a r t i s t : Secret Mommy
t i t l e : VeryRec
d a t e : 2005
l a b e l : Power Shovel Audio (PSA-005)
g e n r e : Electronic
r l s. d a t e : Feb/2006
t r a c k s : 13
b i t r a t e : VBRkbps
s i z e : 67,6 MB
_______________________________________________________________________
Vancouver producer Adam Dixon, a.k.a. Secret Mommy, spent over
a year preparing his third full-length Secret Mommy. For six
months, he recorded himself, his friends, and professional
athletes performing various recreational activities; another
six months were spent manipulating the samples into skittering
glitch music. The result is more concept-driven than past
Secret Mommy records, but Dixon is no newcomer to field
recording - he composed his recent Hawaii 5.0 EP primarily
from Caribbean sounds - and his experience shows in VeryRec's
unexpected aplomb.
Structurally, the album recalls Matmos' A Chance to Cut is a
Chance to Cure, on which the duo built songs entirely from the
slices and squelches of surgical procedures. M. C. Schmidt and
Drew Daniel's precision aptly mirrored the complexity of their
source material, and Dixon keeps it real in a similar fashion
on VeryRec, stitching together playful pieces from his rec-
field recordings.
On Weight Room, Dixon's friend counts steadily to 50 while
doing push-ups, while Daycare gets elementary as scissors
slice crisply through construction paper. Dixon even coughs
out an entertaining first attempt at the trombone on Music
Room. The mic placement is pristine throughout, capturing the
many hidden charms inherent in everyday exercises.
Of course, it's not the mundane alone that makes VeryRec such
an enjoyable listen; it's what Dixon does with his jock rock.
A zamboni morphs into a bass drum on Ice Rink, while the
contact between a tennis ball and racket functions naturally
as snare on Tennis Court. There is a palpable joy in detecting
the tonal similarities between the sources and their
destination; the re-contextualization allows one to notice the
parallels in fundamentally dissimilar things.
Dixon, however, doesn't let concept stand in the way of a good
song. Dance Studio is the album's most gorgeous piece,
juxtaposing a simple acoustic guitar strum with jarring
rhythmic shifts in a manner redolent of The Books, and adding
brass samples along the way. The track's playful buoyancy -
and Dixon's whimsy in general - channels Mouse on Mars,
especially 2000's Niun Niggung.
Despite Dixon's nuance, he lacks a proper conception of space.
Very Recüfs tracklist is tight, to be sure (only Squash Court
is entirely dull), and the tracks average under four minutes,
but there remains the feeling that it should be more compact.
That gripe aside, Secret Mommy accomplishes something
commendable here. The record, while certainly indebted to
Matmos and Mouse on Mars, maximizes its concept; Dixon
documents sound and gives life to it. Moreover, he never
oversteps his source material with undue seriousness; VeryRec
is about games, and despite its computerized precision, it
never forgets to have fun.
By Kareem Estefan
http://www.dustedmagazine.com/reviews/2606
http://www.powershovelaudio.com/
_______________________________________________________________________
01-Tennis Court [04:38]
02-Pool [03:45]
03-Dance Studio [05:29]
04-Dojo [04:12]
05-Squash Court [05:15]
06-Soccer Field [02:59]
07-Yoga Studio [01:23]
08-Music Room [03:49]
09-Daycare [03:51]
10-Weight Room [02:06]
11-Ice Rink [04:00]
12-Basketball Court [03:27]
13-Holga [03:28]
-------
48:22 min