...official SubVersion review of Goldie - "The Journeyman 3CD", by Andy Popin
It's fine to comment on whole triple albums...and if you are reviewing for publication purposes other than self, it is just the kind of sheet you do, implicitly. But for me, there's something extra extra special about the closing (read: not bonus) third CD that concludes Cliffy 'Goldie''s best work since "Timeless" in his triple disc mother lode, "The Journeyman" on Metalheadz. Not only did it manage to make this hefty rockhead shed a few tears at recent exterior memories on my favourite piece of his whole album, the totally friggin terrific "Run Run Run" piano focused piece (yes it has piano, go figure) but "The Instra Suites", as this ascending journey disc spanning nearly eighty minutes and no less is titled, confirmed to me what I love best about Goldie - when he "actually finishes a tune".
Insult? No way.
For anyone who knows Ciiffy, whether it's just journalistically from afar like me and the average Joe, the ethic of putting the kitchen sink in good and proper - on each tune - is clear, and that dialectic genius he has of one of the precious few which too much weed didn't mess up musically from the 1990s is as clear as day on, for me personally, and to agree with Goldie for once, a better opus effort than "Timeless", the album that garnered so much acclaim.
Let's dispense with the long-winded verbals for a moment, and just appreciate the scene. Goldie has been around. God, is that an understatement? James Bond's assasin in The World Is Not Enough; the two left-footed Dad on Strictly Come Dancing; faux-thug on soapy depressant Eastbenders (pardon no pun); first-year psych workout Celebrity Big Brother glam points on a career spanning over three decades from the foundations of B-boy graff, Reinforced Records graft and London street seller grit and grime. It really shows on the closing dnb-turned-Detroit-tech cut "Redemption" at the end of disc three, a fiercely inventive swipe at the hangers-on of Jeff Mills, Frankie Knuckles Chicago-an House, Laurent Garnier acid techno Eiffels; his 'ardcore Rufige Cru life. Meanwhile as on the opener to this journey, "Natalie's Truth", "tomorrow lies in a sculpture", which points towards the Body Of Songs project "Electric Abyss" paradox-psychology of concept construction.
Speaking of more close-to-home, hearty influences, the sounds of "Timeless" engineer Rob Playford (Omni Trio) are dotted all over the analog bass balm and early club warming up sounds of "Horizon". The bass pattern plays a simple trajectory; minor 7th addition to major 7th subtraction but the drum counterpoint reverses and kaleidoscopically explodes the flow. In addition, musically so, glimmers of light piano and Rhodes points to roads untravelled by liquid funk since Lincoln Barret and Dom of Calibre subtracted the stepper breakbeat multi-match and doused in the rinse-and-repeat club putty of rolling percussion. These sounds speak of the unspoken divide between the liquid funk sub genre and atmospheric techno, rotating their influences like a heart-on-sleeve pallbearer passing out pamphlets of multi-faith worship at a parish. In lesser terms, that does not normally happen.
The next chapter takes us down into a Massive Attack and Portishead style meander - and a great one, with utmost focus - called "Mountains". It's too heavy for a strictly chill station; too light for a jungle tearout station. The best kind of description for stuff like this is "saturated hip hop", that Photek tune of the same name. This to me is better, and not just because it's more musical, it also has production balls, not saturated fat. "Ballad Of Celeste" takes that blueprint and adds violin, reducing (or rather transducing) the overall granular convolution that comes with forgetting memories on a journey as they start to happen. The album is low on lacular amnesia, to borrow from The Caretaker's titles; everything fits into place nicely, and is recollected as a memory pure, as it should be. Nice rice-grained harpsichord irons out the attention tenets of the time listening to "Celeste", which is "Mountains" romantic candour and counterpoint suggestion, also bookend with baby chuckles and samples of twinkling Poinsetta prettiness. "Castaway" ups the pace to around 162bpm by my internal heartbeat.
For the first time in this CD, wind instruments are ferociously introduced, darting all over the beat like a moth caught in a circus lightshow. Echoes of the synth used on Seal's "Killer" ("solitary brother, is there still a part of you that wants to live? Soiitary sister, is there still a part of you that wants to give?") sprinkle in the background like a kind of confetti-coloured moss; a disguised past. And that's exactly what "The Journeyman" feels like, on the whole...and a "glorious future past". The transition from hardcore to dnb reimagined for a less nascent, more grown up audience. It's an absolute mind killer of a journey, to use that dnb buzz word; it takes me to spiritual and heavenly palaces of the eye andear without moving a finger, except those on the hand to put this in the CD player with. Everything fits into place, as I have stated throughout.
It's like "The Journeyman" just came to show us that in tomorrow, and even yesterday, lies a sculpture of optimism...and that the journey of life never ends.
Andy Popin
Cataloguing notable progress of www.subvertcentral.com, with interviews, mixtapes and topical reports.
Featured post
VIDA DE-sign by Michael Buckingham, aka Mick Muttley
Dear friends (yeah really, one of those) I have become a women's wear designer for VIDA! http://shopvida.com/collections/voices/ ...
Showing posts with label Jungle. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jungle. Show all posts
Friday, 4 August 2017
Tuesday, 17 March 2015
subversion stop 249=250 - subversion recommends muttley: uncertain things (muttley's 27th bday mix)
subversion stop 249=250 - subversion recommends muttley: uncertain things (muttley's 27th bday mix)
feat. altus, asc, vangelis, foci's left (fl), little red, slow club, seconds before awakening, sky residents
(enjoy & eschaton), fanu, simon bean, 36, eveson, grouper; 1h 15 minutes length.
feat. altus, asc, vangelis, foci's left (fl), little red, slow club, seconds before awakening, sky residents
(enjoy & eschaton), fanu, simon bean, 36, eveson, grouper; 1h 15 minutes length.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/tkwiw3zez098z40/Uncertain%20Things....mp3?dl=0
/|
poetry by muttley
|/
doctrine of unexpected endings and quelled finalism.
kicking a habit like the smoke was blown out of the room by a vaccum.
diarising over a point-free exponent of the mind.
missing the details where there should be cognition inside.
changing the format as if it were pepperspray across a restaurant table.
finding sinuous connections until we're rarely unable.
controlling uncertain things may be a doctrine of unexpected endings i find.
but it's another thing being just controlled by the tide...
/|
poetry by muttley
|/
doctrine of unexpected endings and quelled finalism.
kicking a habit like the smoke was blown out of the room by a vaccum.
diarising over a point-free exponent of the mind.
missing the details where there should be cognition inside.
changing the format as if it were pepperspray across a restaurant table.
finding sinuous connections until we're rarely unable.
controlling uncertain things may be a doctrine of unexpected endings i find.
but it's another thing being just controlled by the tide...
Monday, 22 December 2014
SubVersion Stop 238: SV Xmas 2014 Drip-Feed 4 - Simon Bean - Lust 320 Mp3 free download
For the fourth part of SubVersion's first Drip-Feed series, we're presented with a fantastic exclusive track from fellow Omni Music producer Simon Bean, who has remixed Eschaton and Foci's Left priorly. Ambient electronica styles in a jungle framework with lots of melodic pad sweeps. :)
http://kapsil.net/muttley/SubVersion/Simon%20Bean%20-%20%20Lust.mp3
Thanks so much to Simon Bean for providing the track. Find more Simon Bean at www.omnimusic.org
http://kapsil.net/muttley/SubVersion/Simon%20Bean%20-%20%20Lust.mp3
Thanks so much to Simon Bean for providing the track. Find more Simon Bean at www.omnimusic.org
Monday, 12 May 2014
SubVersion Stop 226: What's been happening in the world of Foci's Left (May 2013 - May 2014)
Instead of spam with multiple postings, I'm collecting all of the essential Foci's Left publicity from May 2013 to May 2014 into one post, upon release of my third album, "Derelict Career".
A lot can happen in a year...in reverse chronological order:
Foci's Left - Derelict Career LP (Foci's Left LP 002)
.jpg)
01. Pathological Darkness
02. Anything Becomes Possible With Time
03. Eternal Sands [The Shapeshifter's Reprise feat. Eschaton] (Album Version)
04. Talking With Birds Lament
05. Liez
06. Wandering In A Bright Spot (For Advertisements)
07. The Light You Shine Prevents Me From Being Uptight
08. Seeing The Sights (For Film)
09. Spared Merit (Vocal Version)
10. A Rose In The Desert Wind (Simon Bean Re-model)
Released: 12 May 2014
Price: £5
http://focisleft.bandcamp.com/album/derelict-career-lp
The album is called "Derelict Career". Concept: the ambient music protagonist (me) sees that ambient-exclusive musicians are fit for a "derelict career", as besides Brian Eno, the style has no sustainable capital powering it; it must stay a hobby. Ambient is Eno''s invention and to have success, musicians must look outside their niche to move through different styles. Ambient has been going since the 1950s - it is often mixed with new age as a genre, music for Tai Chi, and healing/therapy medicine. So the point to make is to, jokingly so, try and avoid a "derelict career", in order to progress and have an audience - the most important faculty for me; money isn't important, people are.
The album artwork is an exclusive commission from William Rye, a young artist who curated the Unconscious Volume exhibition in Kent, UK in 2012, in memory of my uncle John Buckingham who died age 45 from Motor Neuron Disease. The image has a special clarity for our family, my father being a painter, as I once was, with the brush being melted into the book representative of my career choice to be a writer, whether of tracks, songs, lyrics or poetry. So far I have been successful at this, with my dream jobs becoming more reality than ever before. With each sale, a percentage is donated to William, and the remainder helps to cover any CD packaging / gear upgrading as I venture further into music production. Thank you immeasurably for your time and support.
Reviews
"The long track is great, as well as those which concentrate on soundscaping. But (as you'd probably expect
)
I don't like the vocal tracks at all. Anyway, just because I don't like
the vocal tracks doesn't mean other people won't". ~ Jonathan Tait,
Subvert Central Recordings owner and published letter writer in The Wire
2013 concerning Meredith Monk.
"Overall it seems you're still searching for a sound, but tracks 1-4, 8 and 10 are the way to go in my opinion. Of course you should not really adapt based on one person's opinion ~ better to collect a group of opinions and go from there!" ~ Richard Allen, www.acloserlisten.com editor and central writer.
"Listening to Pathological Darkness right now - really liking it.
Like how the brighter synth emerges (1:08) as the track progresses but still with the darker sounds infiltrating the mix. It does really make you feel like you're inside a gloomy, distracted mind. Given the title, that's mission accomplished." ~ Code, Subtle Audio label owner (Mary Anne Hobbs / Aphex Twin featured).
"I like the sound design going on" ~ Nic TVG, Pinecone Moonshine owner (Equinox, Icarus, Macc et al).
"I listened. And this remind me even more of The Residents. But much much more spooky. Some scary atmospheres in this one. I notice something interesting in your tracks. You don't start slowly and build the tracks - like most of the ambient/drone artists - but instead from the start you insert the listener into your soundscapes. Eternal Sands (The Shapeshifters Reprise) I like the most so far." ~ Kristian (Fyhwds), Noise For Blues For Noise artist.
Credits
Mick Robert Buckingham - all synths, keyboard work, processing, mastering, except "A Rose In The Desert Wind" which is re-modelled by Simon Rametse.
Artwork commissioned exclusively from William Rye, from the "Unconscious Volume" 2012 exhibition, dedicated to my uncle John Buckingham, who died of Motor Neuron Disease in 2002.
Tags
ambient foci's left label omni music simon bean dark drone electroacoustic emotional pianism second self-released lp third album vocal harmonies yin & yang Oxford
Foci's Left - 15 Minutes Of Fame Pt.1 - I Want To Touch The Sky - Derelict Career Promo Mix (May 2014)
01. 00:00 The Inventors Of Aircraft – Early Morning Trauma (Earthtones Vol.1, Tessellate Recordings, Bandcamp, 2013)
02. 01:40 The Angling Loser – Night (Author Of The Twilight, Time Released Sound, 2013
03. 07:45 Abdul Mogard – Studded Procession (Futuresequence, Sequence 7, Bandcamp, 2013)
04. 07:50 Metatag – One Dream Lost One Dream Found (Transmisson LP, Bandcamp, 2014)
05. 09:20 Eeem – Shores Of Midgard (Futuresequence, Sequence 7, Bandcamp, 2013)
06. 15:40 Foci's Left – Pathological Darkness (Derelict Career LP, Foci's Left, Bandcamp, 2014)
07. 17:00 Boards Of Canada – Reach For The Dead (Tomorrow's Harvest LP, Warp, 2013)
08. 21:20 Grouper – No Other (A.I.A: Dream Loss LP, Yellowelectric, 2011)
09. 23:50 Duncan O'Calleiagh – Low Across Dawn Waters (Distant Voices, Still Lives, Parvo Art, 2009)
10. 23:50 Foci's Left – Anything Becomes Possible With Time (Derelict Career LP / Tara EP, Foci's Left, Bandcamp, 2014)
31:34 end
http://kapsil.net/muttley/2014/Foci%...%202014%29.mp3
Enjoy people.
Mick
http://subvertcentral.com/forum/showthread.php?60487-Foci-s-Left-15-MOF-Pt-1-I-Want-To-Touch-The-Sky-Derelict-Career-Promo-Mix-%28May%29
https://soundcloud.com/subversion-2/...rumental-remix
Foci's Left - Life In A Less Southern Town (Omni Music Ohm Series 02)
http://subvertcentral.com/forum/showthread.php?60331-OUT-NOW-The-Ohm-Series-Foci-s-Left-Life-in-a-Less-Southern-Town-LP-%28Ohm02%29&highlight=southern
#6 in the drum 'n' bass bestsellers one week in March 2014, #32 for the month from hundreds (it's not even d'n'b, it's at best electronica).
#Supported by Niels Roosen (www.jungletrain.net owner), Jonathan Tait (Subvert Central Recordings owner), Simon Rametse (Simon Bean, Omni Music), amongst others.
#Critically acclaimed by seasoned www.nightshift.oxfordmusic.net writer David Murphy in print.
#Collaborative effort with a Brian Eno collaborator - Simon Scott of Slowdive - and Mike Twelve (Seconds Before Awakening / The Giraffe And The Tree).
The LP is based on emotions I experience writing music in the town of Carterton, Oxfordshire; additionally Oxford, as a means to express myself - as opposed to Rochester, Kent, where I could express very little. "Life In A Less Southern Town" runs the gamut of the ambient, drone, synthesizer and modern classical worlds to offer something unique.
"Erratic Pathway" is remixed on the disc by Simon Scott of Slowdive. Scott worked with Brian Eno on the group's "Souvlaki" LP in the early 1990s.
The disc comes with 4 bonus tracks. CDs ship immediately (please put your address in the Paypal notes and I'll send your copy).
Many thanks for your support - an audience means the world to me.
Mick Buckingham (Foci's Left)
www.omnimusic.org
reviews
"There are two sorts of ambient music. One gets you relaxed, and one makes you uneasy; one's a warm duvet and one's a chill breeze; one's a forgiving hug and one's a suspicious glance.
Although the second album by Oxford musician Mick Buckingham covers both ambient strains, it's definitely better when leaning towards the latter. The most satisfying element of this record is its density - where many ambient composers are happy to let things run, Buckingham has created a CD of real sonic depth, with a lush textural variety, from the pitched-up honks at the opening (that remind us of "Galleons Of Stone" by The Art Of Noise) to "In Our Lives, There Have Been Many Terrors", in which distant metallic clanks are borne on zephyrs through crumbling ruins.
Occasionally the sounds are just too well worn, and the ear can't help but associate echoey piano with lachrymose US soaps, and sawtooth synth hums with encroaching Silurians, but in general this is a well-constructed thoughtful slice of musical atmospherica.
Perhaps "Transistory Stringency" - yes, the titles are best ignored, frankly - is thin and meandering, but in general this record marries the amicable bubbling of early Global Communication with the elegant austerity of Tim Hecker or Leyland Kirby.
The record ends with some unexpected drum 'n' bass action, and if the breakbeat tweaking is a little ham-fisted, the mournful Aphex horns underneath embody the record's true, dark heart. Good stuff, in short, but more misery next time, please, Mick; perhaps we should have written a bad review, to get the ball rolling." ~ David Murphy, Nightshift reviewer, April 2014. (www.nightshift.oxfordmusic.net)
"It reminded me of Vangelis. It's better than your first album. :)" ~ Jonathan Tait, Subvert Central Recordings and published The Wire Letters contributor concerning Meredith Monk. (www.subvertcentral.com)
"That's pretty out there man. I didn't dislike it, that's for sure, but the main thing I took from it is it was very adventurous in what it tries to do." ~ ASC on "Love Never Fails", producer mentioned by Joe Muggs in The Wire 2012 Rewind as breaking new ground. (www.auxiliarymusic.com)
"First impression: your music is very strong compositionally and sonically, very well made and beautifully executed. :)" ~ Pascal Savy, Fluid Radio.
"Yes I liked it. You've got a real talent there. I think you're an innovator." ~ Geoff Brooks PhD, clinical psychologist, hypnotherapist and Reiki healer.
"I like the mood of the release, which I would classify as darkly contemplative. It's always good to play to your strengths, so my recommendation would be to continue further down this path." ~ www.acloserlisten.com
"I like it :) Suddenly starts to get moody when the organ comes in." ~ Shiva, Bitrate Music on "With Aid Of The Assertive" [CD-R Bonus Track] (www.bitratemusic.com), attendant of Technicality raves in the ongoing jungle / drum 'n' bass revival.
"I thought is was nicely meandering without losing its focus." ~ Bob Macc on "Love Conquers All", jungle track in 4/4 and 5/4 time signature. (Outsider, Paradox Music, Subvert Central, Breakin, www.subvertmastering.com)
"Sounds like a good lead into a d'n'b track. The arrangement is very pleasant to me." ~ Nic TVG on "In Our Lives, There Have Been Many Terrors" percussion section. (www.pineconemoonshine.com)
"I like the part where the drums start to fall apart the best." ~ Nic TVG, Pinecone Moonshine label owner (Macc, Icarus et al) on "Love Conquers All".
"Nice ECM style album cover as well!" ~ James Sargeant, Moshka promoter, Oxford.
reviews
"Introducing ‘Not Seeing Reality’ – the wayward, often mysterious journey that defines the pathway of what we call life. For many, reality is totally dependent on individual perception. The notes begin their life in innocent infancy, but by their teens they have snaked their way into the more unruly, dissonant territory, interacting with one another until a harmonious chain reaction ensues; one that started off with a primary note – a single heartbeat, the survivor in the battle of selection – but one that quickly brings in a thousand more.
Reality is then able to shape-shift into a sporadic, sparse piano line, accompanied by a gorgeous wave of crimson synth. Only, a line doesn’t quite work; it is bloated enough to feel pregnant with the baby bump of melody, oozing out of the thicker line and then submerging the original, vulnerable piano with new life.
Foci’s Left is the alias of Fluid Radio’s own Mick Buckingham, a name that regular Fluid readers will know very well. Told as a chronological tale, Grumpy Love isn’t nearly as dishevelled or as depressed with the state of things past and present as its grumpy name would seem to suggest. It is, in fact, shrouded by heart-felt sensitivity and deep personality. It is very much the opposite of grumpy. After all, there are two words up there; the oh-so-thin space that divides the first word from the second, ‘love’, is close enough to be considered intimate.
Love never fails. Love conquers all.
Grumpy Love is a beautiful, personalized painting, left to hang at a slight angle on the uneven canvas of life, with both enjoyable and difficult moments that come to claim every man. When linked together, they reach a teenage crescendo. ‘Piano Paint’ introduces some beautiful synths that jut into the piano, coating it with an intoxicating harbour of nostalgia – the nostalgic element traces a radiated line of melody, as if the early memory on which it was based has physically escaped, deceiving what we all thought of as reality and instead containing itself within the music as a precautionary measure. It cocoons itself against the decline that age brings and the mood swing of swift change that can affect our recollections as one decade passes into another.
Saturated in the vintage, ambient warmth of pure tone, when the genre itself was in its infancy, the synths are a mesmerising serenade. It shares the same angelic timbre that made the early Brian Eno classic, Music For Airports, such a lovable listen. You can tell instantly that Grumpy Love is a deeply personal recording just from this synth alone. The later drums seem to propel the passages of life forward, with no pause for reminiscing. That comes later on, because Grumpy Love has some beautiful, open spaces ideal for reflection. Life may, at times, feel like ‘An Upwards Slope’, but listening to the music here is to know that the inner serenity of peaceful ease is always there. Always. Here, a thinner drone is disguised as Cupid himself, but the darker echoes of possible distress lie just beyond the doorway. It is the tense, anxious sound of the unknown; a place where dusty road-signs are always blank with unmarked destinations.
‘For Fluid’ is a loving piece of music that is as much a generous tribute as it is a personal reflection. Grumpy Love narrates the passage of life with painstaking thought. The older hand outlines the black tail of a nurtured note like the embrace between a newborn and a parent. In this picture, the thin brush gives life to the paint. It holds itself in the palmed trust of the future, while taking one last look back at the past – this is the final dedication." ~ James Catchpole, Fluid Radio
www.fluid-radio.co.uk/2013/09/focis-left/
"After the disconcerting dissonance of his last demo (FTAL Attraction), Foci's Left - the solo work of occasional Nightshift contributor Mick Buckingham - casts forth a full album set on a far less turbulent plane.
Nine tracks of stretched-out electro-acoustic ambient pianism and electronic minimalism drift and shift with soporific intent, microtonal drones morphing and gradually mutating with precision-restrained variation. Best of the pieces here is the drone-drift of "Decompress The Magnet", while it's marginally more imposing twin "An Upwards Slope" dovetails into it seamlessly. "Regurgitated Impulses" adds a necessary glitchy interlude, while "Piano Paint" is both light in tone and texture but random enough to be distracting.
Where the album occasionally falls down is a lack of brevity on a few of the tracks - "Piano Paint" for example has run its course long before it concludes - while "For Fluid" is anything but and simply sounds like Mick's plonking random keys on his piano, but beyond such lapses, "Grumpy Love" is a neat enough addition to the ambient drone cannon." ~ Ronan Munro, Nightshift Magazine ed.
(www.nightshift.oxfordmusic.net, October 2013)
"I find you on Bandcamp and I'm listening right now "Grumpy Love". This is strange music so far :) Dark soundscapes and atmospheres but lighten up with childish imagination coming from the piano playing (currently I'm at the ending of the second track). Interesting. " ~ Kristian, Noise For Blues For Noise.
"It is very...interesting :)
Well at times I really like the aesthetic and the goofiness of the sounds. Sometimes it is a tad too much for me I have to admit. Maybe it is something I have to listen to more carefully. But it is very inspiring at times." ~ Nils Frahm, Erased Tapes Records.
"It's pretty amazing. I really like 'Decompress The Magnet' and 'An Upwards Slope', they are my favourites. I'm going to have to burn it to CD for the car." ~ 247, Futurepast Fanzine ed.
"Well done Mick. Congrats!" ~ ASC
"I really like 'Decompress The Magnet' :D" ~ GlassBox
"'Decompress The Magnet' really is outstanding." ~ Roo Stercogburn, Omni Music.
subvertcentral.com/forum/showthread.php?59592-Foci-s-Left-Grumpy-Love-LP-(my-debut-album-OUT-NOW)
"It has a nice flow to it" ~ Roy Buckingham, my grandfather on "For Fluid".
"I am very impressed, the Grumpy Love LP, it really has a lot to offer. 'Decompress the Magnet' has a depth of creativity, emotion and inspiration resonating from it. 'An Upwards Slope' has a feeling of a eternal dose of mystery and passionate adventure of abstract life just breathing in and out through the song... I wish the LP had a fixed price on it because it is of good value. Brillliant work love it!" ~ Simon Bean, Omni Music via Facebook.
A lot can happen in a year...in reverse chronological order:
Foci's Left - Derelict Career LP (Foci's Left LP 002)
02. Anything Becomes Possible With Time
03. Eternal Sands [The Shapeshifter's Reprise feat. Eschaton] (Album Version)
04. Talking With Birds Lament
05. Liez
06. Wandering In A Bright Spot (For Advertisements)
07. The Light You Shine Prevents Me From Being Uptight
08. Seeing The Sights (For Film)
09. Spared Merit (Vocal Version)
10. A Rose In The Desert Wind (Simon Bean Re-model)
Released: 12 May 2014
Price: £5
http://focisleft.bandcamp.com/album/derelict-career-lp
The album is called "Derelict Career". Concept: the ambient music protagonist (me) sees that ambient-exclusive musicians are fit for a "derelict career", as besides Brian Eno, the style has no sustainable capital powering it; it must stay a hobby. Ambient is Eno''s invention and to have success, musicians must look outside their niche to move through different styles. Ambient has been going since the 1950s - it is often mixed with new age as a genre, music for Tai Chi, and healing/therapy medicine. So the point to make is to, jokingly so, try and avoid a "derelict career", in order to progress and have an audience - the most important faculty for me; money isn't important, people are.
The album artwork is an exclusive commission from William Rye, a young artist who curated the Unconscious Volume exhibition in Kent, UK in 2012, in memory of my uncle John Buckingham who died age 45 from Motor Neuron Disease. The image has a special clarity for our family, my father being a painter, as I once was, with the brush being melted into the book representative of my career choice to be a writer, whether of tracks, songs, lyrics or poetry. So far I have been successful at this, with my dream jobs becoming more reality than ever before. With each sale, a percentage is donated to William, and the remainder helps to cover any CD packaging / gear upgrading as I venture further into music production. Thank you immeasurably for your time and support.
Reviews
"The long track is great, as well as those which concentrate on soundscaping. But (as you'd probably expect
)
I don't like the vocal tracks at all. Anyway, just because I don't like
the vocal tracks doesn't mean other people won't". ~ Jonathan Tait,
Subvert Central Recordings owner and published letter writer in The Wire
2013 concerning Meredith Monk."Overall it seems you're still searching for a sound, but tracks 1-4, 8 and 10 are the way to go in my opinion. Of course you should not really adapt based on one person's opinion ~ better to collect a group of opinions and go from there!" ~ Richard Allen, www.acloserlisten.com editor and central writer.
"Listening to Pathological Darkness right now - really liking it.
Like how the brighter synth emerges (1:08) as the track progresses but still with the darker sounds infiltrating the mix. It does really make you feel like you're inside a gloomy, distracted mind. Given the title, that's mission accomplished." ~ Code, Subtle Audio label owner (Mary Anne Hobbs / Aphex Twin featured).
"I like the sound design going on" ~ Nic TVG, Pinecone Moonshine owner (Equinox, Icarus, Macc et al).
"I listened. And this remind me even more of The Residents. But much much more spooky. Some scary atmospheres in this one. I notice something interesting in your tracks. You don't start slowly and build the tracks - like most of the ambient/drone artists - but instead from the start you insert the listener into your soundscapes. Eternal Sands (The Shapeshifters Reprise) I like the most so far." ~ Kristian (Fyhwds), Noise For Blues For Noise artist.
Credits
Mick Robert Buckingham - all synths, keyboard work, processing, mastering, except "A Rose In The Desert Wind" which is re-modelled by Simon Rametse.
Artwork commissioned exclusively from William Rye, from the "Unconscious Volume" 2012 exhibition, dedicated to my uncle John Buckingham, who died of Motor Neuron Disease in 2002.
Tags
ambient foci's left label omni music simon bean dark drone electroacoustic emotional pianism second self-released lp third album vocal harmonies yin & yang Oxford
Foci's Left - 15 Minutes Of Fame Pt.1 - I Want To Touch The Sky - Derelict Career Promo Mix (May 2014)
01. 00:00 The Inventors Of Aircraft – Early Morning Trauma (Earthtones Vol.1, Tessellate Recordings, Bandcamp, 2013)
02. 01:40 The Angling Loser – Night (Author Of The Twilight, Time Released Sound, 2013
03. 07:45 Abdul Mogard – Studded Procession (Futuresequence, Sequence 7, Bandcamp, 2013)
04. 07:50 Metatag – One Dream Lost One Dream Found (Transmisson LP, Bandcamp, 2014)
05. 09:20 Eeem – Shores Of Midgard (Futuresequence, Sequence 7, Bandcamp, 2013)
06. 15:40 Foci's Left – Pathological Darkness (Derelict Career LP, Foci's Left, Bandcamp, 2014)
07. 17:00 Boards Of Canada – Reach For The Dead (Tomorrow's Harvest LP, Warp, 2013)
08. 21:20 Grouper – No Other (A.I.A: Dream Loss LP, Yellowelectric, 2011)
09. 23:50 Duncan O'Calleiagh – Low Across Dawn Waters (Distant Voices, Still Lives, Parvo Art, 2009)
10. 23:50 Foci's Left – Anything Becomes Possible With Time (Derelict Career LP / Tara EP, Foci's Left, Bandcamp, 2014)
31:34 end
http://kapsil.net/muttley/2014/Foci%...%202014%29.mp3
Enjoy people.
Mick
http://subvertcentral.com/forum/showthread.php?60487-Foci-s-Left-15-MOF-Pt-1-I-Want-To-Touch-The-Sky-Derelict-Career-Promo-Mix-%28May%29
Goldfrapp - Stranger (Foci's Left Instrumental Remix)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=MnySVVID3agFree Mp3 download on the SubVersion SoundCloud:
https://soundcloud.com/subversion-2/...rumental-remix
Published on 3 May 2014
Bonus audio from the soon-arriving "Derelict Career" LP by Foci's Left, the solo project of Mick Robert Buckingham from Oxford, UK. Due to respect of copyright this original version is online as a stream and not on the paid download of my third album.
The LP will be available at: www.focisleft.bandcamp.com for an inexpensive £5.
Please buy Goldfrapp's records. "Tales Of Us" is a fantastic record closely followed by their debut "Lovely Head" and then "Seventh Tree". You can find Goldfrapp's music available on Amazon, iTunes, and more reputable stores.
Don't forget to check www.goldfrapp.com
Thanks for listening.
http://subvertcentral.com/forum/showthread.php?60331-OUT-NOW-The-Ohm-Series-Foci-s-Left-Life-in-a-Less-Southern-Town-LP-%28Ohm02%29&highlight=southern
#6 in the drum 'n' bass bestsellers one week in March 2014, #32 for the month from hundreds (it's not even d'n'b, it's at best electronica).
#Supported by Niels Roosen (www.jungletrain.net owner), Jonathan Tait (Subvert Central Recordings owner), Simon Rametse (Simon Bean, Omni Music), amongst others.
#Critically acclaimed by seasoned www.nightshift.oxfordmusic.net writer David Murphy in print.
#Collaborative effort with a Brian Eno collaborator - Simon Scott of Slowdive - and Mike Twelve (Seconds Before Awakening / The Giraffe And The Tree).
The LP is based on emotions I experience writing music in the town of Carterton, Oxfordshire; additionally Oxford, as a means to express myself - as opposed to Rochester, Kent, where I could express very little. "Life In A Less Southern Town" runs the gamut of the ambient, drone, synthesizer and modern classical worlds to offer something unique.
"Erratic Pathway" is remixed on the disc by Simon Scott of Slowdive. Scott worked with Brian Eno on the group's "Souvlaki" LP in the early 1990s.
The disc comes with 4 bonus tracks. CDs ship immediately (please put your address in the Paypal notes and I'll send your copy).
Many thanks for your support - an audience means the world to me.
Mick Buckingham (Foci's Left)
www.omnimusic.org
reviews
"There are two sorts of ambient music. One gets you relaxed, and one makes you uneasy; one's a warm duvet and one's a chill breeze; one's a forgiving hug and one's a suspicious glance.
Although the second album by Oxford musician Mick Buckingham covers both ambient strains, it's definitely better when leaning towards the latter. The most satisfying element of this record is its density - where many ambient composers are happy to let things run, Buckingham has created a CD of real sonic depth, with a lush textural variety, from the pitched-up honks at the opening (that remind us of "Galleons Of Stone" by The Art Of Noise) to "In Our Lives, There Have Been Many Terrors", in which distant metallic clanks are borne on zephyrs through crumbling ruins.
Occasionally the sounds are just too well worn, and the ear can't help but associate echoey piano with lachrymose US soaps, and sawtooth synth hums with encroaching Silurians, but in general this is a well-constructed thoughtful slice of musical atmospherica.
Perhaps "Transistory Stringency" - yes, the titles are best ignored, frankly - is thin and meandering, but in general this record marries the amicable bubbling of early Global Communication with the elegant austerity of Tim Hecker or Leyland Kirby.
The record ends with some unexpected drum 'n' bass action, and if the breakbeat tweaking is a little ham-fisted, the mournful Aphex horns underneath embody the record's true, dark heart. Good stuff, in short, but more misery next time, please, Mick; perhaps we should have written a bad review, to get the ball rolling." ~ David Murphy, Nightshift reviewer, April 2014. (www.nightshift.oxfordmusic.net)
"It reminded me of Vangelis. It's better than your first album. :)" ~ Jonathan Tait, Subvert Central Recordings and published The Wire Letters contributor concerning Meredith Monk. (www.subvertcentral.com)
"That's pretty out there man. I didn't dislike it, that's for sure, but the main thing I took from it is it was very adventurous in what it tries to do." ~ ASC on "Love Never Fails", producer mentioned by Joe Muggs in The Wire 2012 Rewind as breaking new ground. (www.auxiliarymusic.com)
"First impression: your music is very strong compositionally and sonically, very well made and beautifully executed. :)" ~ Pascal Savy, Fluid Radio.
"Yes I liked it. You've got a real talent there. I think you're an innovator." ~ Geoff Brooks PhD, clinical psychologist, hypnotherapist and Reiki healer.
"I like the mood of the release, which I would classify as darkly contemplative. It's always good to play to your strengths, so my recommendation would be to continue further down this path." ~ www.acloserlisten.com
"I like it :) Suddenly starts to get moody when the organ comes in." ~ Shiva, Bitrate Music on "With Aid Of The Assertive" [CD-R Bonus Track] (www.bitratemusic.com), attendant of Technicality raves in the ongoing jungle / drum 'n' bass revival.
"I thought is was nicely meandering without losing its focus." ~ Bob Macc on "Love Conquers All", jungle track in 4/4 and 5/4 time signature. (Outsider, Paradox Music, Subvert Central, Breakin, www.subvertmastering.com)
"Sounds like a good lead into a d'n'b track. The arrangement is very pleasant to me." ~ Nic TVG on "In Our Lives, There Have Been Many Terrors" percussion section. (www.pineconemoonshine.com)
"I like the part where the drums start to fall apart the best." ~ Nic TVG, Pinecone Moonshine label owner (Macc, Icarus et al) on "Love Conquers All".
"Nice ECM style album cover as well!" ~ James Sargeant, Moshka promoter, Oxford.
credits
released 02 March 2014
Mick Robert Buckingham - all synths, instruments and processing, except on "In Our Lives, There Have Been Many Terrors" where Mike Twelve contributes the middle part. All mastering by Foci's Left, except "Love Conquers All" which has additional mastering by Bob Macc (www.subvertmastering.com)
Mick Robert Buckingham - all synths, instruments and processing, except on "In Our Lives, There Have Been Many Terrors" where Mike Twelve contributes the middle part. All mastering by Foci's Left, except "Love Conquers All" which has additional mastering by Bob Macc (www.subvertmastering.com)
tags
license
all rights reserved
Foci's Left - Tara EP (Foci's Left EP 003)
Tara
"Moose" Buckingham, our 16 year old Colly / Alsatian cross, died on
January 9th 2014 of kidney failure. There was nothing more we could do,
it was her time. Me and my close family enjoyed 8 years with her. She
was a rescue dog from the RSPCA.
As a way to mark this loss cathartically, and as a tribute, I present "Tara EP", a four track chronological excursion of Tara into the afterlife ("Anything Becomes Possible With Time"), emotions in lament ("Non-Corrosive String Solution"), the memorandum ("For Tara"), and finally, my belief she may come back as a woman one day ("To The Woman With No Name"). This is an EP of very personal emotions, from the one who was ironically least close to her because of my own illness.
The EP is an inexpensive £3, being sold as a whole, as it is meant to be heard. 50% of proceeds will go to our local Animal Sanctuary shop, where "Moose" as she was infamously called every day (due to her appearance) was took for walks regularly.
I hope you enjoy the music. Here's to you Tara, hopefully we'll speak again someday.
SPECIAL OFFER
Order "Life In A Less Southern Town LP" on CD-R and "Tara EP" for £10. Email mbucki07 at hotmail dot co dot uk or send your Paypal payment to this address clearly labelled "Special offer" and I'll send both releases to you digitally. :)
REVIEWS
"It reminds me of early(ish) Pink Floyd :)" ~ Jonathan Tait, Subvert Central Recordings on "Anything Becomes Possible With Time".
"My favourite artist at the moment...classic releases!" Simon Rametse, March 2014.
"i like it. i wonder what it would sound like if it gets a bit more complex. nice one anyway. " ~ logburner, Subvert Central forum on "Non-Corrosive String Solution".
"it's rhythmic very odd – it sounds as though everything is always slightly behind the beat – disturbing :)" ~ Jonathan Tait on "Non-Corrosive String Solution".
"I like it, very interesting, I'm going to show the rest of the gang and I let you know what everyone thinks." ~ Shiva, www.bitratemusic.com on "Non-Corrosive String Solution".
"It's nice. It sounds like an improvisation :)" ~ Jonathan Tait on "To The Woman With No Name".
credits
As a way to mark this loss cathartically, and as a tribute, I present "Tara EP", a four track chronological excursion of Tara into the afterlife ("Anything Becomes Possible With Time"), emotions in lament ("Non-Corrosive String Solution"), the memorandum ("For Tara"), and finally, my belief she may come back as a woman one day ("To The Woman With No Name"). This is an EP of very personal emotions, from the one who was ironically least close to her because of my own illness.
The EP is an inexpensive £3, being sold as a whole, as it is meant to be heard. 50% of proceeds will go to our local Animal Sanctuary shop, where "Moose" as she was infamously called every day (due to her appearance) was took for walks regularly.
I hope you enjoy the music. Here's to you Tara, hopefully we'll speak again someday.
SPECIAL OFFER
Order "Life In A Less Southern Town LP" on CD-R and "Tara EP" for £10. Email mbucki07 at hotmail dot co dot uk or send your Paypal payment to this address clearly labelled "Special offer" and I'll send both releases to you digitally. :)
REVIEWS
"It reminds me of early(ish) Pink Floyd :)" ~ Jonathan Tait, Subvert Central Recordings on "Anything Becomes Possible With Time".
"My favourite artist at the moment...classic releases!" Simon Rametse, March 2014.
"i like it. i wonder what it would sound like if it gets a bit more complex. nice one anyway. " ~ logburner, Subvert Central forum on "Non-Corrosive String Solution".
"it's rhythmic very odd – it sounds as though everything is always slightly behind the beat – disturbing :)" ~ Jonathan Tait on "Non-Corrosive String Solution".
"I like it, very interesting, I'm going to show the rest of the gang and I let you know what everyone thinks." ~ Shiva, www.bitratemusic.com on "Non-Corrosive String Solution".
"It's nice. It sounds like an improvisation :)" ~ Jonathan Tait on "To The Woman With No Name".
credits
released 02 March 2014
Mick Robert Buckingham - all synths, piano, strings, processing and mastering, except "To The Woman With No Name" which is mastered by Bob Macc (www.subvertmastering.com)
Mick Robert Buckingham - all synths, piano, strings, processing and mastering, except "To The Woman With No Name" which is mastered by Bob Macc (www.subvertmastering.com)
tags
I, Mick
Robert Buckingham first met hypnotherapist and alternative
medicines/therapies specialist Geoff Brooks in 2010, when I was going
through a transition in diagnosis from bipolar and psychotic depression
to schizo-affective disorder. Within 1 session I felt really at ease and
liberated by Geoff's emotive techniques with positive affirmations and
anxiety disorders. He trains in imaginal realities, psychotherapy, dream
work, EFT (emotional freedom technique), hypnotherapy and Reiki
healing.
With 3 degrees with distinctions to his name, I was motivated by my deteriorating 2013 health to seek guidance from Geoff once again. After this particularly resonant opening session to the series - on the subject of dreams and activating their merits - Geoff commented since I was recording these sessions for my personal use if we could make them publically available to be bought on the internet. This not only increases Geoff's audience just by having audio online, but benefits both of us as we split any profits from downloads equally.
The price for the first 51 minute, carefully mastered (by myself) hypnosis session is £15, since Geoff's sessions, lasting roughly 90 minutes each, are £40 each. I hope this gives you a taster into the curated content discussed by me, Foci's Left and Geoff in the session, gives you an insight into what I want to create, a showcase of Geoff's remarkable skills in his respective fields, and maybe motivates you, if you are within reach of Swindon, UK, to look up the Shaftesbury Centre where he works to arrange a session of your own.
With 3 degrees with distinctions to his name, I was motivated by my deteriorating 2013 health to seek guidance from Geoff once again. After this particularly resonant opening session to the series - on the subject of dreams and activating their merits - Geoff commented since I was recording these sessions for my personal use if we could make them publically available to be bought on the internet. This not only increases Geoff's audience just by having audio online, but benefits both of us as we split any profits from downloads equally.
The price for the first 51 minute, carefully mastered (by myself) hypnosis session is £15, since Geoff's sessions, lasting roughly 90 minutes each, are £40 each. I hope this gives you a taster into the curated content discussed by me, Foci's Left and Geoff in the session, gives you an insight into what I want to create, a showcase of Geoff's remarkable skills in his respective fields, and maybe motivates you, if you are within reach of Swindon, UK, to look up the Shaftesbury Centre where he works to arrange a session of your own.
credits
released 05 November 2013
Mick Robert Buckingham (Foci's Left) provides base subject matter, Geoff Brooks (hypnotherapist) weaves a dialogue to New Age background music. Carefully mastered by Mick Robert Buckingham.
Image is a free online take by Bat For Lashes' Natasha Khan of the coastline while she was on a US tour with her band. www.facebook.com/batforlashes
Mick Robert Buckingham (Foci's Left) provides base subject matter, Geoff Brooks (hypnotherapist) weaves a dialogue to New Age background music. Carefully mastered by Mick Robert Buckingham.
Image is a free online take by Bat For Lashes' Natasha Khan of the coastline while she was on a US tour with her band. www.facebook.com/batforlashes
Foci's Left - Dumping The Rock EP (Foci's Left EP 002)
"Dumping
The Rock" is a varied showcase of the Foci's Left sound, but aims
specifically to disperse any aggression of past releases toward
something more mellow and beautiful. You can map different tracks
together in a Foci's Left playlist with this release.
Artwork: "Cyclist" by Antonymes (Ian Hazeldine), who took this picture especially for me upon the release of his album "The License To Interpret Dreams".
Purchasers will receive a bonus Modern Classical piece called "The Calamities Of Confusion [21.12.12] (For Lata S.) in their download.
Total EP running time 13:52.
Artwork: "Cyclist" by Antonymes (Ian Hazeldine), who took this picture especially for me upon the release of his album "The License To Interpret Dreams".
Purchasers will receive a bonus Modern Classical piece called "The Calamities Of Confusion [21.12.12] (For Lata S.) in their download.
Total EP running time 13:52.
reviews
"This is breathtaking man" ~ 247, Futurepast Fanzine ed. on "Overdriven Terrain".
"Love it :)" ~ DJ Trax (Moving Shadow) on "Overdriven Terrain".
"Ah, 'The Calamities Of Confusion' - I like this one". ~ Jonathan Tait, Subvert Central Recordings.
"Love it :)" ~ DJ Trax (Moving Shadow) on "Overdriven Terrain".
"Ah, 'The Calamities Of Confusion' - I like this one". ~ Jonathan Tait, Subvert Central Recordings.
credits
released 19 August 2013
All tracks written, produced and engineered by Mick Robert Buckingham (Foci's Left).
All tracks written, produced and engineered by Mick Robert Buckingham (Foci's Left).
tags
Foci's Left - Grumpy Love (Foci's Left LP 001)
Dedicated to my sister, the beautiful Joanne Buckingham. Modicum: to raise a smile. This is a soundtrack of my llife so far.
Artwork is "Leopards" by Niomi Jackson.
Artwork is "Leopards" by Niomi Jackson.
reviews
"Introducing ‘Not Seeing Reality’ – the wayward, often mysterious journey that defines the pathway of what we call life. For many, reality is totally dependent on individual perception. The notes begin their life in innocent infancy, but by their teens they have snaked their way into the more unruly, dissonant territory, interacting with one another until a harmonious chain reaction ensues; one that started off with a primary note – a single heartbeat, the survivor in the battle of selection – but one that quickly brings in a thousand more.
Reality is then able to shape-shift into a sporadic, sparse piano line, accompanied by a gorgeous wave of crimson synth. Only, a line doesn’t quite work; it is bloated enough to feel pregnant with the baby bump of melody, oozing out of the thicker line and then submerging the original, vulnerable piano with new life.
Foci’s Left is the alias of Fluid Radio’s own Mick Buckingham, a name that regular Fluid readers will know very well. Told as a chronological tale, Grumpy Love isn’t nearly as dishevelled or as depressed with the state of things past and present as its grumpy name would seem to suggest. It is, in fact, shrouded by heart-felt sensitivity and deep personality. It is very much the opposite of grumpy. After all, there are two words up there; the oh-so-thin space that divides the first word from the second, ‘love’, is close enough to be considered intimate.
Love never fails. Love conquers all.
Grumpy Love is a beautiful, personalized painting, left to hang at a slight angle on the uneven canvas of life, with both enjoyable and difficult moments that come to claim every man. When linked together, they reach a teenage crescendo. ‘Piano Paint’ introduces some beautiful synths that jut into the piano, coating it with an intoxicating harbour of nostalgia – the nostalgic element traces a radiated line of melody, as if the early memory on which it was based has physically escaped, deceiving what we all thought of as reality and instead containing itself within the music as a precautionary measure. It cocoons itself against the decline that age brings and the mood swing of swift change that can affect our recollections as one decade passes into another.
Saturated in the vintage, ambient warmth of pure tone, when the genre itself was in its infancy, the synths are a mesmerising serenade. It shares the same angelic timbre that made the early Brian Eno classic, Music For Airports, such a lovable listen. You can tell instantly that Grumpy Love is a deeply personal recording just from this synth alone. The later drums seem to propel the passages of life forward, with no pause for reminiscing. That comes later on, because Grumpy Love has some beautiful, open spaces ideal for reflection. Life may, at times, feel like ‘An Upwards Slope’, but listening to the music here is to know that the inner serenity of peaceful ease is always there. Always. Here, a thinner drone is disguised as Cupid himself, but the darker echoes of possible distress lie just beyond the doorway. It is the tense, anxious sound of the unknown; a place where dusty road-signs are always blank with unmarked destinations.
‘For Fluid’ is a loving piece of music that is as much a generous tribute as it is a personal reflection. Grumpy Love narrates the passage of life with painstaking thought. The older hand outlines the black tail of a nurtured note like the embrace between a newborn and a parent. In this picture, the thin brush gives life to the paint. It holds itself in the palmed trust of the future, while taking one last look back at the past – this is the final dedication." ~ James Catchpole, Fluid Radio
www.fluid-radio.co.uk/2013/09/focis-left/
"After the disconcerting dissonance of his last demo (FTAL Attraction), Foci's Left - the solo work of occasional Nightshift contributor Mick Buckingham - casts forth a full album set on a far less turbulent plane.
Nine tracks of stretched-out electro-acoustic ambient pianism and electronic minimalism drift and shift with soporific intent, microtonal drones morphing and gradually mutating with precision-restrained variation. Best of the pieces here is the drone-drift of "Decompress The Magnet", while it's marginally more imposing twin "An Upwards Slope" dovetails into it seamlessly. "Regurgitated Impulses" adds a necessary glitchy interlude, while "Piano Paint" is both light in tone and texture but random enough to be distracting.
Where the album occasionally falls down is a lack of brevity on a few of the tracks - "Piano Paint" for example has run its course long before it concludes - while "For Fluid" is anything but and simply sounds like Mick's plonking random keys on his piano, but beyond such lapses, "Grumpy Love" is a neat enough addition to the ambient drone cannon." ~ Ronan Munro, Nightshift Magazine ed.
(www.nightshift.oxfordmusic.net, October 2013)
"I find you on Bandcamp and I'm listening right now "Grumpy Love". This is strange music so far :) Dark soundscapes and atmospheres but lighten up with childish imagination coming from the piano playing (currently I'm at the ending of the second track). Interesting. " ~ Kristian, Noise For Blues For Noise.
"It is very...interesting :)
Well at times I really like the aesthetic and the goofiness of the sounds. Sometimes it is a tad too much for me I have to admit. Maybe it is something I have to listen to more carefully. But it is very inspiring at times." ~ Nils Frahm, Erased Tapes Records.
"It's pretty amazing. I really like 'Decompress The Magnet' and 'An Upwards Slope', they are my favourites. I'm going to have to burn it to CD for the car." ~ 247, Futurepast Fanzine ed.
"Well done Mick. Congrats!" ~ ASC
"I really like 'Decompress The Magnet' :D" ~ GlassBox
"'Decompress The Magnet' really is outstanding." ~ Roo Stercogburn, Omni Music.
subvertcentral.com/forum/showthread.php?59592-Foci-s-Left-Grumpy-Love-LP-(my-debut-album-OUT-NOW)
"It has a nice flow to it" ~ Roy Buckingham, my grandfather on "For Fluid".
"I am very impressed, the Grumpy Love LP, it really has a lot to offer. 'Decompress the Magnet' has a depth of creativity, emotion and inspiration resonating from it. 'An Upwards Slope' has a feeling of a eternal dose of mystery and passionate adventure of abstract life just breathing in and out through the song... I wish the LP had a fixed price on it because it is of good value. Brillliant work love it!" ~ Simon Bean, Omni Music via Facebook.
credits
released 19 May 2013
All tracks composed and recorded by Michael Robert Buckingham (Foci's Left), with additional production on "Decompress The Magnet" by Mike Twelve (Seconds Before Awakening / The Giraffe And The Tree).
All tracks composed and recorded by Michael Robert Buckingham (Foci's Left), with additional production on "Decompress The Magnet" by Mike Twelve (Seconds Before Awakening / The Giraffe And The Tree).
tags
license
all rights reserved.
Tuesday, 24 December 2013
SubVersion Stop 222: SubVersion Recommends - Burning For Love - Muttley - Christmas 2013 Special
SubVersion Recommends Muttley - Burning For Love - Christmas 2013 Special
A Christmas present from me to you, to your friends too, covering what sounds really cool, and what puts a spark inside of you.
01. 00:00 John Davis - Palestrina (Ask The Dust LP, Students Of Decay, 2013)
02. 01:40 36 - Dangerous Days (Heather Spa EP, ASIP Places Series, 2013)
03. 04:00 Siavash Amini - A Mist Of Grey Light (Futuresequence Sequence 7, Bandcamp, 2013)
04. 07:33 Faures - Asthenospheric Movement III (Continental Drift LP, Home Normal, 2013)
05. 12:00 Fabio Orsi & Pimmon - Garnacha (Procrastination LP, Home Normal, 2013)
06. 16:00 Abandon - White Summer (Abandon LP, Bindsight Records, 2013)
07. 26:25 Goldfrapp - Stranger (Tales Of Us LP, Mute, 2013)
08. 29:15 Imbogodom - Summer Fungus (Metafather LP, Thrill Jockey, 2013)
09. 31:45 Foci's Left & Mike Twelve - In Our Lives, There Have Been Many Terrors (Life In A Less Southern Town LP, Omni Music, April 2014)
10. 35:20 Borealis - Jawberry (LGBT Rights For Russia Now! Compilation, Bandcamp, 2013)
11. 38:03 Atoms For Peace - Default (Amok LP, XL, 2013)
12. 41:45 Kapsil - Deliverance (Missing Link EP, Complex Logic, 2004)
13. 44:45 Total Science feat. Riya - See Your Face (See Your Face EP, Shogun Audio, 2013)
14. 50:22 Hakobune - The Length Of The Wind (Watching The Prescribed Burn LP, Pure Wave Recordings, 2013)
56:38 end
Download
A Christmas present from me to you, to your friends too, covering what sounds really cool, and what puts a spark inside of you.
01. 00:00 John Davis - Palestrina (Ask The Dust LP, Students Of Decay, 2013)
02. 01:40 36 - Dangerous Days (Heather Spa EP, ASIP Places Series, 2013)
03. 04:00 Siavash Amini - A Mist Of Grey Light (Futuresequence Sequence 7, Bandcamp, 2013)
04. 07:33 Faures - Asthenospheric Movement III (Continental Drift LP, Home Normal, 2013)
05. 12:00 Fabio Orsi & Pimmon - Garnacha (Procrastination LP, Home Normal, 2013)
06. 16:00 Abandon - White Summer (Abandon LP, Bindsight Records, 2013)
07. 26:25 Goldfrapp - Stranger (Tales Of Us LP, Mute, 2013)
08. 29:15 Imbogodom - Summer Fungus (Metafather LP, Thrill Jockey, 2013)
09. 31:45 Foci's Left & Mike Twelve - In Our Lives, There Have Been Many Terrors (Life In A Less Southern Town LP, Omni Music, April 2014)
10. 35:20 Borealis - Jawberry (LGBT Rights For Russia Now! Compilation, Bandcamp, 2013)
11. 38:03 Atoms For Peace - Default (Amok LP, XL, 2013)
12. 41:45 Kapsil - Deliverance (Missing Link EP, Complex Logic, 2004)
13. 44:45 Total Science feat. Riya - See Your Face (See Your Face EP, Shogun Audio, 2013)
14. 50:22 Hakobune - The Length Of The Wind (Watching The Prescribed Burn LP, Pure Wave Recordings, 2013)
56:38 end
Download
Monday, 2 December 2013
SubVersion Stop 217: Nic TVG - Then I Disappear (Subtle Audio 2xLP / CD / DL) - review 3 for The Wire Magazine
Nic TVG - Then I Disappear - review 3 for The Wire Magazine
Subtle Audio 2xLP / CD / DL
The journalistic jungle revival of the last 6 months, from The Wire's Joe Muggs commenting on dBridge being from a genre long "declared moribund" (drum 'n' bass) by the mainstream music press, to Mixmag's "Jungle is back" article by Alex Jones, only goes so far in counter-measuring that these experimental fusions of breakbeats, sampledelia and Auxiliar-ite (see the Autonomic movement in 2008) genre-crossing never went away. Nic TVG, the Pinecone Moonshine label owner meanwhile has a dependency on drumfunk, one of the many subgenres of drum 'n' bass that combines funk, jazz, jungle and hiphop. Coined by Paradox circa 2004, "Then I Disappear", Nic's debut LP can be observed as a serving of semblance with all these genres and influences.
With "The Clown" a dedication to Charles Gayle's street jazz persona, the hoppy parallels with IDM of "Out Of No More" and the titular "Then I Disappear", Nic dose-drops us with his main surgically-annotated weapon: depth of drum work. Time-stretches on the opening piece "A Mouse Among Monsters" thuds like a polluted heartbeat in LSD-infusion with Autechre-ish synths and whirlwind rides. The pace is stripped back by noir-esque strings that accent on the synths later on, leading into "The Clown" and its nappy-clappy hi-hats and snares. It's the baby of the set, a naive walker stumbling on a jazzy modulated bass, only to be shot in half by filtered breakbeats that cut up the sound space like an angle grinder stuffed with jazz samples from the Davis/Hancock continuum.
Nic's persistent strength on this album, and indeed all of the Subtle Audio label's releases (The Wire's Simon Reynolds commented "original, exciting, inventive" to the CD that was sent to him on Blissblog in 2007) is that he just lets loose with whatever creative (and) percussive trajectory that appeals to him for writing. "Playing Drums As Pads" reverses the placement of drums in the mix in an ideological point of view, and it's little touches like these that keep the reader on their toes of his narrative with the jazz and funk greats of old. So though firmly rooted in breakbeat and drum 'n' bass / jungle BPMs, "Then I Disappear" is certainly not something straying from the systematic of adventure, no matter where he's gone after the 12 tracks have been handed over to Conor O' Dwyer (brother of Second Language's Aine O' Dwyer). And wherever the trail leads, the results are never less than excellent.
Mick Buckingham
Subtle Audio 2xLP / CD / DL
The journalistic jungle revival of the last 6 months, from The Wire's Joe Muggs commenting on dBridge being from a genre long "declared moribund" (drum 'n' bass) by the mainstream music press, to Mixmag's "Jungle is back" article by Alex Jones, only goes so far in counter-measuring that these experimental fusions of breakbeats, sampledelia and Auxiliar-ite (see the Autonomic movement in 2008) genre-crossing never went away. Nic TVG, the Pinecone Moonshine label owner meanwhile has a dependency on drumfunk, one of the many subgenres of drum 'n' bass that combines funk, jazz, jungle and hiphop. Coined by Paradox circa 2004, "Then I Disappear", Nic's debut LP can be observed as a serving of semblance with all these genres and influences.
With "The Clown" a dedication to Charles Gayle's street jazz persona, the hoppy parallels with IDM of "Out Of No More" and the titular "Then I Disappear", Nic dose-drops us with his main surgically-annotated weapon: depth of drum work. Time-stretches on the opening piece "A Mouse Among Monsters" thuds like a polluted heartbeat in LSD-infusion with Autechre-ish synths and whirlwind rides. The pace is stripped back by noir-esque strings that accent on the synths later on, leading into "The Clown" and its nappy-clappy hi-hats and snares. It's the baby of the set, a naive walker stumbling on a jazzy modulated bass, only to be shot in half by filtered breakbeats that cut up the sound space like an angle grinder stuffed with jazz samples from the Davis/Hancock continuum.
Nic's persistent strength on this album, and indeed all of the Subtle Audio label's releases (The Wire's Simon Reynolds commented "original, exciting, inventive" to the CD that was sent to him on Blissblog in 2007) is that he just lets loose with whatever creative (and) percussive trajectory that appeals to him for writing. "Playing Drums As Pads" reverses the placement of drums in the mix in an ideological point of view, and it's little touches like these that keep the reader on their toes of his narrative with the jazz and funk greats of old. So though firmly rooted in breakbeat and drum 'n' bass / jungle BPMs, "Then I Disappear" is certainly not something straying from the systematic of adventure, no matter where he's gone after the 12 tracks have been handed over to Conor O' Dwyer (brother of Second Language's Aine O' Dwyer). And wherever the trail leads, the results are never less than excellent.
Mick Buckingham
Wednesday, 16 October 2013
SubVersion Stop 205: FTEL Reviews 013: Various Artists - The Breakbeat Sound Of Finland
FTEL 013 - Various Artists - The Breakbeat Sound Of Finland
Lightless Digital download
"The Breakbeat Sound Of Finland" has been doing the rounds for a while now, with an increase in subversive activity in D&B responsible for this inclusion at this time. It wasn't going to take long to mention this as the first of its kind: a D&B album from Finland, about Finnish D&B artists. However, "TBSOF" doesn't subdue its characteristic intent, in the sense that the 13 tracks all have solid movements. Unlike milk bottle D&B - white on the outside, full of white boy music platitudes without any of the grit of Black music, where the muscle comes from Funk and House - these pieces, especially Defo's "Culture" in the early stages, herald a return to meaty 90s production with raw breaks processed to just the right level of sub zero chilliness. There's also nods to the best parts of white culture - Techno stability and ferocity, and a recompense to any purchasee who doesn't like surfeits of fusion via diversity.
http://fanumusic.com/the-breakbeat-sound-of-finland-release-june-1/
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