Someone (ozymandias?) asked about Seofon's album. I happen to have
just bought it so here are my impressions.
Seofon - Causal Collapse
Visible Records VISCD-1001
Total time: 71:03
prota
scharae
paseq
aeserai
locatha
emys-ephecsys
ylem
the joyning
scharae II
This may have been around for a while but I think it's exceptional so I
thought I'd write a quick review. Hopefully this isn't redundantly
redundant. I haven't really reviewed stuff in a few years so sorry if this
is a bit obtuse.
I bought this at Star Records in SF for $12 and I have to say the first four
tracks are more than worth the price alone. The key word for this disc
is REVERB. This band likes it and likes it a lot, judging by the amount
it is used on the CD. Almost all of the tracks come close to overusing
it but keep from going over the top (IMHO). An example would be
picturing FSOL's "Sliders" with a little more reverb.
My overall impression is that this is a strong disc, which will bear
repeated listening. More than worth the money.
Here's a track by track breakdown.
prota
This track starts out with a happily repetetive melody and evolves into a
piece with a strong beat, good bass, and an undercurrent of bleepiness and
moody pad sounds. An odd combo but it works. In fact, towards the end
it really rocks.
scharae
Quite ordinary at first, it quickly gets a great subharmonic kick drum
pattern, more or less a sub-breakbeat. Much bleepiness as well. A
heavily reverbed choral voice sound and a buzzy, low repetitive melody
round this track out. Very nice especially in the bass spectrum.
paseq
Deep bass drum and heavily reverbed synth patches. Starts out a little
repetitive but is interesting enough.
aeserai
This is so unusual I may have to lose my mind. It sounds sort of like a
busy drum machine track being played through a MIDI synth over another
track. Very busy, but not totally chaotic. Towards the middle it
transmogrifies to straightforward trance (but really good) and then back
again. I like this song a lot.
locatha
Gated drums (reverbed, of course :-) start this track quite strongly,
followed by a looong front line assembly sample. In fact, I believe
that's almost all this song is... Mental Distortion and another FLA song
sampled, looped, and effected. PWEI would have been proud back in their
prime.
emys-ephecsys
Bell-flute sounds open with a drawn-out orchestra hit. Nice pad sounds
float in. Too much reverb... he's breaking up... he's breaking up...
Sorry. Anyway this track starts very ambient and quite nice after the full-on
assault of the last two tracks. I like their choice of sounds here a lot.
The pad sounds are deep but not muddy. The track builds up but doesn't
seem to break. Good soundtrack fodder. Melancholy ending.
ylem
Tantalizing low pulsating sounds. Rather ordinary ambient start to the song.
A beat emerges, and the percussion gets interesting towards the end of
the song.
the joyning
This song picks up the pace, almost aphex-like at the start (I haven't
heard Joyrex but I imagine the title could be an allusion to one of the
Joyrex releases. Or not.) Interesting haunting vocals and a good lead
synth line, this song comes out more driven than the previous two.
scharae II
High expectations for this one, as scharae was great. Breathy pad sounds
and vocal samples, the same killer kick drum start off promising more
than the original. Less bleepiness at first while a low repetetive
melody ensues. This carries the song through to more percussion and other
goodies, but the song doesn't really go anywhere, except to a weak
ending. Oh well.
Buy this disc. Definantly good IDM.
Later,
-H-