|
ALIEN FOLK
CD-R Auricle AMCDR 082 deleted
available as...
bandcamp download
mp3 download
duration:
60'49"
1.
Kartoffel Folket, Nr.1 3'59"
2. It's A Game We Play 4'02"
3. Don't Worry 11'14"
4. Accidental Polka 3'54"
5. Titan 8'34"
6. Kartoffel Folket, Nr.2 3'01"
7. Vulcan 8'30"
8. Wandering Nomads 15'10"
9. Kartoffel Folket, Nr.3 2'23"
All
material created spontaneously by Triax.
Recorded at Tachyon Studio, Knighton Fields Leicester, 13 February 2006.
A direct digital recording, with mix and reconstruction by Alan Freeman,
14, 21, 22 February 2006.
Alan Freeman: guitar, guitar-synth, keyboards, samples,
laptop computer, Irish whistle, bongos, frame-drum, bells, shakers, other
percussion, etc.
Steve Freeman: guitar, bass, analogue synths, tapes, loops,
prepared sounds, voice, acoustic CD, cymbal, vibra-slap, other percussion,
etc.
Dave Powell: violin, hurdy-gurdy, glockenspiel, frame-drum,
bells, shakers, other percussion, etc.
review...
The ever changing face of Triax! Adding violin to Dave's repertoire instantly
meant a change of focus, and add to that an armoury of percussive instruments
and toys, etc., indeed - folk (if you can call it that!) never gets stranger
than this!
TRIAX - ALIEN FOLK (Auricle AMCDR 082) CDR 61m
The trio. In most types of music the three piece is (in my opinion) the most
creative of line-ups. In the freeform field of “out there improv” even more
so. The paradox is that it’s a difficult set-up to work in, but when it does
work the results can be almost telepathic for those involved and truly
astonishing for the listener.
Welcome then to the world of Triax.
For those of you who are new visitors, hold onto your heads, for those more
familiar with the group, well, if you thought the earlier stuff was weird
then wait until you hear this one. A track-by-track breakdown then...
The disc opens with a howling miasma between guitar, hand drums and severely
treated vocals, no idea what exactly Kartoffel Folket means but it sure is no
Sunday afternoon tea party.
Next up is the very Endgame-like
It’s a Game We Play which features the first Tachyon trademark of the disc
whereupon our intrepid trio set up a vast background drone and superimpose
over the top a minuscule loop of metal .I’m guessing here of course but its
kinda like the sound of a wood-louse trapped behind your eyelid, spooky in an
infectious way.
If that wasn’t scary enough there’s
the sound of electronic sheep and death rattles on Don’t Worry which starts
off normal enough by Triax standards and then takes a turn for the weird with
the introduction of a severely treated violin, this really is a new avenue of
sound for the group and as such its totally unique. Yet even this cannot
prepare you for the wonderful freak-out crescendo where the studio seems to
have been invaded by a tribe of spaced-out head-hunters from Papa New Guinea
- all welding drums and electric guitars, the fact that they seem to have
also been force-fed the entire recordings of the original Amon Duul through a
food processor is merely incidental to the chaos which ensues… Hey, lets have
a whole disc of this stuff please!!!
OK, so we had to come back down to
earth after that trip and so Accidental Polka is good in a tonal kind of way
but perhaps because of what precedes it does little else for me immediately.
Titan opens in fine industrial style
with (I'm guessing) mangled hurdy-gurdy and more of that abused guitar sound,
fair enough warning I guess that we are in for a chaotic ride, and once again
there’s no disappointments.
There’s a tribal feel to Kartoffel
Folket, Nr. 2 which I would have liked the group to explore even further. I
assume that all three parts of “K.F” on the disc were actually part of the
same improv. It would be interesting to hear the original recording in its
entirety.
Without let-up it’s straight into
the downright weird and abstract world of Vulcan, plenty of headless chickens
on this one. To vulcanise is to make something stronger and more elastic.
It’s no exaggeration here to say that Triax achieve this very effect with
ease, this is an example of three explorers in sound really pushing
boundaries.
Dave’s violin is once again put to good use on Wandering Nomads which opens
with a barrage of sound and ruptured electricity, something almost La Monte
Young like about this one and there’s no let up for nine minutes or so until
finally there’s a brief respite of sorts but whichever way you look its still
a chaotic nightmare. In the nicest way possible of course!
That’s it then. Triax Volume eight.
Some thoughts to leave you with: All of this was recorded in one epic
session, those of you who have any experience at all of working in this field
of music will be aware of what an epic achievement that is. Furthermore at
least three quarters of it is exploring totally new areas of sound.
Best Triax so far? No question. What comes next will be amazing…
[Peter Smith - Audion #52, page 36]
Versions...
CD-R - released 6/2006.
Bandcamp download - released 22/9/2014.
Routenote distributed download - released 27/3/2019.
|
Auricle on Discogs
Triax on Discogs
ALIEN FOLK
CD-R
release
cover graphics
Samples from this album can
auditioned using the built in
Discogs YouTube player.
Discogs also offers:
easy worldwide ordering
of single or multiple items
with tailored billing and
payment via PayPal.
|
