Mrb - To myself
Where my mind bleats for quiet, my heart skips for an answer
Where my head loses memories by the second, a whisper is often something I can muster
I muster
To myself
that cold cold chill
That permeates the radium of the world
Turning pipes inside out
Piping hot food used for body charcoal
And the ash of time as a vanguard for nails on a cross.
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/ ...
Sunday, 8 January 2017
Friday, 6 January 2017
2017 FN (Foodie Noodlings) - Home Made Pasta Carbonara
home made pasta carbonara recipe
20p packet noodles with bbq sauce powder
4 rashes bacon, sliced thin
3 spring onions, chopped coarsely
3 mushrooms, chopped small
pancetta powder packet mix
2tbsp semiskimmed milk
2 green chillies
chop all ingredients
transfer in any order to a wok, ideally pancetta and milk into the oil or water base first
cook and stir continually for 15-20 minutes, until mix congeals and thickens to taste.
Finit.
20p packet noodles with bbq sauce powder
4 rashes bacon, sliced thin
3 spring onions, chopped coarsely
3 mushrooms, chopped small
pancetta powder packet mix
2tbsp semiskimmed milk
2 green chillies
chop all ingredients
transfer in any order to a wok, ideally pancetta and milk into the oil or water base first
cook and stir continually for 15-20 minutes, until mix congeals and thickens to taste.
Finit.
Sunday, 25 December 2016
Subversion Stop 268: Muttley's Reflections On The Year 2k16 (Shortform; all)
A little diary entry to sum up the year. 2016 has been very strange. In every way, it's the year that at 28, I REALLY grew up.
Good times: First Floor, Aangon, Suwanna Thai (birthday), World Chef (virtual), My Cafe (new Xmas game), Angrid restaurants.
Understanding what copyright really means: respecting the rights to privacy by the creator not to literally spread recordings.
Wishing Uncle Paul a safe passing on at this time on Xmas day. To me he fell asleep 2 days ago, I had a moment at 1131pm Fri.
Made him and the rest of the family an emotional instrumental mix. First time I've felt inspired to bind tracks in a while. (Ed: that's on www.subvertcentral.com in time - search "Dust Bowls")
Gifts from wifey this year. The love, the laughs, the chance encounters, the doting, soft tender care, her tailored river mix.
Music: Locrian, Haffenetty, Sharon Van Etten, Ulrich Schnauss, Radioactive Man, Macc & dgoHn, DJ Trax, new FL, ASC, Bat FL,
Ryan Teague, Reinier Van Houdt, Drawing Virtual Gardens, LYEF, Francis M. Gri, Alan Courtis, BJ Nilsen & Stillupsteypa, Steve Roach, Steve Brand, all the Soma.FM artists, Delia Derbyshire, Jandek, Harry Bertoia.
Electronica: Hed Kandi 2006 3CD, Chicane, Noname, Daniel Thomas Freeman, Aphex Twin, Brigid Mae Power, Peter Broderick, Marina and The Diamonds.
Live: seeing any of these people out, otherwise Toney Batey, Sal, Sparky and crew, The Firegazers, Kosmosis, Ras Brother John, James Berwale, Matt, Hurricane.
Treasured memories: David Bowie for Blackstar (RIP), Tremble & Medika & Shady Novelle MC for my tracks of the year, "Trouble" and "Penitentiary Dub".
All the ZIPDJ.com music from their sub service, eMusic's ever-growing catalog and excellent app. Ableton Live 8 and studio production.
Games: for two. Me and soulmate. Me and friend. Pvp. P&P. No postage and packing, all app games and 3DS and PC games. Easy. Retro City Rampage much fun. Super Street Fighter IV channelling aggression and anger of my old fighting days. Also inspiring me to train and stretch limbs. Game Of War, Slotomania Free Slots Game, Candy Crush, Nano Assault on 3DS. Zelda: A Link
Between Worlds. Sonic Shattered Crystal. Advanced Wars Dual Strike. Command And Conquer on PC and Rogue Assault and RedSun S6. Challenging games with structure and good rewards systems.
Converts beauty into my waking life and portion controls on BMI. Knowing smaller is really bigger.
Benefits: changed and stayed the same. Provided with money to eat. Left with no money to save, or a paltry sum. Cut back as much as possible.
Mental health: still schizoaffective. Worse in some ways than ever. But importantly more wise. Capable of real EFT therapy.
...Read my full spiel and more writings on the year at www.subvertcentral.com; search "SubVersion".
Merry Crimbo and Happy New Year.
All the best
Y
Good times: First Floor, Aangon, Suwanna Thai (birthday), World Chef (virtual), My Cafe (new Xmas game), Angrid restaurants.
Understanding what copyright really means: respecting the rights to privacy by the creator not to literally spread recordings.
Wishing Uncle Paul a safe passing on at this time on Xmas day. To me he fell asleep 2 days ago, I had a moment at 1131pm Fri.
Made him and the rest of the family an emotional instrumental mix. First time I've felt inspired to bind tracks in a while. (Ed: that's on www.subvertcentral.com in time - search "Dust Bowls")
Gifts from wifey this year. The love, the laughs, the chance encounters, the doting, soft tender care, her tailored river mix.
Music: Locrian, Haffenetty, Sharon Van Etten, Ulrich Schnauss, Radioactive Man, Macc & dgoHn, DJ Trax, new FL, ASC, Bat FL,
Ryan Teague, Reinier Van Houdt, Drawing Virtual Gardens, LYEF, Francis M. Gri, Alan Courtis, BJ Nilsen & Stillupsteypa, Steve Roach, Steve Brand, all the Soma.FM artists, Delia Derbyshire, Jandek, Harry Bertoia.
Electronica: Hed Kandi 2006 3CD, Chicane, Noname, Daniel Thomas Freeman, Aphex Twin, Brigid Mae Power, Peter Broderick, Marina and The Diamonds.
Live: seeing any of these people out, otherwise Toney Batey, Sal, Sparky and crew, The Firegazers, Kosmosis, Ras Brother John, James Berwale, Matt, Hurricane.
Treasured memories: David Bowie for Blackstar (RIP), Tremble & Medika & Shady Novelle MC for my tracks of the year, "Trouble" and "Penitentiary Dub".
All the ZIPDJ.com music from their sub service, eMusic's ever-growing catalog and excellent app. Ableton Live 8 and studio production.
Games: for two. Me and soulmate. Me and friend. Pvp. P&P. No postage and packing, all app games and 3DS and PC games. Easy. Retro City Rampage much fun. Super Street Fighter IV channelling aggression and anger of my old fighting days. Also inspiring me to train and stretch limbs. Game Of War, Slotomania Free Slots Game, Candy Crush, Nano Assault on 3DS. Zelda: A Link
Between Worlds. Sonic Shattered Crystal. Advanced Wars Dual Strike. Command And Conquer on PC and Rogue Assault and RedSun S6. Challenging games with structure and good rewards systems.
Converts beauty into my waking life and portion controls on BMI. Knowing smaller is really bigger.
Benefits: changed and stayed the same. Provided with money to eat. Left with no money to save, or a paltry sum. Cut back as much as possible.
Mental health: still schizoaffective. Worse in some ways than ever. But importantly more wise. Capable of real EFT therapy.
...Read my full spiel and more writings on the year at www.subvertcentral.com; search "SubVersion".
Merry Crimbo and Happy New Year.
All the best
Y
Sunday, 11 December 2016
SubVersion Stop 267: Wire Chart 2016
Now in its fourth year: “buying one record reviewed in The Wire each month” – plus three more to make up a proper Wire 15 chart. The lists for the previous three years can be found by following the following links: 2013, 2014, and 2015.
And here's my chart for 2016. The # marks denote the issues in which the records featured.
___________________________________________________
SubVersion 2016 15
#383 The Sprawl - EP1 (Death of Rave)
#384 Roscoe Mitchell - Sustain and Run (Selo Sesc)
#385 David Bowie - Blackstar (ISO / RCA)
#386 eMMplekz - Rook to TN34 (Mordant Music)
#387 Puce Mary - The Spiral (Posh Isolation)
#388 Elza Soares - The Woman at the End of the World (Mais Um Discos)
#389 Ben Johnston - String Quartets 6, 7 & 8 (New World)
#390 Hedvig Mollestad Trio - Black Stabat Mater (Rune Grammofon)
#391 Teresa Rampazzi - Immagini per Diana Baylon (Die Schachtel)
#392 Moor Mother - Fetish Bones (Don Giovanni)
#393 Joëlle Léandre & Théo Ceccaldi - Elastic (Cipsela)
#394 Peter Evans - Lifeblood (More is More)
+#383 Guttersnipe - Demo (Arcane Pariah)
+#388 Let’s Eat Grandma - I, Gemini (Transgressive)
+#389 Der Zyklus - Renormalon (WéMè)
Compiled by Jonathan Tait, subvertcentral.blogspot.co.uk
___________________________________________________
No, not a “best records of the year” list. It's a set of releases that each piqued my interest when reading the reviews, and then made me sit up when checking out audio online. But if I was to pick one out as a favourite, it'd be Camae Ayewa's Fetish Bones LP as Moor Mother, which is the best hiphop I've heard in a long time.
And here's my chart for 2016. The # marks denote the issues in which the records featured.
___________________________________________________
SubVersion 2016 15
#383 The Sprawl - EP1 (Death of Rave)
#384 Roscoe Mitchell - Sustain and Run (Selo Sesc)
#385 David Bowie - Blackstar (ISO / RCA)
#386 eMMplekz - Rook to TN34 (Mordant Music)
#387 Puce Mary - The Spiral (Posh Isolation)
#388 Elza Soares - The Woman at the End of the World (Mais Um Discos)
#389 Ben Johnston - String Quartets 6, 7 & 8 (New World)
#390 Hedvig Mollestad Trio - Black Stabat Mater (Rune Grammofon)
#391 Teresa Rampazzi - Immagini per Diana Baylon (Die Schachtel)
#392 Moor Mother - Fetish Bones (Don Giovanni)
#393 Joëlle Léandre & Théo Ceccaldi - Elastic (Cipsela)
#394 Peter Evans - Lifeblood (More is More)
+#383 Guttersnipe - Demo (Arcane Pariah)
+#388 Let’s Eat Grandma - I, Gemini (Transgressive)
+#389 Der Zyklus - Renormalon (WéMè)
Compiled by Jonathan Tait, subvertcentral.blogspot.co.uk
___________________________________________________
No, not a “best records of the year” list. It's a set of releases that each piqued my interest when reading the reviews, and then made me sit up when checking out audio online. But if I was to pick one out as a favourite, it'd be Camae Ayewa's Fetish Bones LP as Moor Mother, which is the best hiphop I've heard in a long time.
Thursday, 13 October 2016
Retrograde Reviews: Reinier Van Houdt - Paths Of The Errant Gaze LP
Reinier Van Houdt - Paths Of The Errant Gaze LP
Your only enemy is atrocity.
The only enemy in your life is your imagination...
But then, heck, it was mine for many years when it came to creating ambient music. And as an empath thing, the piano is a solid beginner's point that can, for one, cause a lot of inspiration, and second, in a see, saw, fashion, formulate a lot of writer's block. While it is difficult to believe in yourself, believing in your own music is the biggest factor, for me in my own experience, in whether me and my acquaintances succeed or not. For most of us, the guitar and piano are the main two instruments one starts with, after all...and the piano is exactly what Reinier Van Houdt does best on this new promo from Hallow Ground label. "Paths Of The Errant Gaze" is a portentuous meditation on the 81-note instrument, and a album that presents many twists and turns in the pianistic repertoire.
It's not all flurries of furore by a long shot, though. Opening the album is a dark Murcof-like set of atmospheres that are positively disconcerting in a Demdike Stare catalogue kind of way. Sonic Pieces is a touchstone in theatrical menace. This isn't dark ambient however; there is something sinister but it's more deep and chilled, a strange foreboding chill without the fright at the end of it. The music is deeply transcendental, like the hum of a ghost ship, or the echoes of bat sonic supersound from a cave exit. Maybe it's time to get out? No, let us wallow in these atmospheres a little longer, for we are dreamers who at one point are on our own memorising elephant and next we're in the shallows like a hippopotamus, resting in uncandid serenity. These resonances are heavy on pastoral drone without the irritable hum. They start to fissure and rattle like bones in a dementia fit on second piece "The Fabric Of Loss". Sounds from a torture chamber set into an unpleasant - but strangely comforting - catharsis. It is frightening and gravitates to a dislocated navigation of the spices of life.
By this third track, we need a certain peace. The violins, high pitched in their operatic stalagtite status, create a fair come down period, where the mood irons out any turbulence. Turbulent is a good word to describe this album. If you've ever heard the dissonance of Kevin Drumm or Merzbow you'll get an idea of exactly what this album is going for. Scary, gripping stuff, but not stuff to keep the kids on your side. It is nightmarish at points, but never evil. It sounds like the contents of a troubled mind fighting with a demon that keeps prodding a scythe in the subject's back. For that only you get the feeling this music is from some other dimension, a place where angels are in purgatory (13 minutes into track 2) and the subject is trying desperately to find his or her way out.
When we get past the crackling trail of "Transfinite" there is a vignette to close us out. Impending doom, and all the light goes out on a truly remarkable release.
By track five, "Gaussian Veils", which I've no idea what it means but sounds like some Greek linguistic variant on gossamer, a crepuscular rhythm is held together by stalking piano and the introduction of a ghostly choral voice. This is the stuff of legends. Pure transcendence, "springs of light, I chase upon your reach, this situ, a path of ideas I lose". The sound of it, just the sound of it! It is utterly doueur and utterly fantastic. The minor and augmented aeolian modes of the piano paint a haunted mid section to the record, and the spectral tones of the voice in question is like a magisterial tormented soul doing naked cabaret for the pleasure of Satan and his little elves.
Mick Buckingham
Your only enemy is atrocity.
The only enemy in your life is your imagination...
But then, heck, it was mine for many years when it came to creating ambient music. And as an empath thing, the piano is a solid beginner's point that can, for one, cause a lot of inspiration, and second, in a see, saw, fashion, formulate a lot of writer's block. While it is difficult to believe in yourself, believing in your own music is the biggest factor, for me in my own experience, in whether me and my acquaintances succeed or not. For most of us, the guitar and piano are the main two instruments one starts with, after all...and the piano is exactly what Reinier Van Houdt does best on this new promo from Hallow Ground label. "Paths Of The Errant Gaze" is a portentuous meditation on the 81-note instrument, and a album that presents many twists and turns in the pianistic repertoire.
It's not all flurries of furore by a long shot, though. Opening the album is a dark Murcof-like set of atmospheres that are positively disconcerting in a Demdike Stare catalogue kind of way. Sonic Pieces is a touchstone in theatrical menace. This isn't dark ambient however; there is something sinister but it's more deep and chilled, a strange foreboding chill without the fright at the end of it. The music is deeply transcendental, like the hum of a ghost ship, or the echoes of bat sonic supersound from a cave exit. Maybe it's time to get out? No, let us wallow in these atmospheres a little longer, for we are dreamers who at one point are on our own memorising elephant and next we're in the shallows like a hippopotamus, resting in uncandid serenity. These resonances are heavy on pastoral drone without the irritable hum. They start to fissure and rattle like bones in a dementia fit on second piece "The Fabric Of Loss". Sounds from a torture chamber set into an unpleasant - but strangely comforting - catharsis. It is frightening and gravitates to a dislocated navigation of the spices of life.
By this third track, we need a certain peace. The violins, high pitched in their operatic stalagtite status, create a fair come down period, where the mood irons out any turbulence. Turbulent is a good word to describe this album. If you've ever heard the dissonance of Kevin Drumm or Merzbow you'll get an idea of exactly what this album is going for. Scary, gripping stuff, but not stuff to keep the kids on your side. It is nightmarish at points, but never evil. It sounds like the contents of a troubled mind fighting with a demon that keeps prodding a scythe in the subject's back. For that only you get the feeling this music is from some other dimension, a place where angels are in purgatory (13 minutes into track 2) and the subject is trying desperately to find his or her way out.
When we get past the crackling trail of "Transfinite" there is a vignette to close us out. Impending doom, and all the light goes out on a truly remarkable release.
By track five, "Gaussian Veils", which I've no idea what it means but sounds like some Greek linguistic variant on gossamer, a crepuscular rhythm is held together by stalking piano and the introduction of a ghostly choral voice. This is the stuff of legends. Pure transcendence, "springs of light, I chase upon your reach, this situ, a path of ideas I lose". The sound of it, just the sound of it! It is utterly doueur and utterly fantastic. The minor and augmented aeolian modes of the piano paint a haunted mid section to the record, and the spectral tones of the voice in question is like a magisterial tormented soul doing naked cabaret for the pleasure of Satan and his little elves.
Mick Buckingham
Wednesday, 5 October 2016
Various Artists (Friends Of Foci's Left) - SlipStreamDreams
Various Artists (Friends Of Foci's Left) - SlipStreamDreams
by VA (Various Artists: FL; K3Bee; Shiva; FRight; Dredge; Naphta; RST; Keiretsu)
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Naphta - Are U Ready?
00:00
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07:12
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Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
The disc is not a vinyl, but I like to think of it as such, because it is a collection of long form recordings. It will work on hifis with MP3 function.
The download only includes the 16 tracks, the unique MP3 disc includes one exclusive mix per customer.
The disc is not a vinyl, but I like to think of it as such, because it is a collection of long form recordings. It will work on hifis with MP3 function.
The download only includes the 16 tracks, the unique MP3 disc includes one exclusive mix per customer.
£5 GBP
Edit
Record/Vinyl
Limited Edition MP3 Disc (20 copies happy to be hand-pressed and
labelled individually with inserts. Also includes bonus outtakes from
huge mix catalogue by Muttley, Foci's Left producer. Each unique copy
has a unique bonus mix featuring a track or more on this comp!!
Includes unlimited streaming of Various Artists (Friends Of Foci's Left) - SlipStreamDreams via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
Includes unlimited streaming of Various Artists (Friends Of Foci's Left) - SlipStreamDreams via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
shipping out on or around October 5, 2016
edition of 50
£10 GBP or more
Fan club
Join
now to receive all the new
music
Foci's Left creates,
including this release
and 61 back-catalog releases,
delivered instantly to you via the Bandcamp app for iOS and Android.
You'll also get access to
supporter-only
exclusives.
Learn more.
Join Now £15 GBP/year or more
Full Digital Discography Edit
Get all 66 Foci's Left releases available on Bandcamp and save 90%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Various Artists (Friends Of Foci's Left) - SlipStreamDreams, The Vignette Dairy Farm - offcuts, short pieces and rarities, Foci's Left - Nutty Breaks - 11 Track CD, Foci's Left (FL) - My Life In Bits And Pieces LP, FL aka Muttley - 15 MInutes Of Fame 101 - Sonic art composite - Repair Time EP, Dredge (Foci's Left) - Ultramundanity Is Filling, Finicky Fragile LP (05072016), FL - Chill House EP (Split Self), FL - Midnight Nuisances (FFF Single 1), and 58 more.
Excludes supporter-only releases.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Various Artists (Friends Of Foci's Left) - SlipStreamDreams, The Vignette Dairy Farm - offcuts, short pieces and rarities, Foci's Left - Nutty Breaks - 11 Track CD, Foci's Left (FL) - My Life In Bits And Pieces LP, FL aka Muttley - 15 MInutes Of Fame 101 - Sonic art composite - Repair Time EP, Dredge (Foci's Left) - Ultramundanity Is Filling, Finicky Fragile LP (05072016), FL - Chill House EP (Split Self), FL - Midnight Nuisances (FFF Single 1), and 58 more.
Excludes supporter-only releases.
£23.70 GBP or more (90% OFF)
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K3Bee - 2nd
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FRight - Ray
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Dredge - Foci's Waltz
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FL - Softie's Tear
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K3Bee - Imprint
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Naphta - Are U Ready?
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K3Bee - Matter
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Naphta - Home
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K3Bee - Meringue
04:57
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Keiretsu - Addict
05:51
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Keiretsu - Only Forward
07:11
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about
A
celebration of sounds themed on the nineties, but not made in the
nineties. Jungle, breakbeat, ambient, weird, library music, all in a
sound collage textured in a nature that slipstreams moods into one
another.
Hence, the name, "SlipStreamDreams".
Slipstreams are stealing of speed in a car journey, where the elements are in force to act against us.
Slipstreams can be quite awkward problems with malfunctioning intent.
Slipstreams can be depressions or decompressions of the mind.
Slipstreams can be resonances that seem impersonally illogical.
Hence, the name, "SlipStreamDreams".
Slipstreams are stealing of speed in a car journey, where the elements are in force to act against us.
Slipstreams can be quite awkward problems with malfunctioning intent.
Slipstreams can be depressions or decompressions of the mind.
Slipstreams can be resonances that seem impersonally illogical.
credits
released October 5, 2016
"2nd", "Imprint", "Matter" and "Meringue" produced by Kevin Beegan, AKA K3Bee. Find some of his dubplates at www.soundcloud.com/k3bee. He is part of the NuKillaBeats Cru.
"Gene Thief" produced by James Alexandre Pathan, AKA Shiva Lab Creation. James runs www.bitratemusic.com, where you'll find some of his tunes and others released. Reach him on FaceBook or Twitter.
"Are U Ready?" and "Home" produced by Shane 'O Shea, AKA Naphta. Naphta contributes to 'shwontological' blog www.weareie.com - take a look. These two tracks are re-released from his digital download album on THE Fear Recordings, in 2007.
"Telemetry (Original)" by Robert Scott Thompson, AKA RST of Aucourant Records A&R. Robert has a Bandcamp page with over 60 albums released, some on labels such as Relaxed Machinery. Check "Arcana" for a good example.
"Addict" and "Only Forward" produced by Keiretsu. Thanks to Stephen Mercer from Keiretsu for entrusting me with these on the release. Originally released on D:ART Recordings in the 2000s. About 2006.
All other work (artwork, compilation ordering, trimming, Artillery Software mastering) by Michael Robert Buckingham, AKA FL, FRight, Dredge, owner of Foci's Left label and operator of www.focisleft.bandcamp.com.
"2nd", "Imprint", "Matter" and "Meringue" produced by Kevin Beegan, AKA K3Bee. Find some of his dubplates at www.soundcloud.com/k3bee. He is part of the NuKillaBeats Cru.
"Gene Thief" produced by James Alexandre Pathan, AKA Shiva Lab Creation. James runs www.bitratemusic.com, where you'll find some of his tunes and others released. Reach him on FaceBook or Twitter.
"Are U Ready?" and "Home" produced by Shane 'O Shea, AKA Naphta. Naphta contributes to 'shwontological' blog www.weareie.com - take a look. These two tracks are re-released from his digital download album on THE Fear Recordings, in 2007.
"Telemetry (Original)" by Robert Scott Thompson, AKA RST of Aucourant Records A&R. Robert has a Bandcamp page with over 60 albums released, some on labels such as Relaxed Machinery. Check "Arcana" for a good example.
"Addict" and "Only Forward" produced by Keiretsu. Thanks to Stephen Mercer from Keiretsu for entrusting me with these on the release. Originally released on D:ART Recordings in the 2000s. About 2006.
All other work (artwork, compilation ordering, trimming, Artillery Software mastering) by Michael Robert Buckingham, AKA FL, FRight, Dredge, owner of Foci's Left label and operator of www.focisleft.bandcamp.com.
tags
license
feeds
feeds for Retrograde Reviews: Bonnie Prince Billy & Bitchin' Bajas
"Nature, makes us, for ourselves".
The music on Bonnie Prince Billy's latest rustic folk outing starts melodically enough, before embracing woodwind and the suitably gentile lines "may life throw you a pleasant curve". It's on the second track that the rhythmic focus really kicks into gear, loosening the weight of a breathy introduction. "Nature, makes us, for ourselves".
You see, with a track title aim to be storyteliing meets self-help-provoking, this album can be taken kindly to from the first listen. The meanings spread out like fireflies, meeting a warming destination, a natural concave. Bonnie Prince is ast as the governor of a hundred baritones; instruments serve his plans to assist us in becoming calmer, getting happier.
Much of the sound palette is pure rustic folk, a Johnny Cash meets Joanna Newsome quirkiness abounds throughout. There are no female vocals though, only a journeyman's horn of plenty with guitar chops to match. I first heard about BPB, not so humbly around 10 years ago, so I know he's been about the field for a long time. But at the same time, it's as if he's trod a heavy path through folk and country, meaning he understands how to not complicate a tune.
This is most evident on euphoric closing piece "Your Hard Work Is About To Pay Off. Keep On Keeping On". Incidentally the ending is abrupt, leaving the listener craving a second shot of the honey-whiskeyed atmosphere Bitchin Bajas and Billy create. That's how the record feels essentially, like whisky. It's so addictive I can drown in it, but for the luck of the draw, it's only my sorrows that are cleansed.
Mick R. Buckingham
The music on Bonnie Prince Billy's latest rustic folk outing starts melodically enough, before embracing woodwind and the suitably gentile lines "may life throw you a pleasant curve". It's on the second track that the rhythmic focus really kicks into gear, loosening the weight of a breathy introduction. "Nature, makes us, for ourselves".
You see, with a track title aim to be storyteliing meets self-help-provoking, this album can be taken kindly to from the first listen. The meanings spread out like fireflies, meeting a warming destination, a natural concave. Bonnie Prince is ast as the governor of a hundred baritones; instruments serve his plans to assist us in becoming calmer, getting happier.
Much of the sound palette is pure rustic folk, a Johnny Cash meets Joanna Newsome quirkiness abounds throughout. There are no female vocals though, only a journeyman's horn of plenty with guitar chops to match. I first heard about BPB, not so humbly around 10 years ago, so I know he's been about the field for a long time. But at the same time, it's as if he's trod a heavy path through folk and country, meaning he understands how to not complicate a tune.
This is most evident on euphoric closing piece "Your Hard Work Is About To Pay Off. Keep On Keeping On". Incidentally the ending is abrupt, leaving the listener craving a second shot of the honey-whiskeyed atmosphere Bitchin Bajas and Billy create. That's how the record feels essentially, like whisky. It's so addictive I can drown in it, but for the luck of the draw, it's only my sorrows that are cleansed.
Mick R. Buckingham
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