Review by pHonaut
Semiacoustic Nature
(RI029) by Atom Heart
Blazy Fills - All I can say is watch out for the big bass drum that shatters fractal
windows.
Love Letters In OCR - At first it sounds like a quirky house groove, but then its looped
percussion sequences also have a funked edge. Also, there is a nice glaze of melody here
which gives the track a solidified foundation.
My Bird Can Sing - "Experimental" sounding tones trigger various altered bird calls. If I
had to pick, I would consider this the album's "title track." A family of warbling and chirping
samples gradually comes forward, acoustically glossed over and glitched somehow as the
tonal front dissolves. You are left with the birds... only the birds. Goes along with the cover
art.
Chrome Yellow - An oscillating snappy snare pounds away and interacts with a muted
thump and scratchy hats. All the while an eerie metallic drone blinks around in the
background. An obscure female voice speaks... French? Giggles remind me of those in
Yello's "L'Hotel". But these are not real, they're memorex. Sounds as if lengths of tape are
being manually pulled over dislodged playback heads. Definitely a strange combination here.
At 7 minutes, a breathtaking choir comes forth and the female voice loops are melting down
and almost instantly the aura changes, vast and open.
Namloop - What can one say of Namloop? Well to start, this is still one of the most
gorgeous of the Atom Heart masterpieces. A mind shaker in many ways, this obvious
tribute to one of the most consistent and powerful forces in the current ambient electronic
kingdom, Faxlabel guru Peter Kuhlmann, packs a bassdrum crunch and an emotional
punch. The captivating monophonic melody is introduced alone, then immediately blending
the drum sequence precursors. Atom Heart snaps together balanced musical elements like
a small motivated child and a tall pile of Legos. A well thought out track that definitely
makes a new contour in the rapidly growing RI legacy. A must-hear.
Science, Operating Without Reality - At first some short-delayed footsteps stomping
across a dirty gravelly surface, and matching slam noises. And then, what's this?? NASA
radio exchanges. Play this backwards and you have the Four Second Timing Discrepancy
loop from the Arecibo Trans Plutonian Transmissions. Ambient Darklord Deja weirdness
indeed, but I welcome the connection to a Lustmord project... or perhaps both artists
serendipitously employed this soundbyte from NASA's Deep Space Network with centers in
California, Spain, and Australia. The loop is distinct and somehow appealing after several
visitations, though I can't really state why. And hell, if NASA hasn't complained yet then go
with it!
Evolution #9 - The 2nd reference to a Beatles track on this album that I can see. A heavily
layered loop of what sounds to be statements from another female in a language I don't
recognize. Her phrases are cascading down in the intro and then when the actual music
starts it's a surprising blitz! Tactile bass punches and high pitched twinkles galore. This is
the "intelligent" sound in full force, truly. Say it's gonna be, alright...
Compusurf - A mix of things here. As is often the case with his tricky tracks, the mood
we start off in is quite different from the mood that develops as the song runs its course.
These mutually exclusive moods are sandwiched between the remaining instrumentation
and rhythmic elements of the song. We are swinging through hyperlinks like Tarzan and
Jane.
Sim Sedona - The resident beatless track for the album. Monochromatic textures and
backwards stretched hihats coalesce with other sounds that remind me of portions near the
latter half of Automatic Composition #1 from Datacide II.
Stac! - Included on the Real Intelligence compilation disc (RI033), although the 2
recordings differ in the relative brightness of certain sounds.
Overall, another serious yet cheerfully colorful effort from Mister Schmidt. A mixed bag
stylistically, and new heights are reached in some of the songs. Also, this happens to be
the first RI release with the filled silver design on the disc itself. The album was more
experimental then I expected from a name like Semiacoustic Nature, but then again that's
what Nature is right? A big experiment....
What did you think of this CD? Mail your reviews to 2350.org
Review by pHonaut