a r t i s t : Brael And Tokyo Bloodworm
t i t l e : Living Language
d a t e : 2008
l a b e l : Moteer
c a t : moteer013
s o u r c e : CDDA
g e n r e : Electronic/Experimental/Ambient/Shoegaze
r l s. d a t e : Apr/2008
t r a c k s : 07
b i t r a t e : VBRkbps
s i z e : 49,4 MB
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The Moteer label deliver this gorgeous album from new signings
Brael/Tokyo Bloodworm who combine intricate sound treatments
with elements of dense, reduced shoegaze, lilting pop and
breathless drones with an exquisite attention to detail. The
scene is set perfectly on opening track "Saturn Shine", slowly
coming to life with diffuse vocal whispers layered in a manner
reminiscent of Grouper's fabulous "Way Their Crept" album,
before distilled, shimmering glockenspiel and vibraphone make
your spine tingle. Stephanie Flood's vocals finally emerge
from this velvet arrangement with a subdued, almost downcast
undercurrent that provides the track with depth and dimension,
bringing to mind bands like The Cranes or Slowdive merged with
the other-worldly bliss of Japanese home listening from the
likes of Piana or Gutevolk. It's immeasurably moving,
beautiful music. "Golden Mean Rectangle", meanwhile,
introduces an acoustic guitar to the equation, with a swirl of
instruments and found sounds coming across like something off
the recent Philip Jeck album strummed along to under a tree in
the middle of the desert - intimate and somehow disjointed
music evocative of youth and long, slowly unfolding summers.
One of album's loveliest moments, however, comes with "Seed" -
a fractured love song taken straight out of the Remote Viewer
school of thought, revolving around melodies frayed and
caressed by miniature processes and aural degradation, the
barely audible hum of machines offering an indefinable
backdrop for cascading keys and a stream of words half spoken,
half sung. Brael / Tokyo Bloodworm have provided Moteer with
the most sumptuous and fragile 40 minutes in their catalogue
to date - and another debut we absolutely implore you to
discover. ESSENTIAL PURCHASE. -boomkat
Tokyo Bloodworm/Brael: Living Language (Moteer) If you blink
you'll miss it, if you're not listening keenly it'll just
drift by. So ethereal and wistful is the overall vibe, you'd
be forgiven for thinking there was anything at all of
substance to these opaque and dreamy reveries. I suppose
that's part of the ethos of Moteer: ambient electronic pop,
not such made as dreamt up and packaged for your delight. The
result of a collaboration across the US, you know file
swapping, burnt CDR's and the like winging there way through
the postal system. Parts of it sound very eastern; like temple
calls for prayer. Other parts recall the fragility of the
Basinski's decaying tapes of piano sound. Described as
post-rock and equal parts micro-sound, this is again a limited
edition with the first 150 copies containing a 3" CD of
remixes by label head honchos The Remote Viewer. What I like
is the application of pared down percussion and the floating,
effortless placement of a variety of instruments, building a
whole that is uncluttered and un-fussy.
What the label says:
the latest addition to moteer's worldwide micro family comes
in the shape of a
collaborative venture from american artists tokyo bloodworm
and brael.
hailing from a handful of locations (new haven, ann arbor,
arizona.....) their
work of collective love gives rise to the 13th moteer release,
living language.
if we're absolutely honest we never did get around to asking
just how the two
collectives hooked up, we like to think their eyes met across
a crowded room
and they bonded over a few pints and a shared love of
microbeats, post rock
beauty and warped lo-fi bedroom experiments.
their joint venture certainly ticked all the boxes for the
moteer records crew.
the album living language is a product of tapes, cds and files
sent, remixed,
resent and remixed between the two artists over the course of
a year. the
result is a delicately woven mix of sigur ros, talk talk,
northern picture
library and the remote viewer, all shimmering beauty one
minute and
sparse instrumentation the next. painstakingly mastered by
miles whittaker
(pendle coven, mlz, modern love) from pages of sonic
instructions from the
artists, living language is the first moteer release of 2008
and will appeal to
fans of the label and intrigued newcomers alike.
the first 150 copies come with a 3'' cd of 4 remixes by label
curators the
remote viewer. -norman
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01-Saturn Shine [09:00]
02-Moss Grown Weary [03:18]
03-Morning Of The World [05:44]
04-Golden Mean Rectangle [05:22]
05-Seed [04:52]
06-Blue Fields [05:58]
07-Magic Wand [05:36]
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39:50 min