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review by Bill Binkelman Glitch, drum and bass, scratchy textures, drones, and assorted tones and noises are all represented on the debut CD from ambient artist litmus0001. k basin demonstrates that that artist is not lacking in the varietal approach to modern day ambient and chill-out music (using chill-out in the American sense, not English sense; and if you have to ask, it's not worth explaining). Generally, the album is refreshingly void of pretentious experimentalism, but it also manages (at times) to be genuinely entertaining in more than just a cerebral way (which, is how a lot of cutting edge ambient comes across, unfortunately). "selenium" offers up a tasty parade of snare and high hat beats with some heavily echoed vocal samples and repeated scratch tones, and damn if it doesn't set my feet to keeping pace with the rhythms. "tappiece" trades in the beats for reverberations of subtly distorted clipped guitar notes and blurry feedback. Whirring noises kick off the deliciously funky beats and liquid synths of "aphexygroove" marred only by an undercurrent of swirling guitar feedback (or at least that what it sounds like), although the track still earns a thumbs up because the rhythm is damn infectious. Three tracks are quite long (considering the genre) clocking in between eleven and fourteen minutes. "atropine deviation" is awash in darker tones/drones and scratches/distortions, eventually joined by spookily echoed jangly guitars and a lead guitar line that soars and dips (a la Jon Durant's work). "wife" is a long soft drone piece, also featuring feathery electric guitar leads which are less grating than on "atropine deviation," containing what could almost pass for romantic melodicism, albeit on the somber side. "fairlight hours approach" closes the album with amplifier humming noises, scratches, and dissonant feedback burblings, throwing in some spacy textures and blooping synths now and then to color the song in alien-esque flavors. It's a disturbing and foreboding conclusion to the album, and the abundance of distortion and noise wears a bit thin after awhile. Some of the effects strike me as being a bit gimmicky, but not overly ostentatious. Taking into consideration that my critique reflects my taste more than it does my analysis of quality, I enjoyed this CD more when the artist hewed closer to convention, such as on the d and b track, "dubthing" which bounces reverberating synth notes against a forlorn guitar drone amidst solid drum and bass beats and, while dialing up the rhythms' intensity, explores other cool ambient soundscapes. Another winner for me is "nagasaket" as it paints a lonely landscape of deserted streets in broad daylight with gently pealing guitar reverberations and textures, sending notes echoing into the distance while a soft cushion of drones and humming lays underneath it all. As with a lot of recordings in the glitch ambient and noise-oriented subgenre, it's sometimes difficult to know how much of what you hear is intentional. There seems to be a lot of hum and feedback on k basin, and I'll give the artist the benefit of the doubt that he intended it that way. On headphones, it's provides a certain level of auditory discomfort and I wonder how this album would sound "clean." On the other hand, if those sonic backdrops are intentional, I'm probably not "getting" their purpose (i.e. what they add to the overall point of the music). I can't say this album knocked me out, but I hear enough choice stuff to hope the artist does some more work in the future, especially in the arenas where he introduces beats in the mix. |
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