KEVIN DRUMM - Second PERDITION PLASTICS
— 10.02.2010*Incredible, studious electronics from Kevin Drumm, reissued for
the
first time since its 1999 release - DON'T MISS* Another precious
Kevin
Drumm reissue from Perdition Plastics, this album first emerged in
1999
and marked a giant evolutionary step for the Chicagoan
experimentalist.
Following on from his self-titled debut with its clinical,
lowercase
guitar improvisations, Second feels like a bold new direction,
pulling
together three compositions built from analogue synth, guitar,
organ and
accordion, all eventually treated and pieced together via computer.
The twenty-three minute lead track, 'Cynicism Is The Stuff Laugh
Riots
Are Made Of' is an incredible study of signal sculpting that over
a
decade later feels more exciting and more artful than any number
of
modern-day pastoral microsound exercises. Here Drumm goes
into
remarkable levels of detail, modulating source sounds through
florid
upper frequency strata, throwing in outbursts of resplendent,
abstract
texture that betray a more physical, tactile presence. After
a
labyrinth of masterful sonic exploration, Drumm eventually arrives
at a
warm, deeply harmonious conclusory passage that evokes the sort of
drone
perfection achieved on 2008's Imperial Distortion. After such
a
lengthy tract, what better than a two-minute miniature to break up
the
pace? 'All Morning And Half The Afternoon' neatly cleanses
the palate
with its fissures of silence and concentrated, collaged
amplified
textures leading up to the other long-form piece on the disc: 'We
Both
Liked The View'. This is almost certainly the most
approachable
composition of the three, balancing its flirtation with extreme,
Raster
Noton-like digital micro-blips whilst engaging with the more
welcoming
sonorities of stretched-out organ chords. Kevin Drumm's
Second might be
more than ten years old, but it still has Андрей
Себрант the potential to be one of
the greatest experimental electronic releases you'll hear in 2010 -
just
about as essential as they come.