Tag: review

Louder Than War review of #M4DMV

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Paul Scott-Bates (aka hiapop) has written a wonderful review of Music for the DMV for Louder Than War. Some excerpts:

“Utilising Found Sound and MIDI, Elizabeth Joan Kelly has created something of a milestone in underground electronic music with the Brian Eno inspired title – Music For The DMV (America’s Department of Motor Vehicles).”

“Taking its title influence from Music For Airports, fifteen tracks see Kelly delve into the extraordinary masses of online found sounds which she treats, manipulates and regurgitates. A simple task on the face of things but what she does here is nothing short of extraordinary and inspiring.”

“With the promise of a new album for 2019, Elizabeth Joan Kelly could well be a name to look out for. Simple but expertly assembled music with more than a few surprises along the way.”

Such an honor–thank you Paul and LTW! Read the full review here.

 

 

#M4DMV on An Earful’s Best Of 2018: Electronic

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Thank you to An Earful for including Music for the DMV on their Best Electronic Albums of 2018 (along with Eno, the man himself)! An excerpt:

While one would think that relaxing sounds would be the best thing to help survive another license renewal, Kelly uses a variety of shiny textures and bright melodies to instead provide distraction. And there’s plenty of that to be found here, as well as charm, especially in the three tracks classed as Gymnopedies. Best of all, however, is Call My Number, which has an almost comical sense of yearning and absolutely reminds me of that time when the scheduling system crashed at the DMV and I lost my place in line.

Full list here.

#Starchild review on Yeah I Know It Sucks

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An absurd but superb review from Yeah I Know It Sucks, this time for #Starchild, my two-song release with Xqui! Per usual it’s full of amazing quotes, but here’s a taster:

“Thanks to their production my mind started to flow weightless through mystique hallways that come to me across as a maze of tunnels and doors. Sometimes the music bursts through those doors, knocking them open to go deeper into this fairy kind of minimal surrealism & to be fair; get slightly lost in this place that seems to be the starting point of many more adventures.”

Picture of Good Health review on Sunday Experience

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Another 👍👍👍 review for the Wormhole World sampler, with this gorgeous description of my contributions:

a trio of strange delights from the workbench of Elizabeth Joan Kelly first of which ‘cake’ has something of a youthful Orbital aura encroaching its space albeit as though led astray by Wagon Christ. ‘beau travail’ on the other hand by contrast comes twinkled in a spectral charming whose shadowy overcasting had us much recalling flip sides of classic Pram groove from back in the day. ‘starchild’ sees her swapping notes with Xqui to craft something of a fragile ghost vision pillowed upon swathes of glassy, minimalist drones motifs which reference wise might have you filled with an urge to go rooting out your Astral Social Club wares for comparison

Read the full review, which expertly describes the whole album, on The Sunday Experience, aka Mark Losing Today.

#m4dmv reviewed on The Wire!!!

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I am BEYOND excited to share that Music for the DMV has been reviewed (favorably!) in The Wire Magazine, “music’s most discerning and open-minded publication” and “the most essential music magazine of the contemporary era.” One excerpt, referring to the DMV, says, “Kelly’s atmospherics capture the emotional spectrum the human soul can traverse in this squat, beige hell.”

The Wire is available online through Exact Editions, or you may be able to access it through your local library.

Pinch me…

Cake and Starchild on OTB Zine

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On The Beat Zine gave an exciting review to the Wormhole World sampler A Picture of Good Health today, with these kind words about two of my contributions:

New Orleans composer Elizabeth Joan Kelly follows up her August release ‘Music For The DMV’ with another two belting tracks. ‘Cake’ is a mind-bending exploration of strings and electronica that you’d struggle to hear anywhere else, while ‘Starchild’ takes soundscaping to a new level entirely.

 

 

Review on Houdini Mansions

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Flattering review of Music for the DMV by Gray Lee up on Houdini Mansions. An excerpt:

The end result of this digital collage of classical pieces with unique audio treatments is an artistic and detailed sonic work that one need not visit the DMV to enjoy. For those of you who are unfortunate enough to have business to conduct at the DMV, you might want to bring this album with you. The calming and intriguingly arranged music contained therin just might make your stay a little less unpleasant.

Read the whole review here, and make sure to check Houdini Mansions’ many projects, including the Magnetic Mystery Hour podcast and their gorgeous cassette release.

 

Bouncyland on Ball of Wax

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I’m excited to announce that “Bouncyland” is going to be on Volume 54 of Ball of Wax, a quarterly CD and book release of new music. In celebration, there will be a release show in Seattle, details below:

Ball of Wax 54 Release Show

with The Cupholders, Zachary Warnes, The Daphnes, and Kevin Sur
Friday, November 23rd, 9pm
Conor Byrne Pub, 5140 Ballard Ave NW
$8 / Ball of Wax 54 CD included with entry 

Make sure to check out the excellent write-up of “Bouncyland” on the Ball of Wax blog!

About Volume 54:

BoW 54 is chock full of 20 songs from friends new and old – which we’ll be rolling out here on the Blog of Wax starting today. There is no particular theme, but the time signature 5/4 does show up more than would be statistically likely in any normal collection of 20 songs. Representing for the live experience will be Cupholders (the Ballard supergroup formerly known as Doug Hood and the Wholly Heathens, chock full of BoW friends) and three artists newer to the fold: Zachary Warnes, The Daphnes, and Kevin Sur. It’s going to be a great time – and, as always, everyone in the door gets a free copy of the new volume of Ball of Wax.

M4DMV reviewed in ANTIGRAVITY Magazine

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New Orleans alternative magazine ANTIGRAVITY reviewed Music for the DMV in their October issue. Michael Kunz writes, “‘Industrial Ambient Prelude‘ is Chopin with a house beat. ‘Club Clanger‘ is jarringly busy, whereas ‘Bouncyland‘ is loads of fun, with an all-drum breakdown that Big Freedia might sample. Many of the rhythms here are inventive enough that you want to hear them outside the 8-bit context, with brighter synths and bigger drums.”

Read the full review here!