Ad Noiseam, 2008

So I was scanning through the latest Ad Noiseam releases one day and I came upon a brand new one from Chevron, the main pseudonym of Jonathan Valentine. This 6 track, 12” vinyl was interesting with the initial note, but as I listened on through side A and then to Side B, it seemed that it was pushing me into a backwards direction; treading through grounds of an influential past. As with most early styles of music, it dies just to be reborn and remade.

The three tracks on Side A have the early-mid 90’s all over it. The opener, ‘Criticize’ could easily have been a rave anthem at that time. The groove is unmistakable and you will find yourself moving even if you are not into this type of music. The downside of this is that it may not appeal to fans of his earlier stuff, while others may think it is the highlight of the album. The song ‘Renegade Cherryade’ starts off with a blissful melody which turns into a bass line oriented drum n’ bass track, but stalls out and doesn’t seem to go anywhere. ‘Aisha Kathoon’, the last track on the front side, takes a page from the early drum n’ bass recordings that had you dancing in the clubs with intense interludes of quirky vocals that rings simultaneously over fast paced beats.

The inception of Side B shows a different period. We are moving up in time now. Y2K is creating panic amongst many in this technology ridden breeding ground of Earth. Hybrid cars are being commercially produced for the masses. Stem cell research flourishes under an illegal telescope. This is definitely a harsher style of electronic music.

‘Nigel Mansell’ speeds through a toxic pool of acidic backwash and noisy drum hits ala The Flashbulb’s Red Extensions of Me. ‘Burn down the Jungle’ is self-explanatory. A relatively slow and dull beginning becomes an ever growing jungle beat which eventually arises to a full blast stop-and-go programming style of breakcore mania that stops abruptly. The finale, ‘We Want Hardcore’ is a great, gabber infested recording that would be a great homage to Hellfish & Producer.

The music on Tuff Shite was more varied than most might expect and came up short to his past releases, but overall it’s a good record. Keep your eyes open for new output by Chevron in 2008 on Marguerita Recordings and his follow up to 2005’s full length debut Everything’s Exactly the Same named Lifeshake on Mike Paradinas’s Planet-Mu records.

Waterscape Records, 2008

In the last 2 or 3 years, it seems as if the genre “ambient” has taken yet another step into a different direction; it has chosen to take a more electric or acoustic path to its listener’s ears. When I say electric, I mean more of a guitar oriented journey rather than just a warm analogue pad to lull you to sleep or to create an atmospheric background while you do other things. Descend from Ivory Cliffs examines this trend and brings forth a competent way of showing this to an unfamiliar ear.

Taiga Remains is Alex Cobb. He established the experimental label Students of Decay and has released on others such as Foxglove, Digitalis, Celebrate Psi Phenomenon, etc. This 23 minute track shares some of the same qualities as his past releases, but also shows a more powerful collection of distortion, feedback and beauty in congruence with one another.

The self-titled track begins as a slow, pitchy drone that eventually becomes layers of drones, growing louder and louder with each minute. A forth of the way in, distortion starts to slowly build up until layers of distortion meet the ever apparent layers of drones; the ascension of both become one in an effortless fashion. They flow and ebb through invisible waves until the climax at the 14 minute mark. The loops become more distorted and change slightly. It continues on its path and ends as it commenced. The distortion and feedback are eventually stripped away for the echoes left behind, eventually becoming quieter until there is nothing left but silence.