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..... Info ........................................XHHHI.....
: I+ :
: Artist: Set Fire to Flames :
: Album: Telegraphs in negative-Mouths trapped in Static :
: Tracks: 17 :
: Time: 87:23 minrs :
: Bitrate: 192 kbit Full Stereo :
: Genre: Indie :
: Label: Alien 8 Recordings :
: Str.Date: 04/08/2003 :
: Rip.Date: 04/01/2003 :
: :
:...........................................................:
.. About This Release .......................................
: :
: The new Set Fire to Flames' record :
: :
: Comments from Alien 8 : :
: :
: Following the critical success of set fire to flames' :
: 2001 album, 'sings reign rebuilder', the 13-piece :
: Montreal-based collective return with an eagerly :
: anticipated follow-up. Forming a double album, :
: 'telegraphs in negative / mouths trapped in static' is :
: a haunted, intense and highly diverse collection of :
: material. Continuously shifting off at tangents, its :
: slow sprawl creeps from heartbreaking guitar melodies :
: to sparse string compositions; concrete flickerings and :
: modified machine-crunch to tranced-out kraut-ish :
: rhythm-pieces; cyclical minimalism to awe-filled :
: drone-spaces; free-flowing improvised skitter and spark :
: to raw location / life recordings. Beautifully played :
: and composed, and far more than merely a follow-up, :
: 'telegraphs...' sees set fire to flames pushing beyond :
: the gains made on that previous effort and forging an :
: increasingly autonomous space for the group. :
: :
: Once again, the album was founded in a situation of :
: self-imposed isolation, with the band operating both :
: individually and communally in states of little or no :
: sleep, in varying levels of intoxication, and in :
: physical confinement. Where the previous album was :
: recorded within the band's home, a creaking, rickety, :
: semi-collapsing 19th century building (whose atmosphere :
: seeps deeply, palpably throughout the release), the :
: recordings for 'telegraphs...' again took place within :
: the confines and strongly influential character of a :
: specifically chosen environment. Having located a huge, :
: cathedral-like barn at an old, abandoned farm in rural :
: Ontario, the band rented and hauled a mammoth :
: twenty-four track machine and a cube truck full of gear :
: out to this desolate site and set up to record. Audible :
: throughout the album are the building's creaking doors :
: and timber frames, the clanking of chains, birdsong :
: outside, the shuffle of feet and the movement of :
: bodies. The recording process is honestly rooted in the :
: recording location itself - accepting and openly :
: admitting the sounds of life around, rather than :
: eliminating this element and disappearing entirely into :
: the abstract 'perfection' of the mixing desk. :
: :
: This foregrounding of architecture and willingly :
: experimental approach to recording is a wholly integral :
: part of the band's mode of existence, and leaks heavily :
: back through their music. To some members, settling on :
: the barn as a single location was actually a :
: compromise. Originally they had intended to rent a :
: couple of generators, build a mobile recording studio :
: inside a van, and then drive from Montreal to the :
: Pacific Ocean - along the way looking for interesting :
: pieces of abandoned/isolated architecture (derelict :
: drive-in movie palaces / barns / silos / factories / :
: gas stations / etc.) within which to record - :
: attempting to draw out their ghosts / histories; :
: allowing the different sonic characteristics of each :
: space to dictate what or how they played. This idea of :
: leaving things to chance, of journeying cross country :
: in a cramped van as a magnet for strange occurrences :
: was eventually rejected and discarded as a blueprint :
: for disaster. In compromise, they eventually settled on :
: a single location - the collapsing barn - and in July :
: 2002 spent five days playing, improvising, and :
: recording there. Some additional recordings occurred :
: back at 15 Ontario (the aforementioned house that :
: played host to the recordings on 'sings...'), before :
: the following month was spent mixing down the twelve :
: hours of sound they'd accrued. Finally, this material :
: was obsessively pored over, hacked apart, reduced and :
: rebuilt via computer in the same isolated shack on :
: Vancouver island in which 'sings reign rebuilder' was :
: eventually compiled. :
: :
: Whilst most of these recordings were born of extended :
: periods of group improvisations, some were the results :
: of calculated compositions, and others the product of :
: roughly drawn charts. Again, the alchemical attempt to :
: reach into different states, to communicate together :
: and zone into some kind of collective magic through :
: intensely-focussed continual playing was sought. :
: :
: Beyond a previously-stated interest in the :
: duration-experiments of 1960s New York experimentalists :
: like Tony Conrad and La Monte Young, set fire to flames :
: reach back to past ancestors like Harry Partch (the :
: self-built or modified instruments; the autodidactic, :
: wandering spirit), Harry Smith (the importance of :
: documenting/archiving a time and place), the :
: minimalists, Gyorgi Ligeti, and to a present conceptual :
: connection with groups like AMM, Jackie O Motherfucker, :
: or the Boxhead Ensemble. 'telegraphs...' utilisies a :
: wide range of instruments - guitars, electric bass, :
: double bass, strings, horns, glockenspiel, marimba, :
: bass clarinet, drums and other percussion, saw, :
: cymbalon, hurdy gurdy, music boxes, audio fishing :
: tapes, modified electronics, and contact microphones. :
: :
: Whilst the product of an equally intense and :
: gruellingly-focused recording process, the results of :
: 'telegraphs...' are undeniably sparser and more :
: tempered than before, allotting far more space and time :
: for the music to work its magic, evolving slowly and :
: revealing itself over time as a beautiful, richly :
: varied and stunningly played series of pieces. There is :
: a deeper studio sorcery at work here, and more tape :
: manipulation / composition this time around. Drifting :
: between a beautifully radiant, elevated drone-shimmer :
: and a totally tactile, dirt-grained grounding in :
: location, the album is perhaps even scarier / more :
: abrasive than its predecessor, and confirms set fire to :
: flames as one of the most adventurous, skilled and :
: ambitiously creative groups of their generation. :
: :
: :
:...........................................................:
.. Track List ...............................................
: :
: CD1 :
: :
: 01 Deja, comme des trous de vent, comme 06:44 :
: reproduit :
: 02 Small steps against inertia - echo of a 03:05 :
: dead end :
: 03 Measure de mesure 04:40 :
: 04 Holy troat hiss tracts to the 03:37 :
: sedative-hypnotic :
: 05 When sorrow shoots her darts 03:11 :
: 06 Kill fatigue frequencies 01:29 :
: 07 In prelight isolate 15:02 :
: 08 Tehran in seizure - telegraphs in negative 05:55 :
: :
: CD2 :
: :
: 01 Your guts are like mine 02:15 :
: 02 Fukt prekusiv - something about bad drugs 08:04 :
: 03 Sleep maps 11:44 :
: 04 Something about eva mattes 01:47 :
: 05 Buzz of barn flies like faulty electronics 03:38 :
: 06 And the birds are about to bust their guts 04:46 :
: with singing :
: 07 Rites of spring reverb 03:33 :
: 08 Mouths trapped in static 02:21 :
: 09 This thing between us is a rickety bridge 05:32 :
: of impossible crossing :
: :
: CD1: 43:4:
: :
:...........................................................:
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: :
: WE PROVIDE THE FIREWORKS, :
: :
: :
: YOU DO THE OOOHHH'S & AAAAAHH'S :
: :
:...........................................................:
.graphics.ant.no.425153254.