Bowery Electric - Beat

Label: Kranky
Released: 1996
Style: Abstract, Experimental

"Back in the mid 90s it seemed almost impossible to escape from the break beat. From hip hop to trip hop to rave and then into seemingly every other style on the planet the sampled break was filtering its way into music everywhere, even the humble post rock genre. Bowery Electric were a US post rock act but interestingly had a strong leaning towards hip hop production and most obviously the beats which gave them a sound like no other act around. With the noisy harmonic guitar textures of Windy and Carl or My Bloody Valentine and the sort of half-tempo beat loops you'd more likely expect to find on DJ Shadow's 'Endtroducing' they helped the genre take a sharp left turn and with 'Beat' created something of a milestone for the scene. Championed by everyone from The Wire to The Melody Maker of all people 'Beat' was a much more influential record than you'd think, and hearing it now over ten years later I can make pretty clear links between this album and for instance the work of Ulrich Schnauss or M83. You see a shoegaze/electronic crossover had already been approached by Bowery Electric, they just maybe never achieved the sort of popularity they deserved - but listen to 'Empty Words' and you'll see exactly what I mean. With bendy, echoing guitar chords and vocals to rival the haunting tones of even Julee Cruise this is a record that stays with you long after it has ended, and if you've never heard it you should take a listen without delay. An essential part of the Kranky catalogue!" - Boomkat

Tracklisting:

1 Beat (7:16)
2 Empty Words (3:45)
3 Without Stopping (5:13)
4 Under The Sun (3:32)
5 Fear Of Flying (5:39)
6 Looped (2:39)
7 Black Light (6:53)
8 Inside Out (7:19)
9 Coming Down (4:38)
10 Postscript (16:41)

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Lawrence English - Kiri No Oto

Label: Touch
Released: 2008
Style: Abstract, Field Recording, Ambient

"The Japanese phrase 'Kiri No Oto' loosely translates to the 'sound of fog' or 'sound of mist'. In many ways it's a collection that meditates on the sense of displacement and distortion that occurs in environments which undergo extreme mists, snowstorms and sea sprays. In the same way that visual objects loose their perspective, form and shape in these environments, the sound components that make up Kiri No Oto are not quite as they first might appear. Utilising a range of divergent mixing techniques, analog filtering and 'harmonic' distortion, Kiri No Oto offers an expansive sound space in which the listener must choose to position themselves. Focus, like that in a fog, is in a constant state of flux as elements are brought into and out of perspective. The first in a series of records employing this technique, Kiri No Oto explores the richness in the frequencies that are usually associated with extremes of volume and through this process the recordings position 'the ear' itself as 'another layer of auditory fog' as it begins to distort and alter the sounds it comes in contact with." - Label

Tracklisting:

1 Organs Lost At Sea (4:42)
2 Soft Fuse (6:52)
3 White Spray (5:08)
4 Waves Sheer Light (5:23)
5 Commentary (4:30)
6 Allay (5:21)
7 Figure's Lone Static (7:26)
8 Oamura (3:49)

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