a r t i s t : Blacksand
t i t l e : Barn
d a t e : 2008
l a b e l : Asusu
c a t : as0001
s o u r c e : CDDA
g e n r e : Ambient
r l s. d a t e : May/2008
t r a c k s : 03
b i t r a t e : VBRkbps
s i z e : 78,7 MB
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The first Blacksand CD, Barn, is released at first exclusively
through Rough Trade shops and then through Boomkat, both
august establishments making it their Album Of The Week. A
limited release of 1000 hand-numbered CDs lavishly designed by
Chris Bigg and Vaughan Oliver of v23
The CD contains three tracks from the Calving Barn sessions.
One of the CDs contains a [ Golden Ticket ] entitling the
holder to a personal performance by Blacksand in their front
room.
the guardian:
'It's really dirty in there,' warned our cave guide as we made
our way to the disused Box Freestone Mine, near Chippenham,
where Blacksand were launching their debut album, Barn. 'And
there is some crawling involved.' We picked our way over
boulders, past roosting bats and through the labyrinthine
corridors to the Cathedral, a massive man-made mining cavern.
Blacksand - Nick Franglen and Charles Casey - were keen to
find out how their improvised music would work in this vast
space. With water dripping around them, the dimly lit duo
produced their vivid soundscapes until the power - running off
a car battery - threatened to give out.
Blacksand are basically a guitar duo, feeding their
instruments through a mass of effects pedals and units.
Listening to Barn, this is far from obvious. When the music is
at its most abstract, the ear picks out ghosts of other
instruments that aren't there.
Some luminous acoustic picking ushers in the lengthy opener,
'Probe One'; then it feels like a door has suddenly shut,
leaving the listener surrounded by slow-moving currents of
sound. Twangy motifs reminiscent of Angelo Badalamenti soon
emerge from the fog; multi-layered loops that sound like they
are emanating through ancient rock.
Where will Blacksand take us next? The pair have a plan: to
play in a Russian submarine in Kent's River Medway.
boomkat:
*LIMITED EDITION CD, WITH SPECIAL PACKAGING DESIGNED BY THE
LEGENDARY CHRIS BIGG AND VAUGHAN OLIVER OF V23* This dense
production comes to us from the unlikeliest of sources.
Blacksand is the collaborative work of Nick Franglen (one half
of lemon jelly) and charlie casey. Their sound embodies a
world as far removed from the commercial environs of their
previous work as you could imagine, instead opting for an hour
long exploration of drones, found sounds, layered guitars,
electronics and distortion pedals. This is the kind of music
you could imagine being released by Southern Lord, Important
or Type, in turn bringing to mind the work of James Blackshaw,
Xela, Slowdive, Machinefabriek, Angelo Badalamenti, Earth and
even Neil Young's seminal soundtrack for "Dead Man". The
opening piece "Probe" extends to almost 25 minutes of
shimmering strums that slowly evolve and unravel, eventually
almost completely decomposing to the hum of machinery and
process. Just as you think the whole thing couldn't get any
more absorbing, layers start building back in, with a guitar
strum reminiscent of Robin Guthrie's finest work coming in to
edge you towards a much more ethereal destination. It's
supremely confident, majestic material that will leave you
breathless by the time the music slowly fades out 25 minutes
in. "U1195" is next, and is much more submerged, exploring a
more narcotic configuration of similar source material. The
electronics and acoustics here are filtered and mangled
through dense layers of squashed processes, at times bringing
to mind the maverick Man vs Machine deconstructions of the
SUNN 0))) / Pita collaborative project KTL. The darkness and
immersive nature of the production here is what lends this
material so much weight, constantly contrasting rays of light
with dark, all encompassing textures. The album closes with
the 20 minute "Abyss", an extended Raga that takes in layered
drones and an array of barely perceptible acoustic changes
that imbue the track with widescreen proportions, despite the
saturated palette. It sounds like a more heavily layered,
slide-guitar-free variation on Ry Cooder's seminal "Paris
Texas", coupled with Jack Rose's "Raag Manifestations", and
with backing textures supplied by Stars Of The Lid. With
"Barn" Blacksand have created a towering, hugely impressive
debut that will leave a lasting impression on you long after
it comes to a close. Very Highly Recommended - Essential
Purchase.
URL's:
www.blacksand.info
http://www.myspace.com/blacksanduk
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01-Probe One [24:46]
02-U1195 [12:54]
03-Abyss [20:15]
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57:55 min