┌┬┬┐┌─┬─┬─┬┬┬┬─┬─┬┬┐
│ ┤└┤*│││┌┤ │ ┤┌┘ ┤
·--─┘ └───────────────────────────────────────────────────-·
artist · international observer
release · seen
year · 2001
genre · lo-fi
label · different drummer
catalogue · difep19
website · www.diffdrumm.co.uk
date · 30-jul-2005
quality · alt-preset standard
source · vinyl
·--────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────-·
a1 london 5:09
a2 flip-flop cemetry 6:01
b1 barone 3:15
b2 vale (6-8 bengal version) 7:12
playtime · 00h 21m 37s
·--────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────-·
tom bailey
born in halifax, yorkshire, tom's first pianistic encounter
occurred at the age of 2, and at college, he managed to wrestle
some life out of clarinet, guitar and piano before going on to
form the thompson twins in the seething post-punk climate of 1977.
earlier, he had been enamoured of both the experimentalists of
contemporary music (from john cage to can) and the hugely
criticised yet exciting fusions of early 70s progressive rock
(from family to frank zappa).
tom became an adept backroom boffin as he gained a mastery over
tape-editing skills approached from an avant-garde perspective,
and for a short period, tom taught music at sheffield brook
comprehensive.
the thompson twins were tom's attempt to take a ragbag hybrid of
experimental ideas and pop attitude to a commercially oriented
audience, and after several years as an extended art-pop troupe,
they slimmed down to the core techno-pop trio of tom, allanah
currie and joe leeway; this lineup stormed the world's charts with
80s classics like 'hold me now' and 'doctor doctor'.
as with any such commercial success, despite their relatively
brief reign of chart-topping terror, the thompson twins are still
the most visible part of tom's varied and vibrant artistic
odyssey. tom's early interest in dub, however, is attested to by
the inclusion of his contribution to works by lee perry, grace
jones and sly & robbie, while his post-thompson twins work has
included numerous production and composition credits (including
debbie harry, ben e king, and foreigner!)
the early 90s saw two albums by tom and allanah's ambient-techno
group, babble, and subsequently, from his homebase in new zealand,
tom has produced two albums by kiwi group stellar* and worked on
various film soundtracks as well as sound for video installations.
rakai karaitiana.
growing up in an extended family in new zealand's hawke's bay,
rakai got into first-generation hiphop at intermediate school,
which led to scratching and making mix tapes. he also sang in an
ac/dc covers band (!) and formed a rap group, in search of power.
rakai met tom while living in south london in the mid-90s, where
he became passionate about jamaican music. ra' is the sound system
selector, and responsible for the multimedia aspect of
international observer's work; a product of his studies in digital
media.
despite an age difference going on for 20 years, tom and rakai
have forged a unique and spiffing good dub alliance in
international observer.
press
pete lawrence, dj magazine:
"... deep, melodica-infused dub" (in reference to the track now a
major motion picture, from the kiwitronica album 'sideways', which
he writes is a highlight of the disc). 'sideways' was released
earlier this year on different drummer, difcd/ep 16.
gary steel, metro magazine: "deliciously engaging, languorous,
smoothly beautiful dub-engineered electronica... unobtrusively
clever, tasty morsels of electronic debris add to its abiding
flavourfulness".
stinky jim, the fix:
" .......for international observer it is their debut
full-lengther having teased us with remixes, compilation cuts and
a dazzling live experience. there are no surprises on 'seen' but
it isn't a hindrance, the melodies are so strong and bountiful,
the production and arrangement so tight, that you'd have to be a
half-deaf doofhead not to get into the observer's submerged
sound".
graham reid, real groove:
"the long-awaited album is available now and you can hear the
depth of that interest. it's in the grooves, and there's ample
evidence without bailey having to say that this really is
something special. it is...
this is dub-ambience of the finest kind. it comes complete with
surface noise scratches, indo-percussion, underplayed techno
touches, burning spear's and black uhuru's leisurely loping
rhythms, and weird disassociated voices peeping surreptitiously
through the mix. wonderful on all fronts. what separates
international observer from the pack? the sense of coherence and
purpose, plus a melodic engagement and some duppy-scaring echoed
bass nodding back to the earliest days of the ras/dub tradition.
when the rastas say 'seen', they mean it as in: 'yep, i've
witnessed that to be true.' international observer. seen then."
·--────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────-·
visit ln~#klangwerk