WOOB – AMBIENT DISASTER MOVIE
After having released two timeless albums on the now legendary EM:T label (“1194” and “4495”), Woob (Paul Frankland, also known as Max & Harvey and half of Journeyman) took some time off from making music (to work in the advertising industry) – returning in 2010 to release a string of new albums on Bigamoebasounds.
On “Ambient Disaster Movie”, the sound (sometimes referred to as ‘post-rave ambient’) is still as bright and recognisable as it was in the beginning – presented with a refreshing (tongue-in-cheek) sense of humour.
The 73 minute album offers a wide range of sounds that feels like a movie soundtrack joyride, featuring heavenly vocals, sample cut-ups and nice retro-futuristic effects.
As the album title already indicates, the music is extremely cinematic, full of sounds referring to vintage Sci-Fi movies about journeys into deep space. Five relatively short features, an “Intervision Intermission”, and the 21 minute title track as the Main Feature (of which the “Original Prequel” is also included).
WOOB – THE THALAMUS EFFECT
SENSE – STILL LIFE
Though titled “Peace Function”, the opening notes of the album are quite dark and foreboding. With its 28 minutes, the track (subtitled “Ice to Water to Gas”) takes up about half of the album and sets the mood with its washes of synths rolling under a spoken text about lucid dreaming and “the place you don’t want to go.”
On all but the last two tracks the -often heavily treated- spoken word fragments are as important as the music, and are treated as an instrument itself.
“MK Symphony 1” just repeats the single words “Mind Control” – but gradually the words seem to creep deeper into your head and occupies a place in you brain where maybe you wouldn’t want them to be. “Claymore” sounds like snippets from a TV-documentary, showcasing “a glimpse of a disadvantaged familes struggle and the disturbing human reality that they face”.
With this unique mix of sounds and atmospheres, Adam Raisbeck delivers a beautifully haunting album.
8m2 STEREO – FOR THE BIRDS
These tracks were recorded in the early to mid 90’s on 2, 4 & 8 track tapes, but they sound as fresh and clear as if the were recorded yesterday. It’s perhaps the most ‘ambient’ album of the three mentioned here, combining otherworldly electronics with field recordings and spoken word fragments.
Elmar Hintz is a master of sound design, using only ‘lo-fi’ equipment. He’s not exactly what you’d call a ‘prolific’ artist: his discography mentions only one previous digital album release from 2008 (“Tacet“, released on the Clinical Archives netlabel), along with some tracks (mainly from around 2004).
Perhaps his best-known track is “UNC”, which was featured on the “1197” compilation on the now near legendary EM:T label. In the past, it was transferred (and published) at the wrong speed due to some “digital error” – so now you can hear the original, unpolished version of this track.
[Name Your Price Download]
(download only as the artist considers physical copies ecologically irresponsible.)