Released
1998
Label
OR
Reviewed by
Michael C. Lund
Contact
OR
13 Osward Road
London SW17 7SS
UK
Last Edit/Update
23 June, 1998
Farmers Manual
EXPLORERS_WE
Track Listing
1 - 60. Explorers_We
The recently established British label OR releases some of the most
original and challenging music these days; the third Farmers Manual CD Explorers_We
is certainly no exception. Explorers_We has been called "a sinewave
massacre" by one of the band members, and it is a fitting description of this sixty
minute long, continuous track of electronic sound manipulations. Throughout the program,
index points have been placed at sixty second intervals, making this -- according to one
critic -- an extremely suitable disc for random play, looping and home-Djing.
Farmers Manual's
music on this release does not really follow any structural pattern, being instead a
continuously mutating entity, moving very fluidly from moments of almost complete absence
of sound to dense, explosive sequences of noise to passages of cut-up sound collage. The
various splintered electronic bleeps, coughs, blurts, squeaks clicks and beeps that in
great part constitute Farmers Manual's palette of sounds are often
arranged in a rhythmical manner, yet rarely follow any fixed beat for very long. Likewise,
the drones and other athmospherical elements that snake in and out of the piece seldom
establish a melodic thread, but instead add touches of harmony to the piece.
To avoid loss of hearing, speakers
and/or the goodwill of neighbors, it may be advisable to play this CD at a somewhat
moderate level; because, although one initially may be tempted to turn the volume up all
the way, in order to hear the slight sounds hidden in the room presence at the beginning
of Explorers_We, Farmers Manual soon traverse sonic territories of
a much louder and imposing quality. Over the course of the first fifteen minutes of the
CD, the 'absence' of sound is gradually filled with multiple layers of humming and
vibrating tones, at first rather subdued, but finally erupting into a true swarm of
buzzing and shimmering electronics. Once this point is reached, the true experimental
acrobatics ensue. Various radio frequencies, noise signals and other 'sinewaves' are
turned inside out, and broken into minute fragments which are then arranged in ever
changing patterns that at one moment sound utterly cacophonous, and, at the next, briefly
fall into a quite harmonious gait. Towards the end, the fabric from which Farmers
Manual cuts their sounds increasingly becomes that of radio and TV programs.
Every source is naturally sliced and diced, and spliced back together in new and
intriguing ways that would have made Burroughs weep with joy.
All in all, this is a fantastic
excursion into the outer extremes of sound-exploitation. Anyone with ADD will enjoy the
mercurial shifts and turns of Explorers_We, and those with an interest in
experimental music...well, they more than likely will be familiar with OR
and Farmers Manual already, but otherwise should rush out and acquire
this release instantly.
The initial 1000 copies of Explorers_We
have been released with an extra live CD, containing material recorded at ars
electronica and electronica potent ii during 1997.
