Local CD Reviews
by Various Writers
Issue 217 / January 2007 More from this Issue
Download PDF
Phono
The Changeover
10 Degree Productions
Street: 2006
Phono = NIN + VNV Nation
Joe Ashton terrorizes electronic music with a focus bent on rhythm. Were you to spread the parts out, name checking the various influences that are prevalent on The Changeover you'd find just about every industrial/EBM clich minus Skinny Puppy's vocoder. Violence, sex and despair dominate the lyrics in a chant, spitfire anthem that occasionally breaks the mold by showing more than a monotone range. You'd also find a sense of vulnerability that echoes Trent Reznor's more intimate moments, the occasional orchestral underscore that nods to Apoptygma Bezerk's 7 while the plundering of beats points towards Photek's drum and bass days (or NIN's "Perect Drug" if you rather); all suggesting if you're going to use your influences you might as well emulate the best around. Phono has done just that, which in the big picture is pretty impressive, very listenable and far better than the majority of electronic releases these days. ryan michael painter
The Tenets of Balthazar's Castle
Terror in Twelve Parts
A. Star Recordings
Street: 12.05
The Tenets of Balthazar's Castle = Prurient + Wolf Eyes + Merzbow
Ah noise. It is all around us, and for most people it becomes a hindrance of day-to-day existence. Occupational therapists make great effort to help employees reduce the amount of noise in their environment so they can be more "productive." During the industrial music years, people gathered noise and arranged it in such a way to show that they had some kind of control over an increasingly industrial society. The idea of terror has become a quaint, formulaic way of describing certain genres of music or film; the use of digital editing and effects has overloaded our senses of what is frightening or disturbing. Audio and video compression has eliminated the dynamic range of film and audio and keeps audiences on a steady hum of mediocre entertainment. TTOBC have decided to not follow the norm in producing noise or terror. Terror In Twelve Parts truly is terrifying, and the noise is overpowering. It is beautiful terror, the kind that consumes you and makes you pay attention. There is no attempt in their music to let the audience have any kind of say or personality. It is pure terror and pure noise. This is the best local release of the year and yet very few will hear it. If those few do happen to hear it, very few of them will listen. Andrew Glassett
The Changeover
10 Degree Productions
Street: 2006
Phono = NIN + VNV Nation
Joe Ashton terrorizes electronic music with a focus bent on rhythm. Were you to spread the parts out, name checking the various influences that are prevalent on The Changeover you'd find just about every industrial/EBM clich minus Skinny Puppy's vocoder. Violence, sex and despair dominate the lyrics in a chant, spitfire anthem that occasionally breaks the mold by showing more than a monotone range. You'd also find a sense of vulnerability that echoes Trent Reznor's more intimate moments, the occasional orchestral underscore that nods to Apoptygma Bezerk's 7 while the plundering of beats points towards Photek's drum and bass days (or NIN's "Perect Drug" if you rather); all suggesting if you're going to use your influences you might as well emulate the best around. Phono has done just that, which in the big picture is pretty impressive, very listenable and far better than the majority of electronic releases these days. ryan michael painter
The Tenets of Balthazar's Castle
Terror in Twelve Parts
A. Star Recordings
Street: 12.05
The Tenets of Balthazar's Castle = Prurient + Wolf Eyes + Merzbow
Ah noise. It is all around us, and for most people it becomes a hindrance of day-to-day existence. Occupational therapists make great effort to help employees reduce the amount of noise in their environment so they can be more "productive." During the industrial music years, people gathered noise and arranged it in such a way to show that they had some kind of control over an increasingly industrial society. The idea of terror has become a quaint, formulaic way of describing certain genres of music or film; the use of digital editing and effects has overloaded our senses of what is frightening or disturbing. Audio and video compression has eliminated the dynamic range of film and audio and keeps audiences on a steady hum of mediocre entertainment. TTOBC have decided to not follow the norm in producing noise or terror. Terror In Twelve Parts truly is terrifying, and the noise is overpowering. It is beautiful terror, the kind that consumes you and makes you pay attention. There is no attempt in their music to let the audience have any kind of say or personality. It is pure terror and pure noise. This is the best local release of the year and yet very few will hear it. If those few do happen to hear it, very few of them will listen. Andrew Glassett
Page: << Prev 1 [2]
Facebook
Myspace
Twitter
YouTube
RSS
Be the first to comment!
Add a comment
Please keep your comments on the subject of the article.
We will delete your comment if it is racist, misogynistic, sexist, bigoted or just plain lame.
No HTML allowed!