Artist : He Can Jog
Album : Middlemarch
Year : 2008
Genre : Ambient
Quality : 220kbps / 44.1KHz / Joint Stereo
Source : CD
Playtime : 0h 43m
Size : 72.90mb
Label : Audiobulb Records
Catalognr : AB017
Tracklist:
01. Suite Part Four 5:22
02. Dials 1:54
03. Suite Part Three 3:22
04. My (Mother's) Records 4:42
05. Agnes (After Woodland Pattern) 3:30
06. Pan-Fried Fern 4:34
07. A Small Thing 2:26
08. Contractors And Architects 4:42
09. Suite Parts One And Two 12:34
Releasenotes:
A generally inviting exercise in warm electronic melodicism, MiddleMarch by He
Can Jog (yes, the title purposefully references George Eliot's novel and the
alias adopted by laptop knob-twiddler and one-time trombonist Erik Schoster is
an anagram of John Cage) inverts the usual template by spreading beats more
freely over songs anchored by emotive keyboard melodiesùbut that's just one of
the oblique strategies Schoster brings to the table. Accompanied by a handful of
guests (who contribute Rhodes, Vibes and guitar samples, field recordings, and
vocals), Schoster works a community theme into the album (hence the title
choice) as it documents not only the evolution in his working methodsùsampling,
software programming, and electronic synthesis all figure inùover a four-year
span, but also his interpersonal experiences during that time.
Some pieces are experimental and explorative in character: a collage-like
scattering of elements constitutes "My (Mother's) Records" (not entirely
successfully either, as dropping the line "The songs we're now hearing are
ancient tunes" into its middle seems a little too cute), and deeply textured
masses of flickering starbursts flow through "Agnes (After Woodland Pattern)",
"Pan-Fried Fern", and "A Small Thing". More immediately appealing is the
material that gravitates towards sparkling electronic pop: "Contractors and
Architects," composed and sung by Nick Sanborn, could pass for a sample track by
Morr Music's latest signing, while the keyboard melodies in "Suite Part Three"
could single-handedly lull the crankiest infant to sleep. Both tendencies
coalesce in the twelve-minute meditation "Suites Part One and Two" whose
becalmed arrangement of glistening bells and tonal shimmer closes the album
strongly.
textura.org
http://www.audiobulb.com/albums/HCJ-Middlemarch/AB017.htm