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Charles Atlas - Two More Hours
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r i p p i n g n o t e s . . . . . . . ▀
date Mar-22-2003
style Instrumental
label Star Star Stereo
cat.no. str 4009
source CDDA
type Album
quality 192kbps 44,1hz Joint-Stereo
size 62,5 MB
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r e l e a s e n o t e s . . . . . . . ▀
recorded in milwaukee/san francisco, winter 1999.
all instrumentation by matt greenberg, erik kowalski, charles wyatt.
tamara battis: voice.
(http://www.charles-atlas.com)
The past few years have seen a proliferation of ambient,
experimental, improvisational instrumental groups, working with
repetitious loops, tapes, sequencers, and the vast palette of sounds
available from synths in order to drive you into a state of
brain-perplexing waking sleep. It's not new age, it's new Cage, as in
John Cage, with a bit of the German Can/Neu!/Kraftwerk axis and
Bowie's 1977 Berlin days, updated by new atmospherics. This trio
(with occasional spoken word vocals from Tamara Battis, who sounds
like an operator on a phone line you're not supposed to be getting)
is also expert in the inexhaustible possibilities of white noise and
of darting and delayed '90s shoegazing guitars as mood setters for
the mind-screw atmosphere. Even a piano in "Braille" seems more like
a hazy cloak of mystery than a lead instrument. With remixers such as
Low's Alan Sparhawk, Buddha on the Moon (nice dub tricks), and ISAN
to tamper with an already camouflaged setting, the results are even
more narcotic. Were this an Eno LP, he might call it Music for
Ionization Chambers. Warning: Your sonic reality is being adjusted.
(P.O. Box 7762, Milwaukee, WI 53207) -- Jack Rabid, The Big Takeover
(http://www.allmusic.com)
You know, whether you love 'em or hate 'em, extreme metal bands have
their own points to ponder when deciding their style; they all must
choose their own niche and nuances. How many 32nd note fills on the
double bass drums? High, screechy vocals, or low growls recalling the
artistic vision of Cookie Monster? Should the bass be audible in the
mix? Should the guitarist play atonal solos or just riff? Should the
lyrics be about death? What about vampires? Werewolves? All three?
But however elementary these decisions may seem to those outside the
genre, they're not all that different from a post-rock combo
considering how many bassists to hire, or an emo band wondering
whether to use the random nonsense or love cliche magnetic poetry
sets for lyric-writing. Similarly, ambient outfits must ask
themselves: just how ambient should we be?
This question arose when I was listening to Charles Atlas' curiously
titled debut album this past week. In a typically indie rock turn of
phrase, these folks are far from a mighty juggernaut of a band,
having built up musical muscle using the technique of Dynamic-Tension
(TM). Instead, the key words here are "trance" and "inducing." While
they hardly take repetition to a new level yet unheard of from the
likes of Philip Glass and Steve Reich, the dial is set hard left to
"background chill-out," with the buttons for clean electric guitars
and occasional live drums pushed in.
I may be a sucker for abundant musical activity, but even so, it's
quite telling that several times during a listen (on my admittedly
mediocre shelf stereo), the audio levels dropped out to near
imperceptibility. If I have a complaint about the dynamics, it's that
they don't quite exist. For the casual listener, which in this case
is me, this could be a problem easily remedied by including the
occasional moment of expansive grandeur.
As with most ambient music, the compositions here are built up around
a groove or ostinato, with variation provided by the addition or
subtraction of looped instrumental tracks. Overt melodies are scarce,
but as Brian Eno defined, ambient music is designed to be built for
both active and passive listening strategies. The real dilemma
evident on Two More Hours is between repetition and change, and on
the finest of these tracks, the line is toed expertly.
I S A N's "Municipal Sculptur E Mix" bops along in a modal jazz mode,
with vibes, acoustic bass, and real drums adding authentic texture
while speech samples (credited to the album's photographer) are
sprinkled liberally, creating something like a conventional song
form. Low's Alan Sparhawk appropriately contributes a mix of
"Duluth," which proceeds in a similar, albeit less jubilant manner,
while "Stasis and Fingernails" proves as pointlessly enigmatic as its
title. "Braille" breaks out the expected
ladies-and-gentlemen-we-are-plucking-in-space floating guitars, while
"Outstretched" merely fulfills its promise of being overly long.
Meanwhile, "Relax, It's a Flower" grates ever so slightly with
sibilant synthetic swirls. The remaining material seems as musically
alliterate as that last phrase:
"There's one flavor at this ice cream stand, and you can bet it's not
double chocolate fudge."
Despite its readily apparent problems, Two More Hours accomplishes
most of what it set out to do. As my illustrious Editor-in-Chief Ryan
Schreiber noted, it's proven excellent driving music, provided you
have a relatively quiet car. I've got an '89 Toyota Tercel with a
merely passable transmission and a muffler with a Daoist attitude
about noise reduction (the growling which can be spoken of to a
mechanic is not the true growling), so that option's out.
As a musician with an interest in synthesis and electronic music, I
can take note of the album's overall excellent programming; whomever
manned the sequencer here deserves a large portion of my critical
Scooby Snacks. As just a plain listener, Two More Hours at least
doesn't get in the way of my afternoon nap, so any further complaints
can be directed to Never-Neverland. A moderately enjoyable piece of
atmosphere, but not too much more.
(http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/record-reviews/c/charles-atlas/two-mor
e-hours.shtml)
The music that comprises this album was created as seven individual
improvisational pieces that were then handed over to various remixers
for interpretive interference. The result is a lucid forty five
minutes of light electronic noodling. Charles Atlas is a trio of
sorts led by Chicago-based instrumentalist Charles Wyatt- former
guitarist in San Francisco's Dart. There are several melodic themes
that surface throughout this recording that sound like the
instrumental bits of a Disintegration-era Cure song. Electronic
noises flutter amongst the minor chord arpeggios while almost
danceable beats envelope the atmosphere.
Alan Sparhawk of Low handles the remix of "Duluth" and gives it his
patented 'slow' treatment. It doesn't seem like he had a lot to work
with, though, because the tones are sparse like a distant tape loop,
and it drones on for almost nine minutes, gradually getting louder
but never really reaching the surface. Definitely not for the
dancefloor. This record gets weirder as it progresses- "The I S A N
Municipal Sculptur E Mix" is as strange and off-kilter as its title
with a detached female voice reciting strange code while a looped
xylophone repeats ad infinitum.
"Stasis And Fingernails" is a deliberate change of pace and starts
off with a stark piano line playing against an acoustic guitar.
Static seeps its way into the mix slowly, but for the most part the
song is devoid of any electronic tampering. Two More Hours is a
difficult album to get a handle on. The music hardly demands
attention with its gray tones, but it still manages to lure you in.
(http://www.drawerb.com/99/12/942704020.htm)
There is no person in this band with the last name of Atlas. This is
a project sort of thing from Charles Wyatt, Chicago resident who
strummed the guitar strings for San Francisco's slow-core charmers
"Dart" as well as performed with Piano Magic on "A Trick of the Sea"
as well as the collaborative single with Low, "Sleep at the Bottom".
This CD is a collection of tracks improvised from various sessions of
Charles tinkering around and then sending the tapes off to friends to
add other bits and pieces. Friends who have added tinkerings to this
CD include Alan Sparhawk of Low, members of Buddha on the Moon, ISAN
and a couple more friends. The result is an unsurprisingly blissful
and melodic, spacious and trancey, beautifully crafted and varied CD.
The first track starts the disc off in a more traditional sustained
guitar sound, with loops and mesmerising delay effets. The rest of
the disc jumps around between more electronic sounds and backwards
drum samples and loops, ending on a pretty and serene piece for
acoustic guitar, piano and droney effects. Never for a minute does
this sound amateur or half-assed, Charles Atlas could sure as hell
teach some of the noodly ambient dronesters out there a thing or two
about VARIETY (something all too rare these days). This one will be a
hard one to come across in average stores and I suggest just sending
an email to Mike at StarStar records out of Milwaukee at
mstar@execpc.com. This disc is highly recommended.
(http://www.brainwashed.com/brain/brainv02i43.html)
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p l a y l i s t . . . . . . . . . . . ▀
01 Braille 04:56
02 Outstretched 10:17
03 Relax, It's A Flower (Buddha On The Moon Mix) 03:37
04 Character 05:28
05 Duluth (Alan Sparhawk Mix) 08:42
06 The ISAN Municipal Sculpture Mix 06:14
07 Stasis And Fingernails 06:15
. .
45:29 min
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t h e p u r p o s e o f i t a l l . . ▀
digaphobia public sound specializes in releasing so-called
'intelligent dance music', experimental electronic music, dark
ambient, drone/noise, beat-laden indie, and a spot of techno.
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t h e h e a d s . . . . . . . . . . . ▀
peace to music lovers everywhere
1real agw amok chr cmg cms diss fuffens hit2k its just kw mgc
ms nuhs om pulsar pyt rac radial sb sfe sour tr tronik ube wos
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j o i n t h e a r m y . . . . . . . . ▀
looking for MD/DAT recordings of electronic music shows
track us down on IRC if you'd like to help
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a l w a y s r e m e m b e r . . . . . ▀
go to the show. buy the t-shirt. order the vinyl.
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