ok, the last qbico upload of the day belongs to none other than Neil Campbell and his Astral Social Club. for those who don't know nothing, ASC is Campbell's post-Vibracathedral project, usually finding him solo or with one or two friends helping. of course it's a drone based affair, with shimmering guitars and highly processed glitchy drum machines usually with the bpm being cranked all the way. it's like the drone music ravers would listen to.
this is a great record to come down off drugs to. opening very peacefully, Campbell lulls you in with shiny guitars and synth effects that are repeating and swelling until about minute 14 when the volume is so huge that your brain is only filled with it. if i close my eyes and listen to this i think of being in a blue room with little dots of bright light going ever faster until they explode everywhere and you just want to smile and embrace them. fantastic.
side b opens with a glitchy delay pattern that shifts and repeats over and over with sprawling guitars behind all the sounds, a wonderful and faded melody that sits in the back of your head while you focus on the clicks and tinkles of the processed electronics. then, almost out of nowhere the track changes completely, with the guitars coming forward and getting the processed treatment, sounding like lasers firing and a dj spinning acid house records at 16rpm. the two ideas come together and it is just fantastic, making you want more and more and you are only about halfway through the track. then, the drums fall out and you are left with a processed click and just the laser-like guitars humming and shimmering softly, rising and becoming louder and louder until it is just a beam of processed feedback and beautiful distortion, ending with more processed sounds and a strange ufo-like spinning sound that gives the whole thing an otherworldly feel.
this is an incredible record. Astral Social Club has been one of my favorite projects of any musician for a while now, any genre. it's just so pretty and sparkly and makes me wish everything was in a blacklit room.
drone music for the out there folks, or those wishing they could be even further out than they already are. lovely.
Astral Social Club - Star Guzzlers
http://www.mediafire.com/?rgyoy4wjguh
4 comments:
So first of all, sincere (albeit belated) thanks for the lino hi post. Fantastic record, not to mention one that pulls an uncharacteristic move or two as well. You mentioned you thought there were only three or so VCO records you hadn't heard, which of course begs the question, what are they? I've got ~25 of them so maybe I can fill in some holes for you.
Like you, I am also Bower obsessed. I'll readily admit, though, that the skree&churn bit is wearing thin - not that I don't love some god old skree&churn, but I want my Sunroof to be Sunroof goddamn it! The Hototogisuization of Sunroof is a downright-no-good-thing.
Now, about the Qbico records (the Leeds set, in particular)... that Astral Social Club LP is waywayoutofthisworld. Hands down the best of that bunch, although for a while I was ready to flip a coin between that and the Ashtray Navigations LP.
Anyway, its a damn fine thing you've got going here and, I, for one, appreciate it.
i really appreciate the comment! i'll be posting more qbico goodies this week as well as some other stuff!
personally, i like anything Bower does any way he does it. if he wants Sunroof! to be noisy, then by all means. sure, i really really love ussa, but silver bear mist is an incredible cd of bright skree unlike the dark and heavy hototogisu. i just wish he would revive Total and give us more weird!
i'll post the mirag cd-r sometime soon too!
also, i found a more complete discog of vibra and it seems i missed a few more cd-rs, mainly the atp set and one or two others... so alls im missing is a few of the earlier releases, the atp cd-r, and the double lp (i know, how have i not heard that?)
keep reading! my real computer is coming back to me soon and i'll have LOADS more shit to put up when i have that (i ripped every cd i ever owned to it and then the starter burnt out... fuck that!)
It just so happens that I have ATP and the Double LP on Eclipse, so if you'd like...
Also, I'm sitting on a dozen or so Total releases, so, again if you have requests then I'll help.
i only have three total releases! GIMME!
also i've heard the eclipse double lp, but i don't have a rip of it so sure. links? soulseek?
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