Artist : J. Hanson
Title : Boolean Blues
Genre : Electronic
Year : 2010
Date : 05/2010
Bitrate : VBR kbps
Tracks : 05
Label : Digitalis Recordings
Source : CDDA
Encoder : Lame 3.97
Length : 34:33 min
Size : 45,5 MB
Tracklist:
----------
01.Shut-Your-Fucking-Krout 06:34
02.Catshit And Sandalwood 08:18
03.Swat Valley Driver 10:50
04.Peace In Sumeria 05:58
05.Sometimes I Dunno... 02:53
-------
34:33 min
Josh Hanson is another of Portland,
Oregon's underappreciated sons. Having
come up through the ranks of long-time,
long-forgotten faves Hochenkeit, he also
spent time as a member of The Davis
Redford Trio. But Hanson's path diverges
into a totally different sphere
nowadays, spinning solo modular synth
exploits to the stars. Influenced not
just by the likes of Subotnick and
Cluster but also various types of
Eastern sounds, Hanson is looking
forward, trying to find new pathways in
electronic music. Using a homebuilt
synth, Hanson is like a magician that
keeps you looking one direction while
he's cooking up something special from
out of left-field. "Boolean Blues" is
psychedelic and mathematical all once
Starting with the pulsing and
surprisingly catchy "Shut Your Fucking
Krout," you are instantly sucked in as a
listener. The revolving synth melodies
are in your face, never trying to hide
behind a veil of reverb of fuzz.
"Catshit and Sandalwood" works as two
separate tracks, conjoined at birth and
held together through piercing synthetic
bleeps. Again, there's a softness and
melody here that hook you straight off,
but the heavy doses of electronic mayhem
that go along with it are what keep
things uneasy. It's like a warning bell
going off so often you have no idea if
there's hell on the way. That feeling
comes to a head on the centerpiece,
"Swat Valley Driver." This is where the
psychedelia really kicks in. After a
methodic exercise in control backed by a
minimal, analog beat, you are greeted
with heavy Indian influences. No, of
course there's no sitars or tanpuras,
but Hanson twists his synth into
spitting out racing analog ragas. It's
fucking exquisite, all the while backed
by black bass lines. "Peace in Sumeria"
continues the theme but moves a little
bit West, getting lost in translation
all the way.
What is perhaps most amazing about
"Boolean Blues" is that even though at
its heart it's a synth album, wholly
electronic, it feels like so much more.
It's full of warm tones and rich
visions. It's a trip in every sense of
the word.
Edition of 500 in gatefold jackets
printed by Stumptown, designed by Brad
Rose.
http://www.digitalisindustries.com/rec_i
ndex.html