|

 |
 |
 |
2004.01 reviews  |
|
 |
|
|
|
|

Accelera Deck pulls heartfelt guitar performances and luminous synthetic noises through a digital kaleidescope
of varied intensities and colors, creating a fearless exploration of frequency and nuance.
With extreme attention to timing and detail, Ipsisima Vox
finds an infinite beauty in the patient deconstruction of each sound and resonance; electronically processed
beyond concrete recognition, these sounds take on a wondrous life of their own, and despite
the digital effects and filters a surprisingly human feel has imprinted itself throughout.
Nuance and tattered echoes of noise, resonance, silence so expertly crafted; this is the essence in which Ipsissima Vox creates it's sense of wonder,
and enthralls the listener with thousands of delicate and deliberate gestures. Even through the digital
layers and synthetic watercolors, you can vividly imagine this work being performed in real-time, so human is it's feel and sentimental it's voice.
When the few, more recognizable guitar harmonies and fragments present themselves, you find them weathered
and stumbling, day-dreaming, homeless . . . and you clutch to them, afraid to let those familiar
moments of solace go . . . yet reveling in the effect even as they are absorbed in the digitized fabric of shimmering or quiet or staticky sound.
An acoustic guitar wanders hopelessly, pulled and torn through a colorful vortex of digital effects (Parallel).
A high frequency cluster gently crescendoes through a shimmering and burbling tunnel, illuminating a silent film splintered by age and memory (Rare).
A pristine synth murmur is gently colored with soft noise and pulsating stereo resonances, finally dissolving into fragmented abstraction (Gloss).
Crackling, searing high frequency feedback tones spatter and pierce, shift and oscillate, with relief found only in a few moments of distorted radio static chatter (Ipsissima Vox).
Ipsissima Vox is chock full of poignant moments, as it scrapes and caresses and pushes against sensitive areas of the ear and mind in brilliant ways.
An extraordinary and masterful work that continually inspires and captivates.
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|

Greyed, bleak, faded . . . Jarl's Out of Balance drifts through clouds of dust, smoke and electricity, traversing a veiled otherworld of solitude and nothingness.
Broken into 17 anonymous "Parts", the music softly surrounds and folds upon itself, a numbing blanket of cold dreams and phantasm.
Out of Balance is one of those rare monochromatic noise and drone discs that searches . . . and finds . . . an inner beauty
and purpose in it's minimalism; varying the textures at just the right tempo, with enough variance to the sound and character
to give a distinct shape and compelling direction to the music.
Oscillating stereo power lines move in unnameable rhythms amidst dense filtered noise washes.
Deep and dulled drums thunder distantly across imaginary caverns of steel and ice.
Grainy white noise strokes and brushes monotonously, infusing a staticky fuzz within the sonic fabric.
Out of Balance leaves you listening between the lines and layers, hypnotized, gently twisting your mind as it gradually peels back the veils of static, hum,
and shards of reverberation throughout their deep and varied forms. And while some pieces on the disc eminate deeper character than others,
the whole of the work makes for a dim introspection of dramatic proportions.
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|

Recklessly pushing industrial beat structures and saturated analog synths through turbulent effects atmospheres,
Touching the Void scratches and claws it's way deep into radiant hues of red digital fuzz. The result is a buzzing, noisey
transmigration of drifting electronics and maddening drum patterns drenched in the excess of super-resonant zeroes and ones.
Plasticky, sweeping synthesizers sing catchy anthems across staticky swarms of noise.
Agitated beat loops drive persistently through wild and thickened filters, disintegrating into digital debris crackling with hyper-colored dissonance.
Electronic percussion pounds repeatedly against the speaker cabinets, desparately trying to free itself from the crumbling sonic structures.
Processed, overprocessed and then reassembled in a synthetic half-image of it's former self, the music
swells and stews and folds haphazardly in it's journey to constantly redefine itself. The textures are
intensely imprinted and add a 3rd dimension to the sound.
A slow, sweeping synth theme escapes from a sci-fi soundtrack and then is submersed in fenzied metallic percussion patterns (Deadzone).
Digital scraps, scratches and sketches build and disassemble themselves into slamming static drum patterns (Diode Diaries).
Fleeting stereo beats scurry across colorful horizons of lost, wild-eyed, buzzing keyboard melodies (Stuff Arbennig).
Pounding, mangled, forced through endless twisting and turning of processor knobs, Touching the Void is messy, trashy, overdone . . . and oh so wonderful.
|
|
|