Released
1997
Reviewed by
Kim Alexander
Label
Visit
Last Edit/Update
29 March, 1998
Scar Tissue
TMOTD
The Memory Of The Devices
Track Listing
1. Crashtime
2. Cascade
3. Not Your Own
4. A Million Screens
5. Aftermath
6. Switch
7. Membrane
8. Gravity
9. In This Place
10. Subterrain
11. Crying Response Machine
12. Laughing Response Machine
13-25. the devices
Another
incredible release is presented here by Scar Tissue with TMOTD
(the memory of the devices). Of course I am biased because the sound of Scar
Tissue is one of my all time favourites....so if you follow my opinions in
electronica, you need to purchase this cd, as it is incredibly good.
The best things about this CD are
the progressive power drumming set forth by Steve Watkins and the continually fascinating
guitar MASTURBATION by Phil Caldwell. There are also a great deal of harmonic surges on
this release which add depth and intensity to the rhythms and beats within, and great
choices of vocal/film sampling.
This CD opens up with Crashtime,
which starts with a buildup of vocal samples, increasing in intensity with drums and
noisey electronic insertions that could make your hair stand on end -- leading into a
rumbling and rolling cresendo with high energy EBM and ends with the quiet vocal sample:
"Dick has to set up his computer, we have to vacate the room."
One of my favourite tracks is #2, Cascade.
It has that intense heart pulsating beat, Phil tweeking his guitar (I believe), as if he
were sliding off a wet muddy ledge somewhere in California during the rainy season, and
excellent vocal samples. This leads into Not Your Own, again the drums are in the
forefront of the sound, powerful beats exert their dance effect to make me get up and kick
it.
Aftermath is a more noisey
track with slamming injections of dense sonics, yet has the harmonics to make it easier to
follow, and of course sampled vocals to keep it quite interesting -- and leading into Switch,
a more mello yet driven track of mainly deep drumming and soft guitar manipulations
blended into its own flowing aural temptations.
Track 7, Membrane is a
good scary track, starting out with single drum beats offering up a picture of some tall
lanky guy in a trench coat, standing in the fog staring at you with intents of
malice..."I don't have an answer", (male vocal sample) and excellent exotic
drums again, those sort of high clicking sounds and bass drumming begin to roll and
increase in dramatic sonics as this guy in the background states: "I would treat her
rather aggressively", creates a mood of anxiety, not for the woosies in the crowd.
This is another of my favourite tracks on the CD. It kicks it hard! Yeah, I had to go turn
this on up..."It's hard to think, It's hard to make a decision..." --Membrane,
TMOTD.
Likewise, track 8, Gravity
has the same whiney exotic horn samples with the chant like background of men hefting
large heavy objects in the heat of the day in some ancient city of long ago...and leading
up to track 9 In This Place which starts out with more single drums, noise
reverberations (is that Phil again?) and electro-harmonies that end with a short piece of
solo drumming and what sounds like a bagpipe (but is actually violin done by Jenny
Slatten, and could be used for the ending of a rather serious film where someone has made
some personal victory in their life...or someone else's. Kinda sounds Scottish...very
moving piece of work.
Heading back again into the dancey
sounds of bass guitar and steady backbeat of drums, Subterrain is a more jazzy
cut with high intensity noise drifting in and out, made by what sounds like Phil on guitar
and a tasty bass guitar solo in and out of the track... "You have made an invalid
selection. Please try again." -- female sample and Dennis Hopper expressing:
" arrrrgghhhh...You FUCK!". --Blue Velvet.
Dark and ambient initially, Crying
Response Machine is more gothic sounding with a good deal of noise waves flowing
within and around female and male samples. "Yeah, some heavy shit went down
last night...", "Like what?" ... " Well where are you?
Well where are you?", begins Laughing Response Machine, a quirky track that
about blows out my woofers. Bass and drum minimal sound with fadeout drums, noise and
strange machine-like clinks and clanks interjected adding to the diversity of the track
and to the CD as a whole.
Last but certainly not least, the
devices, or tracks 13-25 are indexed sequences of noise and intense sonics, drumming
and other assorted goodies that pretty much wraps up the entire release with a variety of
diverse snippets common to the fine work of Scar Tissue's expertise.
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