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Silent Music - PK 08/139 Release Date: 4 May 1998 Limitation: 1000 Cosmic Nose 8.15 Deep Influence 10.20 Blumenoid 8.28 Carmen 6.37 Forst Nicox 7.35 Latin Lava 7.12 Dark Room 7.36 all tracks written by Pete Namlook and Dandy Jack
On first listen, I didn't like this release. It probably wasn't until the 3rd listen a while later (when I wasn't really paying attention) that it piqued my interest a little. Maximilien does a good track breakdown so I'll stick to the big picture here.
The whole album is quite coherent and flows well, yet each track is fairly distinct in flavor. This is great (mental) working music as it never rises too high in your conscious perceptions, yet still manages to dance in curious ways between your neurons. The tracks don't usually go anywhere in particular, instead taking a basic premise and permuting it around for the duration.
Not having heard anything by Dandy Jack besides this and XJacks, I can't comment on the breakdown between his vs. Pete's contributions, but there is a unique slightly-warped motif that seems to be slightly non-FAXy, but in an effective and interesting way. I've never liked the two XJacks, but Silent Music definitely gives me a reason to give them a couple more tries -- just in case.
Lastly, I too have to say track 3 is the real standout: extremely engaging pulsing ambient intrigue that deserves a listen by every FAX-head. Track 5 is a close second: very reminiscent of Inoue's atmospherics in Zenith and Electro Harmonix -- classic FAX.
Not an absolute stunner, but definitely worth a go. You get a few excellent tracks with no clinker tracks. And it will definitely grow on you if you leave it on as background music.
Rating: 6/10 (where 5 is strict average)
(review by Trevor Cordes)
Cosmic Nose : Start with some abstract sweeps (The Putney II) then comes in a higher frequency "melody" sound a bit like some older sublabel stuff from "In starless space", than a bloopy synth bass enters with a beginning of percussions; Not much, but a nice space sounding music piece.
Deep Influence : Small high pitch "robotic" sounds with some percussions in the background, then the percussions come to the front with an organ sweep in the background. Voice samples, Percussive sounds with lots of reverb and a "flute". Darker, atmospheric.
Blumenoid : Low frequencies sweeps, with some echoes coming in and out, a small melody, a "didgeridoo??"; SAW-II'ish in some parts, but different, deeper more organic. Best song on the CD for me.
Carmen : monochromatic intro... monochromatic in-between ... windy monochromatic ... static monochromatic ... what can I say more !
Forst Nicox : monochromatic intro... again but develops into something different, deeper, lusher, organic; sounds again like "In starless space"
Latin Lava : Starts with some Dandy Jack sounds ( see his releases on Rather Interesting Like the "Plastic Woman") with some percussions. and some bassy lines and some distorted voice samples "?". The more Dandy Jack piece on this CD.
Dark Room : Again, Dandy Jack at work, hard to describe; spring loaded sounds, percussions, synth playing at best, no real melody, a game atmosphere.
(review by Maximilien Lincourt)
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