‘Where Once We Walked’ is London-based field recordist Mark Peter Wright’s latest collection of recordings and is a full-length follow-up to his 2010 release Inanimate Life. The piece has a large surrounding context which adds to the meaning of the whole recording. To find out more about the context please see the links below, this review will be concentrating on the sound of Where Once We Walked.

This time around we certainly hear a satisfying return to the top-form field recordings that listeners were treated to on Inanimate Life. The difference this time being that Mark has ventured off of this tiny island to spend his time foraging through Polish landscapes for his tasty sound morsels. Collectively, he spent near-on two years meticulously recording in cities and towns, a train station and a forest near Warsaw, Poland. If you’re thinking that Poland doesn’t particularly seem like it would have a notably different sound-palette from the Northeast of England, the setting for Inanimate Life, then you’d be correct. Despite this however, during the album’s 31 minutes of spin-time we are carefully presented with a collage of recordings that succeed in truly moving the listener in all ways imaginable.

The album has various themes which raise themselves at points throughout. The first of these, church bells, start the whole piece off. My ears can’t help but be drawn to the thick drone underpinning these bells at the beginning of the album. It’s delicious. As the bells sing we slowly find ourselves intruding on a Polish church ceremony where the mass are singing their exceptionally beautiful hymn – another of the album’s themes.

There’s a magnificent reverberant aura surrounding these first 3 minutes that just warms the soul. As the lone voice and its accompanying choir fades we are pulled from the church and put into what I can only guess is the railway station mentioned in the liner notes. The woman’s voice, as she plays through her monotonous announcement, complements the remnant voices of the choir exceptionally well and here we are first introduced to Mark’s incredible mixing skills that were showcased on Inanimate Life.

As the album progresses we are given a chance to hear the more regular sounds of the Polish landscape: a stream reaching its crescendo before the listener is swiftly transported to the hustle and bustle of an outdoor scene. A bell tolls throughout; the return of this particular theme.

A high point for the album comes in the middle with Hope Transmits when Mark manages to capture a powerfully operatic performance by a lone male singer. As the track progresses his voice reaches higher and higher unto the heavens until finally the heavens give in; a terrifying thunderclap is expelled – the finale that the singer was seemingly waiting for.

In contrast with his previous release Inanimate Life, Where Once We Walked doesn’t seem to be so much about presenting found sounds that may be new to the listener. This time Mark puts his focus on producing a collage of sounds which we are all familiar with. However, in such a context and with his careful mixing we are succesfully introduced to a glimpse of another world.

The height of the album, and the point at which Mark’s skills as a recordist, mixer and editor are set in stone come 5 minutes towards the end of the piece. Not at all because the rest of the album is not recorded, mixed and edited well; the opposite in fact. But these last 5 minutes are presented in such an unparalleled beauty that I can’t help but to fall in love with them. I’ll set the scene: a wind blows the dry leaves over the cold ground, birds sing their chorus to anyone who will listen and a muffled choir is heard from the neighbouring church. It’s simple, but it’s dark and intensely beautiful. Serene yet ominous. The low tones of the organ creating a soft bed for the other sounds to rest on top of. It works. It works well. Eventually the birds stop singing; perhaps to listen to the choir below them, perhaps because they feel inferior; who knows. It doesn’t matter. It works. This is a magnificent way to end our journey. But it’s something that has to be heard to be understood. A simple description with words won’t help you to understand its beauty.

It’s a cracking collection and is so much more than just a collage of field recordings. Where Once We Walked has heart and soul and goes further than just being a few nice sounds clumped together; it really does have an unrivaled atmosphere that I’ve previously never heard on any collection of field recordings.

- Simon James French for Fluid Radio

www.markpeterwright.com
www.anotherspace.org.uk

It only seems like yesterday when we featured Boduf Songs superb ‘This Alone Above All Else In Spite of Everything’ released though Kranky in a stunning vinyl edition. Whilst many swallowed up the vinyl format, others missed out hoping to one day see a re-release via CD. Well thanks to Under The Spire Recordings that day is upon us and the CD version is now available for pre order over at the UTS store.

…………………………….

It’s always incredible when music truly surprises you – is what I hastily scrawled onto Twitter on Wednesday evening after spinning a Boduf Songs record for the very first time. And I was only on track two. For before this tweet I thought I was clever; I thought I had Mat Sweet and his new record all figured out; intimately recorded acoustic guitar and piano, a few field recordings scattered about a bit and an impending sense of doom is what I thought I was in for. But oh, how I was wrong…

The album opens with an achingly somber affair of piano and voice both oh-so-tightly mic’d that the squeaks of the hammers and of Sweet’s whispers are made audible. It’s a truly dark tale of intense and bitter loneliness and the tenderness of the lyrics is reflected well in the instrumentation. But what does it sound like? Well it’s almost as if Bon Iver, before recording For Emma, Forever Ago, watched Antichrist an excessive amount of times and then sung about nailing Emma to the floor. It’s dark folks.

But it opens up the album fabulously, and it shows off Sweet’s ability to truly morph story telling and instrumentation into one colossal force. It’s a brute of a song and leaves the listener cold and alone in the midst of it. But it leaves them hungry for more.

And along comes track two, Decapitation Blues, to deliver an almighty sucker punch to anyone, including me, who thought that they knew what they were in for with regards to this record. It does what all amazing albums do and it defies expectations. It nails these expectations to the floor, kicks them and walks swiftly away. It truly is the highlight of the album. It works superbly in the context of the album and gets things off to a great start.

Mat Sweet is rather good at creating a true feeling of isolation, and this is definitely true of the new record; the feeling of being lost in a dusky forest, wandering aimlessly, surrounded by nothing and with nothing guiding you; everything within TAAAEISoE is carefully placed to invoke this feeling. However, I feel that what lets the album down, only twice in its duration mind you, is the choice of percussion elements Sweet uses for tracks Absolutely Null and Utterly Void and They Get on Slowly. I felt that with the sense of space that the other instrumentation gives to the tracks, juxtaposed by the restricted closeness of the voice, the percussion is somewhat clumsily thrown in the middle with little thought about the plain it occupies.

The album as a whole has a considerably more electronic influence than previous releases as electric guitar is favoured over the acoustic and everything appears to be slightly more processed, more fabricated and the world of sound that Sweet is creating takes as much focus as the lyrics do. This can be heard in the smaller sounds hidden layers down in the mix and even in the way that the whispering breaths pan through the speakers. It’s certainly no secret that Mat prefers the single microphone set-up and this can be heard in previous releases but here it’s a little more obscure.

It’s a thinking-persons album at heart, it doesn’t want you to simply hear it, it begs for you to listen, intently and as if it’s the last thing you’re going to hear. If you give it the attention it deserves and succumb to the stories Mat creates it feels like you are truly gaining something special; it rewards you with a personal journey led by a very dark mind.

- Review by Simon James French for Fluid Radio

www.underthespire.co.uk
www.kranky.net
www.bodufsongs.com

Pre-orders now available: Wurdskrieme is one of two new releases from Piiptsjilling, a quartet that is formed of Jan and Romke Kleefstra, Mariska Baars and Rutger Zuydervelt. The name Piiptsjilling (pronounced ‘peep-chilling’) is Frisian; a language which Jan Kleefstra uses for the poetry he reads to accompany the improvised sonic worlds that the remaining three members create with guitars, effects, loopers and the voice…

In March 2010 the band took to an intensive 2-day improvised recording session with the goal of creating nothing more than beautiful, challenging music. The session resulted in two-and-a-half hours of material which was mixed and edited into two separate albums. Did they succeed with their simple goal? Yes. Yes they did.

Piiptsjilling’s first album, self-titled and released in 2008, was a fairly post-rock induced affair with weeping guitars and suppressed desperation by the bucket-load. This time around, the post-rock influence has disappeared and the guitars, at times, are used as a percussion instrument in a prepared- style à la Keith Rowe on tracks such as the graciously atmospheric Sangerjende wyn and Utsakke bui.

As Wurdskrieme unfolds, one thing that is noticeable is that the poetry seamlessly becomes one with the atmospheres created by the band. Becoming part of the soundscape rather than clumsily resting on top. At times in their debut the voice seemed to act as a controlling factor, regulating the sound and almost giving it permission to start, stop and evolve. No doubt an interesting discovery; but this could all too easily pull the listener out of their sound induced coma.

The album is full-to-the-brim with the usual electroacoustic ambient loveliness; guitars, drones, the voice, field recordings, blips and glitches help to create an album with somewhat of a bi-polar disease; sometimes thickly laden and sometimes sparsely scattered with tiny sounds. It really is a feast for the ears that doesn’t do much wrong in its near on 40 minute run time.

Even though this is essentially an improvised body of work – except for the mixing of course – it really doesn’t sound so. Every movement really does seem carefully orchestrated from start to finish. Wurch ljocht is a good example; as the track fills with layer upon layer of sound everything ceases in the final seconds to allow a three-note cadence to shine through. Of course something like this could oh-so-easily be done in the mixing stage, but it’s nice to think that there was at least a glimmer of planned performance behind this improvisational body of work.

Ferware is the album highlight and shows the band at their most in-sync on the record. The track rolls along serenely, and what starts as a beautiful thing soon sinks into ominous nightmare territory where Jan’s poetry awaits to lull the listener into a vulnerable state of wonder.

Piiptsjilling have managed to create a wonderfully coherent album with Wurdskrieme that no doubt manages to hold the listener’s attention for the duration – something that their debut struggled with slightly at certain points. They’ve also successfully created an improvisation set that sounds orchestrated; it truly sounds as if each performer listened intently to what the others were creating which oftentimes is the downfall of most improvisation troops.

- Review by Simon James French for Fluid Radio

Available now from Experimedia

www.piiptsjilling.wordpress.com
www.myspace.com/janromke
www.soccercommittee.com
www.machinefabriek.nu
www.experimedia.net

Chihei Hatakeyama doesn’t really need too much of an introduction; his work has been featured all over the place and it would be hard to not be aware of his projects. He’s had work released on Home Normal, Under the Spire, Spekk, Room 40 and gave a fantastic release for Hibernate Recordings in its very early days of a label.

Chihei is back with his new release Variations set for release on the Norwegian label Soundscaping on the 15th of October.

The work for Variations began in 2008 when Hatakeyama-san quit using MIDI as a method for composing and began exploring the realms of highly processed sound; a method of composition that can often be a dangerous place for artists who have the urge to completely twist a sound file into something too alien. However, with Variations there is a strong sense of control that can be heard clearly. It’s evident that Chihei hasn’t overstepped the mark but knew how to manipulate these sound files so they linger ever so slightly on that faint line of recognition.

Variations then, relates to the processing of raw material. The tracks of the album are labelled according to the fundamental instrument that Hatakeyama has so carefully processed. Variations for Electric Guitar II for example. However, if the tracks were not named in such a way, it wouldn’t take an expert musicologist to figure out the original sound sources. But this is the albums strong point; Chihei still allows the instruments to be themselves and to bear resemblances to their distant, dry, relatives which thankfully places this body of work firmly in the realms of music and not sound design.

Variations is made exclusively from recordings of electric guitar, piano and vibraphone with some field recordings thrown in for good measure. The tracks gel together well and are placed in an order that really makes the album work and this is another of its best assets. The warmth softness of the guitar variations provide a resting point from the unforgiving bitterness of the piano variations. The album ebbs and flows between hot and cold exceptionally well and the progression is truly remarkable. Even though Hatakeyama has expressly stated that water is not the primary motif in this body of work it is easy to hear how the movement in these compositions is reminiscent to the movement of tides for example.

It gets even more interesting when you start to notice the icy whines fighting to be heard above the distant – almost underwater sounding – guitar motifs in Variations for Electric Guitar II. So although water isn’t a primary source of inspiration for Variations it certainly is present throughout.

The whole release is a beautiful dive into the depths of microsound that has been partnered with a twist of ambient. Of course Chihei isn’t the first, nor will he be the last, to combine these two elements but because of his respect for the original instrumentation Variations provides a beautiful and fresh look into the art form.

The photography featured as part of the packaging is stunning and really adds to the whole presentation of the piece and makes it one you definitely won’t want to miss out on.

Variations can be ordered from the Soundscaping web site now.

- Review by Simon James French for Fluid Radio

www.soundscaping.net
www.chihei.org

Jan and Romke Kleefstra are brothers, currently based in The Netherlands, who have taken an interest in creating emotive music that truly resonates within the bodies and minds of their listeners. Over a short period of time they have done a fair few collaborations with well-known artists and are currently working on new material whilst looking for a home to suit a couple of releases they have up their sleeves.

Immediately upon listening you’ll hear that their sound is characterised rather uniquely by the Frisian poetry that Jan recites over the ever-morphing soundscapes that Romke creates with little more than his creative use of a guitar. The language that Jan recites is hardly well known either; it’s spoken in the northern stretches of the Netherlands by not more than 700,000 people.

Their musical journey began just a few years back when Jan enlisted the help of his brother, who had already made his mark as a guitarist on the scene, to accompany his poetry recitals by creating soundscapes. But when Romke wasn’t around Jan took to reciting on top of a soundtrack that consisted of the music of William Basinski and Deathprod among a few others.

Jan got in contact with Rutger Zuydervelt (perhaps better known as Machinefabriek) with the intent of asking for a sample that he could recite to, but Rutger immediately suggested that they record something new, and a few months later the trio stepped into the studio with Mariska Baars (of Soccer Committee fame). Their first meeting resulted in a one and a half hour improvisation set and Piiptsjilling was born. The quartet (pronounced “peep-chilling”) had recorded what was later to become their fantastic self-titled album. Piiptsjilling can be purchased via Onomatopee.

This is the release that first saw me introduced to their work, and whilst I firmly believe it’s one of their best works it does seem to have some of the awkwardness that must have been present due to their unfamiliar situation. This is not to say that any member of the quartet felt awkward amongst each other, just simply that it lacks the performing confidence that is heard on later releases. Saying that, it does however contain an undeniable solidarity that differs it from a standard improvisation troupé. This is somewhat enviable of their first performance and does well to pave the way for the Kleefstras busy road of collaborations.

Post-Piiptsjilling saw the Kleefstras involving themselves with Anne Chris Bakker for a few live shows which eventually resulted in their second in-studio collaboration which took the form of a live, one-take recording titled Wink. The sound isn’t so different from that which they were creating with Baars and Zuydervelt as Piiptsjilling but, in the words of Romke, this recording has more of a dark ambient feeling that was no-doubt due to Bakker’s technique of bowing the guitar. A subtle difference, but one that does help to separate the two releases somewhat. This is where we first hear Jan’s poetry melting beautifully and seamlessly into the soundscape created by the two guitarists. Wink was released as a hand-painted CD and cover in a very limited run of 100 copies on Apollolaan Recordings.

Subsequently, the brothers stumbled upon the music of Gareth Davis and got very interested in his work. This led to another swift correspondence and both parties became very interested in a collaboration. Romke was exceptionally interested in Davis’ use of bass clarinet and more particularly the way that it would compliment the guitar. Gone are the ambient soundscapes of their previous ventures; here the listener is presented with a sparse and often choppy bed of instrumentation and voice. I suspect this is largely due to the influence that Davis brought from his previous work in the dark and gloomy improvised Jazz scene. Overall their work together has a ferociously different feel from before. Jan’s poetry and his voice appears to be more anxious, or unnerving than usual and perhaps this is due, or even a cause, of the sparse, almost threatening sound that the instrumentation provides. The trio have a couple of releases due on Home Normal and Digitalis at an as-of-yet unspecified date for both.

A busy schedule of collaborations and live shows led to other artists getting interested in all the work that the Kleefstra’s were doing. As a result of this they were contacted by Sytze Pruiksma who wanted to record with the brothers. Pruiksma has stepped into the studio on two occasions with the brothers and what resulted is another release that ventures from their previous ambient affairs. Guitars, bowed objects, mysterious squeaks and Jan’s hushed – more than usual – voice make up the bulk of their first recording as Kleefstra|Pruiksma|Kleefstra Deislieper. The phenomenal Sompe rûkt nei jongesbloed being one of their finest pieces on any record. Deislieper absolutely reeks of maturity and everything just works. The sounds and the layers are cohesive and Jan’s poetry and style of reciting has certainly become incredibly more dynamic and powerful in time since Piiptsjilling. This release is the main reason I decided to do this article as they aren’t having an easy time finding a label to take Deislieper and I’m hoping that this article will get them some interest.

Jan and Romke stepped into the studio again earlier this year as half of Piiptsjilling to record two new releases; Wurdskrieme and Molkedrippen. My Fluid Radio review for Wurdskrieme can be found here. Currently, The Kleefstras are working on their follow up to Wink and Deislieper as Kleefstra|Bakker|Kleefstra and Kleefstra|Pruiksma|Kleefstra respectively. Guitarist and painter Christiaan Kuitwaard also joins them in the studio along with Pruiksma to record. And they’re also gearing up for a tour that will see them playing with Greg Haines, Nils Frahm, Bela Emerson and as Piiptsjilling all the way into 2011. Their upcoming tour calendar can be found on their MySpace page. As always they are of course interested in hearing from anyone looking to collaborate or anyone in need of voice or experimental guitar in their compositions.

- Simon James French for Fluid Radio

Released;

Piiptsjilling as Piiptsjilling. www.onomatopee.net
Wink as Kleefstra|Bakker|Kleefstra. www.apollolaan.blogspot.com

Upcoming Releases;

Tongerswell as Davis|Kleefstra|Kleefstra. www.homenormal.com
Wurdskrieme as Piiptsjilling. www.experimedia.net
Molkedrippen as Piiptsjilling. www.spekk.net

Looking for a home;

Deislieper as Kleefstra|Pruiksma|Kleefstra

www.soundcloud.com/dekleef
www.myspace.com/janromke
www.piiptsjilling.wordpress.com

Inanimate Life is the new release from London based sound artist Mark Peter Wright. The release contains a collection of field recordings made from late 2007 to early 2010 recorded on the North East coast of England…

For a long time I’ve found the art of field recording extremely interesting and it seems that more and more artists are embracing the natural sound of the world and presenting it effectively ‘as is’. Field recording enthusiasts will no doubt be familiar with the work of Chris Watson, whose nature recordings find themselves all over a fair few Touch Records releases. Watson’s recordings are made during his travels of the globe and whilst listening to one of these marvelous releases the listener can be transported from Scotland to Kenya and back again in a total of about 7 minutes.

To this extent it’s true that the art of field recording becomes most exciting when the artist succeeds to transport their listener into an unknown place and present them with sounds they have yet to, or possibly will never hear. It’s about capturing that unheard rare event and presenting it in all of its naked glory. This is true for Inanimate Life where Mark presents a wonderful collection of field recordings that take the listener to the North Eastern coasts of Great Britain where they experience a sound world that perhaps they would not have the thrill of experiencing for themselves.

At very first glance, Inanimate Life does seem to be a documentary of the familiar though. A purposefully non-numerical track listing tells of recordings made of wire fences, water fountains and flag poles. On paper these don’t sound to be all that unique but once you listen to these ten tracks I’m confident that you’ll be pleasantly surprised..

That’s because Inanimate Life is a sonic exploration into the affects that wind has upon physical objects in their natural environment. The idea was born during a time when Wright would take trips to the North East coast of England to simply listen; very closely. What is heard then, in the 52 minutes that makes up Inanimate Life, are 10 of these physical objects that are inextricably manipulated by the wind’s presence. A flag poles’ mast slapping about in the wind, the roots of a heather bush straining under the wind’s forceful push and the rhythmic, almost electronic, sound of a barbed wire fence dancing make this an interesting and surprising listen if you really allow yourself to fall into the rhythmic, but haphazard, qualities that the wind achieves so well.

Included in the catalogue is a smaller rectangular CD that holds a short commentary within which Wright discusses the collection and talks his way through the inspiration and a few of the recordings. This is a fantastic addition that adds to the professional quality of the release. The only downside being that I (and I’m sure I’m not alone) have no player that would take this credit card-sized CD. A download code would rectify this situation and is something that could easily be set up on Bandcamp for those who purchase the album.

Inanimate Life really is a wonderful exploration into natural sound that every field recording enthusiast should own. It succeeds in its aim to present the listener with a unique sonic journey that Mark has carefully and lovingly laid out. Perhaps it’s not an album to hear as simple background sound; the collection needs to be understood and appreciated for its intoxicating rhythms and qualities hidden under the surface. Don a decent set of headphones and don’t hesitate to allow yourself to be transported to the windy moor that Mark urges you to discover.

- Review by Simon James French for Fluid Radio

The album can be ordered from the 3LEAVES store now.

www.3leaves-label.com
www.mpwright.wordpress.com

It’s rapidly approaching 13 years since Mogwai released their first LP ‘Mogwai Young Team’ back in October of 1997 and since then they’ve been hard at work producing a stunning catalogue of albums, EPs, singles, and film soundtracks. But now they’ve broken into the concert film market. For those about to think twice about reading due to the long-held preconception that “most concert films are rubbish” should not hesitate to read on.

That statement is mildly true though, most concert videos are filled with banal, static, side-of-the-stage shots and if it’s not shot from the stage-side, it’ll be an extreme long above the the crowd which aims to wow the viewer with the band’s lasers and giant balls (if you’re watching a Pink Floyd concert). And it’s also true that the concert film can be a shoddy way for a band to make money by releasing what is basically a glorified greatest hits collection. Yes, it’s unfortunate that making a tried and tested live performance recording is not always the best way to do things. Unless of course you take a different approach to it, like The Beastie Boys or Radiohead, both of whom gave video cameras out to their fans to film their respective concert from the audience’s perspective.

Or you can do what Vincent Moon and Nathanaël Le Scouarnec have done and create something that truly puts the word film back into concert film.

‘Burning’ is the new film about Glaswegian post-rockers Mogwai; filmed when they played a three-night show last year in Brooklyn, New York. The film was shot, edited and produced by Vincent Moon and Nathanaël Le Scouarnec. It was a tour that spanned their career from the opening of 1997’s ‘Mogwai Young Team’ to the closing of their latest release ‘The Hawk is Howling’ and fans were treated to a diverse mix from their eclectic catalogue. The best of the three nights were subsequently condensed and made into ‘Burning’, a collection of 8 tracks that makes for an intense 48 minute journey showcasing the bands ever morphing sound.

But what makes this film so incredible, and so different from any other concert film, is the intimacy that is present in every aspect ranging from the filming, the song choice and even to the interludes that appear between the tracks. For starters the camera hovers closely to fingers, guitars, cymbals, the fans’ heads, drum sticks, guitar picks and of course the band’s slew of effects pedals. The extreme long shot is done away with, there is no use for it here. The film is about how the band connects with their audience and it can be felt in everything from the intimate location – where the band are practically standing on top of one another -, the low camera angles through to the reactions of the audience – one lady even shares her emotional experience of her first Mogwai concert in the ending credits. Everything has been carefully thought upon and placed to heighten the restricted and inward feeling that is present throughout the film.

The scenes of the city, peppered throughout the film, seem to represent the isolated and inward feeling that can easily appear when living in such a large place and seem to be included to juxtapose the intimate scenes of the performance space where the audience are united. To hear the audience erupt into cheers as they hear the song they’ve waited weeks, months, maybe even years to hear live further drives the point home that the audience can be a large part of a live show. It’s interesting then that Moon and Le Scouarnec have decided to remove almost all traces of the audience audio. That’s not to say that the audience aren’t present though, they are, as they play a role in telling the Mogwai story, by showing, just through their actions, just how engrossed they are. The sound of them is used at key points to heighten the emotion felt by the audience-at-home. The choice to allow the audience to be seen and not heard works well in this case as all too many great concert DVDs and albums have been ruined by poorly mixed crowd noise.

The track choice is outstanding — it’s mind-blowing from start to finish and is perhaps the film’s best asset. Tracks become one with each other, erupt, seemingly from nowhere and merge into the sounds of the city exceptionally well. ‘I’m Jim Morrison, I’m Dead’ and ‘Batcat’ are easily the highlights. While ‘Batcat’ may not be one of their stronger in-the-studio tracks, it transforms on stage and the energy of the band as a cohesive unit turns the song into an uncontrollable beast as the squeals of the guitar ricochet through the mix. Notably though, the film does skip a few albums from Mogwai’s catalogue; ‘Come on Die Young’, ‘Rock Action’ and ‘Mr. Beast’ are nowhere to be heard.

Overall, ‘Burning’ is an exceptionally well made film which pushes what little boundaries ‘the concert film’ had set for itself in its current repressed state. Everything works well within its 48 minutes and the movie as a whole makes for great viewing and listening. The sound team have done a spectacular job of recording, mixing and mastering all the audio so that every instrument has its place in the mix. With the production value as high as this it’s easy to see how this film has turned out so well, there really isn’t much wrong with it.

- Review by Simon James French for Fluid Radio

Tracklist:

The Precipice (The Hawk is Howling, 2008)
I’m Jim Morrison, I’m Dead (The Hawk is Howling, 2008)
Hunted by a Freak (Happy Songs for Happy People, 2003)
Like Herod (Mogwai Young Team, 1997)
New Paths to Helicon pt. 1 (Ten Rapid, 1997)
Mogwai Fear Satan (Mogwai Young Team, 1997)
Scotland’s Shame (The Hawk is Howling, 2008)
Batcat (The Hawk is Howling, 2008)

‘Burning’ can be ordered from the Mogwai website now in an array of options to suit you.

www.mogwai.co.uk
www.vincentmoon.com
www.vimeo.com/nathanael/

Gareth Dickson’s 2009 release ‘Collected Recordings’ showed the world that beautiful acoustic/ambient music could be made with simply an acoustic guitar, a spot of vocals and just the right amount of reverb. Dickson rather successfully created an album that at times resembled something that one might expect to hear from the likes of Brian Eno and at other times managed to pull off the vulnerability of Nick Drake’s vocal style. It was a luscious album that progressed through its tracks with such a startling beauty. It’s an album of raw, barely touched (in the studio, I mean) soulful folk music…

Well, Gareth is back with his new release ‘The Dance’ planned for a release on his own label Sleeping Man Records. And with this news fans of his previous work should rejoice right? Well, not quite.. It’s a little different.

Dickson decided to strip everything away for ‘The Dance’ and remove anything that felt unnecessary. Acoustic guitar and a reverberation time that must surely challenge that of the grand canyon is all you will hear in its 35 minute run time. Although on paper this sounds sparse, it is in fact the limitations that have bred interesting results for this release. Wear a pair of headphones and you’ll be transported to a gloomy chapel where Dickson plays mere meters in front of you. This setting truly reveals the magic of this album. The fingerpicks, stutters within the reverb, the clicks of the fretboard, the creaks of his chair; this simple human interaction truly exists to make the album unique. Listen to ‘Little Miller’ for the best example of this.

So although ‘The Dance’ still shares the same rawness that was present in ‘Collected Recordings’ its a completely different beast, even to the extent that if you listen to the two side by side you’d be forgiven for thinking they were different artists.

Dickson boasts that as with his previous release there is no looping or overdubs in ‘The Dance’ and whilst this is no questionable matter once you’ve heard it, it is a breath of fresh air as it takes a different viewpoint from the current music scene where records are focused around the processing, methods and complex techniques. Within the tracks of ‘The Dance’, listener’s are subject to somewhat of a live recording that truly lives and breathes.

It’s clear that in ‘Collected Recordings’ Dickson used the reverb as a secondary sound adding thickness to his compositions but still allowing the guitar to reign as the main sound source. However, here in ‘The Dance’, we find the reverberation being a little attention-seeking at times. One should not forget that the main instrument here is the acoustic guitar, but it can be easily forgotten when it is shrouded in such a dense cloud.

Gareth has created a minimalism album at heart with motifs and riffs cascading throughout with little pause. The repeating melodies race through each song until one begins to tire and fall making way for another to pass. Listen to the title track to hear this style in all of its glory.

It really is a challenging album that needs to be closely listened to to understand its charm. Sure it has flaws, but it really is refreshing and is a joy to listen to. Previous fans may be a little confused about the change in style but they should persist and soon it will become clear that change can be a good thing.

‘The Dance’ can be purchased on iTunes and Bandcamp for now whilst preparations are made to release a CD version on Gareth’s own Sleeping Man Records.

- Review by Simon James French for Fluid Radio

www.garethdickson.bandcamp.com
www.myspace.com/garethdickson

Murralin Lane are a Swedish duo fairly new on the scene comprised of David Wenngren and Ylva Wiklund. You’ll no doubt be familiar with David’s other moniker Library Tapes but here he joins forces with partner Ylva to create somewhat of a new sound. Anybody expecting to hear the piano will be pleasantly surprised…

Their debut release Our House is on The Wall, available from today, is full of stutters yet manages a certain amount of fluidity that is admirable; it has stillness but at the same time chaos and most passages are formed of intense grain. Wiklund layers her vocals atop the glittery textures that find their way bounding along gracefully throughout it’s 32 minute run time.

It takes a little time for the album to find its feet but from track 4 onwards the album really does well to grip the listener. The processing takes center stage and the detail that went into the recording is heard well. ‘In The Woods’ is a good example of where the processing goes well beyond simply time-stretching and abandoning. A great deal of care has gone into the processing and It is clear that the duo know what they’re doing in this respect.

‘She Collected’ and ‘When I Told You’ finish off the album by letting Ylva’s vocals really take the stage. Previously the vocals had become one with the soundscapes adding depth to the sound but in the final minutes of the record the voice is drawn out of hiding. It’s a progressive album where the vocals reveal themselves over time. They stay hidden when they make their dreamy entrance on ‘Folding Paper Planes’ and perhaps dreamy is the best adjective to use. The album creates an intense feeling that the listener is in fact intruding on a lost friends dream. It almost sounds as if Murralin Lane are guiding the listener through the city hunting for a lost friend, but everything sounds wrong and nothing makes sense. You are aware of a distant voice calling as it gradually gets closer as you find your way through the soundscape.

It’s just the start for Murralin Lane, and I believe that with time they can improve their cohesion of the vocals and the drones as at times they could seem slightly removed from one another. However, on tracks such as ‘When I Told You’ the vocals really seem to add what is needed to the soundbed. This is the track where the vocals are most impressive and dive seamlessly in and out of the sea of sound. It’s an interesting album that is somewhat fresh in the use of vocals.

- Review by Simon James French for Fluid Radio

Our House is on The Wall is available from 7th September on 12k Recordings
Also through Experimedia

www.12k.com
www.myspace.com/murralinlane

M. Ostermeier has had a busy year; we’re only 8 months in and he’s already released two records and is about to release his third, Chance Reconstruction…

His first two releases Percolate and Lakefront released on Parvo Art and Hibernate respectively had a definite style and feel that portrayed itself clearly throughout. However, Chance Reconstruction immediately feels more ripened than its predecessors and also feels like an album in which Ostermeier wanted to push the boundaries of what he had learnt making the first two records. This results in something which is non-definable by such a word as ambient or classical or any combination of the two.

Chance Reconstruction is an atmospheric affair; bathing the listener in brooding textures and wavering piano motifs. As is the general style of Ostermeier his compositions are laden with carefully placed field recordings that tie the melodic motifs to something more tangible (is that the clanging of a radiator I hear?).

What Ostermeier is always best at though, even if it is not immediately noticeable, is his sense of texture and rhythm. His first release Percolate was full of glitches and sputters from more traditional percussion techniques, however, when he moved on from these elements the sense of rhythm still remained, and that is in part due to Ostermeier’s ability to utilise granular field recordings that add a definite movement which, of course, was the role that the percussion played in previous releases.

The opening track, Last, is a departure from the downbeat theme that runs through Ostermeier’s previous endeavours and starts the record off with somewhat of an optimistic feel. This is something that is seldom heard again as the mood on the second – the title track – is anything but. Things swiftly turn dark as the brooding textures that I mention truly work their magic. Each swell fighting to be heard and perhaps the attention of the piano riff that happens to be walking amongst them. The influence of Akira Yamaoka can certainly be heard from somewhere deep within.

In Beacon Adrift, M. shows off the fine skills he honed in Percolate by effortlessly giving every sound its own place within the sparse and grainy sound world which helps to clarify rather than complicate. This sparse atmosphere remains true until Deepr arrives and gives the album the backbone it was needing. This is where Ostermeier really shows what he’s made of and is perhaps one of his finest compositions to date. The moody atmosphere of the album is thankfully still present and is underpinned by the luscious scratchy drone that finds itself wandering throughout.

The album rounds off with the wonderfully serene No. 14 but this track as well as a few others could benefit from having the time to develop and breath for slightly longer particularly in the final seconds. It sometimes seems as if things are over too quickly. However, this doesn’t remove much from the fact that this is a carefully orchestrated album that does well from repeated listens and giving it the attention it deserves. Overall it’s an album that certainly flows confidently and thankfully never feels static. Stand out tracks include Chance Reconstruction, Deepr and Hedge Game. – Review by Simon James French for Fluid Radio

Chance Reconstruction can be ordered now from the Tench website.

www.words-on-music.com/mostermeier
www.tenchrec.com
www.consumptive.org