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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/ ...

Monday, 12 August 2013

SubVersion Stop 201: FTAL (For The Ambient Lovers) Mixes 001-004

FTAL Mix 004 - Muttley - Tension Escapes Me (August 2013)
00:00 Siddhartha Barnhoorn - The Final Puzzle (Antichamber OST, 2013)
01:41 Robert Scott Thompson - Strange Lines And Distances (Upon The Edge Of Night LP, 2013)
03:47 The Green Kingdom - Sleep Snow (EGress LP, 2012)
04:47 The Green Kingdom - Woolgathering (EGress LP, 2012)
10:00 Leyland Kirby - And As I Sat Beside You I Felt The Great Sadness That Day (Sadly, The Future Is No Longer What It Was LP, 2009)
14:28 Marsen Jules - The Endless Change Of Colour (The Endless Change Of Colour LP, 2013)
20:06 Quiet Evenings - Telepathic Heart (Impressions LP, 2013)
30:00 Foci's Left - Not Seeing Reality [Revisited] (Grumpy Love LP, 2013)
41:37 Ex Confusion - If There Is Love (Embrace LP, 2012)
45:00 end
Download from Sendspace 
FTAL Mix 003 - Muttley - Concrete Wholemeal (December 2012)
Grit is part of a GUI's daily 5
But harm to natural alignment ain't striving
Harm to the book line domino piled
If left to topple the tarsel of flex.

Bread comes in many grains and batches
Except the ones getting ingrained grit
Some so tough I wonder who pack it
And some mouldy I worry men ignore.

The wholemeal grain isn't concrete
It's the mother's milk not silk purse
Silk purse's get clogged in sow's ears
The saints go marching hygenically.

Do they enter bracing though, I doubt
It seems they're too busy finding
A concrete surface for a toaster.


 Tracklist

00:00 August Stars - November Et Decembre (Midwinter EP, Make Mine Music, 2007)
01:48 Pilote - Immobile (Do It Now Man LP, Certificate 18, 2001)
03:51 Quosp - Mound (Green EP, Metanoia, 2006)
05:02 Kyle Bobby Dunn - Meadowfuck (In Miserum Stercus LP, Komino, 2012)
06:41 Robert Fripp & Brian Eno - An Index Of Metals (Wind On Water LP, 1986)
10:57 Satellite Clouds - Turtles All The Way Down / Triumphant (Degenerate Sons LP, 2011)
18:05 Rhythm & Sound - Imprint (R&S Digital Release, boomkat.com downloads, 2012)
18:45 Ateleia - Salt Horse Scultpture (Formal Sleep LP, Xeric, 2007)
22:48 Jan Jelinek - Palmen Aus Leder (Tierbobachtungen, Scape, 2006)
24:53 Mindspan - Co-Axial 1 (The Aeon Expanse LP, Covert Operations, 2008]
25:20 Alva Noto - Xerrox Phaser Acat (Xerrox Vol.2, Raster-Noton, 2009)
26:04 Alex Cobb - Bewildered By It's Blue (Passage To Morning LP, Students Of Decay, 2012)
30:51 Steve Hauschildt - Kept (Sequitir LP, Kranky, 2012)
32:23 Helios - Ours Everyday (Moiety LP, free download, 2012)
32:57 Bvdub - Peonies Fall For Kings (All Is Forgiven LP, n5MD, 2012)
45:10 end

Download
 FTAL Mix 002 - Muttley - If Suddenly You Forget Me (September 2011)
 
FTAL 001 selected works mentioned in each review batch; this instalment integrates DIB's GWFAA recommendation, plus Barn Owl's "Midnight Tide", my prime cut of the year. Not quintessentially Ambient, but enough emotional heft and restrained evolution to validate fusion. From my July 2011 Fluid review:

"Three and a half minutes in, a remarkably shiver-worthy buoying of chords hit you like a circuitboard of tesselating sparks, manipulated cassette recordings adding to the special moods formed. I have heard few works of this kind as moving, almost as if the noise forces response from your neural autonomy."

As rule, FTAL mix content remains topic-lifted, while I've applied Etokle's title from the "Looking Back" Auraltone Music release: "If Suddenly You Forget Me", to highlight my concerns with conversating removed from people's attention thresholds - the rest followed like a proverbial doddle.

01 - 00:00 Thanet - Another Story (Receiving Calls LP, Mordant Music, 2011)
02 - 00:50 Alex Tiunaev - Daylight (Blurred LP, Audio Gourmet, 2011)
03 - 01:00 Triangular Ascension - A New Beginning (Leviathan Device LP, Cyclic Law, 2011)
04 - 02:02 Barn Owl - Midnight Tide (Lost In The Glare LP, Thrill Jockey, 2011)
05 - 06:22 Leyland Kirby - My Dream Contained A Star (Eager To Tear Apart The Stars LP. History Always Favours The Winners, 2011)
06 - 10:47 Etokle - Het Mechanische Gebied Van De Slaap (AM: Looking Back LP, Auraltone Music, 2011)
07 - 11:52 Darren Harper & Gimu - Dawn (Field & Fern; Mountain & Sea EP, Rural Colours, 2011)
08 - 13:03 Carbon Based Lifeforms - Inertia (Twenty Three LP, Ultimae, 2011)
09 - 16:31 Karnak Temples - Foul Nest (The Din Of Light LP, Debacle Records LP, 2011)
10 - 19:54 Dementia & Hope Trails - Soaring, Skimming Treetops, Wrapped In A Blanket (Rainbow Bridge Compilation, 2011)
11 - 22:39 Mathias Deplanaque - Passeport 7 [Nantes III] (Passeports LP, Bruit Clair, 2011)
12 - 24:21 Karl Verkade - Homeland (Collections I EP, Self-release, 2011)
13 - 29:03 Talvihorros - Delta (Descent Into Delta LP, Hibernate, 2011)
14 - 35:59 Good Weather For An Airstrike - The Beginning Of The Rest Of Our Lives [Revisited] / [Reprise]
(A Summer LP, Sonic Reverie, 2011)
15 - 40:19 Jumpel - Edinburgh (Europa LP, Hidden Shoal, 2011)

Download

FTAL Mix 001 - Muttley - Engaged Or Ejected (July 2011)
  
FTAL Mixes are submitted every 5 batches of reviews, collating 15 works to mix, in 45 minutes maximum.

"Engaged Or Ejected", set one, has two themes: 1) two tracks playing at all times, eschewing construction's engagement or ejection; 2) pattern recognition prototype for investigating the brain's nervous system through physiological study, and how long it can be kept between the two gates before arousal disintegrates.

As the series builds with additional topic material, so will the concepts and narrative.

01 - 00:00 / 44:31 Donato Wharton - Breath Held (A White Rainbow Spanning The Dark EP, Serein, 2011)
02 - 00:00 Igor Karaca - Deserts (Rituelle LP, Darkwinter, 2011)
03 - 00:06 bvdub & Ian Hawgood - Lie In Lone (The Truth Hurts LP, Nomadic Kids Republic, 2011)
04 - 00:54 Robert Carty - Shimmering (Photonic Movements LP, Earth Mantra, 2011)
05 - 06:37 Seconds Before Awakening - Seven 4 (Seven LP, 2011)
06 - 15:56 Mystified - Bone Drone 14 (Bone Drones 3 LP, Webbed Hand, 2011)
07 - 23:11 offthesky & Pillowgarden - Feather Anchor For A Tidal Yawn (A Dream In A Dream EP, Audio Gourmet, 2011)
08 - 24:54 Loscil - Cheekye (Only Light To Clear Away compilation, Distance Recordings, 2011)
09 - 24:55 Jacob Newman & Devin Underwood - Unconscious Movement (The Vivid Unmapped LP, Data Obscura, 2011)
10 - 31:08 Robin Guthrie & Harold Budd - We Enter The Night (For Nihon compilation, Unseen, 2011)
11 - 32:08 Grouper - A Lie (A.I.A: Dream Loss LP, Yellowelectric, 2011)
12 - 34:32 Nawang Khechog - May All Be Kind To Each Other (Tibetan Dream Journey, Sounds True, 2011)
13 - 34:58 Tadzio - The End Of The Earth...A Flower With No Scent (The End Of The Earth...A Flower With No Scent EP, Blindsight Recordings, 2011)
14 - 40:09 Noveller - Glacial Wave (Glacial Glow LP, Weird Forest, 2011)
15 - 42:08 Jon Porras - Land's End (Undercurrent LP, Root Strata, 2011)

Download

Thursday, 1 August 2013

SubVersion Stop 200: Music Submissions

Over time, and with the viral growth of www.subvertcentral.blogspot.com, I have begun to ponder how, where, when and why people send me submissions. Via this post you can find out how to get involved, and what it means for you, the listener, label and entity...

Promotional materials I accept

I accept forthcoming albums, EPs or single tracks through my primary music account: muttley_subversion@hotmail dot co dot uk. I already have offers from www.fluid-radio.co.uk and www.tailoredcommunication.com. Any style is worthy, any genre and angle. For your content to have the soonest opportunity of a review or creative feature, please tag your files accordingly, include as much relevant information as possible, and wait patiently.

I accept promotional content from labels, shows and event promoters to further their publicity. I place a negotiable charge of £5 per feature on these materials. This is due to a highly idiosyncratic vision for SubVersion, and the fact that this blog gets 700,000 visits a day. Statistics don't lie, and if that wasn't enough reason for considering the blog as an alternative promotion source, I can show you the all time individual page views count too. This would be, for example, for a concert listing and blurb inclusion.

These materials should again be sent to muttley_subversion@hotmail dot co dot uk with a brief introduction, and then payment, if any to mbucki07@hotmail dot co dot uk address.

Promotional materials I don't accept

- Pornographic content
- Slanderous content
- Call-out-culture content
- In the least unspecific terms, spam.

What this means for SubVersion's future


I'm keen to outline this doesn't detract from SubVersion's future as a very deep, in-depth music, science, politics and psychoanalysis outlet. The agenda remains the same, I simply wish to broaden the content base and give something reciprocally back to entities that have affected me.

Next up: FTAL Mixes 001-004, with me highlighing "Tension Escapes Me".

Be well, and thanks for reading once again.

Mick Buckingham (Muttley).

Tuesday, 23 July 2013

SubVersion Stop 199: Silence Is Golden

Download

 It's a 345 sample collage with a 3 hour duration. I made it from December 15th - May 13th 2011, and besides it being incredibly personal to me, is the best thing I've ever heard. Tracklist upon request. More info:

"The art of remaining mute is one of the keys to personal creative evolution. By speaking out and expressing our plans we often diffuse our need to do. It's as if some of the energy required to produce the creative product is already used up by the words themselves.

Some thoughts:

Never explain to others what you intend to do.
Never submit half-baked concepts to anyone.
If you make written notes beforehand, don't leak them.
Sanctify your working space by limiting interlopers.
Cover up serious projects until they are well along.
Learn to be your own best counsel and private advocate.
Do not be concerned when you talk to yourself."

Robert Genn, Canadian landscape painter, 2010.

Muttley - Silence Is Golden

Creator compiled, written, arranged, mixed.
320kbps Mp3, accompanying footnotes, 3 hour 44 second duration.
345 processed samples, over 200 individual tracks, 413MB.
Select musicians, promoters and journalists worldwide included.
Some underexposed entities in my area: South, UK.
Legal Mp3 stockists, select vinyl, CDs, DVDs, demos, artist, label and publishers' downloads, a capella's, a handful of sharity portals for anything long out of print.
Produced: December 15th 2010 - May 13th 2011.

Ruse: "Honestly Muttley, I have a lot of respect for your enthusiasm and vitality... and maybe if my post was a bit off it's because I'm actually a bit frustrated that you're kind of hiding your flame under a bushel with your verbosity. You don't need to validate yourself - let the work stand alone and it will speak for you. And it's fine to be a bit arrogant. If you believe in what you're doing it's only natural to defend it."

Droid (Blogariddims, weareie.com, Woofah, The Fear) publically, re: my second initiation in 2007.

I've come back better, harder, faster, stronger, and am ready for any critique on the project.

Prologue: Bliss, Void, Tired, Hidden

00:06 / 04:43 Paul Ferrini - The Hidden Jewel (Readings from The Hidden Jewel and Dancing with the Beloved, Heartways, 2007)

"Paul Ferrini wrote The Hidden Jewel to express in a simple and clear way the core concepts of his Roadmap to Healing and Transformation. The CD also features two flute improvisations, as well as Paul Ferrini reading wonderful love poems from his books Dancing with the Beloved and Crossing the Water. Paul’s poetry has been compared to that of Rumi and Gibran. If you have not experienced it yet, you are in for a treat."

00:06 Grouper - Improvisation 2 (free download, All Tomorrow's Parties, 2009)

Liz Harris headlined Cafe Oto, London, in November 2010. Everyone was spellbound. Her book of drawings, "Divide", sold out within three weeks. "Heavy Water/I'd Rather Be Sleeping" remains a watermark, being used in Skins' melodrama. Supported Animal Collective across the States. There's criticism Grouper lyrics are too muffled, specifically in the "Way Their Crept" period, whereby "Dragging A Dead Deer Up A Hill" bleached that veil, adopting shorter track durations.

00:06 Woob - Repurpose (Repurpose, Bigamoebasounds, 2010)

First 2010 LP from a Subvert Central recommendation. Air-pocket choral ambience in the vein of Ryuichi Sakamoto. The SC forum is a goldmine for alt developments, despite small member quota. Ben Ufo (Hessle), Chris Inperspective (Technicality), Ben Subvert (Pepa, Kyza's debut home) and Naphta (The Fear, my 2006 ATM article ed) used to post frequently. The 2010 Winter forum upgrade saw Ben take on a huge interactive streamlining.

00:06 Oathless - Der Flug (Hawk Moon Vol.1, Hawk Moon Records, 2010)

The Wire did a nice feature on 'Sharity' concepts for 2009. HM Vol.1 was uploaded to free album blog Deleted Scenes, Forgotten Dreams, where you'll find bundles of niche drone, abstract, electro-acoustic, noise and modern classical. Links to buy are spurious. They're necessary, unless you know Google like Kim Kardishian's capacity for artery abuse.

00:20 Foci's Left - Regurgitated Impulses [David Tagg remix] (Audio Gourmet 005, 2010)

My first rendering, sent to a suitable label. Signed as soon as Audio Gourmet owner Spheruleus (Under The Spire, Hibernate) listened. Approval lead to its companion in 90 minutes. Darrer Harper and Spheruleus submitted remixes of the 'A', then Install's David Tagg, who put out The Caretaker's lauded "Persistent Repetition Of Phrases", got back to me. It's my favourite miniature on the EP. "Spillage" was released within three weeks, and blogged by Dave Michuda (Low Light Mixes, an ambient mixtape podcast with 100+ unique followers) and Fluid Radio (a hotspot for Experimedia and Wire's advertising).

"The Audio Gourmet netlabel, run by Harry Towell - a.k.a. Spheruleus- quickly became one of the major netlabels on the ambient music scene. At time of writing, their impressive catalogue presents about 30 releases, most of them EPs, around 15 minutes long, and thus created to fit your daily coffee/tea break perfectly."

"Hidden Landscapes Vol.1" CD review intro by Peter Van Cooten, ambientblog.net, January 2011.

All purchases fund Bandcamp credits, and further CDs.

00:20 Thee Silver Mount Zion Memorial Orchestra And Tra-La-La Band - Sisters! Brothers! Small Boats Of Fire Are Falling From The Sky! (Born Into Trouble As The Sparks Fly Upward, Constellation, 2001)

Godspeed manhandled catharsis, ASMZ prolonging subtlety and songwriting. This opens a 2001 foray on the Constellation imprint. I've modified specfic chords to give headroom to the overdubbed atmospheres and instruments. Collaborator Vic Chesnutt, sadly deceased, features later. Efrim Menuck and co have visited Oxford twice to date.

00:22 Gloria Coates & Kreutszer Quartet - String Quartet No.6: Meditation, (S. Quartets 1, 5 & 6, Naxos, 2000)

Born in 1938, Coates' pitching is "characterized by extremely strict, rigid technical procedures (canonic structures), which are often worked out with unusual musical materials (glissandi). Her music is postminimalist, marked by the tension 'not only between material and technique (an attempt to give structure to chaos), but even more so between what would have to be termed 'sober-technical' compositional principles and the genuine direct expressive power and emotionality of the music." In layman's terms, disorientating modern compositon.

00:58 Leyland Kirby - We All Won That Day, Sunshine (Sadly, The Future Is No Longer What It Was, History Always Favours The Winners, 2009)

James Kirby reinvented himself with "Sadly..." in December 2009, rocketing to boomkat.com's top album of that year. Previous key support was from the late John Peel (Radio 1) and John Balance (Coil). His mashup of Wham's "Last Christmas" as V/Vm embraced parody, whereas "A Stairway To The Stars", in Fact Mag's 'Top Ten Ambient Records', contains some of the bleakest ballroom transfusions I've witnessed. As you'd expect from the title, "Sadly" was drenched with melancholy, but avoided sugar rushes. "Tomorrow's world never came".

01:10 Macc & 0=0 - Bridge Over Broken Water (So Far EP, Subtle Audio, 2006)

Subtle Audio blossomed in January 2011, the Vol.II 3CD compilation receiving 4/5 ratings through Resident Advisor and I-DJ. Mixmag upped the ante with a 9/10. "Bridge..." was Bob Macchiochi's sole collaboration with 0=0, also off the first Subtle Audio EP, "So Far", released in tandem alongside Polska, Fanu, Equinox and Alpha Omega 12's since 2005. "Original, exciting, inventive" praise from Simon Reynolds (Energy Flash / Rip It Up And Start Again) via Blissblog, plays from Mary Anne Hobbs on her now defunct Radio 1 Experimental slot, and purchases from Barry Lynn (Boxcutter) and various underground DJs. Aphex Twin licensed Macc & dgoHn's "Some Shit Saaink" to Rephlex in 2009; the muso-intellectuals might start wiping the jizz off their Rusko records yet. Macc works with Ben Subvert at SC Mastering now, full time, and has over 15 years experience getting stuff shinier than Justin Bieber's visage. "Punctuality" by 0=0 was scheduled by Planet Mu for 2009.

01:44 Johnann Johannson - City Building [Alternative Version] (And In The Endless Pause There Came The Sound Of Bees, Type, 2009)

Modern classical grew out of love for electronics, contemporary composition, and a distaste for highbrow snobbishness. On talkclassical.com in October 2010, a user declared, "Classical music lovers stumble upon a classical forum, they see the Eno's (Roger), and leave, hoping to find a forum that offers discussion of classical music", in response to SubVersion's second planned show. He'd probably discard Johannson for some pseudo-caveat too.

Hauschka: "From my rather distanced point of view, it seems that the classical music scene has tried to prevent the 'watering down' of its genre, closing itself off to modernisation and new influences. I have sometimes had the impression that too little has been invested in young rebellious composers, while what has been amassed over 400 years is being continuously rehashed up to the point where these young composers go somewhere else. This doesn't have to be, as there's a lot going on in classical music."

"City Building", in both versions, is very fine. String quartets usurp revolution, but through the richness of Johann's type instalment, you can't help but be moved.

02:33 Jan Linton - Track 6 (CD-R, unreleased, 2010)

Last work on a demo I was sent. Linton is primarily based in Japan, however UK raised. He's had an illustrious, if underexposed career, producing alongside Duran Duran's John Taylor and "Pavillons" creator Bill Nelson. There is a double CD of re-interpreted sounds from the Buddha Machine out through Entropy Records, including the four-stringed Chinese Zhongruan.

02:52 Brian Eno - Copyright (The Dick Flash interview, video to audio conversion, 2010)
03:18 Marcus Noble - I'm On The Phone (A Day In The Life Of Some London Chicks, Noble Television cartoon, 2010)
03:23 / 04:19 Busdriver - Stylin' Under Pressure (Temporary Forever, Temporary Whatever, 2002)

Brian's logic here mocks The Sun's intellect: it's alright for Wayne Rooney to pick a fight with the milkman because 'he stole my last teabag'. Impromptu pantomime - artists have to make a living, but infringement has been hospitable for longer than the blank cassette. I feel a bit annoyed I didn't illegally download "Small Craft On A Milk Sea", as my desired christmas present was a sausage dog BMX. We're jesting, surely.

Cutups throughout are light-hearted satire. Noble's cartoon 'Chicks' bookend Eno's excerpt. As soon as a disagreement is projected, that figure: "He's dumped me (tears ensue)" is reality. It's directed at primitive industry bosses (majors, publishers) as well as those in the relationships of youth, yore, for expressing offence to a suggestion. Prevalent beyond teens, and a reason to not have a lot of male/female contacts: "I love how they can switch off their feelings like a lightswitch (meaning they never really had any in the first place)" said one user on dogsonacid.com regarding females in 2009.

Typecasts dissimilar with populism in all forms: 'selling out', 'lowest-common denominator', though, ignore that the world isn't black and white. It's comparable to calling something 'gay' when sexuality and happiness aren't involved. Degrading language invites degradation of social structure. And we don't need any more milkmen who steal celebrities' tea bags, do we?

03:26 Olafur Arnalds - Ert Jrin (...And They Have Escaped The Weight Of Darkness, Erased Tapes, 2010)
03:50 Library Tapes - Enslig (Like Green Grass Against A Blue Sky, Auetic, 2010)

Two excellent young instrumentalists, Arnalds building strings around piano, David Wennigren overlaying field recordings. For polarised playing style, gander at Conlon Nancarrow's haphazard's key stampede. Library Tapes will be touring Europe in Winter 2011 with Wild Dogs In Winter, who achieved best demo accolades from Fat Cat (Sigur Ros, Max Richter, V/Vm, Hauschka) with their inaugural EP. I bought six of David's CDs after he performed at St. Michael's Church. Auetic is pure DIY.

03:52 / 07:45 Naomi Klein - Doing My Best To Blend In / Treat Me As An Old Friend (The Shock Doctrine: The Rise Of Disaster Capitalism, read by Jennifer Wiltzie, 2008)

What gives 'The Shock Doctrine' early charm, is easily readable prose. I rarely study paperbacks, so that's where audiobooks are great. Naomi excluded, antiquated 'education' should be left to patronising academics.

03:53 Steve Roach - Something In Tears (Quiet Music, Fortuna, 1988)
03:54 Greg Haines vs. Grouper - Where It's Tired (Slumber Tides, Miasmah, 2006 / Way Their Crept, Type, 2007)
04:05 Godflesh - Flowers (Merciless, Earache, 1994)
04:16 / 07:37 / 07:50 PJ Harvey - Too Close To Home / My Biggest Fear / Purposefully (interview, BBC, 1995)
04:24 Stephen Fry - Self-Pity (The Secret Life Of The Manic Depressive, BBC 2 Documentary, 2007)

"I almost wanted, once, to publish a self-help book saying 'How to be happy' by Stephen Fry. 'Guaranteed success'. And people buy this huge book and it´s all blank pages and the first page would just say 'Stop feeling sorry for yourself and you will be happy. Use the rest of the book to write down your interesting thoughts and drawings'. That´s what the book would be and it would be true."

Regularly tormenting yourself with insecurity, paranoia and untrustworthiness via the internet is disingenous, moreover if you resign. A good female friend I met through the web restored balance in late 2010: "Whether you are male or female, if you are manipulative, opportunistic and selfish, you're a wanker and you don't deserve friends until you can earn them, end of. When I was younger I used to be impressed by successful or just plain confident people. Now I'm older, and thoughtfulness and humility are the only traits I look for in people I want to spend my time with."

Cognitive self-help is useful, and if several didn't cry out, we'd lose them. A heavily publicised death in the Drum & Bass scene after 2000 was Graham March, who produced as Desimal. He suffered intolerable schizophrenia, and tragically committed suicide at 26. Such situations are increasingly common, and serve as a reminder that if loss doesn't happen today, harsh truth arises - it could happen at any other time.

04:41 Bvdub - Descent To The End (The Art Of Dying Alone, Glacial Movements, 2010)

TDD's interview with Alessandro Tedeschi (Netherworld, GM owner) was pending in 2007, but he had his hands full. Rameses III's Spencer Grady did a good job in December 2010 for Dust magazine, Rock'a'Rolla before him. Exceeding four articles online previously, mainly in Italian. Discovered thanks to Jim Haynes' review of Mick Harris' "Like A Slow River" as Lull. Here I'll focus on dropping Brock Van Wey's "The Art Of Dying Alone", an accessible, characteristically glacial record that ditches completely isolationist approaches in favour of sweeter, changeable melody.

04:59 / 06:54 Chef, Kyle & Cartman - Come With Us (Timmy 2000, South Park Episode 51, 2000)
05:01 Genesis - Silent Sorrow In Empty Boats (The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway, Charisma, 1974)
05:04 Rik Mayall, Adrian Edmonson - How Interesting! (Bottom Series Two Episode One, BBC 2, 1992)

If you've actually read this far, here's the catch. "I am the magnificent Tarzan; I don't address my faults". Nope. Seems lots are happy to do that. Later like breeds like, and we end up with more Tarzans, less steadfastness. Critically, everything smells. It could just be that we're sitting next to Chris Moyles - something's got to give with all those organic lettuce leafs. I've found five minutes signal for alienation, needed to set up the best YouTube misogynist I saw in 2010, and you get to hear a great Genesis tune, far removed from the prog later castigated into pub rock.

05:19 The Residents - Act Of Being Polite (The Commercial Album, Pre Records, 1980)
05:23 Marble Still - Defying The Purpose (Marble Talks About Girls, Noble Television, 2010)
05:34 Burial - Etched Headplate (Untrue, Hyperdub, 2007)

Jonathan Tait wrote for his Subvert Podcast (Episode 15): "drum and bass follows the trajectory of post punk to a large degree." Dubstep is a temporary future of what d&b arranged, and what post punk collectively influenced. For sonic invention, see Loefah. Unique voices in a crumbling infrastructure - Hessle Audio, Naked Lunch. Mount Kimbie and James Blake are your 'post' suffix. Unlike a lot of punk, and post-drum & bass - labelled clownstep, drumstep ("what more amazing genres can we make?"), the trend is producing original sounds. Until it fellates itself within an inch. So, here's Residents merged with dubstep's biggest breakthrough, album of 2007 on countless lists.

Gracing "Etched Headplate", 'crepped' youth Marble has a lot of angst. But contrasting your average bedroom MC, there's wisdom. Expect caustic wit only a pisstaking evangelist can offer, underpinned with those lusty autotuned vocals.

Tait also sent SC Vol.1 to Philip Sherburne six years ago, with the possibility of a review in Wire's Critical Beats section. "I got a friendly response, and then no response at all. Posting about it on Dissensus probably didn't help there" he told me in our 2008 interview. To be fair to Philip, Wire and Jon, you can't discern everything. But when the sole recognisable riposte is another staffer's mention of Photek's "Form" sequel, far past Rupert's groundbreaking period, sacred Picasso impressionism becomes additive for ASDA ready meals: undernourishing, unhealthy, and vain. Still, at least Naphta's "Long Time Burning" was featured. Even if it was misappropriated to the dub column.

"I think he wants a serious relationship rather than a one-night stand."
"Act Of Being Polite", The Genie, Songmeanings.com

07:26 / 07:55 / 08:15 / 09:35 L-R & Radiomentale - I Could Never Make That Music Again: Instrumental / Through Accident Or Disease / Outsiders / Attachment (I Could Never Make That Music Again, Sub Rosa, 2007)

Try listening to this LP from start to end. Throughout "Silence", I've adapted its multiple spoken nuances.

07:41 Paradigm X - We Both Are Lost (We Both Are Lost EP, UK Trends, 2010)
08:03 Mary Anne Hobbs - Forge A Path Of Your Own Making (Feeder.ro interview, video to audio conversion, 2008))
08:12 ASC - The Touch [Vaccine remix feat. Riya] (Auxilliary 001, Auxilliary, 2010)
09:44 Kanye West - Yo Taylor (video to audio conversion, MTV, 2010)
09:51 Gavan Navan's Fusion Futurz - You Sound Slightly Drunk (Beckett, SC Podcast 022, 2006)

Paradigm X assembled SC's 60x60 project with Jason oS, which was highest voted by Starfrosch.de aggregator when released. It comprised sixty one-minute tunes of any style. Paradigm mastered Exegene's "Noise Corrosion" CD in 2006, another non-profit exercise spawned from Subvert Central.

Mary Anne was a marmite broadcaster, and used to write for NME when it wasn't ostrich. After Radio 1 Experimental ceasing, 1Xtra's DJ Flight was proposed to take her role. Hobbs currently works as a lecturer.

James and Christine Clements operate on dubstep's fringe, but make fairly conventional tracks that nail the headphones/dancefloor tagline. ASC ran drum & bass label Covert Operations, on a subscription basis, for over two years, putting out plenty of highlights: Cryo's "Girls And Their Demons", Vector Burn's remix of Mav's "Atomic Collision" via a CD split with Warm Communications (see lower tempo offshoot Pushing Red), and ASC's own "Forcefield".

His appearances on dBridge & Instra:Mental's NonPlus+, the Autonomic podcasts, and Vaccine's minimix for Mary Anne in 2007, garnered greatest reaction. Intex Systems, James' defunct alias, crossed from American leftfield d&b stable Offshore, to Covert as a Future Sound Of London-inspired Electronica CD - "Research And Development" - which many regard as his best album. Mindspan, an excellent minimal Techno project with a Covert LP, disappeared up until 2012 with "The Second Cycle", however "Conversations", from an unreleased Mindspan collection "Headspace", made a cameo under the ASC moniker on "Nothing Is Certain".

You'll subsequently find an ASC vignette in 60x60, Vaccine doing live PA's around San Diego and beyond, and a multitude of guest mixes, such as "The Morning After: A Techmospherics Retrospective" for TDD's second zine. James' 'Deep Space' mix series is up to 19, and today he writes music for soundtracks, too: "Liquid Cinema: Music For Pictures" is hitherto featured.

As for Kanye West: a redeeming moment. He should write a book with the byline "How to be geenious and still make a million dollars", ghostwritten by Cognac activists. He's joined by Irish 'discotheque engineer' Ignatius Merangue (formerly Gavan Navan).

Audio files: 35

10:00 - End of prologue.

 Index:

Prologue: Bliss, Void, Tired, Hidden

00:00 / 00:02 Needle Drop FX 1, 3
00:06 / 04:43 Paul Ferrini - The Hidden Jewel (Readings from The Hidden Jewel and Dancing with the Beloved, Heartways, 2007)
00:06 Grouper - Improvisation 2 (free download, All Tomorrow's Parties, 2009)
00:06 Woob - Repurpose (Repurpose, Bigamoebasounds, 2010)
00:06 Oathless - Der Flug (Hawk Moon Vol.1, Hawk Moon Records, 2010)
00:16 Euhedral - The Fire Walker (Bandcamp, self-released, 2010)
00:20 Foci's Left - Regurgitated Impulses [David Tagg remix] (free download, Audio Gourmet, 2010)
00:20 Thee Silver Mount Zion Memorial Orchestra And Tra-La-La Band - Sisters! Brothers! Small Boats Of Fire Are Falling From The Sky! (Born Into Trouble As The Sparks Fly Upward, Constellation, 2001)
00:22 Gloria Coates & Kreutszer Quartet - String Quartet No.6: Meditation, (S. Quartets 1, 5 & 6, Naxos, 2000)
00:40 Christopher Bissonnette - Tempest (In Between Words, Kranky, 200Cool
00:56 Black Boned Angel - Bliss And Void Inseperable (BAVI, 20 Buck Spin, 2006)
00:58 Leyland Kirby - We All Won That Day, Sunshine (Sadly, The Future Is No Longer What It Was, History Always Favours The Winners, 2009)
01:10 Macc & 0=0 - Bridge Over Broken Water (So Far EP, Subtle Audio, 2006)
01:44 Johnann Johannson - City Building [Alternative Version] (And In The Endless Pause There Came The Sound Of Bees, Type, 2009)
02:04 Hildur Gudanottir, BJ Nilsen & Stillupsteypa vs. Klute - I Have Seen What The Public's Interested In (Second Childhood / No-One's Listening Any More, Quecksilber / Commercial Suicide, 2007)
02:33 Jan Linton - Demo Track 6 (CD-R, unreleased, 2010)
02:52 Brian Eno - Copyright (The Dick Flash interview, video to audio conversion, 2010)
03:18 Marcus Noble - Hypocrites (A Day In The Life Of Some London Chicks, Noble Television cartoon, 2010)
03:23 / 04:19 Busdriver - Stylin' Under Pressure (Temporary Forever, Temporary Whatever, 2002)
03:26 Olafur Arnalds - Ert Jrin (...And They Have Escaped The Weight Of Darkness, Erased Tapes, 2010)
03:50 Library Tapes - Enslig (Like Green Grass Against A Blue Sky, Auetic, 2010)
03:52 / 07:45 Naomi Klein - Doing My Best To Blend In / Treat Me As An Old Friend (The Shock Doctrine: The Rise Of Disaster Capitalism, read by Jennifer Wiltzie, 200Cool
03:53 Steve Roach - Something In Tears (Quiet Music, Fortuna, 198Cool
03:54 Greg Haines vs. Grouper - Where It's Tired (Slumber Tides, Miasmah, 2006 / Way Their Crept, Type, 2007)
04:05 Godflesh - Flowers (Merciless, Earache, 1994)
04:16 / 07:37 / 07:50 PJ Harvey - Too Close To Home / My Biggest Fear / Purposefully (interview, BBC, 1995)
04:24 Stephen Fry - Self-Pity (The Secret Life Of The Manic Depressive, BBC 2 Documentary, 2007)
04:41 Bvdub - Descent To The End (The Art Of Dying Alone, Glacial Movements, 2010)
04:59 / 06:54 Chef, Kyle & Cartman - Come With Us (Timmy 2000, South Park Episode 51, 2000)
05:01 Genesis - Silent Sorrow In Empty Boats (The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway, Charisma, 1974)
05:04 Rik Mayall, Adrian Edmonson - How Interesting! (Bottom Series Two Episode One, BBC 2, 1992)
05:14 Boycie - Response (Only Fools And Horses, BBC 1, 1981-2003)
05:19 The Residents - Act Of Being Polite (The Commercial Album, Pre Records, 1980)
05:23 Marble Still - Defying The Purpose (Marble Talks About Girls, Noble Television, 2010)
05:34 Burial - Etched Headplate (Untrue, Hyperdub, 2007)
06:00 Kapsil - Digital Desperation (unreleased, Kapsil SoundCloud, 2006)
06:41 Braindead Collective & Rob St. John - The Whites Of Our Eyes (Bandcamp, Charity Single For Shelter, 2010)
07:26 / 07:55 / 08:15 / 09:35 L-R & Radiomentale - I Could Never Make That Music Again: Instrumental / Through Accident Or Disease / Outsiders / Tribes (I Could Never Make That Music Again, Sub Rosa, 2007)
07:41 Paradigm X - We Both Are Lost (We Both Are Lost EP, UK Trends, 2010)
08:03 Mary Anne Hobbs - Forge A Path Of Your Own Making (Feeder.ro interview, video to audio conversion, 200Cool
08:12 ASC - The Touch [Vaccine remix feat. Riya] (Auxilliary 001, Auxilliary, 2010)
09:44 Kanye West - Yo Taylor (video to audio conversion, MTV, 2010)
09:51 Gavan Navan's Fusion Futurz - You Sound Slightly Drunk (Beckett, SC Podcast 022, 2006)

Motion Sickness

Cycom - Down The Drain (Plainaudio / Alphacut, 200Cool
Radiohead - Pyramid Song (Pyramid Song EP, 2001)
Cutty Ranks - Limb By Limb
Alexander Thomas - (Helium EP, self-released, 2007)
Eminem - Rabbit Run (8 Mile O.S.T, 2001)
Ben Woods - Approaching Lights (Liaise In Silence, Wise Owl Records, 200Cool
Fresh - Signal (Ram, 2003)
Trace - Sonar
Mr ShaoDow vs Busdriver - The Driver's Bullspit [skit, split] (Copyright Infringement, self-released, 2010 / Temporary Forever, Big Dada, 2005)
Jan Jelinek - Palmen Aus Leder [live, played by Pole] (Hub Tierbeobachtungen, Scape, 200Cool
Lymbyc Systym - Rest Easy, Age Kindly [Back Ted N-Ted remix) (Love Your Abuser Remixed, Mush, 2007)
Borbetomagus - B2 Untitled (New York Performances, 2010)
Remainder # 6 (Long Division With Remainders download, subscribers only, Front & Follow 4 CD Box bonus, 2010)
Ghost - Creepy Crawly Things (Ma Fu Da Jiang Jung, Life4land, 2006)
Claude Debussy - Etienne Marcel-Airs De Ballet, For 2 Pianos (Orchestral Works)
Eleh - Heleneleh (Location Momentum, Touch, 2010)
Conlon Nancarrow - Study No. 40b
Edward Barton - Daisy Rang (BBC Life On Earth Documentary OST, Trunk, 2010)
00:00 Sileni - Random (Useless) Bullshit (SC Vol.2 EP, Subvert Central, 200Cool
00:00 Black Light District [Coil] - Refusal To Leave To Land (A Thousand Lights In A Darkened Room, 2000)
00:00 Arcon 2 - Warp 7/9 (Arcon 2, Reinforced, 1997)
00:00 Hellfish - Guerillas On The Piss (Meat Machine Broadcast System, Planet Mu, 2005)
Moonshine (2010)
00:00 James Holden - Idiot Clapsolo [1 bar sidechain] (The Idiots Are Winning, Border Community, 2003)
Vicky Pollard - Yeah But No (Little Britain, BBC 2, 2006)
00:00 Faith No More - Caralho Voador (King For A Day, Fool For A Lifetime, 1995)
00:00 White Denim - Say What You Want [phased offset] (A Western Holiday, 200Cool
00:53 Clarissa Pinkola-Estes - The Red Shoes: Famine In The Psyche (Sounds True audiobooks, 2005)
2Unlimited - No Limit
Simian Mobile Disco - Cruel Intentions (Temporary Pleasure, 2010)
01:00 Flying Lotus - Drips / Auntie's Harp (Cosmogramma, Warp, 2010)
(Tim) Exile - Rage Is The Beautiful Light That Struck Her (Pro Agonist, Planet Mu, 2005)
Steve Coogan - Knowing Me, Knowing You Fly On The Wall Documentary
Liondialer - Ladybarn (Liondialer Live!, 2009)

Dangerous Minds

01:25 Robin Guthrie & Harold Budd - Inside, A Golden Echo (After The Night Falls, Darla, 2007)
Foci's Left - Cradling (unreleased, 2010)
00:00 The Like - Don't Make A Sound [8x time-stretch] (Release Me, Polydor, 2010)
00:00 Christopher Willits & Ryuichi Sakamoto - Chi-Yu (Ocean Fire, 12k, 200Cool
00:00 Clint Mansell - Together We Will Live Forever (The Fountain OST, 2001)
00:04 Lil B - Dangerous Minds [2010 remix] (Dior Paint, 2010)
00:16 Brian Mcbride - Girl Nap (The Effective Disconnect, Kranky, 2010)
00:27 Pieter K - All Things (Everything All The Time, Breakbeat Science, 2001)
00:42 Boards Of Canada - Farewell Fire (The Campfire Headphase, Warp, 2007)
00:45 Tape & Bill Wells - Fugue 3 (Fugue, Immune, 2010)
00:51 Absent Without Leave - Magic Box (Bon Voyage, 2006)
Robert Miles feat. Maria Nayler - One And One [Club Mix] [1.5 time-stretch, -300 cent pitch shift, 3 octave mixers, 400hz filter Freq 1, 43000 hz filter Freq 2, 1/7 dampen high frequency, 46% bandwith spread, 50% compression, L/R reverse. 70% output volume] (One And One 2 CD, Virgin, 199Cool
Fanu - Untitled 5 (forthcoming LP, Lightless, 2011)
Szely - Theme 8: Backtrack The Train (Processing Other Perspectives, Mosz, 2007)
01:03 Zvuku - Half Full (Subscription pack 4, Rural Colours, 2010)
Celer - Once A Meaningful Life, Remaining Stretches, Separations And Reactions, Doubts Of Words (Engaged Touches, Home Normal, 2010 re-release)
1:05 Portishead - Roads [ -400 cent pitch shift, 5 octave mixers, 195 hz filter 1, 20000 hz filter 2, 60% dampen high frequency) (Dummy, 1995)
Dillinja - Feel My Pain (Spectrum, Valve, 2004)
01:38 Roxy Music - Tara (Avalon, Columbia, 1982)
01:55 Clem Leek - Smugglers Top (Holly Lane, Hibernate, 2010)
02:26 Erik K Skodvin - Vanished (Flare, Sonic Pieces, 2010)
02:26 Altus - Dormant Skeletons (Black Trees Among Amber Skies, 2010)
02:31 Steve Rose - What Could Be (Twin Earth: Collected Ambient Works, Steve Rose, 2009)
02:43 Kettel - Sauce (Myam James 2, Sending Orbs, 2009)
05:01 Ben Woods - We Remembered (Liaise In Silence, Wise Owl Records, 200Cool
06:48 V/Vm - V/Vm Theme (365 Project, month one, day one, self-released, 2006)
Broken Records - Wolves (Until The Earth Begins To Part, 4AD, 2009)
08:02 This Mortal Coil - Waves Become Wings (It'll End In Tears)
08:09 Bonobo feat. Fink - If You Stayed Over [Reprise] (Days To Come CD 2, Ninja Tune, 2005)
08:15 port-royal - I Used To Be Sad (Dying In Time, n5MD, 2010)
08:30 Kevin Drumm - 15:00 (Malaise, Necro Acoustic 5 CD, Pica Disk, 2010)
08:40 Ypsmael - Ancient Automata (CD-R, unreleased, 2010)
09:37 Small Things On Sundays - Floating In Space [Pulse Mix] (Recalling, Audio Gourmet, 2010)
10:56 Jan Linton - Ambiente (CD-R, unreleased, 2010)
10:58 Murcof - Rostro (Remembranza, Leaf, 2005)
11:52 / 14:16 Goldie - Sea Of Tears (Timeless, FFRR, 1995)
12:00 On - Last Love Inside Love [reversed] (Zaum Vol.1, Psychonavigation, 2010)
12:35 Ibunshi - Dreamweaver (download, unreleased, 2010)
12:37 / 13:36 James Blackshaw - Part 7 (All Is Falling, Young God, 2010)
13:07 Oneohtrix Point Never - Side B: Adagio In G Minor (boomkat.com 14 Tracks MP3 bundle, 2010)
13:15 - Aphex Twin - Flim (Come To Daddy, Warp, 1994)
13:34 Alexander Thomas - Theremin Improvisation 4 [private concert recording] (CD-R, unreleased, 2010)
Plaid - Cedar City (Spokes, 1994)
Pangaea - Coiled (Hessle Audio 002, 2007)
14:57 Responsorium - Libera Me [Assist Him] (Chant: Music For Paradise; The Cistercian Monks of Stift Heiligenkreuz, Decca, 200Cool
15:02 Max Richter - Infra 5 (Infra, 130701, 2010)
Hellfish - Radical Digital (Meat Machine Broadcast System, Planet Mu, 2005)
Szely - Theme 5 [Alternative Version] (Processing Other Perspectives, Mosz, 2007)

True Stories

19:09 Krust - True Stories (12' single, Talkin' Loud, 1997)
Stars Of The Lid - Apreludes In C Sharp Major (...And Their Refinement Of The Decline, Kranky, 2007)
Anonymi - Self-Propelled (Song Of The Lion Dog, self-released, 2004)
Simon Scott - She Came From The Sea (Traba, Immune, 2010)
Salem - Redlights (King Night, 2010)
21:26 Steve Alexander - The Colour Of Memory (Isometrics EP, Reinforced Records, 199Cool
Grooverider - Cybernetic Jazz (Mysteries Of Funk, Sony, 1997)
A Certain Ratio - Rialto 2006 (Mind Made Up, 200Cool
Entharsis - Boundless Wonder (Global Connections, Covert Operations, 200Cool
London Elektricity [Tony Colman, Robert Owens, Liane Carol, The Jungle Drummer] - Different Drum (Billion Dollar Gravy, Hospital, 2003)
Insight - Tomorrow's Yesterday (vinyl, Commercial Suicide, 2007)
Hive, Keaton, Echo & Gridlok - Culture (Welcome To Violence, Violence, 2005)
Cartridge - Another Way (vinyl, Ancient Ways, 2010)
The Drift - Gardening About Architecture [Four Tet remix] (Ceiling Sky, Temporary Residence, 2007)
Calyx - Chasing Shadows (No Turning Back, Moving Shadow, 2005)
Spor - Haywire (The Hardware Chronicles Vol.4, Renegade Hardware, 2004)
Mason, Dstar, Kameel - Dark Fire (Philly, Gasm, 2005)
Su3ject - Rage [Counterstrike remix] (vinyl, Trickdisc, 2005)
Robert Haigh [Omni Trio] & Silent Storm - Four Revolutions (From The Air, Seal Pool, 200Cool
Ed Cox - Colder Than Pluto's Moon (CD-R, unreleased, 2005)
Bad Matter & Martsman - Cold Love (vinyl, Lightless, 200Cool
Dak - Ovi A (CD-R, unreleased, 2007)
Suv - Alahambra (Desert Rose, Full Cycle, 1995)
Fracture - Visions Of Amen (SC Vol.2, Subvert Central, 2007)
Genetic Sequence - Decompression (vinyl, Transmute, 2007)
ICR - Primavera (Daytrip, Covert Operations, 2005)
Breakage - Eve (This Too Shall Pass, Bassbin, 2005)
Badmammal - Go On (Tapestop, goodluck/badluck, 2010)
Naphta - Home (download, Grande Illusions, The Fear, 2007)
Boards Of Canada - Basefree (Twoism, Warp, 1995)
The Fall - Hot Cake (Our Future Your Clutter, Domino, 2010)
Glint - Universe (Sound In Silence, glintonline.com, 200Cool
Mr Fogg - Seciov (Moving Parts, Kicking Ink, 2010)
The Grand Spectacular - Being A Dickhead's Cool (79p Amazon.com Mp3 download, TGS Music, 2010)

Technical Warfare

Suitable Case For Treatment - The Unkindness Of Ravens
Polska - Kime (Skeptic, Make:Shift, 2007)
Bloody Fist (Nasenblunten) - Cunt Face (Industrial Strength, 1997)
Uffie - Pop The Glock (Sex Dreams And Denim Jeans, Ed Banger, 2010)
Roland Rat - Rat Rapping
Slowdive - Ballad Of Sister Sue (Just For A Day, Creation, 1991)
Felicia Atkinson & Sylvain Chaveau - Aberdeen (Roman Anglais, O Rosa, 200Cool
From Light To Sound - Hearts And Electricity (unreleased, CD-R, 2009)
Brian Eno - Complex Heaven (Small Craft On A Milk Sea, Warp, 2010)
Leo Abrahams - Scene Memory (Scene Memory, 2003)
Noveller - Fades (Desert Fires, 2010)
Autechre - Redfall (Oversteps, Warp, 2010)
SpeaK - Two Thoughts Intertwine (Once Nomadic, CD-R, 2010)
Repetition/Distract - Live At The Sheraton Conference Center (Peripheral Geometries, No Type, 2007)
(Tim) Exile - [Soul Sicken] Sliiime (Pro Agonist, Planet Mu, 2005)
Riko Dan & The Heatwave Collective - Mind How You A Talk [Piano Riddim] (200Cool
Ed Cox - Folkcore (unreleased, 2006)
James Holden - Lumpette (The Idiots Are Winning, Border Community, 2003)
The Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble - Patra [Saint Vitus] (2007)
Neu! - Nazionale (Neu! 4, Captain Trip, 1995)
Source Direct - Technical Warfare (Excorcise The Demons, Virgin, 1997) 170
Paradigm X - We Both Are Lost (2009)
Joanna Newsom - Autumn (Have One On Me, Drag City, 2010)
Ruby - Fuse Again (Short Staffed At The Gene Pool, 2010)
Hummingbird - Taken From The Past (Fluid Audio, forthcoming, 2011)
Bibio - Woodbrook (Hand Cranked, Mush Records, 2005)
Emeralds - Access Granted (Does It Look Like I'm Here?, Editions Mego, 2010)
Marina And The Diamonds - Numb (The Family Jewels, Universal, 2010)

Silence

Goldfrapp - Horse Tears
Darren Harper -
Darren Harper -
Darren Harper -
Seconds In Fourmeldahyde -
Nest - The Helwick
Strom Noir -
Paul Bradley - Horizon
Chihei Hatakeyama -
Neve - Marvel
Ypsmael - Wobe
Porzellan - Frozen Feet
Nest - Amroth
Simon James French - Misery
Robin Guthrie & Harold Budd - Outside, Silence
Adam Michalak - Seventh Color
Damian Valles - Ridge And Furrow
Lorren Mazzacane Connors feat. Alan Licht - Untitled 4
Lawrence English - Watching It Unfold
School Of Emotional Engineering - Falling For Sylvia
Enuui - Narayana
Thomas Newman - Any Other Name
Spheruleus - Autumn (Frozen Quarters, Under The Spire, 2010)
Keith Jarrett - The Koln Concert Part 1
PJ Harvey - Silence
Radiohead - Pyramid Song
Greg Haines - Marc's Descent
Erik Satie - Gymnopedie No.1
Heather Woods Broderick - For Misty
Arthur Russell - What It's Like
Antony And The Johnsons - Her Eyes Are Underneath The Ground
Samuel Barber - Adagio For Strings

Let's Get Lost

Supertramp - From Now On
Crowded House - Either Side Of The World
Beck & Bat For Lashes - Let's Get Lost (Twilight: Eclipse OST, Atlantic, 2010)
Throbbing Gristle - Untitled (Heathen Earth, Industrial Records, 1980)
George Fenton, composer, and Haley Glennie-Smith, mezzo-soprano, with BBC Concert Orchestra - The Blue Planet (The Blue Planet OST, Decca Universal, 2001)
Barenaked Ladies - 7 8 9 (Snacktime! Live At Massey Hall, Big Machine Records, 2010)
Grouper - Giving It To You (Wide, Free Porcupine Society, 200Cool
Lezrod - Azules (Zymogen, 2007)
Henry Purcell - Funeral Anthem Of Queen Mary (Music For Queen Mary, EMI Classics, 2006)
Jonsi & Alex - Daniell In The Sea (Riceboy Sleeps, XL, 2009)

Another Way

Shaula - Sea Of Trees (Haze, Under The Spire, 2010)
Nest - The Twelve (Retold, Serein, 2010)
Colleen - Echoes And Coral (Les Ondes Silenscieus, Leaf, 2007)
Aaron Martin - Water Tongue (Worried About The Fire, Experimedia, 2010)
Chaz Knapp - Waste (Finger, Fat Cat forthcoming, 2011)
Ateleia - Of Isthmus (Formal Sleep, Xeric, 2007)
The North Sea & Rameses III - Night Blossoms Written In Sanskrit (Night Of The Ankou, Type, 2007)
Thee Silver Mount Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La-Band - This Gentle Hearts Like Shot Birds Fallen (Born Into Trouble As The Sparks Fly Upward, Constellation, 2004) 240
Philip Jeck - Wipe (7, Touch, 2005)
Loscil - The Making Of Grief Point (Endless Falls, Kranky, 2010)
Goldfrapp - Deer Stop (Felt Mountain, Mute, 2001)

Epilogue: Death Cannot Kill What Never Dies

Enduser - End Of A Beginning, Sublight Version [3x time-stretch with octave editing] (Calling The Vultures, Sublight, 2005)
Arvo Part - Festina Lente [For Strings & Harp Ad Lib, Bournemouth Sinfonietta / Richard Studt] (Part: Choral Works, EMI, 2004)
Pilote - Mahanama (Kingfood, Certificate 18, 2002)
/ Fracture & Neptune - Something With No Beats [Visions] (SC Vol.2, Subvert Central, 200Cool
Johann Johannsson - Pods (And In The Endless Pause There Came The Sound Of Bees, Type, 2009) 250
The Caretaker - Emptiness (A Stairway To The Stars, V/VM Test, 2001)
Philip Sulidae - Forgetting What's Been Lost
Roger Eno - Swimming (Swimming, All Saints, 1996)
: / : Vic Chesnutt - Warm (North Star Deserter, Constellation, 200Cool
One Day Soon - Expectations Give Rise To Failures [Umair Chaudry, Charlie Cunningham, Alex Kubesch] (split into three parts and rearranged) (The Deepest Truths Never Get Told, Blindsight, 2010)
: / : Talvihorros - Thoughts Of Violence / And Then They Walked Into The Sea (Music In Four Movements, Hibernate, 2010)
Enduser - Another Door Shuts (Calling The Vultures, Sublight, 2005)
Ateleia - Bridget Riley (Formal Sleep, Xeric, 2007)
Suddenly It's gone
Olive - I Don't Think So (Extra Virgin, 1997)
Papa Lazarou - This Is Just A Saga Now
Holly - Everybody's Dead Dave
Zelienople - Christmas
Leyland Kirby - When We Parted, My Heart Wanted To Die (Sadly, The Future Is No Longer What It Was, History Always Favours The Winners, 2009)
William Penn - Union Of Friends (Poems And Prose For The Departed)

Sunday, 21 July 2013

SubVersion Stop 198: Refractive Assuaging Musically Explained

Refractive assuaging = effected experience.

Refractive assuaging = lateral thinking of digits, symbols and time-codes.

Refractive assuaging = flexing and bending a certain set of variables to activate new ones.

This construct arose - like "Transcendental introspection" - from a Fluid Radio review in 2012. The review - "Refractor - Locus Suspectus" - collated a quote, also, from Carl Rogers concerning psychotherapeutic approaches to contact with individuals. I've selected, like last time, three releases to get the basics across in a creative way.

Visage - Hearts And Knives (Pylon Records)


29 years on from their last album seems to have done both vital and vacuous things to Visage. On the plus, they've honed their take on New Wave romantic synth Pop into more than a nostalgic trifle. On the minus, they sound at home with the uber-produced chart Pop of the noughties.

Dedicated to Martin Rushent, who died an untimely death in 2010, Visage's "Hearts And Knives" is the product of a mindset that "if you loved 'Fade To Grey (1980)', you'll at least really like this". It's true. The tree-like symptomatica of Steve Strange's voice on opener "Never Enough" sees "I'm turning the soul / Now I'm out of control / 'Cos it's never enough, never enough no". Whereas "Shameless Fashion" refractively assuages with metaphors like "temptation was born out of envy".

The vocals are thought-provoking and absorbing everything in their path, Steve Strange's traditional C key voice rising and gliding like a dove over the waves in travel to a distant land. "Lost In Static" and its pulse is bracing, the beat and bass that enters after a short introduction avoiding jettison of the shoegaze guitar, also minus the aggression. The assuage here is from the contagious interlocking of synths, guitars, vocals (backing and lead) and overall plodding tempo to create something bigger than the sum.

The sense of bewilderment from constant refraction of yes/no matrixes, right/wrong junctures and yin/yang enumerations punctures the multiple personality interpretation of the vocal themes in "I Am Watching". "There's no reason you should see me / There's no reason you should know / I am here / I don't want to think from you now / I just need to know you're there" predate the paranoid android lurching of "Diaries Of A Madman" ("Needing a shrink, there's nothing wrong with my brain") perfectly. These two tunes are rife with great lyricism that sucks you in, and importantly bends its' light shined upon the listener to reveal more on each listen.

The final breath on "Breathe Life" sounds an impending sigh of relief: Visage still have it - they just kept it under wraps for 29 years. "Be who you are, and say what you feel" / "Those that mind, they don't matter" / "Those that matter, they don't mind" / "If they don't matter, leave them behind" is an excellent wordplay scheming under a casual New Romantic ballad sound, a more sedate Spandau Ballet without the forced hooks. "Hearts And Knives", in culminated opinion, sees Steve Strange and his group venture into new territory while displaying all the hallmarks of classic revolvent retrospectivity. Bravo.

 http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hearts-And-Knives-Visage/dp/B00CBVRGIK?ref=bit_f_bds-p18_serp_ff_uknat_link&tag=bds-p18-serp-uk-ff-21&ascsubtag=

Bat For Lashes - iTunes Festival London 2012 - EP (iTunes Media)


The majority of material on Natasha Khan - aka Bat For Lashes' - iTunes festival session occupies a refractive glow back onto her whole ouevre and mystical demeanour, and the majority comes from her second album, "Two Suns". it's a great introduction and primer for her sound as much as it is a standalone collection of five renditions. "Travelling Woman (Live)" actually manages to sound better than the recorded version - possibly a result of the piano lead being kept traditionally raw and uncut from the production gloss.

Her sound is one of Art Pop carefully reimagined as a children's story dealing with the forces of nature. "Make you tired, tell you lies, make you fall" is a gloriously sung refrain at the back end of the chorus that resonates as an ode to her previous relationship with the "Daniel" that she wrote a song about, travelling between the United Kingdom and New York City. Whoever it's about though, there's enough transcendental introspection to rise anew.

It sounds as if the festival sequencing for the tracklist is meant to juxtapose several angles of Natasha's sound, from the aforementioned ballad, to "Glass (Live)" with its Drum & Bass tempo half-time tightrope walking drama. So you'll hear tunes not sitting uniform with each other - an aspect that refractive assuaging capitalises on when the music is as ephemeral and ethereal as this. The emotional filling is like a set of onion rings and egg: tasty and tasteful, savoury side orders to a gorgeous grilled steak - the steak here being a medium-rare Rib Eye in a kit, backbone for the compositions of having something on your plate.

Natasha's voice is sultry, stylish, never contrived and full of sass. Her rendition of "Horse And I", piece one from her debut album "Fur And Gold" plays powerfully live, the drums shuffling like an angled furniture arranger towards a victorious end. In whatever language, Bat For Lashes are assuaging for your senses - you'd do well to track down any of Khan's albums and, fail to be impressed by it? Not possible, seriously.

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/itunes-festival-london-2012/id571348109

Prevrat - Symbols (Russian Winter)



Ric Gordon's vocal themes require close attention to reap the parametric ostentation bestowed upon them by the gloopy synthesizers and silvery polish. I had several mishearings of lyrics throughout "Symbols" which gives it its own lateral character - and ultimately, a refractive assuage that ingests the vital input from the context and techniques.

Because its sequencing shoehorns A-B traditional phrasing for neo-liberal takes on acoustic fusion, Ric is able to project an ever-changing myriad, collagist outlook to his soundscapes. This works one of three ways. First, it buffers your attention on the uptake. Second, it decreases the moments of dirge. As a final outcome, it formulates honeysuckle Indie sound.

Gordon channels the spirit of Gordon Lightfoot on "Abandoned", the lyrics "You lose your soul to the one that you love" / "While walking the streets to find that you're the only one feeling" / "Never mind spending half of your life" / "Just to find that love will leave you abandoned" approaching an "If You Could Read My Mind" dissolved anarchy. He gets close to Nu-Rave on "Traffic", but the synth Pop-meets-post-punk songcraft keeps the sonic consciousness from bombing out at the last hurdle to glitz and glamour. "A blue car crashes on my mood all the time" is a swell opening/closing couplet to the first verse, the song steeped in Gary Numan's "Cars" reimagined by Cabaret Voltaire and The Teardrop Explodes' Julian Cope. 

It's unsurprising on listening that "Symbols", Prevrat's first LP since "Intelligent Discontent" in 2012 has been so well received in the blogosphere, with this the 41st feature of Prevrat's material at the time of writing. For every flight of fancy there's a rockist swoop of new-fangled nerves; for every attempt at dichotomy, there's a veering into the pseud. This angularity and reinvention of the formats Ric carries with him goes very well with a cool beer on a lazy summer's evening. and as far as refractive assuaging is concerned, Prevrat, to quote Rene Zellweger, "Had me at hello".

http://prevrat.bandcamp.com/

Summary

"Refractive assuaging" are transcendent keywords for what affects your experience, in whatever positive way.

The need for putative language in music or even 'fan' journalism negotiates that we're at one or odds with every new trend, and keywords such as this and their malleability give us a certain edge to inject new ideas into conversation.

Music is less and less seen as a transcendent experience the more it fragments. This is because there is less looking at a full circle for the music in question and more putting-in-a-box. Keywords like these do away with this ideal and are intersectional.

I hope you enjoy the releases reviewed. :)

Monday, 24 June 2013

SubVersion Stop 197: 30 Months To Save The World

Dear Avaaz community,




This may be the most important email I’ve written to you. Scientists have found that vast areas of Arctic sea ice are disappearing, accelerating the destruction of our planet -- it is a climate tipping point and we CAN stop it, if we act very fast, and all together. We have 30 months until the biggest climate summit ever. To win it, we need to blast out of the starting gate. Click below to pledge a donation to help us get there: 

This may be the most important email I've ever written to you.

Scientist Julienne Stroeve has studied Arctic ice for decades. Every summer she travels north to measure how much ice has melted. She knows that climate change is melting the ice fast, but on her last trip, she couldn't believe what she saw. Vast areas of Arctic ice have disappeared, beyond our worst expectations.

This is what the experts warned us about. As the earth warms, it creates many "tipping points" that accelerate the warming out of control. Warming thaws the Arctic sea ice, destroying the giant white 'mirror' that reflects heat back into space, which massively heats up the ocean, and melts more ice, and so on. We spin out of control. Already this year -- storms, temperatures -- everything is off the charts.

We CAN stop this, if we act very fast, and all together. And out of this extinction nightmare, we can pull one of the most inspiring futures for our children and grandchildren. A clean, green future in balance with the earth that gave birth to us.

We have 30 months until the Paris Summit, the meeting that world leaders have decided will determine the fate of our efforts to fight climate change. It might seem like a long time - it's not. We have 30 months to get the right leaders in power, get them to that meeting, give them a plan, and hold them accountable. And it's us vs. the oil companies, and fatalism. We can win, we must, but we need to blast out of the starting gate with pledges of just a few dollars/euros/pounds per week until the summit -- we'll only process the donations if we hit our goal. For the world we dream of, let's make it happen: 

https://secure.avaaz.org/en/30_months_en_ld_rb/?bPanzbb&v=26238

Fatalism on climate change is not just futile, it's also incompetent. The hour is late, but it is still absolutely within our power to stop this catastrophe, simply by shifting our economies from oil and coal to other sources of power. And doing so will bring the world together like never before, in a deep commitment and cooperation to protect our planetary home. It's a beautiful possibility, and the kind of future Avaaz was born to create.

Facing this challenge will take heart, and hope, and also all the smarts we have. Here's the plan: 

    1. Go Political: Elect Climate Leaders  -- 5 crucial countries have elections in the next 30 months. Let's make sure the right people win, and with the right mandate. Avaaz is one of the only major global advocacy organizations that can be political. And since this fight will be won or lost politically, it could be at some points just us vs. the oil companies to decide who our politicians listen to.

    2. Make Hollande a Hero -- French President Francois Hollande will chair the Paris summit - a powerful position. We have to try every tactic and channel -- his personal friends and family, his political constituency, his policy advisors -- to make him the hero we need him to be to make the summit a success.

    3. Take it to the Next Level -- The scale of this crisis demands action that goes beyond regular campaigning. It's time for powerful, direct, non-violent action, to capture imagination, convey moral urgency, and inspire people to act. Think Occupy.

    4. Out the Spoilers -- Billionaires like the Koch brothers and their oil companies are the major spoilers in climate change - funding junk science to confuse us and spending millions on misleading PR, while buying politicians wholesale. With investigative journalism and more, we need to expose and counter their horrifically irresponsible actions.

    5. Define the Deal -- Even in the face of planetary catastrophe, 195 governments in a room can be just incompetent. We need to invest in top quality policy advice to develop ingenious strategies, mechanisms, and careful compromises so that when the summit arrives, a critical mass of leaders are already bought in to a large part of the deal, and no one can claim that good solutions don't exist.
We need tens of thousands of us to pledge small donations to blast out of the starting gate on this plan. The amount doesn't matter as much as much as the choice - to hope, and to act:

https://secure.avaaz.org/en/30_months_en_ld_rb/?bPanzbb&v=26238

At the last major climate summit in Copenhagen 2009, we played a pivotal role in German and Japanese 'climate' elections, in shifting Brazilian policy, and in helping win a major global deal on financing, with rich countries promising $100 billion per year to poor countries to help them address climate change. Back then, Avaaz was 3 million people. After Copenhagen, we reflected that we needed to be a lot bigger to meet the challenge posed by climate change. Now, we're 23 million, and growing by 1 million per month.

Climate change is the ultimate global collective action problem, requiring cooperation from every government in the world. And Avaaz is the ultimate collective action solution, with millions of us united in common vision across every nation. This is our time, to build a world for our children that’s beauty matches our dreams. Let's get started.

With hope and appreciation for this amazing community,

Ricken and the entire Avaaz team


MORE INFORMATION:

With Arctic sea ice vulnerable, summer melt season begins briskly (The Christian Science Monitor)
http://www.csmonitor.com/Environment/2013/0501/With-Arctic-sea-ice-vulnerable-summer-melt-season-begins-briskly-video

Arctic sea ice levels to reach record low within days (Guardian)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/aug/23/arctic-sea-ice-record-low

Five Reasons We Need a New Global Agreement on Climate Change by 2015 (Switchboard NRDC)
http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/jschmidt/five_reasons_we_need_a_new_glo.html

The Doha climate talks were a start, but 2015 will be the moment of truth (The Guardian)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/dec/10/doha-climate-talks-global-warming

Arctic sea ice melt disrupts weather patterns (NBC News)
http://science.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/05/30/18631374-arctic-sea-ice-melt-disrupts-weather-patterns?lite

The Arctic Ice “Death Spiral” (Slate)
http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy/2013/05/28/arctic_sea_ice_global_warming_is_melting_more_ice_every_year.html

Saturday, 22 June 2013

SubVersion Stop 196: Greg Haines - Where We Were (Denovali)


This is officially the closest I've come to describing an album both Detroit Techno and Dub integrative. Augmented with wistful keening and wakening from handiwork to stretch and shape synth-based composites, with piano, vibraphone and delay effects, the one who could transcendentally introspect this deeply as to unwravel a whole new persona to the audience, is Greg Haines.

Greg has been known to Fluid Radio regulars, literally, on the regular. This is no shock when you take the opportunity to listen to his music, full to the brim with emotion, soulful hacking at the barracks of unconsciousness and spilling over of lifeblood from every interpolative stance. That interpolation is no less present than on "Where We Were", a seeming questioning-of-context title, a fromage frais of differing starts and stops, curves in the "Tablula Rasa" so to speak, of his Arvo Part, Tangerine Dream and Klaus Schulze influences.

More influences spill out hitherto in the press - King Tubby, Lee Scratch Perry, Rhythm & Sound. Haines has taken all his Modern Classical training: writing scores, writing for other musicians, writing with an "other" in mind, and another cause...to this, a nothingness. But at the same time, a something more - a pure expression of himself, in solitude, in the comforts of his own studio, to be what he truly wants to be, without pretense, without the surfeits of touring stresses, impacts, whether he'd like it or not, have subconscious direction on him.

From the off "The Intruder" marks out the spellbinding piano of classic Haines, but adds new touches, like the synthesizer you might hear on an art Pop record, or something from 80s New Order. A common leitmotif: syrupy and condensing diamel dynamics, brought into dystopia, like stifling a sneeze - then sent for an LSD-ish loop, a kaleidoscopic psychedelia, as if the components had reinforced glass backing them up. The personally enshrouded attitude the pieces seem to take, so much so that it is confessed that Peter Broderick's string section was left on the cutting room floor, solidifies the individuality Haines has greater pursued as his career has progressed.

Clearly a logical progression by way of quasi-extension from the performing arts and dance industry, it's nevertheless clear Haines couldn't have made a record like this at 18 years of age. 2006 was a long time ago, and it is thrilling to hear how he has matured. Flickers of vibraphone on piano that strays over two octaves for "The Intruder" sets the newly founded Haines polyrhythm aesthetic to Pink Floyd footwork - still the Modern Classical tropes remain. "Something Happened" introduces more electronic texture which sounds like GAS' Wolfgang Voigt munching a bag of Walkers crisps while trapped in a busy elevator listening to Greg and Danny Saul's Liondialer project.

Rhythms change up, stature is questioned, all creating an excellent entry into the record's standout, "So It Goes". This is where the regulation of "Where We Were" undergoes the most trans-formation. A soaring synth, multilayered like a painted seashell, she plays a major key then returns to a filtered slumber. The 80s reminiscent interlude style of "Trasiemo" sheds its melody like a re-cast tear. Whereas "Habanero" is perhaps the most innocent Detroit and dub Techno amalgam out there at present. The finale, a version of "Habanero", breathes ancient breaths into an echo chamber like vacuum particles from a Mike Oldfield "Tubular Bells" - with cheese and Rioja condiments - manifesto. The art of utopia/dystopia juggling down to a doomed art.

Yet there is no brutal reality with "Where We Were", like lambs silenced for non-vegan dinners. Like a lamb, too, Haines develops his own insulating coat at an astonishing rate. His use of illusive metre on tracks such as "The Whole", and 3 years back, "Until The Point Of Least Resistance", allude to anything but a composer going through the motions. Instead, it creates a formal post-iconclastry that destroys genre boundaries by sucking the detritus into a hoover and being left to live a life as compost - then, new musical notation.

"Where We Were" is a magnificent album, free of pretense, stuffed with more minute pleasures that become significant revelations over time. It all adds to the special body of work Greg has accumulated 2006-2013, and luckily for the collectors and completists among you, Denovali have issued a 3CD, 5LP retrospective at the same time. Meeting Greg for my first concert promotion in May 2010 was eventful, but it would seem there's no better place to listen to a Greg Haines record than in the comfort of your own space. Incredibly recommended.

Purchase: Digital Release

SubVersion Stop 195: Subvert get-together? Subtle Audio / Bustle Beats Limerick launch gig, Saturday July 27th 2013


Originally posted by Code on Subvert Central
 
I've been living in Canada for the last 2 and a half years but I'm heading home to Ireland next week to see family, friends and all the rest of it

Of course, while I'm there, I thought it would be nice to put on a night to mark arrival of several new releases on Subtle Audio / Bustle Beats and hopefully make the line-up tempting enough to get some of the UK / European crew travelling, it's been a long time since I've seen some of you c**ts

So, here's the carrot(s):

When ? Saturday July 27th, 10pm till late

Where ? Dolans Warehouse, Dock Road, Limerick City

What ? Subtle Audio presents BUSTLE BEATS - LABEL SHOWCASE

Who ? EQUINOX (Scientific Wax) ... ENJOY (Subtle Audio / Bustle Beats / Omni Music) ... CODE (Subtle Audio) ... DEEP CUT (Nu Killa Kru) b2b K3BEE (Syncopathic)

How loud ? Plenty. Void Soundsystem being hired for the night.

Nearest airport ? Shannon (15km) ... then Cork (1 hour drive) ... then Dublin (2 hour drive)


Also worth mentioning that there is a weekend long festival of hip-hop/graffiti/breakdancing on in the city that weekend. So there should be some nice workshop / early gigs on aswell. I know this lady VOICE is in town (alongside DJ P.U.D.G.E from LA) ... check this album : http://voicey.bandcamp.com/album/voice-presents-cutz

Just thought I'd post this to let any potentially interested parties know - with just over 5 weeks left before the gig, flights will need to be booked pronto to save the $$$

So, yay / nay ?