Three drones in the rough extracted from England’s rich seam of minimalist gold, three groaning cronies aligned along a subterranean ley line linking London to Leeds to Tyneside.
Midwich :: Cut Flowers (Memoirs of an Aesthete)—After a short, sharp, peppy intro, Midwich (Rob Hayler) paves a thick fourteen-minute drone over the wildflowers and dandelions, the fleeing bees keeping just ahead of his steamroller. This segues surprisingly smoothly into a twitching, flocculent, Steve Reichian grasshopper jig called “Queen Olive.” Like all the records in this review, it runs just over thirty minutes, and concluded with “Sea Kale,” shimmering in graceful undulation like the satin surface of a seclude pond in the sun. [Sound]
Culver :: Cherry Vampire (Molotov)—At not quite a minute more, Culver (Lee Stokoe) coaxes a single, long drone, seemingly followed in bullet time – the listener revolving around it three hundred and sixty degrees like a camera to examine all three dimensions. Purring amiably all the way through, it raises its fur and hisses slightly as it comes to an end. The website of the Molotov label itself is fascinating reading (“reading” because it does not offer sound samples, alas), selling England by the pound, or at least not much more, just like the other artists and labels mentioned here.
Aqua Dentata :: Lesbian Semiotics at a Jewellery Table (Echo Tango)—Though actually too old and too sold out to be considered for review by an up-to-the-minute electronica website, please indulge me. Lesbian Semiotics at a Jewellery Table, recorded in Hackney in 2011, dovetails so neatly with Midwich and Culver and has the kind of pure fluidity we all wish our lives had and such a funny title, that attention should be paid. Consider this a teaser. London’s Eddie Nuttall and his elegant work as Aqua Dentata is chock-full of handsome humming, among which A Staircase Missing, was recently reviewed in these pages. More Aqua Dentata can be savoured on his Soundcloud. [Sound]
