FmReleases > ExplorersWe > EwIncursionReview ${ Edit }}+-C67
[]{#20030518_explorers_we_review} 20030518: explorers_we review
from http://www.incursion.org/imr/archive/005.html
FARMERS MANUAL: Explorers_We
Or | SQUISH 04 | CD\
Further cementing the bond between Vienna's current MEGO family of artists and that stronghold of audio-esoterica, 13 Osward St. London (Ash/Touch/Tray/Or et.al), the ever-enigmatic Farmers Manual deliver unto us Explorers_We. Attempting to draw reference points to the Farmers' special take on the art of digital cut-ups (as documented on this release) would probably decry the uniqueness of its overall sound (and be nigh on impossible, anyway). With over sixty-minutes the 'Manual present a work which operates both effectively well as a single piece or with the CD player in shuffle mode (sixty-PQ points provide for an ample amount of unpredictability analogous to the already random nature of the music).
It starts from humble beginnings, tracks 1-16 (each track is about a minute long) sound like edits from a location recording of perhaps Mego's office in Vienna (complete with the cleaning lady hoovering in the room next door, or maybe it's some kind of haulage-vehicle, idling outside their window). Somewhere around track ten more unidentifiable noises begin to jam their heads in and out of the equation, elbowing for room and interfering with each other's stereo positioning. And so it goes for the hour-long duration of the track(s). Occasionally the stumbling noises coalesce (or try to coalesce) into brief mangled sequences of rhythm which sound like they've been culled from ancient misfiring drum machines, snippets of sound generated by playing broken tape recorders, synthesisers, radios, televisions and various other household appliances, indeed anything that makes noise. Not that this ever really succeeds in structuring itself into anything resembling organised music, however. No sooner is something starting to take shape from the scatterings than it catches on itself and falls to pieces, only to be replaced by another juttering collection of broken sounds. It's all very abstract and in a very intriguing way you're never quite sure what's going to happen next.
The first thousand come with a bonus CD of two "live" recordings, one of which was made aboard the Mego label's "Loveboat" event as part of the Ars Electronica event in Linz, Vienna during September '98. Again, the same kind of sound as used on the "dead" CD: jarring, stuttering noises generally knocking one another about in constant fits of mechanical breakdown. Excellent stuff. [k/doherty]
label _ http://www.touch.demon.co.uk
artist _ http://www.farmersmanual.co.at \
Revision r1.1 - 05 Jul 2005 - 13:17 - TWikiGuest
| Attach | More\
(mailto:admin@web.fm?subject=TWiki%20Feedback%20on%20Fmext.EwIncursionReview)