| Product: |
Analysis Of Noise Trading - Architect |
| Date: |
27/01/07 (70 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: Immersive, massive electronica - cum - breakbeat - cum - ambient - cum - everything
Disadvantages: Nothing
I confess that I actually did a little reading up before writing this; I wasn't quite sure how to describe Architect. But let me instead contextualise:
Trawling through eMusic I found a new album by Surface 10 that I quickly downloaded - music unheard - then followed a link to a 'similar artist' (a phrase I'm - perhaps rightly - dubious of) and listened to the first MP3 sample.
It was one of those moments that I love eMusic for. Like Wolfram Spyra's Invisible Fields, you suddenly come across something that just leaps out at you. I find it quite easy to be seduced by ambient and drones but Architect just screamed: LISTEN TO ME!!! I immediately downloaded and listened; then listened again; then made sure my friend listened to it. Quite what the music is I don't know. eMusic categorises it as experimental electronica; other reviews seem to think it a hybrid of IDM (Intelligent Dance Music) and Industrial. I think that it is somehow a little bit of all three - and then some. And then some more.
As I investigated the reviews I came across a phrase that is the best place to start reviewing The Analysis Of Noise Trading: "Architect's newest album is not one for the meek or the mild". Yep, that hits the old nail right on the head.
The Analysis Of Noise Trading is loud, it is full of overlapping rhythms, of beats, of random sounds, of samples, of distortion, of glitches. Yes, it is heavily industrial, it is immersive, the sound is large, sometimes booming but it is also fluid, controlled, beautifully constructed and the whole album works as a piece: it might jag and jar within tracks but the whole album just cascades before the senses. And it is not boorish. It might be an aural assault but it is never heavy-handed nor does it feel like your skull is being compressed, even when listening on headphones (which is the best way, I can tell you). The pitch and tone is nigh, well, perfect. Whilst at times the sound is a little grimy, it never leaves you feeling sordid, nor is it because of poor production - as the production is excellent: the construction expert. It has room for ambient droning: the infinite scope of sounds that seem to lose themselves in a void and techno danciness that pulsates.
But let's get down to details. Now why does The Analysis Of Noise Trading appeal so much? Why did it right me between the proverbial eyes? It has a special something, that almost indefinable, intangible feeling to it that I can only describe as depth. I love music that envelopes you, that just seems to encase you in a solid block of sound and now this can be anything from the faintest cycling drone to the simplest piano to the densest layering of sound. There is far more than a fine line - though often a fine line exists - between noise and envelopment. What it is about The Analysis Of Noise Trading is simply that it is controlled, that what we assault our ears with is not just a jumble, a host of sound, tumbling nonsensically. Anyone can make a lot of noise. Here Architect builds tracks based around different sounds and does so with great intelligent and superb effect. After all, why do we think the artists involved call themselves Architect? As a name it's perfect. It sums up the music they make. It's an electronic sculpture of sound.
Moreover, what appeals it is different. I can recognise parts of The Analysis Of Noise Trading in other albums I own but somehow it is also unique. It would be very easy for Architect to go for an Aphex Twin glitchiness, drill and bass teeth-drilling, grinding, attack. Yes, tracks like Suicide Lake are filled with glitchy samples that drill and repeat CD-stuck-like en masse but around this there are solid rhythms, it doesn't get lost in excessive abstraction or experimentation. Suicide Lake has enough that is recognisable and fashionable and beyond that layers consistent percussion and catchy rhythms that underpin the less obviously linear samples that have been glitched.
I do think Architect is rather canny. They open the album with St. Vodka: a mix of distorted rhythms, fluid beats; an inviting drone leads us into the track, which, as it opens out, takes us through a musical repertoire that will fill the remainder of the album. We are met by glorious, soaring ambient soundscapes, with layered rhythms, synthesised sequences, glitchy beats and occasional piano. It's everything in one box: then Architect takes the box apart and delves into the possibilities inherent in them all.
Speed O.J. I confess is a favourite, an absolute right-from-the-first-minute-this-is-great-piece-of -music. Utilising connecting vocal samples, it's a mix of heavy rhythms, deeply felt beats and enormous, sweeping ambient atmospheres, most often all at the same time. There is something slightly techno about it as it pulsates along its six minutes. It's such a fluid track, there is so much to listen that you try to follow each and every sound, each disparate rhythm as they clash and cascade before you. It's a prime example of sound as immersive layers rather than downright noise. And it is clever. Architect often underpin the rhythms with their swirling atmospheres, providing the music with both scope and intimacy, enriching the pummelling rhythms. It's slightly reminiscent of Surface 10's This Will Sting. And yes, Speed O.J. will sting, but it's a good sting. A sting of adrenaline.
Because, my god, much of The Analysis Of Noise Trading is adrenalinised. But then it's full of danceable rhythms, the album is shot through with them, just as it's shot through with ambience. Witness Ulverised Substance. Opening with gorgeously distorted twangs and haunting soundscapes: there is a deep throb to the soundscapes, a rich bassiness that gives way to industrial rhythms cut across by metallic swathes. Keyboard chimes and breakbeats layer onto the scene and really: these boys know how to keep it going: build up then break down. Unafraid to slow down to allow the soundscapes to haunt back in because then they can distort their industrial rhythms once more to double the impact. We feel we're being enmeshed once again, freshly, from scratch. It improves the life expectancy of the track - the shortest track is five minutes long. We're not, and never are, bogged down with samey-sameyness. Architect continuously and consistently remove and add elements: out go the breakbeats and in flows the soundscapes; metal scrapes swathe across and disappear. Familiarity may breed contempt but Architect keep just enough for there to be linearity but add enough that is disparate to keep us hungry.
Architect are not afraid to keep things simple. Ah Chamber PHX, for instance, is practically minimalist by comparison with most of the album (though incredibly busy by most standards). It begins with a curious, almost humorously staccato beat alongside a series of distorted industrial noises. It's hard to explain but it works. Voices echo, ambient sequences build gently. Dark drones enter but it's still very low key by comparison. Nevertheless Architect cannot resist their dark rhythms and build one in. Again it rests as an anchor for everything else. The drones, the distant soundscapes, the echoing, stereo voices that speak, it keeps it all together, allowing the listener a focal point in amongst the unusual flow of sound, the glitchy techno breaks and the excoriated resonances.
I could go on all day, break down each track but I think it unnecessary. The Analysis Of Noise Trading is constructed so meticulously, with such care and attention that it would take hours to catalogue each sound, each rhythm. So let us distil the effect, the attraction. The enormous layers of sound have to be the winner and the key: it's that impossible number of layers that cause you to return, each time you listen there is something else in there you thought that you'd heard before but actually you hadn't. That curious analogue rhythm in the background; the unnoticed beat; the swirling ambience drifting behind the myriad rhythms; these bring us back. But moreover there is a sense of richness of sound, there is a connectedness about the tracks, both within and without them. We have abstraction and we have beats. Each track is in itself a small world of electronica, embracing almost everything but at the same time uniquely Architect's.
I must admit I do love abstract and I do love a solid, meaty rhythm and The Analysis Of Noise Trading has them both, in spades, and, as I said before, then some.
Summary: Immersive, massive electronica - cum - breakbeat - cum - ambient - cum - everything
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