I can't tell if this is supposed to be a good or bad review at first reading!
good, I think.
http://www.digitalmetal.com/reviews.asp?cid=7011
Kayo Dot - Dowsing Anemone With Copper Tongue/Toby Driver - In the L...L... Library Loft Kayo Dot - Dowsing Anemone With Copper Tongue
(Robotic Empire) Toby Driver - In the L...L... Library Loft
(Tzadik Records)
With the very recent passing of comedy great Richard Pryor, one can expect an outpouring of mourning and tributes which will likely feature a recap of some of the most memorable moments of the man's lengthy career in the entertainment business. One of his films that will likely be glossed over is Superman 3, which features my personally most cherished Pryor moment, when his character realizes that the Man of Steel has turned against all that is good and has embraced evil and destruction instead. Pryor looks seriously into the camera with an expression of surprise and dismay and says simply, "Supa-man's baaad". You may be wondering why that is my favorite Pryor moment, well, something gets lost without his delivery, but trust me, its classic. What does any of this have to do with an seven-piece avant-garde doom metal ensemble from Boston, you may be asking yourself. Well, um, you might want to sit down for this.
Kayo Dot's baaaad.
Ok, granted while their much-lauded debut album, Choirs of the Eye was not exactly a joyous dance around the maypole; it still had this shimmering radiance that inspired if not happy and fancy-free feelings, at least some semblence of a brightening hope and a concept of beauty. Someone, or something has turned composer/guitarist/vocalist Toby Driver to the dark side though, and we are not talking some cheezy theatrical satanism or dumb, but brutal violence. Dowsing Anemone With Copper Tongue comes dressed in the greyer shades of evil, evoking melancholy, pathos, apathy, irritation and frustration. Where their preceding effort had its moments of darkness creeping in on the edges of its shining visage, the songs on Dowsing Anemone... are draped in the darkness offering only the most fleeting glimpses of hope, before snatching them away and plunging the listener back into the stark void of their composer's seemingly fragile emotional state.
The basic methodology of these compositions is similar to Choirs of the Eye, as most songs begin from a base of quiet instrumental ruminations until both strings and volume pedals swell to a breaking point after which the band either pummels you with the cacophony of their combined weight or brings you to the edge of anticipation just to back off again to rebuild the song from the bottom-up. Where this approach came off as studious, almost playful experimentation on their first disc, here it is almost a welcomed challenge to the listener's endurance, an exquisite torture which plies open the psyche filling you with grim premonitions of great despair. The experience is nothing less than harrowing as layers of sound and music engulf and ensnare, sometimes synchronized in great washes of overwhelming stimuli, other times playing tricks with misdirection and counterpoint. "Aura on an Asylum Wall" is the only song on here that starts loud, with Toby's wailing vocals invoking and inviting the demons into a maddening hell of his own devising. The song than breaks into a Herrmannesque Hitchcock-score to build the suspense before tearing you open with what might be the first example on record of ensemble grindcore.
Maybe it was the move from John Zorn's Tzadik label to indie/hardcore/metalcore label Robotic Empire which in some way precipitated the need to delivery a heavier, darker and moodier album then the debut, but I give these guys and girl way more credit than that. Besides, it's not like Mr. Driver doesn't have an outlet for his dark side as his debut solo effort In the L....L.....Library Loft so clearly demonstrates. This album reassembles some of his past supporting cast including Mia Matsumiya on violin, Ryan McGuire on bass, and guitarist Greg Massi. Like Kayo Dot this is experimental ensemble playing, though with significantly less metal and a more ambient, soundtrack feel than Kayo Dot. The mood here evokes the classic horror of Poe and Lovecraft with opening number, "Kandu vs. Corky" having a very Tell-Tale Heart type effect on the listener's nervous system and the cover showing a Cthulu-like creature stalking a victim through the trees. Combined with Kayo Dot's left-hand turn on Dowsing Anemone..., In the L...L...Library Loft makes a great companion album for a cold winter evening of sophisticated terror. The horror....the horror.....
By John Gnesin
good, I think.
http://www.digitalmetal.com/reviews.asp?cid=7011
Kayo Dot - Dowsing Anemone With Copper Tongue/Toby Driver - In the L...L... Library Loft Kayo Dot - Dowsing Anemone With Copper Tongue
(Robotic Empire) Toby Driver - In the L...L... Library Loft
(Tzadik Records)
With the very recent passing of comedy great Richard Pryor, one can expect an outpouring of mourning and tributes which will likely feature a recap of some of the most memorable moments of the man's lengthy career in the entertainment business. One of his films that will likely be glossed over is Superman 3, which features my personally most cherished Pryor moment, when his character realizes that the Man of Steel has turned against all that is good and has embraced evil and destruction instead. Pryor looks seriously into the camera with an expression of surprise and dismay and says simply, "Supa-man's baaad". You may be wondering why that is my favorite Pryor moment, well, something gets lost without his delivery, but trust me, its classic. What does any of this have to do with an seven-piece avant-garde doom metal ensemble from Boston, you may be asking yourself. Well, um, you might want to sit down for this.
Kayo Dot's baaaad.
Ok, granted while their much-lauded debut album, Choirs of the Eye was not exactly a joyous dance around the maypole; it still had this shimmering radiance that inspired if not happy and fancy-free feelings, at least some semblence of a brightening hope and a concept of beauty. Someone, or something has turned composer/guitarist/vocalist Toby Driver to the dark side though, and we are not talking some cheezy theatrical satanism or dumb, but brutal violence. Dowsing Anemone With Copper Tongue comes dressed in the greyer shades of evil, evoking melancholy, pathos, apathy, irritation and frustration. Where their preceding effort had its moments of darkness creeping in on the edges of its shining visage, the songs on Dowsing Anemone... are draped in the darkness offering only the most fleeting glimpses of hope, before snatching them away and plunging the listener back into the stark void of their composer's seemingly fragile emotional state.
The basic methodology of these compositions is similar to Choirs of the Eye, as most songs begin from a base of quiet instrumental ruminations until both strings and volume pedals swell to a breaking point after which the band either pummels you with the cacophony of their combined weight or brings you to the edge of anticipation just to back off again to rebuild the song from the bottom-up. Where this approach came off as studious, almost playful experimentation on their first disc, here it is almost a welcomed challenge to the listener's endurance, an exquisite torture which plies open the psyche filling you with grim premonitions of great despair. The experience is nothing less than harrowing as layers of sound and music engulf and ensnare, sometimes synchronized in great washes of overwhelming stimuli, other times playing tricks with misdirection and counterpoint. "Aura on an Asylum Wall" is the only song on here that starts loud, with Toby's wailing vocals invoking and inviting the demons into a maddening hell of his own devising. The song than breaks into a Herrmannesque Hitchcock-score to build the suspense before tearing you open with what might be the first example on record of ensemble grindcore.
Maybe it was the move from John Zorn's Tzadik label to indie/hardcore/metalcore label Robotic Empire which in some way precipitated the need to delivery a heavier, darker and moodier album then the debut, but I give these guys and girl way more credit than that. Besides, it's not like Mr. Driver doesn't have an outlet for his dark side as his debut solo effort In the L....L.....Library Loft so clearly demonstrates. This album reassembles some of his past supporting cast including Mia Matsumiya on violin, Ryan McGuire on bass, and guitarist Greg Massi. Like Kayo Dot this is experimental ensemble playing, though with significantly less metal and a more ambient, soundtrack feel than Kayo Dot. The mood here evokes the classic horror of Poe and Lovecraft with opening number, "Kandu vs. Corky" having a very Tell-Tale Heart type effect on the listener's nervous system and the cover showing a Cthulu-like creature stalking a victim through the trees. Combined with Kayo Dot's left-hand turn on Dowsing Anemone..., In the L...L...Library Loft makes a great companion album for a cold winter evening of sophisticated terror. The horror....the horror.....
By John Gnesin
