Houston "psssshp" Weee haaave a problem ...what is it Guinness1, Over? weeell, I don't know if your boys know this.. but, our rocket appears to be powered by old beer pumps.. is this right? what's more Houston, they seem to be so good, we just passed Jupiter... (Jupiter is so big i can't see the other planets!)
Coming clean on this one! The cards not to scale... whilst you may bemoan this lack of effort and authenticity on the part of a useless designer (and you may be right)... I didn't quite fancy thinking through the practical challenges faced by having to make a topical scale card that likely stretched to the isle of Lewis. For one, the postage would be atronomical (bad puns aside), unless you commissioned a fleet of lorries to take the person to the card instead. Rental fees for the land covered would likely bankrupt most minor nations. The message inside would likely be highly repetitions in classic arial 11 and would probably take most of the counties or worlds pen supply, leaving the Kendel pencil museum one of humanities last bastions of written knowledge. The paper would likely block out the sun, killing all vegetation. And worst of all... not even the vast selection of envelopes on offer at the greatest shop ever "president" Clintons cards (...And now a word form our sponsors) ... would be able to cover it.. leaving the shop with a sour taste and lost revenue.
To be sly, I used the highly complex statistical method known as "The Hocum Formula" to reduce the space between the planets by a constant factor of "e* 5Pi^Mu" which allowed me to maintain "some" credibility and fit most of the popular planets (earth being the least popular but included for familiarity to the reader), squidged into a card sized space.
The rocket thrusters are indeed beer pumps from a cut out postcard.. and over the coming weeks/months, if you keep your eyes peeled you may see more bits of this postcard popping up in many other future and past cards (no left-over scrap goes to waste in my card-garage)... As a hint, I will say that the postcards certainly were a royal help...
I got the idea for this one from the background. This was part of a really nice patterned paper set and obviously just screamed "rushing through space"... thinking up a suitable cheesy one liner for the front and finding an old gold pen, the scene was set for a space adventure. My sis was (and still is) a big Bowie fan, as we all should be, and as I was giving her a ziggy-esque present, thought this card would fit the bill perfectly. The rest of the card is fairly straightforward being a mix of carefully cut, ripped and glued paper bits and colourful pen for character. Bowie makes his appearance in the card message, with suitably referenced lyrics about cakes and candles.. a valid question if ever i heard one! is there cake on mars? lets hope the new rover discovers some... might make the automated loneliness more bearable.
I can't understand why FACT felt it was reasonable to leave out Marumari entirely from the recent top 100 IDM track-list when Carpark Cohort Casino Vs. Japan was allowed into the roster and less notable tracks from other artists made some pretty high positions:(http://www.factmag.com/2014/09/22/the-100-greatest-idm-tracks-100-51/).
Brother-sister duo Marumari are often overlooked and I can sympathise with why. Overall tracks have a nice aesthetic but releases often lack a killer factor (such as Ballad of the Round ball) sometimes sounding like generic slightly characterless tunes or with nothing to say (this is still quite a harsh criticism that I feel the group on the whole don't deserve.) Part of the "second wave american "IDM" revival", The Wolves Hollow flys totally in the face of this assertion, blending great moments of glitch, pop, Trip-hop industrial and experimental sounds into something that sounds genuinely polished and original, a rare feat indeed. This album is super wacky, being a concept album about an alien species of space wolves from Pluto that harvest cows brains for a giant computer which controls the planet. The earth wolf species discovered the alien species being first picked up on young Presseisen wolfs ham radio and in the ensuing "war of the wolves" the plutonian wolf was eradicated passing their musical history in the form of this album, to one day, be decoded and released on Carpark so that all men could hear their wisdom............who knows what they were smoking when they came up with that one. The track names reflect this story and are actually quite funny... I never thought for once in my life I would recommend listening to a song called "Birth of the Cub Cyborg".... but I do! The track being a weird Trip Hop bleepy happy romp through a world of various mashed up, scratched up animal grunt and squeels, made into a beat. This album has a sodding vast amount of animal grunts.. but is more funny that annoying.. the album even start with REEEAAALLY creepy screaming howling wolves for a good minute before descending into an actual song.. enough time for your neighbours to get scared and ring the police or to make every child at your daughters 5th birthday party cry... what ever effect you would be going for really. That said, the song it turns into is F*cking Fantastic and should have easily made FACTS list.. many argue that this is the best track of the album... and they would probably be right...not through any fault of the other tracks... just that this one is really great.. have a listen below.
Other tracks are very experimental and sound like something that may have frequented a Hardcore DEVO B-side... in this vein "transport sequence earth" could maybe, just maybe, be loosely called, industrial ambient jungle glitch, but when you get into bullshit tags like that it descending into the realms of pretentious f*ckwittery. Many tracks are very lilting and laid back, especially the last few on the album becoming very BOC-esque on the last track This overall makes for a very nice journey and poignant finish. My only complaint with this album, is that some of the tracks are too short... "Carniverous Temptations Part 1", a case in point... "Part 2" doesn't really follow the riff of the first part, which sadly whilst being TOTALLY sonically kick-arse, and is only slightly followed up at the end of the first side in "another sphere was plundered"..."War of the wolves" is also too short.. there's plenty of pressing space left on the wax so it's not like Marumari was tight on space...
I have a soft spot for groups that keep it in the family (pretty rare in the music industry), whether it be the Hartnol brothers in Orbital or all of the current touring members of Ozric Tentacles. I have always share quite a close musical connection with my own sister and feel that usually this rare occurrence in an act allows the audience to see something really personal into another's life through the music and to re-connect with their own feelings of family... yes I am a sentimental bastard.
If you too are a sentimental bastard, and like/love/breath ambient techno... or have been following this BLOG loosely for a while, check out my own new album "Life Through Multicoloured Boxes" available through soundcloud for free download. I am not currently on any label, but with some improvement.. never say never... who wouldn't want to be on SKAM right? (If anyone from SKAM sees this, *hint hint, wink wink*).
New York Times Review: "A Dickensian epic! A wild ride of emotion, drama, and a fundamental, if beautiful, allegory for our troubled political times. I really felt for that poor wee haggis. 5*"
Being a Christmas card (and the current GMT season being mid Autumn), evidence would dictate that this card has in no means anything directly related to current politically interesting events happening within the UK (As a hint, it is almost, but not completely, unrelated, to this article... http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-29253796, in so much as both require a substantial amount of time, effort, funding and are fundamentally a bit of a joke).. Being an Essex boy (http://yepwecan.co.uk/uploads/2013/01/essex-boy-web-spt-345x548.jpg), I was glad to see pro-union win out and celebrated by cooking haggis from George Bower, Stockbridge, (the best in Edinburgh) bought last time I was in travels seeing friends. I did however decide to upload this card also in celebration.
I don't want this blog to become overly political and will say no more on the subject, if you happened to be pro-independence, I respect your views, would probably agree with quite a few of them (as long as not too extreme), but overall with agree to disagree on the final "Yes" trend. However, I am not averse to political shakeup and feel the vote will hopefully awaken people to the need for change in other avenues.
This card was given as bright and bold Xmas cheer for some friends in Edinburgh to arrive back to from a scorching trip in Tulum, when the weather would be understandably less scorching (and more bitey) upon arrival. Set out like a colourful penguin classic gone 1960's Ikea kitch and featuring our adorable little haggis protagonist on the front (everyone knowing that haggii (as the plural) run free abound on the misty nights upon the dew ridden moors below the lower back tilts of Arthurs' seat, happily retreating from their familly dens to scavenge on on wild whiskey spriggets and are, when ready, naturally plucked for the butchers shop) I was surprised by the photo-realism of the haggis I made, complete with duck beak, Christmas hat and tinsel scarf... it's almost like you're there! The title was borrowed creatively for a well known book by a famous author, but the details of who and what escape me currently.
The story inside (rather scrubbily written, handwriting scratchy due to my unfortunate Y chromosomal inheritance and an even more unfortunate 4th year school teacher.) is a winding tale of a single haggis thrust headlong into the night, finding good will and help from a past apparition out on the moor when lost and in need of returning the the family hovel with the required neeps... to save the day... I won't ruin the plot twist at the end, but you may be able to guess the overall outcome by the back cover... poor begger, at least the steam looks realistic. It was all written in a drunken Scottish drawl (can't remember if I was actually drunk when writing it.) full of half swears, missssshhhhplet wordssshhh and Scotland only slang words. Bit gutted. I haven't actually got a picture of the inside (many older card before I though of blogging have been lost altogether), but I know for a fact that this card is still around on a mantle piece surrounded by a nipple newtons cradle and about 50 bazillion geodes and mineral rocks. I implore that if this person sounds like it may be you ...any chance you could send me a piccy to upload here? ("sheep lord emplores! thankee! ;)xx")I would be nice to show the one other person that occasionally stumbles upon and maybe even reads some of these blog entries (if THIS sounds like you, drop me a comment!) Overall, my only regret was that i didn't print and glue a penguin classics logo don the "binding".This card was pretty easy to make with most of the paper patterns coming pre-printed. If anyone decides to ever copy the theme or adapt it for their own future card, it would be great to see a picture in comments (none of the designs I make are, to my knowledge, copyrighted in any way.)
And yes Haggis IS customarily served on aqua blue shiny plates.. didn't you know?
For this card I wanted to japano-cute-ify the most mundane everyday object that was within my imaginative power, partly for comedic value (OK, mostly for that....) and partly to avoid copyright infringement litigation on possible anime trademark characters:<3
My friend was a big fan of a modern j-pop group "perfume" with their album "game" being the most talked about and easiest to source for a western audience ("Polyrhythm" in my opinion being a blatant two months off (Underworld) ripoff https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PrYKtahrWU). Personally my own J-pop/tekno tastes being far more inclined to exploring the heights or by own back orifice (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKBomPHWTYQ, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0gekjzmJeE, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAlPhIBWhsA) I can't say I'm a huge fan.. maybe if they did a cover of mermaid song.... but it seems unlikely (one day I plan to record my own westernised cover of Gemini): <3
Given the whole kawaii theme a toothbrush seemed like the most logical choice. Complete with large enveloping sparkle eyes of a million burning love colours, wooshing cloud hyper magical speed attack shining star effects and a liiiiiittle cuddly bow tie. This all really gives the effect of a beautiful uber powerful toothbrush hero flying through a sakura-leaf wonder love palace paradise and hopefully doesn't leave the reader asking spurious assertions about my sexuality. Inside the card the wooshy shiny theme was kept alive with silver and gold pen with lots of billowing anime clouds and Pop font styles, quite minimal, but quite effective. I was tempted to give every letter huge eyes... but it seemed too much like hard work... and being a bit of a lazy bugger, settled with this stark and elegant compromise.<3
Next time you are brushing your teeth extra hard for the dentist, just keep the image of this card in mind and try to keep brushing despite all the froth and rage... 3:
THIS ALBUM IS FANTASTIC AND AN ABSOLUTE STEAL ON DISCOGS GO AND BUY IT NOW OR ELSE!
ehem... sorry about that.. I don't usually do shameless plugging but being a Die Hard Fitton-fan couldn't resist. But seriously.. this guy deserves the purchase. His music is immense and wonderful, thick, dark, lush and at the best of times peerless. I could have reviewed any of his albums and was VERY close to picking Gnayse (which is not much short of a masterpiece in the truest sense despite the word getting more use than a Glasto portaloo these days). So why this one despite it's slight flaws compared to the self (jokily) titled works?...
Firstly a little bit about myself and why this Blog has seemingly lied dormant to the 3 people that regularly check it, most of whom probably don't need to read this anyway. Recently just finished writing a monster thesis for a masters in Syn-Bio which has easily swallowed up all of my spare writing time. Now out of the way I hope to have the blog back up and running to semi-regular updates... and especially more crazy cards, as before.. thanks to anyone that had noticed the missing updates. :)
That's not easy to answer, musically through all his albums there is a clear progression in his style and only ever maturing onto something better (IMHO). Whist soup and early works back on the AI days are wonderful, they do feel a little cartoony now when compared to a similar plundered sound put out by Carbon based Lifeforms, to me it's nice that he kept the inherent musical ability that he possessed from his early works and made them darker into a truly subverted-surly-tea-time-for-the-soul-through-the twillight-zone. Being on a separate label has offered him a chance with this moniker to put the styles gained from each album onto one separate piece of wax.. and then funk it up a bit and then add some. Stylistically it's probably more akin to Gnayse.. but non-continuous and far happier than is the former desolate suicide-trip. Tracks like Shinoque hark straight to Fyuti and could have easily been a lost B-side but with better lyrics by (DB) and bringing in some of the funk elements of Fittons earliest names (Brahma). Lyrically soul searching... as with much of his music. Sometimes he just went straight ahead an nicked one of his bola sounds from fyuti and re-worked it (Pi-Knipple), bit lazy... but great nonetheless.
If not aquainted with this style of electronica (a swirly autechre-esque drum beat) it may sound quite alien and cold untill you "Get-it". This album is a great introduction to the true depth of feeling and wonder that this genre can contain... It never keeps still, but despite being repetitive... never gets boring. A great example of this is pequill, neph and vamillaglade, with gentle organic piano lines to a lifeless relentless space beat somehow each adding to the other. A few great ambient autechre moments such as ephemex/neph , thrown in to keep the GES-Crew happy. Many of the tracks feel quite futuristic, such as the closer conokut (yes the names are always generally word plays) helped in part by the noisy buzzy beeps and whistles that permeate the drum track. It's nice to see his style combined with Tegwen's vocals for O'Verb (not often added in this type of electronica unless Bjork had a spare afternoon (oops, lilith)) not exactly sure what it's all going on about... some sort of relationship-gone-sour story? but it works nonetheless. Chamchimzee is probably the most pop-friendly bass-alicious danceable track on the album and showed the funk style he would progress into the EXCELLENT Kroungrine.
Overall, it's not a happy stroll in the park album, but it was never going to be. It could be seen as a more up-beat socially adjusted brother of Gnayse, who would currently be on his 6th can of tennents by lunch. Dramatic Movie music? Certainly!
Just pray that SKAM puts out his next album soon.. it's been rumoured to be in production from various Fitton news boxes such as soundcloud...
:Pequill:
:Pi-Knipple:
:o'Verb:
Mist at the end of Worthing pier... v<iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/nkZkP9HEdsQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Like, Lickhereman:Dr Hofmanns card making years...
A slightly earlier card in my making adventures, I tended to try and use properties of the card/paper I purchased and modify them to give a theme. A perfect card for an old friend still living the spirit of the 60's right down to the Vote NIXON 68 poster on the inside of his bathroom door (so Nixon can lovingly look you in the eye as you take a dump - and yes i wish i was joking)... OK so i say spirit of the 60's.. what I really mean is he likes the occasional 60's band and 60% whickey (living in Edinburgh this is apparently perfectly normal -and I myself am partial to the Glenfarclas 105) but the Nixon this is rather reassuringly true. The swirlyness of the card paper provided the perfect excuse for the motherload of happy hippyness in one card complete with pre-bought flower-power aplenty, swirls stars secret symbols, bad religious occultism, drug references akimbo and a playful nod to that popular saying "BAN THE F**KING BOMB" (obviously in reference to Harry Bannerman the popular golfing hero). Most of this card was a liiiidle bit of cutting and glueing, so not so technical here, but i make no lie of the fact i was pushed for free card making time at this point and it was quick and effective to do. I shall leave it up to you, the discerning reader, whether to feel or not that the blotter tab in the bottom right corner actually contained substances that probably shouldn't be handled by royal mails finest (maybe not so true now privatisation has kicked in). If you can read the text (a challenge befitting that of a short sighted librarian rainbowshrimpwho is also an amateur astronomy enthusiast) then you will find a convoluted weaving of nonsense slang, twisted folk rites and a splattering of upside down ancient non-wisdom lovingly wrapped inside the Gaia systems (of which JLovelocks new book has convinced me is kinda true) eternal embrace. The picture on the Left represents an image that all humanity should be aspiring to (complete with flower feather, huge amanita mushroom And MAAAASSSSIIIVE splifette )and was meant as a motivational poster to replace the one currently hanging on the back his bathroom door, needless to say it didn't work and Nixon still sits as proud as ever. However, luckily this card sits happy on the mantle piece to remind him of the Birthday path He took and how his hair could have been so very different had his life choices instead strayed a little more towards Goa...
If you liked this card I recommend you listen to this blistering album by Biz Baz Boz:
Three very different, but brilliant faces of the same man albeit several years apart starting with EBI in 94- through the Sakura on the leaf label within 2000. Susumu Yokota has been incredibly prolific over his time and still makes music for various labels today (albeit not for sublime records (one of my personal fave labels)) none is unfortunately released on vinyl. While I have a few of his other works (boy and tree also being notably good) I feel the selection here in my own opinion reflects his best and most diverse work and this seems to be widely voiced on internet forums and other reviews. Each of these is a corker in it's own right but as a cross section displays his unique ability to perfect musical styles that others have spent a musical lifetime trying and failing to replicate. First is...
EBI-Zen
One of S.Y's first incarnations just as he was moving around in the acid house phase heading toward ambient (and later latino infused part house such as 1999 and Zero which never agree'd with me much). This album is a blisteringly good ambient acid fusion. I would easily compare it to early +8/and Hawtins '93 work, just as much character, but dare I say it, even more tuneful and elegant. Each track meanders through a different acid dimension, always meditational, often unnerving but very uplifting. Despite sparse instrumentation (fairly standard delay TB303, TR606/ bit of paino/Elka style stings) and sticking to a rigid formula (acid loops,off sync staunch delay, other instrumentation adds backdrop and complimenting phrase and response style melody with repetition), the tracks never get stale (at least to someone who already likes this sort of genre, otherwise it may sound very repetitive), bolstered substantially in this fact by SY inbuilt musicianship. This does nothing but add to the music in a world of techno where it's easy to overdub layer after layer and restraint is often a forgotten word, especially in these radio "EDM" laden days. Overall this album is pure and refreshing and a very "Zen" experience as the name would suggest. lovely (if odd to a western perspective) design, the coloured edition is a lovely press, I have to say. This album ends on The highlight, Chuu. Probably, the best ambient acid track I own - hands down. lately, I cannot stop listening to this track. It builds purposefully and slowly in a hypnotic slow groove to an enormously lush and soothing string section with which climaxes to the eventual fade out. Other highlights include Zen and Sou but only for their particular character than standing out as intrinsically better for any reason.
PRISM-Fallen Angel
Then he dabbled in good ol' Detroit inspired techno and Chicago inspired house in the same release (a mad concept, I know). This release contains competent and much sought after reproductions of both in equal measure, especially the the track 4degrees/Decalogue which is a homage clone of the classic track Berry-TC or heard-esque, "house music, But with soul." The design is a bit psychedelic and doesn't really fit with the music - sublime teams design is usually pretty top notch, so the intern probably got a chance to crack the whip rather than the usual coffee duty that day.) This release falls a bit short of the faux tag "IDM", the musical concepts hold up very well ~(always a strong point of S.Y compositions) but rhythmically it could be called a rather standard affair. It is true one of the tracks (Tears of Nymph) has a uniform metronome line that falls in and out of the main beat set at a relative time which is a nice touch. With all the above sounding quite negative, you may feel it is surprising I list this as one of his best albums, despite some flaws, this album is a true underground classic (just check the prices on Discogs) and one that most "old-skool" DJ's wouldn't know about if it slapped them with a Monty Python wet fish. It has a healthy minimal soul and intricacy in equal measure with never sounding overly repetitive. The odd ambient track thrown in just to mix things up. Just listen and see if you agree! (other stand-out tracks; massife ol' skool Drum n' Bass moment dabbled in Black or Colour _not quite A.G.C.G - B.S.T. territory but much better than a lot; Honeybee Whisper.)
S.Y- Sakura
A lucky stumble in mint at a London second hand shop, this remains one of my best ever finds. I knew little about the music when picking it up other than the cover and the concept. but upon seeing it for sale at a barmy price couldn't resist. My S.Y, love affair started there! Expertly crafted, ambient, unnerving but inspiring in equal measure, songs like Kodomotachi leak into your subconscious, demand a replay for days and slowly wanders off in your dreams to greet the faces you used to know in those holiday sunset snaps. (maybe I'm being a bit dramatic.) Nice jazz interludes and strong S Reich moments (a few music for 18 musicians rip off but luckily in context, adapted as so not to appear as direct plagiarism- Hell "the Orb" got away with it right?) A strong few openers with tribal samples cleverly intertwined to the melody. This is a sparse release but intensely musical and for this reason often finds its way onto adverts and the such. I know people go on about this one, but I feel it really does deserve the attention! All tracks are great but especially the A side and the C side through to Tobiume.
Let's get things clear.. that picture does not really do this card justice.. so you'll just have to vividly imagine the rest.. Needless to say This years theme was cheesy film style bad break up... cue faux mirror effect and shock red lippy (if you were to accuse me of both a deranged imagination and sense of humour, I may be probably guilty as charged). My reasoning for the theme was as follows: This was a card for my friend Phil of Toluene/III/Biz Baz Boz fame and with previous years of audacious designs (many of which to be showcased on future weeks) I felt I had to keep the theme this year suitably mad. In-case you were wondering, i do not own my own lipstick... I'll leave it to your own musing to work out where this may have come from.
The mirror effect was achieved with backing glued tin foil onto a cardboard record mailer, flattening (as pictured in the making frame above) - clinical Microbiolgoy manual mandatory, prit-stick, more bloody prit-stick, gluing a half cut HD plastic record sleeve and finally slicing to a mirror shape. Steamed heartbreak-in-the-morning touchup effects generate by YET MORE prit-stick and blobs of dried nail polish (clear) for convincing water droplet effect- yet more artistic uses for womens' cosmetics, I should make a book. Then crack realism into the 21st century, by adding ultra-realistic Birthday-Smellotastic-funkology (c) (patent pending). As a trade secret this involves making the card smell like it's desired setting so that it is the first whiff the poor soul gets when opening the envelope. In this case tootpaste lovingly smeared on the front and a few sprays of cedarwood moth repellent spray gave that oh so dank-humid long shower in the bathroom morning-esque aroma. Hopefully, this nuance was achieved when Phil opened the card.
I didn't want to be tooooo outlandinsh with the message... thoughts of " Happy M*therf***ing birthday..." crossed my mind... but... just about... seemed a little too much... (damn... writing that makes me think I should have now.) Instead it reads the classic "Phil, Have a fantastic B-DAY") which is not a pun on a french bathroom utility (bidet). But as a nice side note, I decided to put the classic line of any awkward shower break up about the finer succinct rules of pet ownership (often a troubling matter at these times) keeping it nicely on theme... Hey, at least it didn't say car keys, vintage Gonk troll collection or Gibson EB (or Mini-nova...(http://global.novationmusic.com/hardware-synths/mininova)) could be far worse, right?
Expert Knob Twiddlers - Mike & Rich http://www.discogs.com/Mike-Rich-Mike-Rich/release/9206
A recent vinyl find picked up yesterday in Notting Hill Gate, always wanted to stumble across this in a record shop (mostly due to the cover) and very glad I did. Firstly, Who doesn't like Downfall, right? that was one damn fine game and a favorite of my lonely childhood mostly because things fell and party because it was also it was technically possible to play against yourself if you could manage Orwellian double think against yourself (like all the best games are). The tick-list for your average R James release are there: faces on the front cover, check. sinister grins, check. wacky humour, check. stupid name, check. crazy track names, double check! This is a fun record and being a Synth fan I still an't get over the double innuendo of the title. Not many people can qualify but I think these two (who need very little introduction - so I wont) have probably earnt it. The music is understandable as wacky as the cover, feeling almost, but not quite, entirely unlike a rave pop jazz funked up drunken romp of dance hiphopjazz splurge waltz samba oompa futurism in most places. Its a little disconcerting and repetitive in parts but retains enough movement between themes to be overall very unique and playful. It is almost exactly as I would imagine further work of AddNtoX to sound if someone had done a techno remix of Avant Hard (another classic album) - odd, unnerving but strangely rewarding and musically enjoyable with lot's to explore. Probably pretty unique amongst most my records and bound to get many listens. It seems Mr Ziqs early collabs tended to sound like techno rip-offs of earlier groups (without tending to sound harsh, I mean this in the best possible way) as the first album collab with SpeedyJ, which I also have (Slag Boom Van Loon - http://www.discogs.com/Slag-Boom-Van-Loon-Slag-Boom-Van-Loon/release/21647) sounds very much like a future techno Residents album (http://www.discogs.com/artist/6708-Residents-The), just as un-nerving but not as wacky.. especially compared to the screaming bunny-boy strobe torment which is residents live.) Sounds here include, jazz fanfares, oompa loops, burps, cats, whistles and wacky incoherent synth buzzes as expected, but I must admit there is a lovely lush pad towards the end of the first track Mr. Frosty that would bring this work into the realm of the much sought after and wonderful earlier "IDM" of this entourages output. Highlights i would say are Mr. frosty, the sound of beady eyes and Eggy toast, with overall the album losing it's way a little in the middle depending on how jazz-funk you happen to like things. This was almost certainly an album where one rang the other and said, "hey want to get trashed this evening in my home studio and whack out a masterpiece."... "I'll get the Russian standard and some pop tarts" came the reply, and the rest was history! Mr. Frosty
Sometimes, the most important facts people need to know, are not, necessarily, the ones they actually do know. Informing people of information of benefit to them is a public duty, and one that, as a responsible citizen, I feel I should try and uphold in every medium possible! Especially at someones Birthday! Being the life of the party, I naturally perceive that people LOVE facts, right? Therefore for a friends' (Patch C) birthday a few years ago this informative if a little esoteric card was given. Whilst some of the information within the graph is not wholly scientifically endorsed or accurate it's validity is assumed as being one that intelligent people will just recognise as common fact from intuition (as so many fine models are): such as wrestling a bear becomes VERY likely at retirement age, 21 year olds are very good at Pokemon and Baroque music is closely related to basil, but is in no way bohemian. I think there was more important public information on the other page of the card but I fear this may never be revealed to the wider public (despite it's contents being of the up-most importance to you, the readers, imminent safety.) as at the time I may have failed to get a picture. (patch, if you read this.. your chance to help me out?...). Whilst quite simple in design, I was trying to make it overall look like a bound 1960's information booklet but the paper was just a liiiiiiiiittle bit too bobbly... As this blog develops, you will begin to see that my cards tend to fall into two categories: themed and crazy (Sometimes, REALLY crazy), or arty and natural with the chosen theme really depending on the person and/or how much I may have had to drink.
Larry Heard - Alien http://www.discogs.com/Larry-Heard-Alien/release/5603315
Ho-hum... what bracket to put this album in then, House, techno, downtempo, none? (not that i usually care much for tags). I must admit whilst I was very aware of Larry heard from many of David Toops' rambling endearments, I never actively seeked out his works. Whilst this is something I rather regret now, especially as when I lived in Worthing I had access to buy an original press of "washing machine" in a small independent house and dance record shop (you know you want it records) and regret not taking up the opportunity. The problem partly was, I never did buy into David's suggestion that washing machine was the start of the third ambient boom (ocean of sound)... I would admit that the track is not doubt inspiring and novel, but i feel it lacked some of the distinction of earlier ambient works from the main body of material at the time and to some degree didn't move the genre onto a new direction. Personally, I feel that the UK techno scene was better at progressing ambient sound and that the "house sound" whilst inspiring much of the UK scene borrowed far more heavily from soul and disco. If you don't agree with this statement, fair cop... I wasn't around at the time (not even alive for some of it) and this is purely personal opinion.
Diverting away, this gorgeous sci-fi infused album sound very much in line with traditional lush house fullness of yesteryear and has the groove in many of the tracks as such (especially within Microgravity where there is a laid back Balearic feel). However it feels obvious that Larry has borrowed in 1996 many of the experimental European elements within dance music and added it to his sound to create a hyrbrid. This only works to complement heavily the sci-fi nature of the music to feel incredibly immersive and give the tracks a thematic credibility on par with the scene/story setting powers of Drexciya.
Whilst this album is rather sample light and vocal light. I personally love the purity of musical influences that come through (jazz lines, house, soul, euro-house, ambient) untainted by trying to be too experimental with sound itself and sticking to experimenting around the musical form. A good example of this would be the track flight of the comet where the syncopated jazzy stab throughout really complements the idea of a jaunt through an alien interplanetary city at sunset. Actually, I would be very surprised in the composer for the anime series Kaiba (Kiyoshi Yoshida) had not borrowed some of his O.S.T ideas from this album. Stylistically this album is all over the shop, RNA-DNA is a slow rave like pulse through an oceanic bubble with a nice simple techno hook, Dance of planet X is just purely EPIC, no other description (and my god man! THAT PAD!). Probably my favorite piece on the album, but being the least experimental (experimental being something I usually look for), maybe that's a little easy to say over one of the more esoteric and sprawled tracks such as Galactic Travels Suite (a meandering ambient dance trip with experimental Underworld-esque trance like beginnings and a really nice change in musical hooks throughout, especially the bass lines. It ends in a fantastic off kilter bassline Kraftwerkian techno beat. Prog-tastic!) Cosmology Myth feels like it would work well on Cowboy Beebop, partly a cheezy feeling wild western sci-fi crossover in nature, it somehow really works well... whilst I would like to say this may be the weakest track on the album.. I honestly think there are no weak tracks, only a lack in my ability to fully appreciate them.. it must be said Cosmology Myth has a hell of a lot of soul! The beauty of Celeste ends the album nicely along with the former track on a chilled Hip-Hop note, not usually being a fan of rap bar a few instances (say...4Hero) I always feel rap works if thematically coherent. And here it does.. a nice poetic, if a little repetitive, view into the nature of this invented solar system.. and maybe through the lines... just a short glimpse at our own and our ability to wonder at it?
In most tracks the analogue nature of the synth lines really shine through, some of the bass lines are purely room shakingly full and gritty as you would come to expect. But also... do I hear wavetable synths? (or at least samples) popular at the time of making... the digital crispness for the upper lines REALLY compliments well against the analogue backdrop. I wish more artists, and myself, would explore this as the basis for songs. Now without straying to become to technical anymore, I've quickly come to love this album and rate it very highly. It feels a nice departure from some of the more bleak and rigid techno I have, feeling far warmer (like a red summer sun) but still retains the musicality and thematic ability to innovate through sounds and notes that I idolise so much with the former. Musically, tracks seem to borrow heavily from 60s soul/jazz solo organ lines, Hip hop, cheesy digital country guitars, film soundtracks, Eno-ambient, Euro-techno to some degree french impressionism such as Satie in some of the more contrived musical passages. It's a very good mix and not one I feel most people could pull off and make work to this extent. Full of emotion and lot's to explore over and over again in repeat listens me and this album have a long future together. Sigh, they don't make em like this as much nowdays' ... just repress 'em.
Pressing: This album is mostly a wonderful repress and a steal for the sale price. The clear vinyl is lovely and really works well to prop up the clarity and content of the songs. A few yellow/ black flecks on the second disk as noted by some (generally around the edge.) However, to me this just gives the press a little more character. Nicely cut and flawlessly mastered. the extra room and lack of compression offered by having two disks may have an effect but i haven't listened to the original press so cannot say for certain. Artwork all well made and perfectly reproduced. An essential purchase!
This card was for my sisters birthday recently where she was soon to go kayaking as part of the group in the outer Hebrides. With only hazy memories of what this part of the world looked like the image was conjured mostly from my imagination (but with a bit of help from Google images) of what the trip might look from an above perceptive and rather than being isolating tried to emphasise the togetherness of the flotilla (forming HB for happy birthday to keep the card thematically relevent to the occasion) in a contrast to the desolate but beautifully sparse nature of the landscape. The sparkly blue card was used to provide both a sure surface for writing, give rigidity to the frame and to highlight shades of the surf where the darkness permeates through the crate paper at the glue. Lighter flossam and floculant shades were given by the use of regular tissues covered in glue, stretched or rolled into strips. The same textured paper (from the works used many times in many cards of which I cannot rate highly enough) was used to form the rocky outcrop and the natural pattern gives a slight otherworldlyness to otherwise a rather set image. This is doubly so with the dappled sun spots with the yellow patterned paper in the card front. People were not included within the kayaks, partly due to time constraints, the fiddlyness of paper required and to keep the card more conceptual than to mirror the possibility of any actual image.. However as the trip was yet to be completed I feel this aspect portends nicely with the idea that my sister had memories and an adventure still yet to explore. A kayak still yet to fill... along with the others yet to meet. Again this endlessness and dream like nature of the trip to be completed was purposefully created with the crate paper branching lazily over the edges of the card and not rigidly sticking to the frame or even the rest of the card. It was hoped in some small measure that this would be portrayed in the endless ocean waves of the paper.
Thematically the card content refers to an in joke about the possibility of encountering a killer whale whilst away, the minor but perceived unfairness of NCP parking charges and a reference to an obscure joke within an episode of the young ones. Where possible, this was made into a bad poem in a whirlpool configuration.
This being the first card of the blog, it sets the scene for what some of the messages within the cards look like. Content of the cards tends to depend on life events that are happening, in-jokes within family/friend groups, interests or plain random and this card is a good example of some of the types of things said. However, I would note that some of these things are very personal and would request any would be card reader to please keep this in mind (especially if you have questions) as you look through the site. I am naturally very reticent about ever letting my private life being given out to a wider audience (especially feeling facebook is somewhat over-rated) and I do not take the decision to put the content inside the cards up lightly.
