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"HiGH ▀ iNTELLiGeNCE tRoLLS"
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a r t i s t : Birchville Cat Motel
t i t l e : Beautiful Speck Triump
d a t e : 2004
l a b e l : Last Visible Dog 53/54
g e n r e : Ambient
r l s. d a t e : Feb/2004
t r a c k s : 06
b i t r a t e : 192kbps
s i z e : 179,7 MB
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Having just heard the masters, I can say with all certainty
this is the best (if not definitive) entry in the long series
of BCM releases. Clocking in at over two hours, Campbell
accomplishes something not at all unlike the beautiful noise
being made by the likes of Sunroof! The release of a Neil
Campbell/Campbell Kneale CD only seems to cement this
connection. Like "Bliss" and "Delicate Autobahn Under
Construction" we have a true double length album (not just a
bunch of stuff collected on two CDs. What 'Speck' isn't though
is a duplication of something else you've heard before. It is
neither a replication of my beloved Sunroof! nor is it just
another BCM. Rather, the things I love best about both are
here, along with plenty of new ideas. I'm sure I'll get
skewered for saying this, but I think 'Speck' is one of the
single most important releases from the NZ underground,
completely on par with the likes of early Corpus Hermeticum (IE
'Last Glass', etc.), Dead C's Harsh 70's Reality, etc.
http://www.aquariusrecords.org/
BIRCHVILLE CAT MOTEL Beautiful Speck Triumph (Last Visible Dog)
2cd 14.98
Another release from the oh-so-prolific Campbell Kneale aka
Birchville Cat Motel. And as much as we scoff occasionally at
musicians who seem to release a record a week, Campbell's
output has managed to remain relatively dud-free, even being
one of the most prolific. The difference this time is it's a
real cd, not a cd-r, and not just a cd, but a double cd!
Exactly the way this sort of stuff was meant to be heard,
stretched out forever with plenty of time to develop and
expand, burn brightly and fade away. Two discs, six tracks, all
but one twenty minutes plus. Drone nirvana my friends. A low
rumbling drone that over the course of 30 minutes swells to a
keening resonant whine with clicking and chirping (think
crickets, pebbles, geiger counters) splattered throughout.
Shakers, chimes, rattles, and bells manage to be clattery and
distinct, but at the same time become a meditative and sonorous
whole. Warm chords stretch langorously into the ether, while
instrument crackle and amp buzz provide rhythmic support before
spreading into a gauzy, indistinct raga. Chords and notes are
smeared into a noir-ish cinematic blur-scape. A warm fuzzy
expanse of late night swoosh, bookended by creaking springs and
ambient clatter. A forty minute coda of clatter and croon and
creak and crunch and click and calm. So goddamn good. Employing
an unlikely arsenal of electric, acoustic and fake guitars,
synth, cheap organ, recorder, clarinet, contact mics, wired
turntables, violin, bells, baby rattles, firecrackers, piano,
cymbals, melodica, steel pot lid, drums, space phone, tape
loops and floorboards, Kneale may have sealed BCM's fate with
an all but unbeatably perfect two plus hours of divine Ur-
drone.s
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Cd1
01-White Ground Elder [30:32]
02-Trembling Frost Spires [18:31]
03-Speck Fears [19:20]
Cd2
01-It's More Fun To Compute [05:56]
02-The Romance Of Certain Old Clothes [19:51]
03-Beautiful Speck Triumph [36:38]
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130:4
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