Reviews:
Various Artists / Sky Flowers & Horse Eggs
N.D.
An excellent representation of groups with strong tracks. If most of the
names are new to you, this would be a good place to start. (Daniel Plunkett)
NETWORK NEWS
75 minutes of sounds of the underground. Nothing too harsh here, nothing too
diddly diddly musical either, nothing too distracting, but plenty spooky.
Ambient, in that it fills the space between silence and radio noise - but
demonic in a way Eno never was. Play it late at night and scare the
neighbours. (Nigel Ayers)
GAJOOB
75 minutes worth of electro-acoustic sonic recordings. My overall impression
is that this collection runs amazingly smooth and consistent, given the
number of artists involved. There seems to be a general focus on
envirnmental sounds and pieces are constructed in a very subtle manner,
rather than an in-your-face noise barrage. Yet, there is a certain haunting
nature to Sky Flowers & Horse Eggs that lurks just beneath the surface of
what is ultimately a uniquely, many-leveled compilation. ()
NEW HOPE INTERNATIONAL
One of the strangest discs I've ever heard; mostly devoid of conventional
music forms, it's a compilation of extended ambience tracks of sampled
sounds played at differing speeds. The inlay card lists 11 artists but I
couldn't distinguish between them. The opening 'Inside' sets the scene with
an atmospheric montage of running water electronically treated. Several
tracks use variations of this idea, though Etant Donne's 'S'Envole' seems to
have an extremely malevolent spirit harshly whispering away throughout in
French. The inlay card carries several pieces of Indian mystic-related
artwork but no sleeve notes to explain the reasons for this 75-min album.
Experimental music has a hard time finding an audience. If you want to try
some, I'd neither reccomend nor warn you off this one - you'll have to make
up your own mind. (John M Peters)
E.S.T.
This is one of those compilations that combines the well known with the
little known, benefiting both in the process. There's a remarkable
similarity of vision amongst the eleven artists. All seem willing to accept
any sort of sound into their compositional palette, and give it a fair
hearing. Several (Blackhouse, PFN, S.F.O.) produce "ambient" works using
sounds of indeterminate source, mostly calm but very abstract: low rumbles
rather than easy keyboard gentility. Another form of ambience comes from
those who also add environmental recordings, the sounds of animals, weather,
water (Zoviet France, John Watermann, Shabda). Etant Donnes combine such an
approach with whispered vocals to evoke a peculiarly personal contribution.
Spinal Machine employ the wind and water sounds to create something that
sounds like a recording from inside your lungs. Randy Greif introduces much
noisier material to his soundscape, while G*Park's track is based around
highly reverberant metal-bashing. Nocturnal Emissions come up with the least
predictable contribution, mixing cheap synth cycles with recordings of local
children. All contributors have a good ear for the simple and the natural,
and while the album's hardly easy listening, it is quite an accomplished
achievement. (Brian Duguid)
TECHNOLOGY WORKS
What a name! And what artwork! But this is actually a nice little
compilation from what appears to be a new label in jolly old England. Spinal
Machine, whom I had never heard before, throw open the doors with a
powerful, seething piece that sounds like it was recorded in the belly of a
fire-breathing dragon with digestion problems. Fabulous. Blackhouse continue
in a similar vein with a brooding, rumbly composition that builds up the
tension nicely; a far cry from their recent beatbox driven stuff that
occasionally seems to lack inspiration. The Etant Donnes contribution is
practically indistinguishable from their last two CDs on Touch, and their
standard formula of crackly electronics and whispered vocals is getting a
bit tired. Nocturnal Emissions do a mischievous little snippet that I found
mildly irritating; certainly nothing like their usual atmospheric drones.
Randy Greif, always interesting, contributes a subdued, lightly percussive
composition that unfortunately sounded a bit muddy. The PFN piece, perhaps
the most accessible of the lot, is a dense, mournful drone that almost
sounds as though it would have been more at home on Peter Gabriel's
"Passion" soundtrack. Pretty. John Watermann dishes up a repetitive, hissing
collage that didn't affect me one way or the other. S.F.O. do a
low-frequency Lustmord-like drone that's pleasantly atmospheric, but no
more. The Zoviet France contribution is typical of their recent work; a
textural mist that thickens with time. The G*Park piece is a wonderful
example of the effective use of silence; a crashing, echoing composition, it
kept me on the edge of my seat. Shabda round off the disc with a mish-mash
of flowing water and sitar samples held together a bit shakily by some
ambient noise. On the whole, a balanced, interesting compilation featuring a
broad range of Ambient styles. (Ashok Divakaran)
SOFT WATCH
An unusual title for an unusual album. I haven't heard anything quite this
strange since LLDV released the much acclaimed (and rightly so) "Mouvements"
compilation (unless you count Anckarstrom's CD collection). It is a
challenging collection of audio montages, atmospheres and complementary
music. The cover is bright and colourful with Asian mythological images, an
almost Blake-like painting and various other strange images. Below is a
brief description of each piece:-
SPINAL MACHINE's "Inside" - an indistinct mass of churning sound - not
unlike the Extreme Noise favoured in Japan, but an amorphous shifting of
barely-perceived audio images - some short and percussive - others longer,
more sustained. This is the language of gas, a whisper of ancient, terrible
beings rising from unfathomable chasms beneath the Earth's mantle, out of
lungs part fossilised, corrupted by water.
BLACKHOUSE give us "Halo Trance (Eternal Spirit Mix)" - a much muted piece
as of busy railway yards heard from deep underground, where lighter tones
reverberate through dirty tiled tunnels, arriving at different times to the
bass. This continues for some time while the lost spirits of synth buskers
echo strange noises which blend with the other more real sounds. A strange,
dark, chilling atmosphere which offers little threat.
ETANT DONNES offer "S'Envole" which is more an intense ambient piece - an
active waterfall, chopping of sticks and stones thrown into water while a
voice whispers in your ear. A rumble builds up, as of a machine set to
engulf the listener. Towards the end the stones are dug out with more gusto
and strange, alien bird-like voices cry out in fear or warning as others
gather overhead. This dies back, then grows again on a deeper rumble, as if
the same scenario were heard from a greater distance while booted feet run
through gravel and the voice whispers more frantically.
NOCTURNAL EMISSIONS offer two pieces - "Adam Hickson/The War on Drugs". The
first piece is taken from an answering machine - a young lad warning someone
off. After this a high sequential rhythm, bright and repetitive cycles while
a gang of girls discuss Adam Hickson. This decays away and in it's place
rises a strangely angular piece - sequential but played on harmonica or
accordion while synthetic sounds and distorted voices circle, gathering in
bubbling pools of noise.
RANDY GREIF's track is "The Numbers Cage", a more passive, minimal thing
which seems to consist mainly of looped tapes, with sound sources possibly
being piano, organ, panpipes. This passive sound is destroyed by more
abrasive sounds - harsh, almost metal bashes, scampering junk sculptures -
scrap heap tin men in spastic marathon run, while a crowd of mad tape
machines play minimal sounds in a textural cacophony. The race turns into a
battle, with each participant using whatever weapon comes to hand.
PFN offer "Sarajevo", a more passive, calming mood piece which soothes the
nerves. Keyboards swell up in almost static bodies - perhaps a Hollywood
sound representation of sunrise, with a sense of events due to happen, just
over the next horizon. It opens out into a sad instrumental, with saxophone
making dour comment, hinting at a people whose encapsulated traditions are
being ploughed asunder by pointless conflict.
JOHN WATERMANN's "The Golden Anger of Tearing" tells a tale in sound - a
vignette of struggle in an inhuman environs. Imagine a jungle, full of life
- birds, insects and small mammals all living out their noisy lives. Imagine
a man, labouring over his broken-down vehicle, trying to get it's reluctant
engine to run - his life under threat if he cannot drive out of such a
place. This sounds quite literally what is happening here (although the
engine sounds more like a generator). We leave him still struggling, unaware
of any outcome.
S.F.O. give us "Raan" - fading in on deep amorphous sound with voices
floating like muscae volitantes through the heavy soup. Something akin to a
rhythm thumps it's other-worldly, machine-like way out of the speakers, a
dark, edgeless dull booming sound with other, lighter pieces adding to it's
almost structured shell.
ZOVIET FRANCE contribute "I Felt the Breath of My Assassin", built again on
a deep machine-like foundation, various sounds fade in and out - some from
the stranger realms of synthesis, others seemingly 'found' - perhaps
samples, perhaps not. The overall feel is of a static mood, of events
impending. Fragments of Ethnic instruments appear here and there. A more
deliberate structure shows through, albeit muted and held way back, bound by
coils of passive tension. It concludes on an almost vocal swell of
digeridoo-like sound and passive machine synth.
G*PARK give us "Yack" which follows in a similar mood, opening with wooden
percussion, then settling for non-structured deep metallic clanks and dark
waves of sound which build up, disappear, return in an altered form, then
restructure again in a well composed series of deep thunders, percussive
booms, clanking, reverberated sound all making a strange, temple
ceremony-like sound heard through the ears of, say, an uncomprehending bat !
SHABDA close the album with "Paramahamsa", a piece building on bubbling
water with distant echoed voices heard below the bubbling sounds. The
initial watery sound dies away and a series of sustained voices, in a
dis-harmonic swell, rises up through the sound, to be once more usurped by
the water. After this the voices rise, bringing with them an Oriental sound
- not unlike looped koto or sarod. After this rises a piece set against
ambient bird sound while voices chanting "Hare Krishna" and bright keyboards
appear, in a piece with all the elements of New Age, yet anything but the
mood. All in all an intriguing album and recommended to those with a sense
of adventure. (Anthony Burnham)
SKY FLOWERS & HORSE EGGS (COMPILATION CD) Tracks: 1) SPINAL MACHINE (John Watermann)/INSIDE 2) BLACKHOUSE/HALO TRANCE (ETERNAL SPIRIT MIX) 3) ETANT DONNES/S'ENVOLE 4) NORCTURNAL EMISSIONS/ADAM HICKSON/THE WAR ON DRUGS 5) RANDY GREIF/THE NUMBERS CAGE 6) PFN/SARAJEWO 7) JOHN WATERMANN/THE GOLDEN ANGER OF TEARING 8) S.F.O./RAAN 9) ZOVIET FRANCE/I FELT THE BREATH OF MY ASSASSIN 10) G*PARK/YACK 11) SHABDA/PARAMAHAMSA
