the black dog - live in toronto (cassette)
1996, under pressure, ken downie produced a
shimmering 26 piece slice of magic entitled
'music for adverts' and the sublime japanese
only remixes of hanayo, which too few people have
heard and in my opinion stands up as one of the
finest remix work's released under the black dog
umbrella.
1997, whilst the erstwhile ex-other half of
black dog messers handley & turner are enclosed in
their studio sweating over their first album release
for warp, ken now deal-less takes the black dog
experience out on the road
over a full 2 hours the black dog takes us boldly on
an enchanted journey through territories both old and new,
futuristic and ancient, sometimes it's hard to tell
whether the tracks are modified versions of previously
recorded material or entirely new compositions and like
music for adverts, full length tracks and many shorter
compositions sit side by side
i don't feel that giving each track a brief description
would do this set justice, suffice to say i have picked
out [my] choice moments from a superb and enlightening
2 hours worth of music
to paraphrase henry rollins "[the black dog's] music is the most
direct line to what the fuck it is all about"
[choice moments]
[note] this is not a track by track listing, the numbers
refer to individual (often untitled tracks)
SIDE A
[intro]
floats in on an ethereal slice of dub n bass,
tubby meets syd barret
[1]
glorious silken strings, deep dark and mysterious
archaic rhythms, wizened flute samples ,an ancient
tribal shamen communicates through modern machinery,
melted on top is a luxurious heard style house
piano motif
[2]
sinuous mountain moving bass line, abstract dubby beats
that echo and richocet off each other like the birth of
language rocketing off a cave wall interspersed with sudden
tonal swoops and delicate cantonese percussion
blends into
[3]"babylon"
wonderful lilting rhtyhms,a wailing muzen sample winds it's
way around the track like a merchant navigating the dark
streets of an ancient citadel, fragments of spoken word,
percussion creaks like archaic machinery activated,
features a dense extended drum coda -diff to peel session,
this track again demonstrates ken's wonderful grasp of
dynamics, he seems to know *exactly* when to release the
tension and flood the track with spine tingling melody
[5]
deep intoning gong, elastically loose hip hop beat, heavy breathing,
a cerebral soundtrack to an adventurersetting sails off into
the sunset to discover new continents
[6] dissidence
this version has to be one of my [all time] favourite black dog tracks,
wonderfully emotional with live bass the sci fi samples that weren't on
the album version
[7]
deep house stylee, stirring chimes & strings with a metallic
rhythm overlayed, percussive samba house beats, bassline
carries the melody,, this leads into an abstract 303 work out
like laurent x 'machines', lysergic sounds of acid drawn to
their true extremes vis the crazed sounds of sleazy d, deranged
where acid should have gone, then a sudden gear change eases us into
an extended version of 'meditation #4' complete with laid back
but chattering percussion
SIDE 2
[1]
languid downtempo beats with mournful violins and thought provoking
spoken words underpinned by a constant sub-indian harmonic
drone, beautiful wistful breakdown with bass guitar hammering out
projectile like notes into the darkness
[2]
dirty lo fi electronica with atonal, mischievous vocal sample of
american male complaining that he can't find i presume a black
dog cd in tower or virgin, a sketch for what could be a great
track
seques into
[3]
urgent stabbing eastern melody, galloping percussion,
sweeping feedback with sinister spoken words, shocks of percussion
with heavy delay like electronic artillery fire, a female vocal
sample reverberates on top of itself heightening the tension as
the bass pins the proceeding to the floor, things reach boiling
point before a frantic drum n bass break breaches the walls and
releases the pressure to allow the composite elements to fly forwards
[5]'the virtual sequence'
god in space mix of virtual complete with random sax
and spoken word interjections blends into 'virtual hmmm'
'vir2l' & the original mix from the days were nights
were bold and the days were cold
[6]
bongo fury melancholic jam with subtle synth shadings leads into an
elastic slice of cyber funk with bowel rupturing kick drum and hi
hats that could slice yer head clean off, all manner of distorted
fx swirling about the atmosphere
also kudos for the the farmyard animal samples & bill burroughs
unmistakable dulcet tones
stuart @ 4thworld
--
http://dialspace.dial.pipex.com/4thworld/
purpose:cutting edge mail order:archive:new
skool electronica 60m dj mix:label [mfr]:
01 [boards of canda, fabric soap stars,
lucky & easy, itchabug,& 1]12" due 10/97