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cDr|m's
.:: a klangwerk release ..................................................::.
artist :: janek schaefer
release :: above buildings
year :: 2000
genre :: noise
label :: splinter series
catalogue :: fat-sp02
website :: www.fat-cat.co.uk
ripper :: C05C4
date :: 10/22/2001
quality :: 192kbps/44,100hz
source :: compact disc
.::.......................................................................::.
01 forglen 3:59
02 spindle spider 6:25
03 contraption 2:24
04 thousand camera corona 12:35
05 tone-arm two 8:07
06 indent frame 6:22
07 albarad 6:24
08 light over las vegas 14:11
playtime :: 01h 00m 27s
.::.......................................................................::.
why would anyone want to listen to noise? one theory is that songs
with words and more "musical" kinds of music are meant to convey a
certain feeling through an agreed-upon language, while noise music
is meant to replicate the sound of consciousness itself. that's how
i like to approach albums like above buildings. these drones,
scrapes and hisses are what happens in my head on a particularly
bad day, and there's something reassuring in having it out there,
encoded on a 5" aluminum disc, where i can reach it when i want it.
even if the sounds themselves offer little comfort.
janek schaefer makes his living as an architect, and his recorded
work has a serious conceptual bent. an earlier piece called
"recorded delivery" consisted of sounds recorded by a mini-cassette
as it traveled through the postage system. live, schaefer performs
with a three-armed turntable with wires connected all screwy, so he
gets strange phasing effects coming through the amplifiers. above
buildings, his first full-length, is, on the surface, more
"straight." this is billed as a record of "field recordings" that
have been manipulated in the studio and blended with choice
textures from schaefer's three-armed bandit.
i must say, though, i don't ever want to spend a night in the field
where these recordings were made. about 70% of above buildings is
dark, sinister drone music of the most engaging order. it's
cinematic, yes, but far too daring for most directors to take a
chance on. schaefer has a fondness for scrapes, brushes, static and
friction, not unlike other central european artists like oval and
fennesz. layers of this itchy stuff are piled upon the processed
sounds of breathing concrete and single church belltones that last
forever.
initially, the most striking thing about above buildings is the
brilliant use of dynamics. in order to properly hear the faint but
important details, you'll need to turn your stereo's volume knob to
an anxiety-producing level. and eventually, this extreme setting
will come back to haunt you, as schaefer's imposing machinery comes
crashing down in a noisy heap. you cannot listen to this music and
do something that requires concentration.
but what really makes above buildings great is the variety of the
sounds and artfulness of their arrangement. though schaefer's
mostly working with drones, scrapes and assorted odd tones, he's
capable of making something that strikes me as "happy." the opening
track, "forglen," is what it sounds like inside the mind of someone
who's coming up on amphetamines, at the point of euphoria, just
before thoughts of bad side effects kick in. (well, kind of happy.)
the track resembles a laptop mutation of the drones of my bloody
valentine, but these warmer hues only pop out of the bleak canvas
occasionally. this contrast makes for an absorbing whole, and one
that comes highly recommended to admirers of pure sound.
.::.......................................................................::.
greetings :: sb, qdp, sour, dps, rac, dh, sfe, hbz, tr, igr and mgc
.::.......................................................................::.
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