No-Man - Dry Cleaning Ray (c) 1997 3rd Stone Ltd.
Artist....: No-Man
Album.....: Dry Cleaning Ray
Type......: Album
Source....: CDDA
Tracks....: 09
Genre.....: Avantgarde
Label.....: 3rd Stone Ltd.
Catalogue#: stone 035CD
Encoder...: LAME 3.97
Quality...: VBR kbps / 44.1KHz / Joint-Stereo
URL.......: http://www.no-man.co.uk/
Tracklist:
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01 Dry Cleaning Ray 02:57
02 Sweetside Silver Night 04:02
03 Jack The Sax 04:18
04 Diet Mothers 04:57
05 Urban Disco 03:17
06 Punished For Being Born (Muslimgauze Mix) 02:19
07 Kightlinger 02:45
08 Evelyn (The Song Of Slurs) 04:04
09 Sicknote 08:57
Total:54,0 MB / 37:36 min
Release Notes:
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An album-length semi-catchall of outtakes and remixes of Wild Opera
tracks, Dry Cleaning Ray delivers value for money due to its
classification as an EP, but the worth is more than simply financial.
The title track itself is a new mix of the Wild Opera cut, its at once
moody and inspirational feeling a fine demonstration of the
Bowness/Wilson partnership, helped along further by the intriguing
keyboard part Wilson adds to the proceedings. "Diet Mothers" is a more
radical reconstruction, Wilson taking "Pretty Genius" and revamping it
into a slow, slinky trip-hop crawl, Bowness' keening vocal deep in the
mix behind dub echo guitars and a wailing melodica. The other remix of
note comes from an unexpected source -- Bryn Jones, aka Muslimgauze,
whose avant-garde combination of aggressive electronics, dub, and
hip-hop had won a fan in Wilson. Created inadvertently when Wilson gave
Jones a copy of Wild Opera's "Housewives Hooked on Heroin," "Punished
for Being Born" highlights Jones' trademark brutal aural collage in a
fascinating pulverization of the original. The remaining new tracks are
an engaging bunch, continuing on from Wild Opera's general atmosphere
with various side explorations as the EP goes. "Sweetside Silver Night"
is another classic of No-Man mystery and romance, flute and jazzy
guitar mixing with the crisp, low-key drive of the song as a whole,
while the breakbeat rumble of "Urban Disco" calls to mind the brutal
hip-hop punch of early No-Man cuts. The abbreviated blasts of electric
guitar at points nicely contrast the sudden, calm keyboard parts.
Quieter songs crop up: "Jack the Sax" relies mostly on acoustic guitar
backed at points with extra feedback while Bowness' singing is treated
with echo, while "Kightlinger" -- described in the liner notes as being
recorded very late one night -- feels like a tribute to the Cocteau
Twins' cascading, beautiful guitar wash.
-allmusic