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(02.21.05) Decadnids’ first release for en:peg is Gumble Chutney the Sea Ferret,
a Exquisite Corpse style title that is in keeping with the general
mood of the music. Muffled thuds, warped pianoforte, fuzzed
electronic beats, and analog tones all swirl together across these
thirteen tracks. I accidentally had my MP3 player on random shuffle
for the first few times I listened to this record and it certainly
didn’t seem to harm the “flow” of the music. It’s not dangerously
experimental, but rather like the ambient scatter of flotsam along the
gentle ocean currents.
“Transopheow” burbles and warps in an onomatopoeic fashion, its rising
bursts of sound like the half-formed word of its name while
electronically-damaged piano notes try to formulate a clear melody.
“Janglef” is a concertino hovering on the brink of drum ‘n’ bass like
a mad Mozart creation of a century or so ago as remixed by a modern
laptop junkie. “Ooh” squelches and crackles with the soundtrack
menace of an improperly closed airlock and you with your spacesuit
helmet on the other side of the small cabin of the spaceship. “Goof”
rattles with mad machinery doing an impromptu dance while a series of
ambient jewel tones rise like slow effervescence.
Gumble Chutney the Sea Ferret has its own rhythm, most definitely, and
some of it works better than the rest. But overall, Decadnids has an
interesting sound all their own that is worth a bit of your time.
There are curiously rhythmic pieces that catch your fancy like an
intricate pattern of drifting detritus on the surface of a slow-moving
current. You stop to watch for a bit, to just watch how the patterns
evolve as the material drifts by, and suddenly an hour has gone by.
Funny how that happens. (4/5)
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(02.21.05) The eight relatively untitled tracks of Renku’s Persist run nearly
eighty minutes in length with a number of the tracks clocking in
around the ten-minute mark. Heard as a full album, Persist falls in
the Peter Namlook, FAX label category of electronic mood music where
themes and motifs are examined, explored, redrafted again with
variations and encapsulated one final time before moving on. Skittery
IDM turns into blissful trance that fragments into shining ambience
before flowing into a crackling cohesion of electronic parts. “PR2”
moves in gentle arcs of sound with a Boards of Canada style innocence
while “PR3” hums with the restless rhythm of high speed roadways at
night. “PR4” travels across several times zones with its acrobatic
synthesizer melodies, chasing the late night back room vibe as the
world turns towards dawn, while “PR5” hustles and chirps with the
volatile effervescence of pistons and steam gaskets. Persist is
perfect for long trips where you want something that evolves
organically in your head without the added effort of lyrics or
fractured rhythms. (5/5)
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(02.21.05) Melodic drum and bass, ADJective’s first release on en:peg bounces
back and forth between melodic IDM and skittering drum ‘n’ bass.
“Launching Elephants” squeals with a cascade of vocal effects like the
distorted sounds of children sliding down lengthy water slides while
“I Am An Angry Caterpillar” bubbles with 8-bit video games sounds as
if it were the theme song for one of Atari’s more aggressive video
game villains.
Most of the succinct tracks (they run about two minutes each, on
average) are brief diversions, tiny little squiggles of gentle melody
and shuffling percussion. “Vaporul” sings along with rapid-fire
percussion that sounds like wire brushes on water and playful strings
caper about a spinning dervish of a drum ‘n’ bass rhythm during
“Blueberry.” ADJective is tub tunes for the playful animal in all of
us while we splash and chortle with glee in the water. (4/5)
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(02.21.05) Mike Cadoo continues his exploration of the shoegazer aesthetic that
he hinted at with Enarc (Component, 2004), his last full length CD release. Shimmer and
Fade is a collection of experiments with real instrumentation: guitar
and drums with the gentlest of processing and synthesizer work to add
texture to these tracks. That’s what he’s all about here: texture ala
My Bloody Valentine and the lamentations of lost souls that pervaded
Joy Division. After “Shimmer,” the two minute opener that draws us in
on a wave of noise, “Aventious” carefully unfolds with a sound mirage
of processed guitar — full arcs of elongated notes that fill the air
with glowing contrails of sound. With “No Bridge No Water,” Cadoo
fully engages the Wayback Machine, reaching through its slot to that
early period of British Alternative (before “alternative” was a bad
word) and bringing through echoes of The Cure, My Bloody Valentine and
Jesus and Mary Chain. “The Missing” and “Waiting For Something” are
filled with ghosts of guitar textures and spectral voices, fading
walls of sound that are the foundations of digitized constructs —
delicate edifices built of crystallized electronics.
If en:peg is all about experimentation at inexpensive prices for
everyone, then Cadoo’s efforts with Shimmer and Fade are an
interesting window into the creative process. He’s asks us to indulge
him for a few dollars as if he were down in the subway at one of the
major intersections with a guitar, beatbox, and portable speaker.
There are two signs on the wall behind him, pointing in opposite
directions. “This way to modern electronica and DSP love,” says one.
“This way to the history of guitar textures and massive walls of
overdubs,” says the other. Cadoo is at the crossroad, mixing the
sounds that come from either passage. (5/5)
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All releases are currently available at www.enpeg.com for $2/ea.
