(06.24.05) 409’s loosely assembled collective wraps themselves around their
second compilation, Force Majeur, and again scatter their
efforts across the width of the CD so as to make the record more
unified. The six members represented here offer between two and six
tracks each and, while some are but breaths of melody wrapped around a
few loops and granular stabs of sound, others unfold with natural
grace and beauty that is like a visit to a botanist who caters in rare
flowers.
Makeup and Vanity Set’s “How to Love a Piano” is a two minute long
illicit recording of a piano tuner’s voyeuristic attentions towards a
grand piano. Whirs and clicks scamper beneath sonorous echoes of a
fist being struck against the wooden case of the piano while the keys
are caressed into giving up a brief melody. Ade Lun Sec’s “Dragoon”
answers the question: how does a tuba player find work in a world of
pure electronic music? He provides a mournful dirge — a soliloquy of
fat notes that are carried along by a stream of vibrant electrons.
Merk’s shorter tracks (“Kinetica,” “Levitat” and “Transcend”) are
introductory ideas, snippets of looped voices and atmosphere that only
prep you for the longer “Mtr” where he takes you into a Tokyo train
station and invites you through an unmarked doorway into a series of
tangled hallways filled with dust and light. Winter + Nocturne prefer
more analog sounds. “Electric Parade” is a slow summer march with
analog keyboards and “Vapulear” is so old-school even to use a real
drum kit. (I know; these wacky kids. What will they think of next?)
Masaru’s “Brendan” wields a baton across a chamber orchestra and tiny
brass section for a track that nicely mixes classical influences with
modern beats and synthesizer atmospheres while MModule’s “Untitled”
scampers with noisy aplomb, dancing on the ceiling with feet of spiky
static and exposed tendons of wild violin strings.
Systm’s “Barely There” begins with a scatter of cicadian percussion
and careful chords of a piano (possibly the same one recently worked
over by Makeup and Vanity Set’s amorous tuner). Systm plays the
layering trick, adding more elements until “Barely There” is very much
there in your head. Both “Barely There” and Systm’s other selection,
“Kryptozeit,” are marvelous enough that System’s on my short shopping
list when I’m done with this review.
Actually, all of the artists on Force Majeur make my short
list. This compilation will smart bomb your wallet, leaving you with
a smoking hole as you eagerly pony up for full-length releases from
all of these artists. Bastards. No, wait, I mean, nicely done,
fellows; I’ve got some records to buy.
Force Majeur is out now on 409.
