REVIEW: MING - RED

 

MING - RED (Hombré Recordings, 2000):

Technical data:

Mastered by Sean Magee at Abbey Road

Produced by Andy Knepp

Artwork by Miriam Stenning.

Track List: 1- Come, 2- Fish, 3- Vase, 4- Wings, 5- Yours, 6- Still, 7- Mine, 8- Angels, 9- Witch, 10- Taste, 11- Red, 12- Bailarina, 13- Wait, 14- Running

Ming is a project that makes electronic music in a more accesible format. I mean this because of the kind of rhythms that are used within this recording and because of the vocals that are used to which are really melodic. But in fact this is not music conceived to be in the charts, because the melodies are too ethereal, too obscure if you like or maybe they are different from what the people that like commercial music are accustomed to listen to. There are some beats that are fairly accessible and the songs have common song structures like intro - verse - verse - chorus - verse - chorus. SO who knows if Ming can not be in the charts in the future?. Favorite tracks: "Still", "Angels" and "Fish". Contact: www.hombre.co.uk

REVIEW: ATTRITION - EPHEMERA

 

ATTRITION - EPHEMERA (INCIDENTAL MUSIC VOL.II) (Invisible Recs., 2001):

Technical Data:

Recorded on location at The Cage - March-Dec 1993.

Remastered by Martin Bowes at The Cage, January 2001.

Art: Mark P. Lomax. Design by John Bergin,

Track List: 1- The Long Wait, 2- A Great Desire, 3- The Big Lie, 4- Wetenscap (Dream #9), 5- Lang Zal Jij Leven

This Attrition CD is completely different from "The Hidden Agenda". Where in that recording rhythmic patterns and bass drum were all over the place, here you have more atmospheric sounds, and climatic work. This are soundscapes made by the total experimental brain of Mr. Martin Bowes who si in charge of all the music here. Fans of this kind of electronic music will be delighted (perhaps this will be a little dark from them because of the heavy use of keyboard chords to create obscure atmospheres and the use of industrial sounding drums). Very interesting but for open minded persons. Favorite tracks: "A Great Desire" (with noisy intro followed by electronics) and "The Big Lie" (like a science fiction movie soundtrack). Contact: www.attrition.co.uk or www.invisiblerecords.com

REVIEW: ATTRITION - THE HIDDEN AGENDA

 

ATTRITION - THE HIDDEN AGENDA (Invisible Recs., 2001):

Technical Data:

Recorded and mixed at The Cage - 1992-1993.

Produced by Martin Bowes and Mark Beswick.

Remastered by Martin Bowes at the Cage, 2000.

Art: Mark P. Lomax.

Track List: 1- Lip Sync (Xenophobia Edit), 2- Agenda Station, 3- The Deadline, 4- This Great Design, 5- Sister Teresa, 6- The Silent Mind, 7- The Cage, 8- The Mercy Machine, 9- The Next Day (re-visited), 10- His Latest Flame, 11- Lip Sync (reprise), 12- The Third House, 13- A Wing and a Prayer.

Well, in fact I like this kind of music: electronic sounding with lots of electronic and programming that is not designed to dance and shake your body. This is done to experiment with sounds that are not so common (eventhough "Lip Sync" would not be out of place in some weird rave). The voice here reminded me in some places of the guy in Rammstein, but this was recorded when that band didn´t even exist. There are a lot of industrial sounds here butthe fundamental here is the sound of electronic drums with that interesting ganme of female and male vocals that make the sound darker. I don´t know what Attrition is doing nowadays but I would like to listen new material from them to see how they have evolved since this CD. Contact: www.attrition.co.uk or www.invisiblerecords.com

REVIEW: LOCKWELD - INDUSTRIAL REQUIEM

 

LOCKWELD - INDUSTRIAL REQUIEM (Dragon Flight Recordings, 2001):

Technical Data:

Recorded at 20 Studios.

Artwork: Stephen Hasner

Track List: 1-Black resin, 2-Blue Collar Noose, 3-I know how long your legs are, 4-We Are all Sheep, 5-They are Lost, 6-Bleed through the Scriptures, 7-At the End of a Gun, At the Edge of a Knife, 8-Holy, 9-Industrial Requiem, 10-Stainless Steel, 11-A reading, a teaching and a Jihad, 12-It´s not me, 13-Feast of the Assumption, 14-4:44, 15-Dissipated Existence

Ambient/noise/industrial would be the apropriate term to describe the sound of Lockweld. A recording full of noises, sound textures and strange climates with some electronic vocals but whose main goal seem to be to explore waves of sounds that can be  obtained through electronics. Do not ask for melodies or heavy rhythms or guitars and conventional instruments. The fifteen tracks contained here are very similar and very different at the same time: they all have a similar structure that is developed through the whole track but each track explores a different aspect of the noise/ambient spectre. Only for fans of this kind of music. Contact: www.holyterror.com/lockweld or www.dragonflightrec.org

REVIEW: METH - BIOMORPHIC SYMPHONY

 

METH - BIOMORPHIC SYMPHONY ( Independent, 2001): Bill Sannwald is a really creative person and uses everything that he can get his hands on to arrive to te results that he wants in his compositions. So, here we have a lot of electronic elements and some sounds that can be from an Atari videogame or something like that, also we have his guitar, and he has managed to create this "Biomorphic Symphony". I must say that I like much more this CD than the last one, "Transformers:…" (already reviewed on an issue of Music Extreme) because it seems to me that here Sannwald has found the path to explore in the future. The melodies are spectacular and are in the vein of classical music (in fact there are sounds like a synthesized harp and some synth strings that remark Sannwald´s results). I think that we have a real evolution here. Also, the seven parts that are present in this opus are independent but at the same time cloely related one to each other. I hope that Bill continues in this path, because he has found something new, full of ideas and really fresh. Contact: Keirka777@hotmail.com