Way Below The Surface is an apt title for players channelling minimalist statements in a reverb-soaked soundscape. Actually, “reverb soaked” would suggest a monolithic, unchanging atmosphere but Poolplayers deploy interactive electronics as they play their instruments. They manipulate spatial perception in a way that simply wasn’t possible 20 or 30 years ago. The presence of Arve Henriksen of Supersilent is a dead giveaway of the band’s sound. His long, slow trumpet and vocal expressions range from Jon Hassell to Bill Dixon, but coupled with his own electronics and those of his band-mates, his pure tones become stretched and detuned. Benoit Delbecq’s piano is quiet and lyrical. His playing recalls the spaciousness of ECM’s Nordic austerity of the ’80s, but his use of filter sweeping with the analog Bass Station keeps things fresh. Wah piano, anyone? The rhythms of many tracks sound like continuously crumpling cardboard with awesome stereo separation. Indeed, this mix exists in 5.0 as well thanks to Songlines’ SACD format. This is highly recommended for your home theatre. (Songlines)
Arc -
Arkhangelsk 4257
Aidan Baker’s Nadja have been receiving more and more attention for their incredible fusion of metal, ambience and experimentation. Between his solo work and his doom-y Nadja project, Baker’s racked up well over 20 recordings in the last year. ARC, though, have been relatively less active. The “r”
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Shot x Shot -
Let Nature Square 2643
Philly’s Shot x Shot quartet delivered a striking debut a couple years back with their self-titled disc for High Two. Recorded in a hugely reverberant church, it showed the quartet reworking gritty free-bop into grandly overarching soundscapes. Their newest disc has more conventional acoustics but
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The electric vigour that fires out of the opening track of Year Zero's debut LP is sure to catch you off guard. Fierce yet grounded, relentless but positive and so effortlessly unwavering to the very end of the 16 tracks, Year One is both excitingly familiar and so fresh in their skill and...
Full Review
(Edgar Wright)
His hilarious first two features were genre parodies: Shawn of the Dead (zombies) and Hot Fuzz (buddy cops), but in Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World, director Edgar Wright is inventing a whole new film genre: the videogame/comic/action mash-up, with great success. ...Full Review
Arty For the Ages
There's been a longstanding debate over whether or not videogames can be art, but even infamous critic Roger Ebert admitted: "That a game can aspire to artistic importance as a visual experience, I accept."...
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Aidan Baker’s Nadja have been receiving more and more attention for their incredible fusion of metal, ambience and experimentation. Between his solo work and his doom-y Nadja project, Baker’s racked up well over 20 recordings in the last year. ARC, though, have been relatively less active. The “r”
...
Philly’s Shot x Shot quartet delivered a striking debut a couple years back with their self-titled disc for High Two. Recorded in a hugely reverberant church, it showed the quartet reworking gritty free-bop into grandly overarching soundscapes. Their newest disc has more conventional acoustics but
...
The electric vigour that fires out of the opening track of Year Zero's debut LP is sure to catch you off guard. Fierce yet grounded, relentless but positive and so effortlessly unwavering to the very end of the 16 tracks, Year One is both excitingly familiar and so fresh in their skill and...
His hilarious first two features were genre parodies: Shawn of the Dead (zombies) and Hot Fuzz (buddy cops), but in Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World, director Edgar Wright is inventing a whole new film genre: the videogame/comic/action mash-up, with great success.
There's been a longstanding debate over whether or not videogames can be art, but even infamous critic Roger Ebert admitted: "That a game can aspire to artistic importance as a visual experience, I accept."...
