And there’s an extremely perceptive track-by-track review of the album up on listencorp (we expect nothing less!). My favorite part:
Reaching an ecclesiastical euphoria of harmonies and echoes, the voice doles out thank you’s from the creators of the course. After which things descend into instrumental chaos with glissando notes filling the soundscape, ending the course on an emphatic and almost ornate note tied off with a twinkling swish of pixellated bells at the very end.
Thanks to Jeff for playing “Abstract” from C.M.S.O. on Into the Unknown this week. See the full tracklist on his blog, and listen on Mixcloud or below.
Woke up this morning to quite a few happy notifications. First, Monolith Cocktail has a great write-up of C.M.S.O. This lovely excerpt should get you to want to read the whole thing:
A writer of repute on the failures of tech, communication and self-preservation, Rodriguez (who also files his musical experiments under Alison’s Disapproval) lends a constantly filtered and affected spoken word narration across all six tracks as Kelly swans, touches the ethereal with her diaphanous woos, calls, arias (a merger of Laurie Anderson, cosmic opera and Jane Weaver). Often transmogrified by robotic effects and the slowing and speeding up of that instructive monologue, Rodriguez’s message is constantly warped, broken up: sometimes on the verge of some Max Headroom glitch stutter, or the slurred falling apart speech of HAL.
*Achievement unlocked: Max Headroom comparison!
Max Headroom
We also seem to have successfully stumped Vital Weekly, who write of the album:
The music is mostly a computer treated voice/vocoder style, and along with some electronics playing some weird tune. The six pieces last altogether less than 19 minutes, which is perhaps the best thing for such a little curiosity. Great for confusion and confused to know what to say.
Vital Weekly also put out a podcast highlighting the music they’ve reviewed; be sure to check it out.
The coupling of these topics with abstract modern classical and electronics is unique as far as I can tell. And this degree of quirky novelty is certainly in line with Kelly’s previous release. After a few listens, I am not sure what I learned but I do feel a little smarter.
And thank you as well to the legends at Independent Music Podcast for including “Abstract” on this week’s episode, which as always has resulted an influx of new additions to my Bandcamp wishlist.
Thank you Ambient Atomic Orbitals for remixing/mashing/weaving a handful of tracks from the upcoming EP C.M.S.O. on their newest episode (there’s some bonus Farewell, Doomed Planet! on there too). It’s a great sneak peek of the album and also a totally different way of listening to it, check it out!
Thank you to Pete Murphy for including “Harm” and “Baleen Executioner” off Farewell, Doomed Planet! on I Heart Noise’s latest mixtape. It’s in fantastic company alongside tracks from Xqui, modus pony, Netta Goldhirsch, boycalledcrow, Equinox, qualchan, and more. See the full tracklist on the website and listen on Mixcloud or below.
Spent today catching up on listening and I’m so glad I did. Both Tapeta Lucida on North State Public Radio and The Moderns on Radio Regent programmed “Blue Moon Frequency #2b [Fall Mix]“, my remix with Geiger Von Müller, on their wonderful shows recently. And DJ BLeeK made a very cool “bittersweet fantasy soundtrack to Ocean Shores Washington’s legendary shipwreck” for the Urban Mutant show on Hollow Earth Radio that includes my “Silent Space Scream” off Music the DMV. Listen to everything via Mixcloud below.
