Artist : Seven Hour Germ
Title : Document 2
Genre : Electronic
Year : 2008
Date : 03/06/2009
Bitrate : VBR kbps
Tracks : 09
Label : Minimal Resource Manipulation
Source : CDDA
Encoder : Lame 3.97
Length : 34:15 min
Size : 50,1 MB
Tracklist:
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01.ECE Tape 1 01:50
02.Tone Crunch 03:24
03.Dronal Catastrophe 02:37
04.Threaded Metals 02:34
05.ECE Tape 2 01:11
06.Bludgeon 03:37
07.Zone 14 05:24
08.Wednesday 04:56
09.Ten Years Later 08:42
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34:15 min
A great start to the working day to get an album on Minimal Resource Manipulation from Seven Hour
Germ which is Matt Atkins AKA Platform. As soon as I hit play 'ECE Tape 1' is a wicked assault on the
senses with a gloriously squelchy synth oscillations filling the room. 'Tone Crunch' is a powerful
percussive piece with low bottom end and ear piercing top end. This is a lot harsher than the stuff we're
used to from Platform, crossing into power electronics territory giving Whitehouse and Merzbow a run for
their money. Fear not though as it's not entirely a brutal brain pummeling experience. There are some nice
micro sound experiments on here and some top crunchy, abrasive post industrial machine sounds on
'Bludgeon'. The album ends nicely with some ace field recordings/ samples static sounds and drones. A
thoroughly engaging listen from beginning to end. Some of the tunes on 'Document 2' were only previously
available on cassette.
(Norman's)
7HG (otherwise known as Platform) delivers a distinctly experimental set of tracks here on the follow up to
the excellent Document 1. Where Platform uses elements of melody and minimalism to create a
contemporary flow, 7HG has a much more oblique and noise-based style which is absolutely fascinating.
With track titles such as Tonecrunch, Drone Catastrophe and Bludgeon, you'll get the idea of where some
of these tracks are headed. Indeed, there's a crispy, overdriven sound to most of the work but it takes the
form of various styles. One minute there's an almost Aphex-ish (circa Mescalinum United) rhythmic feel,
then you're off into the darker outreaches of minimal sound. Ten Years Later gets a special mention as it's
a wonderfully atmospheric sound collage using stitled radio snippets and swathes of sound to create a
somewhat disturbing work. Brilliant stuff once again from this talented artist.
(Smallfish)
Document 2 by Sevenhourgerm (Matthew Atkins) is a CDR including nine experimental tracks released on
the Minimal Resource Manipulation label. Found sounds and noise are crafted into varying degrees of
coherency, with rhythm and melody flirting at the edge of perception. Each track is short for music typical
of this genre, except for the final track Ten Years Later .
The analogue synth meanderings of the first two tracks give way to drum and bass inspired samples and
noise in the third track, Dronal Catastrophe . Feedback is interwoven until a crescendo is reached, at
which point the track changes direction and evolves into rapid fire bursts of static.
The pace slows down at track four, Threaded Metals , where lowercase samples with subtle distortion
reverberate to give the impression of metallic entities inside a huge hall. The next track, ECE Tape 2 , is
similar but more intense as distorted instruments sound like fading memories of music, almost intangible if
it were not for the repeated and layered motifs.
Track six, Bludgeon , uses a strong rhythm as the backbone with manipulated samples dancing around
the beat. It's more Aphex Twin than twenty first Century experimental glitch, and it serves as a centre piece
to the rest of the album when listened in context. Next, Zone 14 switches back to the earlier style of the
album. It starts off with a passage that sounds like old analogue synthesizers, bringing to mind abandoned
industrial spaces and Wednesday continues this, relying on heavier distortion cookie-cut with rapid
tremolo.
Document 2 ends with Ten Years Later , nine minutes of edited radio samples and more analogue synth-
inspired passages. It's almost like a combination of all the other techniques and sonic ideas on Document
2, with improvised passages played by tuning a radio. If so, I presume the piece was performed in April
2008 (there's clearly audible fragments of "UK lorry drivers protesting".)
Document 2 is a diverse foray into noise, glitch and found sounds. The samples are often distorted to the
edge of perception, which makes listening to the full album like experiencing somebody else's memories.
This abandoned industrial feeling works well, making it more of an experience than a set of tracks.
(Furthernoise)
http://www.minimalresourcemanipulation.co.uk/