly affirm or end the presence of a band. By now firmly implanted in the minds of obscure music listeners, the six members of Anoice make neo-classical music that flirts with the boundaries of experimentation and ambience. If you're put off by the ever-increasing amount of technical terms and genre names and are more attached to emotions and feelings, consider that Anoice makes music that moves you.

In structure, Out of Season does resemble its predecessor, as it is composed of four very melodic songs surrounded by smaller segments that focus on experimentation. While the record as a whole is less accessible, and sees the band dare to wander off of the beaten path more openly, it still revolves around the same formula: Anoice's music is so beautiful that each note is as a still from a movie projected onto your closed eyelids. The comparison to great film scorers is an obvious one: where "Glitch" reminds of Max Richter's best pieces, the opening of "Short Film" has the passion of a sonata by Michael Nyman. Anoice's favorite pastime is to make you travel to places you haven't been, or put you in situations you haven't experienced, through their music. In "id," you find yourself hiking through plains that extend as far as the eye can see. "Short Film" lays you on a bed of sakura petals, in the midst of an afternoon in Kyoto's spring.

Yes, the feeling of Remmings is still there. Nonetheless, the means have changed. Remmings rocked, Out of Season gently pitches forwards and backwards. The bass that grooved so often in the past now hums, the piano oscillates between loud melodies and low, caressing backgrounds. The drums are less heard, yet more present. The sound is liberating to the listener because you can feel that the musicians made the conscious decision to be more free in their song-writing.

Unfortunately, this venture into mixing both sides of their music takes a lot of strength out of the experimental glimpses that seperate each "big" track. Once again, it feels a bit like these tracks are only filler material, and it hits even harder when the experimentation is done just as well in the core of their majestic pieces.

Freedom, especially in music, paradoxically needs to be channeled for the listener to feel the same pleasure the artist did when he wrote and recorded his creations. It asks for the utmost precision, for more concentration. Bottom line, it is more time and effort-consuming than a more restricted approach. But when it's done well, nothing can top its creativity. If the members of Anoice hadn't already nearly proved to be capable of such an accomplishment, I would just say that Out of Season is a excellent album. In the present situation, I feel compelled to say that this is an album that, had it been given more thought and more polish, would have been capable of reaching greater heights. Maybe Takahiro Kido and his pals, having spent most of last year writing and performing for side-projects, have lost focus on their main band and it somehow damaged this new album, making it only excellent when it could have been truly amazing. Then again, if you've listened to Fleursy Music, you'll side with me when I say that it's a loss I'm willing to take.

Original link: The Silent Ballet]]> http://www.last.fm/user/ConnectedDots/journal/2008/07/07/223iio_the_silent_ballet_shameless_plugs,_volume_ten._exxasens_-_polaris Mon, 7 Jul 2008 15:20:32 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/ConnectedDots/journal/2008/07/07/223iio_the_silent_ballet_shameless_plugs,_volume_ten._exxasens_-_polaris

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Score: 6/10

The future of post-metal is blurry. As blunt a statement as it is, I'll go even further and say that it has always been. From its inception, the genre has been searching for itself in the same bumpy, awkward way a blind man looks for its cane on a hungover Sunday morning. Ask ten different people what post-metal is supposed to sound like, you'll most likely get as many different answers. This is easily explained: every established band switches sounds completely in between albums, sometimes in the most harmful way (as usual, see Pelican), while those that aren't recognized as leaders try their best at copying their forefathers measure by measure. One could argue that it is standard procedure for a genre to take some time to find its marks; but post-metal has come to a point where there's been a debate among fans for years about its very existence(!). While some claim it's just a style that oscillates between melodic doom-metal and heavy post-hardcore, others state that it does exist, but is indeed comprised of and limited to anything that sounds exactly like Isis' Oceanic.

In such a context, as the new album queue swells up, it’s becoming painstakingly difficult to find anything good. Let's take a look at this year's pedigree: the new Russian Circles made a good impression, and... that's it. Six months, one noticeable album. The picture isn't pretty, and it makes me wonder; have we reviewers grown tired of the countless half-assed attempts at this music, or have the artists themselves? Some of these records sound like the people behind them aren't even trying anymore. I, for one, am ready to give a chance to anyone who still feels like making some good music. And on cue comes Barcelona's promising new one-man band, Exxasens.

As any astute reader of this review will have guessed, this is a long way from being the album of the year, but keep on reading. Polaris is one of those albums that give a very enjoyable impression on the first listen. Exxasens' music is catchy, tailored for the listener to fully express himself through the art of headbanging. Often, it's right after this first listen that most records of the sort fail to impress; the early excitement dies down, you start paying attention to more than the main riffs, which may lead to plain disappointment. Fret not, a more acute analysis of Polaris doesn't give heartburns, but it does point out the fact that something is missing.

Like I stated before, one of the plagues of post-metal is the distinct lack of originality in up-and-coming acts. Most tend to walk in the footsteps of their elders, in more or less successful ways. I can't help but feel that Exxasens relies too much upon what's been done before:obvious progression from quiet to loud, hefty use of layering, doom-esque basslines, subtle drum breaks every few measures; if you've listened to anything from the genre before, chances are you'll easily anticipate ten seconds in advance everything that's going to happen. Thankfully, and this is where Exxasens separates himself from his peers, it doesn't stop here. Some elements give Polaris a feeling of freshness, the most salient being the incorporation of electronic structures within the music. The album is very fast-paced and samples are thrown in here and there, while the drum breaks often resemble the percussions one can find on an idm record. Fellow reviewer Tom Butcher said it best in his review of Blackwaves' 012: drumming can make or break an album. The drum work on Polaris is really what kept me hooked throughout my many listens, and while it's not the most innovative, it makes for a perfect backbone to the upper layers of sound.

For a debut CD-R, Polaris shows a great amount of potential. In a genre where fans have become used to disappointment, the bits of originality and seriousness Exxasens displays are enough to look upon his music in a positive way. What he needs now is to further explore his own voice and let go of the reassuring hand of the bands that paved the way. I can tell he has a genuine passion for his music, and that single fact convinces me that his next release will be one to watch out for.

Original link: The Silent Ballet]]> http://www.last.fm/user/ConnectedDots/journal/2008/06/16/20yg80_the_silent_ballet_shameless_plugs,_volume_nine._various_artists_-_magnetism,_that_electricity Mon, 16 Jun 2008 06:41:33 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/ConnectedDots/journal/2008/06/16/20yg80_the_silent_ballet_shameless_plugs,_volume_nine._various_artists_-_magnetism,_that_electricity

Mandelbrot Set
Fisk Industries
The Village Orchestra
The Marcia Blaine School For Girls
Highpoint Lowlife Records
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Score: 7.5/10

There's a small street in the Quartier Latin of Paris that begins near the Panthéon, on the left of the Church of St. Geneviève. There in the night, you can meet the plethora of disoriented foreign students who are trying to forget around a couple of pints that they're living alone in a city that doesn't know their name. In the day, you can cross paths with the students of the nearby Ecole Polytechnique, the renowned French scientific school. It is only perfectly fitting coincidence that I find myself tonight, in this street, writing this review with my back against the wall of the school that housed Benoît Mandelbrot sixty years ago.

Magnetism, That Electricity.. is a compilation made out of tracks from four bands that mostly have nothing in common but the somber and structured quality of their sound. First up is London's Mandelbrot Set, who surprised everyone in 2006 with their critically acclaimed opus All Our Actions Are Constantly Repeated. "Astronomy And Allied Sciences" sees them experimenting further in their quiet-quiet-bam!-really-fucking-loud sound, sporting crazy rhythm sequences and complex sampling that would make the aforementioned mathematician proud. My musical preferences being what they are, it's their part of the split I was the most anxious about hearing, and satisfied I was. After a long, droning introduction, the track suddenly breaks in an epic conclusion, sounds fusing in every direction, drums blasting away in a military march band fashion, with strident violin sounds accompanying the listener until the last chord splatters on a hard wall of silence.

And in comes Fisk Industries. Mat Ranson delivers a rough, dark techno sound which, as often in this genre, gives the utmost importance to details. The four tracks he provides for the record flow into one another fluently, as dusky layers of electronic soundscapes come and go. Swift glitches and wailing reverbs play hide and seek over a tightly crafted rhythmic section, remaining both catchy (as every good IDM record deep down is), and complex (well, as every good IDM record, deep down, is). If originality clearly isn't what makes Fisk Industries enjoyable, efficiency surely is.

While what seems to be two drunk philosophy majors have a debate next to me about whom, of Spinoza and Leibniz, did the best job at describing how we're all part of the same immutable universe, the soothing music of The Village Orchestra makes its way into my eardrums. I should thank those two lost souls if I am ever to see them again, as by forcing me to put the volume all the way up, they gave me the best experience of Scotland's own Ruaridh Law's music I could have wished for. His minimal sound reminiscent of Booka Shade's last output seems like the perfect soundtrack to the metro ride home that awaits me in the early morning; I close my eyes, and even the catastrophic quantity of alcohol in my system can't fight the deep calmness it induces. "The King of All Tears," the only track present here, is one of those twenty-minute long songs that seems to go by in a whim, drowning the listener in an atmosphere so thick and so far removed from any tangible feeling you lose all notion of time and place. When my eyes open, welcomed by the newfound silence, the two philosophers in the making are gone.

Ruaridh Law is a part of The Marcia Blaine School For Girls, a group also featured in this compilation. Their music is the missing link between IDM and dancefloors, the kind you can listen to alone in the darkness of your room, but that you'd want the DJ at the club to play it as well. The three tracks on this compilation sum up this statement quite nicely, even putting a smile on my face as I stumble my way down the street towards the Maubert-Mutualité metro station. Darkness prevails here too, as grimy beats and gloomy sub-layers of sound lead the way of those bouncy tracks.

It's 6 A.M. now. I sit in an empty wagon of the metropolitan line 10 of Paris, making a stop that seems longer than usual at the Jussieu station. As I replay the amazing track by The Village Orchestra over and over again, I contemplate the night I've shared with this great compilation out on Highpoint Lowlife Records. I've always thought that the music that, at dark times, can metaphorically save one's life, isn't happy, poppy, nor fun. The music that's detailed enough to catch all your attention, that's murky enough that you can relate to it, is what you want to turn to. Benoît Mandelbrot once said, "Nobody will deny that there is at least some roughness everywhere." He couldn't be more spot on about Magnetism, That Electricity.


Original link: The Silent Ballet]]> http://www.last.fm/user/ConnectedDots/journal/2008/06/09/20mo6z_the_silent_ballet_shameless_plugs,_volume_eight._rising_stars:_the_hungry_i Mon, 9 Jun 2008 21:50:59 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/ConnectedDots/journal/2008/06/09/20mo6z_the_silent_ballet_shameless_plugs,_volume_eight._rising_stars:_the_hungry_i

The Hungry I - Beginning Is The End

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Jon Stolber may be a name you're going to hear a lot in the years to come. The man behind The Hungry I delivers emotional, layered electronic post-rock like only the UK knows how to produce. Don't let the ambitious mentions of brand name acts like Mogwai or Godspeed You! Black Emperor on his MySpace page mess with your temper; if there's a rule that every overly cynical pretentious artist can't amount to anything, this is the man to break it. "Beginning is the End" is a free web-released single that shows great potential in Stolber's music. Joined by two other musicians, it feels like a sped up, more electronic version of Yndi Halda, without the blandness that usually comes with that kind of comparison.

The Hurt Kingdom, his EP to come, should be released by the end of the year. If Stolber can diversify his creative output and produce a record full of tracks with the same aura as "Beginning is the End," we might see the birth of a big name. Let this single guide you until then; we might have a good surprise once the album comes out.

Original Link: The Silent Ballet]]> http://www.last.fm/user/ConnectedDots/journal/2008/06/09/20mnns_the_silent_ballet_shameless_plugs,_volume_seven._bardo_pond_-_batholith Mon, 9 Jun 2008 21:43:18 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/ConnectedDots/journal/2008/06/09/20mnns_the_silent_ballet_shameless_plugs,_volume_seven._bardo_pond_-_batholith

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Three Lobed
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Score: 7.5/10

Bardo Pond will go down in history as the most overlooked "cult" band. In their fifteen-plus years of existence, they've drawn a fairly large base of die-hard fans and followers, yet their name unjustly fails to appear in most anthologies and collections of what you could call psychedelic rock, space rock, or simply drug-induced music at large. Everyone's heard of Bardo Pond, yet like the feeling left by hazy memories of heavily sedated nights they try to capture within their music, no one's really sure as to when, where, or how.

If yourself, the reader, want to get out of that blurred and smoggy state and finally discover the greatness of a band who played along the likes of Jackie-O Motherfucker and Six Organs of Admittance, let this article and Batholith be the gateway to your newfound wisdom. Want droning guitars and delayed reverbs to wrap your mind around? Bardo's got it. Seeking oriental influences and soothing imagery to help you through the tired day and the insomnia-ridden night? We have that in stock as well. Looking for nebulous vocals drowned under the never-ending wave of sonic vibrations the instruments throw in your direction? Isobel Sollenberger's fitting voice shall be your guide.

For an ear that's already been seduced by every aspect of Bardo Pond's music, Batholith strikes as both the hidden gems record that pleases the fan and the perfect album to lend a friend you'd want to get acquainted. Made up of "old" songs that, for some reason, didn't end up on prior recordings, it sums up the band's already wide output. Opener "A Tune" is the perfect track to start this journey with. It's already been featured in its live form in several compilations, and this, as far as I know, is its first appearance as a studio performance. A suiting demonstration of Bardo's lingering and saturated sound, it begins as a simple riff, and evolves through added layers and progressions in a complex yet soundly conducted piece.

Another highlight is "Slip Away", which will be recognized by Bardo fans as well. Taken from a John Peel session, it features clear vocals and catchy rhythms, while meeting the band's cornerstones in the production and the execution. The closer "SSH" is perhaps the most interesting piece of this album. It shows Bardo Pond do what they do best; slowly set up a theme, gradually incorporate elements like fast drums breaks and heavy guitar drones, and increase momentum until it grows into a loud, overwhelming wall of sound that immerses the listener.

Batholith is the testament to Bardo Pond's genius; these are the songs they left out of their previous albums. Benefiting from a perfect track listing that makes it extremely coherent for a collection of unrelated tracks, it is an album as a whole, instead of a simple compilation. Closing in at forty minutes, it makes you yearn for more, and this is exactly what that album is for: if you're a BP fan, it will make you reach for your copy of Set and Setting or Amanita, and rediscover those wonders that this great band provided us with during all those years. Or, if you're a newcomer, make the decision of getting those albums to find out what else this band has to offer. And then in both cases, listen to Batholith again.

Original Link: The Silent Ballet]]> http://www.last.fm/user/ConnectedDots/journal/2008/06/09/20mn22_the_silent_ballet_shameless_plugs,_volume_six._kumiss_-_the_seasonal_ep Mon, 9 Jun 2008 21:34:46 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/ConnectedDots/journal/2008/06/09/20mn22_the_silent_ballet_shameless_plugs,_volume_six._kumiss_-_the_seasonal_ep

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Score: 4/10

As every man writing a musical review in the middle of the night in a house out in the country while five of his friends are sleeping in the comfort of the numerous rooms surrounding his own, I’m a guy made of contradictions. To prove my point, I’ll base this review on one. Whether it is on their MySpace or their Wikipedia page, every single biography of Kumiss I stumble upon tells me the same thing about The Seasonal EP: this record sees the Southampton quintet straying from their post-rock roots. This statement, in a way, is true. It is also quite false. See what I just did?

As every fan of instrumental music will tell you (and if you’re here reading this, chances are that you will be able to relate), the scene inhabit is abnormally intolerant towards copycats. The ever growing quantity of music being churned out year after year only exacerbates the sentiment, as it is harder and harder to find a new band, sound, and way of experimenting -- in other words, a new gimmick. This simple fact probably scares some of the up-and-coming musicians into distancing themselves from their influences as much as possible, or at least to try to. And who are we to blame them? In a genre where bands come and go every other month, it is complicated for artists to find a feeling of security.

This may be the reason behind the decision from members of Kumiss to experiment outside of the genre that has seen them shine, and it may not. In any case, reading about it made me want to listen to their previous work (Seventy-Eight Ways) to hear for myself what the lads can do with the post-rock sound, as I had at the time been misled into thinking I might not have this chance again. I didn’t regret it, and enjoyed the record a lot. It’s a solid album for a young band, made of three long tracks relying on the quiet/loud dynamics and effects we’ve come to love or hate, accommodated with a violin played with a lot of feeling. Had I not listened to Seventy-Eight Ways, I might have treated The Seasonal EP with less disdain.

The opener, “The 5/7 Song,” made me think I was still listening to their prior work; it got me wondering about the claims that Kumiss wasn’t making this type of music anymore. Closing in at almost nine minutes, it couldn’t have prepared me worse to the terrible disappointment that ensued. During the short two tracks that follow, aptly named “The Pop song” and “The Hip Hop Song,” Kumiss supposedly experiments with the aforementioned genres. In reality, they merely drop the quiet/loud thing, add vocals, and keep everything else exactly the same. What may sound interesting and progressive in seven or more minutes can easily be bland and dull in three, and unfortunately, this is exactly what happens. “the Cruising Song” gets back to a more enjoyable kind of ear-tickling, and is dynamic enough to make us crave for more after its too brief duration.

But that’s it. The record ends there, and the taste it has left in my mouth is extremely sour. From what one can read from the different sources that mention them on the net, Kumiss seem to be shooting for the stars, landing opening spots for acclaimed acts like Yndi Halda and airwaves appearances. Yet they release an extremely short and very sub-par CD and try and hide it behind the pretense of trying to expend their musical horizons. A record can last less than half an hour and be great, but for that it has to be breathtaking, packed full with musical beauty, and that’s a lot more than I could say about The Seasonal EP. If the Gods hear my prayers, it will be but a dent in the successful career Kumiss’ members have the ability to achieve in the realm of instrumental music, yet I can’t help but being afraid. Kumiss did stray away from the post-rock sound, it is true. But in the perfect world that is my playlist, the statement stays false, and probably always will.

Original Link: The Silent Ballet]]> http://www.last.fm/user/ConnectedDots/journal/2008/06/09/20mlvy_the_silent_ballet_shameless_plugs,_volume_five._the_atomic_bomb_audition_-_eleven_theatres Mon, 9 Jun 2008 21:18:39 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/ConnectedDots/journal/2008/06/09/20mlvy_the_silent_ballet_shameless_plugs,_volume_five._the_atomic_bomb_audition_-_eleven_theatres

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Score: 7.5/10

I've recently come to the realization that any assiduous reader of Douglas Adams will confirm: all things are connected. Reading our review of Mike Patton's latest effort spun me into a nostalgic craze, forcing me to bask all day in the man's best musical pieces, one after the other. For the first time in several months, I found myself literally bathing in Avant-Rock music. It's in this atypical setup that I was presented with my next assignment: The Atomic Bomb Audition's Eleven Theatres. Happy coincidence? Nay, merely the proof that any event is part of a gigantic network of causes and consequences.

Outside of jazz, and even within it in the opinion of a few severe minds, the word "fusion," when related to music, is tainted with a negative mark. For that reason, I won't use it to describe the fantastic genre-blending ABA fashions. The magnitude of the crossover here is nothing short of overwhelming, and goes even further than what the famed acts of the genre: along with the usual taste of metal, hardcore, psychedelica, post-rocky atmospheres and various sampling techniques, one finds here surf guitar reminiscent of Dick Dale, the feel of old spaghetti western soundtracks, tightly crafted pop structures, and even thoughtful ambient passages.

When it comes to the process of writing music, having too much freedom has historically proved to have lethal tendencies, creating incomprehension, hermetic niches, and in the worst cases, extremely bad material. This is where ABA separates itself from the never ending waves of new artists in the realm of avant-garde; they show accurate and scrupulous songwriting skills. Every single heavy riff hits home, every beat change is on point, and every dissonant note is controlled. From the engaging drum breaks to the fast-strumming guitars, each instrument flows perfectly with one another, giving a strong taste of melody and harmony to a genre that came to lack them too often.

Such synergy asks for production of epic proportions. No matter how good the musicians are together, it takes an accomplished producer to give their performance a fair result once on record. The Atomic Bomb Audition found theirs in Norman Teale, who now also participates in the band's live show. I can't emphasize this enough; the production on Eleven Theatres is close to perfection. Each instrument is prominent exactly when it needs to be, every single measure of the record is treated as a highlight, given the exact balance it asks for, in the most efficient way possible. The only reproach that could be made lies in the tracklisting, as the second half of the record seems a bit weaker than the first. And even that is being picky.

ABA achieved a work of art; all the while respecting the touch of craziness avant-garde listeners ask for. This album is one to be played loud, and constantly. What strikes me the most is the maturity they show at such an early stage in their career; I had to offer countless reminders to myself that this is their first effort. With a second album on the way that seems to match the performance of Eleven Theatres, The Atomic Bomb Audition have the skills to establish themselves as leaders of this scene if they play their cards right.


Original link:
The Silent Ballet]]>