Artist : Pillowdiver
Title : Tony On A Bike
Genre : Ambient
Year : 2009
Date : 12/2009
Bitrate : VBR kbps
Tracks : 04
Label : Under The Spire
Source : CDDA
Encoder : Lame 3.97
Length : 22:01 min
Size : 29,3 MB
Tracklist:
----------
01.White 06:33
02.Tony On A Bike 04:24
03.Nine 05:12
04.Black Metal Dream 05:52
-------
22:01 min
Following a recent entry onto 12k's
hallowed catalogue, Pillowdiver serves
up a highly limited three-incher on the
dependably good Under The Spire label.
Like so many contemporary microsound
dronesters, Pillowdiver relies on the
electric guitar as a starting point for
his miniaturised tonal landscapes, and
also like a good many of his
contemporaries, the results tend to be
more ornamental and ambiguous than they
are musically compelling in any
traditional sense. The opening recording
here, 'White' serves as a kind of slow
motion, blurred post-rock instrumental
that gathers heft once the cumulative
effect of electronic processes takes
hold. It's a slightly empty sounding
mood-piece held together by all-too
simply strummed guitar chords, made more
interesting by backwards looping and
filtered drone outbursts. You may find
yourself wishing that Margraff would
either indulge in something a tad more
abstract or just get on with the
business of playing his guitar in a more
wholehearted fashion. Certainly, this is
one of those pieces that commits to
neither 'properly' playing guitar, nor
using it more as a signal generator, and
the result is a kind of static between-
ness. Thankfully, the endless sustain
and organ-like transformations of 'Tony
On A Bike' prove to be more successful,
melted into a richer soundscape, and
'Nine' - taking the opposite tactic -
feels altogether more song-like,
steering the guitar into a more Kevin
Shields-influenced direction, caked in
fiery, overdriven textures. Finally,
'Black Metal Dream' closes the mini-
album with another carefully poised
drone, sounding halfway between the
low-frequency pressure of bands like
SunnO))) and more pastoral, implicitly
melodic works. As usual, there are only
100 of these incirculation, so no
dawdling if you're after one.
http://www.underthespire.co.uk