another visit to the astral social club

ah, Neil Campbell, you rule my world.

here's Astral Social Club's #11 cd-r which he put out himself, of course. strictly limited to 150 copies (and reissued on a mp3 cd-r which i think is out of print now too...), this cd-r has sounds very close to the important releases. loads of high end skree and layers here, and tons of that fast-forwarded tape sound here too.

actually, his own description is much better than i could do:
"Content this time around is highly nitrous, with much overloaded top-end twinkle. Check for some particularly screwy (and often barely-recognisable) versions of tracks set for release on QBICO and Important Records later this year, taking the demented recent ASC live persona and twisting it further with heavy collage/layering techniques. Offset this with remedial drumbox stumble and mysterious processed tracks and you know theres only one hotel you can be checking into. Edition of 150 in colour ASC corporate house-style. 7 tracks, 42 minutes"

get it. no cover scans, but the art is the usual "Astral Social Club" picture with a green background.

Astral Social Club - #11
http://www.mediafire.com/?nwknzykdzwz

oh, can there really be more Qbico? pt. 5

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