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RECORDED MUSIC: REVIEWS Szkieve Des rythmes de passage Hushush [2003] CD 2004/02 : Musiques et cultures digitales Un excellent album dark-ambient et vibratile qui ondule sous des loops synthétiques élaborées dans les studios de Vromb. 2004/02 : Industrial.org I am not sure why but the concepts of ambient and drone seem to form an impossible Moebius strip like set in my mind where both can at once encompass the other while remaining separate. Skieve seem to have arrived at the same illogical but staring right back at you as it does here conclusion with this excellent release on Hushush. Whatever it is, beware of door knobs after listening to it lest the static electricity built up by the loose ions coursing out of Skieve set your hair on fire. The general layout is one of drones. Some of the slowly sliding layers are borderline melodic but this is primarily an implied thing, like beat frequencies or strange psycho-acoustic artifacts. An interesting aspect of the sounds comes from their often forming the vague outlines of background interference. It is quite common to temporarily lose immediate awareness of what is transpiring only to then find yourself totally embroiled up in the numerous rotating layers. The initial cut on "Des rythmes de passage" plays in the puddle between glitch and high water pants noise floor. There isn't much doubt as to the intent nor the slickness of the mastering chops sprinkled about but the use of line noise as source material is guaranteed to send at least a few listeners off on a profanity laced foray through the snarl of speaker and component cables at the back of their stereo systems. I wouldn't call it directly funny but there is for sure a pinch of cheek to it. Other tracks like "March" could be the amplified secret conversations between the lost souls of cellular towers, the daily whines and triumphs of these inanimate objects found here in audio form. "November" finds Skieve in a wistful mood plucking string models while a swarm of northern lights crackle above like black ice on high voltage wires. The introduction of a klaxon relative towards the end abruptly twists the wheel in a new, less optimistic vector but the track (like the entirety of the recording) is still captivating none the less. The drones, whirs and familiar yet hypnotic textures found on "Des rythmes de passage" have the eye following a diagonal line towards the tops of buildings, like dots on a drafting diagram showing the line of sight between two transmission stations. Stylistically this reminds me of earlier Vromb if his squelchy blasts of laser fire had been fed to Telepherique who after shotgunning an album or two's worth vomitted them up into the path of an oncoming pavement roller. It's a bizarre type of flatland that the listener is placed in the center of. Like a 2 dimensional display of a 3-D topography with a constantly shifting set of icons, widgets, readouts and a glowing legend superimposed on the clear pane. If you could step back far enough (requiring near infinity most of the time) the scene would seem hyper-kinetic but at the provided vantage point the variations are more akin to watching a river flowing as rendered by seismograph. Many of the tones here sound as if they were produced by scientific gadgetry via a giant dial large enough to require both hands to adjust the frequency output. The recording that Skieve has created ventures about as far off into mad science one can safely go before being absorbed into stuffy academia. The subtle strength of what is found here is testament to the skill of these radio operators for interpreting dry manual and static chart into a glowing, vibrating form. "Des rythmes de passage" never steps outside for a smoke and as a complete technological belief system proves a meme that is near perfect in mental fit. And one that you will have to don a tinfoil hat to resist. 2004/00 : Coda Un opus fébrile et hypnotique conçu par Dimitri della Faille avec des "sources sonores additionnelles fournies par Rob(u)Rang et le Radiodrome"... 2003/10 : FearDrop Le même intérêt pour le tissage abstrait se trouve dans la musique de Szkieve, dont le deuxième album est un subtil mélange d'harmoniques de cordes et de manipulations synthétiques analogiques, très poétique, comme un pont pour comprendre le délicat transport dans un organisme complexe aux humeurs changeantes et volatiles. Les crépitements en équilibre face aux liquides colorés, les pulsations se mettent en place doucement. Il s'agit d'une création dépassant ce que l'on attend d'une rencontre de musiques ambiante, concrète, électro. On pense parfois à Zoviet*France, Rapoon ou Illusion of Safety pour le balisage des nuages rythmiques et des vibrations orangées mais une vie singulière soude chaque composition de Szkieve, à la fois héritière des styles et prospectrice dans une animation qui joue avec la lumière et les allongements de densité comme avec le temps qu'elle revendique. |