TUNER: Totem
This review was originally written for ProjeKction.net. The original version can be found HERE. Following my writing of this review I was also involved in preparing an email interview with Tuner for ProjeKction which I will post in my next blog entry.
TUNER: Totem
Expectation is a prism...
Markus Reuter and Pat Mastelotto are currently best known for their work in Centrozoon & King Crimson respectively. It would be easy to assume that TUNER, as a collaboration between the two, might sound something like a meeting between the acts they are key parts of. Despite the inescapable signatures of both artists present on this album, Totem steps into territory far removed from any other act associated with either of the pair.
Blending richly organic sonic textures (Pat’s acoustic drums sound at times as if they were distance-mic’d in an echo chamber) and multi-layered digital crispiness with subtle sampling, soundscaping, touch-guitar melodies, ever-descending chord sequences & the occasional processed vocal, TUNER cover such a broad spectrum within this album’s 58 absorbing minutes to avoid category completely. The diversity of the instruments (and the sounds produced from those instruments) used for the album belie the fact that this is only a duo of musicians. Forget trying to find the right pigeon-holes. TUNER are a freaking albatross.
Flinch starts the proceedings with a driving electro-funk worthy of release on the warp label. Surprisingly this track features mainly acoustic drumming from Pat. The style of the piece leads one’s ears to expect densely layered mechanical rhythms which never quite take the spotlight. Half-way into the track some severe snipper work leads to the albums first (but by no means last) leaning towards glitchtronica acts like Autechre. As precise and mathematical as this music is, chaos also plays an important role.
Markus’s first, and most full-frontal, vocal foray on Totem is on the wonderfully named Up, Down, Forward & Return. The cyclical motion suggested by the title and lyrics effectively reflect the infinitely descending chord sequence, which in itself recalls King Crimson’s Vrooom. And like Vrooom’s reprise Vrooom Vrooom, Up, Down, Forward & Return has a counterpart in Kiss The Earth featuring the same ever-creeping chords in a completely different manner entirely.
There are many other synchronicities to be found in this album. In fact, one month after first hearing it I am still picking up new references to recurrent motifs and themes. Totem is far more complex than it first appears.
Soundscaping and gentle programming with sampled conversation start Mouth Piece. You could almost be mistaken in thinking we have entered ambient territory, but it isn’t long before divebombing sub-bass lines and pseudo-techno rhythms come to the fore. A very catchy piece of music which will have your feet tapping away. An obvious choice for a single, hence the accompanying video clip included as an extra on the CD.
Totem’s title track is built around rhythmic clapping games and subdued feedback-drenched chordal overtones. Lifetime era Larry Young would be proud of these sounds. Bass-lines jump out and grab the listener occasionally, but the rest of this track is an excursion in post-rock styled minimalist dub… with feedback. Does that make sense?
After four songs it begins to be apparent that TUNER have an identity all of their own. TU part two this ain’t. The nearest comparison I can draw is with Tom Jenkinson’s Squarepusher Presents series; the Budakhan Mindphone mini-album in particular shares a certain resonance.
A Test Of Faith leans deeper into the avant/outer-limits field teasing us with snippets of a slow monster groove set deep within an apocalyptic atmosphere of caustic wind and eerie vocals. The groove eventually establishes itself as the centre of this piece (accompanied with some circular arpeggios), but not until almost two thirds of the song has passed. The battle has already been fought.
The centrepiece of the album from which the rest of the tracks are reflected is The Morning Tide Washes Away. The only track to feature a guest contribution in the form of Renee Stieger AKA Sirenee, heavily processed to a digital extreme. Comparisons with Radiohead’s Fitter Happier are undoubtedly to be raised as a bleak picture is drawn, both musically and lyrically. When a second vocal-line enters at the three minute mark a new feel begins to establish itself. By the time four minutes have passed (and after a substantial mid-song pause for breath) the second vocal-line is nearly all that remains. The rest of the song oozes ethnic positivity with Renee showing off her best glottal stops, exotic trills and other non-western vocal techniques.
Somewhat unfortunately this is the only track to feature a guest contribution on the album. Tim Bowness’s contribution did not make the final cut. Guests can enrich an artistic project by giving the pieces an outsider’s perspective and I believe TUNER have benefited from that here. If there is one criticism to make of Totem it is that despite the broad musical spectrum TUNER cover, the limited membership of the ensemble has led to emotional restrictions to a certain degree. Renee may be very closely associated with the group, but her distance is enough to generate a new flavour, a new colour, a new pattern, and this is what makes her contribution so interesting.
Totem continues with Hands starting as a bleepfest with organic hand percussion and tribal sampling, before moving into a long-form improv of soundscaping and drumming. If Fripp/Mastelotto's Radical Dance project had not been shelved it may have sounded something like this.
Organ drones and small electronica introduce Better Take Your Head Off before more brutal programming and square-wave bass-lines move the track in another direction altogether. This is also one of the few tracks where a guitar solo is notably present, albeit brief.
Grinding through Kiss The Earth Totem closes with the beguiling Dexter Ward. Glitchtronica rears its head again with little skips and almost-errors setting up a moogish synth oscillation and gentle percussion scape. Layer upon layer it grows. Then slowly it falls apart, gently easing the album out in fine style. And it sounds bloody good in the car stereo to boot!
If music can be thought of as a colour wheel, then most acts devote their time to exploring and refining a particular colour, or specific blend of colours. TUNER, on the other hand, seem content at this young stage to wander all over their sector of the musical palette. Given time, this project should refine this wandering, which means the best is yet to come. Totem may not quite be album of the year, but TUNER prove beyond doubt that they are the surprise act of recent times. I, for one, am heartily looking forward to the next instalment from this camp.
Whatever colour it may be.
TUNER: Totem
Pat Mastelotto: Drums, Percussion, Samples, Programming
Markus Reuter: Touch Guitar, Organ, Synths, Programming, Voice
Unsung Records 0501001 http://www.unsung-records.com
1. Flinch 3:31
2. Up, Down, Forward & Return 5:53
3. Mouth Piece 4:19
4. Totem 6:11
5. A Test Of Faith 4:47
6. The Morning Tide Washes Away 7:15
7. Hands 7:10
8. Better Take Your Head Off 3:17
9. Kiss The Earth 8:42
10. Dexter Ward 6:43
+ Mouth Piece (video in Quicktime and WMV formats)
Vocals on 6 by Sirenee
All music by TUNER except 6 by TUNER/Stieger
All words by Reuter except 6 by Filatova
View an edit of Renee Steiger’s video for Mouth Piece and hear free samples from Totem and TUNER live at http://www.patmastelotto.com/freemusic.0.html
Totem is currently available at:
http://www.disciplineglobalmobile.com/shop/
& http://www.burningshed.com/
TUNER Links:
Pat Mastelotto: http://www.patmastelotto.com
Markus Reuter: http://www.markusreuter.com
Renee Stieger/Sirenee: http://www.sirenee.com
TU Live! (including TUNER live): http://members.aol.com/kingcrimsonlive/tulive.htm
(And a huge personal thank-you to the TUNER camp for supplying my copy of this CD.)
TUNER: Totem
Expectation is a prism...
Markus Reuter and Pat Mastelotto are currently best known for their work in Centrozoon & King Crimson respectively. It would be easy to assume that TUNER, as a collaboration between the two, might sound something like a meeting between the acts they are key parts of. Despite the inescapable signatures of both artists present on this album, Totem steps into territory far removed from any other act associated with either of the pair.
Blending richly organic sonic textures (Pat’s acoustic drums sound at times as if they were distance-mic’d in an echo chamber) and multi-layered digital crispiness with subtle sampling, soundscaping, touch-guitar melodies, ever-descending chord sequences & the occasional processed vocal, TUNER cover such a broad spectrum within this album’s 58 absorbing minutes to avoid category completely. The diversity of the instruments (and the sounds produced from those instruments) used for the album belie the fact that this is only a duo of musicians. Forget trying to find the right pigeon-holes. TUNER are a freaking albatross.
Flinch starts the proceedings with a driving electro-funk worthy of release on the warp label. Surprisingly this track features mainly acoustic drumming from Pat. The style of the piece leads one’s ears to expect densely layered mechanical rhythms which never quite take the spotlight. Half-way into the track some severe snipper work leads to the albums first (but by no means last) leaning towards glitchtronica acts like Autechre. As precise and mathematical as this music is, chaos also plays an important role.
Markus’s first, and most full-frontal, vocal foray on Totem is on the wonderfully named Up, Down, Forward & Return. The cyclical motion suggested by the title and lyrics effectively reflect the infinitely descending chord sequence, which in itself recalls King Crimson’s Vrooom. And like Vrooom’s reprise Vrooom Vrooom, Up, Down, Forward & Return has a counterpart in Kiss The Earth featuring the same ever-creeping chords in a completely different manner entirely.
There are many other synchronicities to be found in this album. In fact, one month after first hearing it I am still picking up new references to recurrent motifs and themes. Totem is far more complex than it first appears.
Soundscaping and gentle programming with sampled conversation start Mouth Piece. You could almost be mistaken in thinking we have entered ambient territory, but it isn’t long before divebombing sub-bass lines and pseudo-techno rhythms come to the fore. A very catchy piece of music which will have your feet tapping away. An obvious choice for a single, hence the accompanying video clip included as an extra on the CD.
Totem’s title track is built around rhythmic clapping games and subdued feedback-drenched chordal overtones. Lifetime era Larry Young would be proud of these sounds. Bass-lines jump out and grab the listener occasionally, but the rest of this track is an excursion in post-rock styled minimalist dub… with feedback. Does that make sense?
After four songs it begins to be apparent that TUNER have an identity all of their own. TU part two this ain’t. The nearest comparison I can draw is with Tom Jenkinson’s Squarepusher Presents series; the Budakhan Mindphone mini-album in particular shares a certain resonance.
A Test Of Faith leans deeper into the avant/outer-limits field teasing us with snippets of a slow monster groove set deep within an apocalyptic atmosphere of caustic wind and eerie vocals. The groove eventually establishes itself as the centre of this piece (accompanied with some circular arpeggios), but not until almost two thirds of the song has passed. The battle has already been fought.
The centrepiece of the album from which the rest of the tracks are reflected is The Morning Tide Washes Away. The only track to feature a guest contribution in the form of Renee Stieger AKA Sirenee, heavily processed to a digital extreme. Comparisons with Radiohead’s Fitter Happier are undoubtedly to be raised as a bleak picture is drawn, both musically and lyrically. When a second vocal-line enters at the three minute mark a new feel begins to establish itself. By the time four minutes have passed (and after a substantial mid-song pause for breath) the second vocal-line is nearly all that remains. The rest of the song oozes ethnic positivity with Renee showing off her best glottal stops, exotic trills and other non-western vocal techniques.
Somewhat unfortunately this is the only track to feature a guest contribution on the album. Tim Bowness’s contribution did not make the final cut. Guests can enrich an artistic project by giving the pieces an outsider’s perspective and I believe TUNER have benefited from that here. If there is one criticism to make of Totem it is that despite the broad musical spectrum TUNER cover, the limited membership of the ensemble has led to emotional restrictions to a certain degree. Renee may be very closely associated with the group, but her distance is enough to generate a new flavour, a new colour, a new pattern, and this is what makes her contribution so interesting.
Totem continues with Hands starting as a bleepfest with organic hand percussion and tribal sampling, before moving into a long-form improv of soundscaping and drumming. If Fripp/Mastelotto's Radical Dance project had not been shelved it may have sounded something like this.
Organ drones and small electronica introduce Better Take Your Head Off before more brutal programming and square-wave bass-lines move the track in another direction altogether. This is also one of the few tracks where a guitar solo is notably present, albeit brief.
Grinding through Kiss The Earth Totem closes with the beguiling Dexter Ward. Glitchtronica rears its head again with little skips and almost-errors setting up a moogish synth oscillation and gentle percussion scape. Layer upon layer it grows. Then slowly it falls apart, gently easing the album out in fine style. And it sounds bloody good in the car stereo to boot!
If music can be thought of as a colour wheel, then most acts devote their time to exploring and refining a particular colour, or specific blend of colours. TUNER, on the other hand, seem content at this young stage to wander all over their sector of the musical palette. Given time, this project should refine this wandering, which means the best is yet to come. Totem may not quite be album of the year, but TUNER prove beyond doubt that they are the surprise act of recent times. I, for one, am heartily looking forward to the next instalment from this camp.
Whatever colour it may be.
TUNER: Totem
Pat Mastelotto: Drums, Percussion, Samples, Programming
Markus Reuter: Touch Guitar, Organ, Synths, Programming, Voice
Unsung Records 0501001 http://www.unsung-records.com
1. Flinch 3:31
2. Up, Down, Forward & Return 5:53
3. Mouth Piece 4:19
4. Totem 6:11
5. A Test Of Faith 4:47
6. The Morning Tide Washes Away 7:15
7. Hands 7:10
8. Better Take Your Head Off 3:17
9. Kiss The Earth 8:42
10. Dexter Ward 6:43
+ Mouth Piece (video in Quicktime and WMV formats)
Vocals on 6 by Sirenee
All music by TUNER except 6 by TUNER/Stieger
All words by Reuter except 6 by Filatova
View an edit of Renee Steiger’s video for Mouth Piece and hear free samples from Totem and TUNER live at http://www.patmastelotto.com/freemusic.0.html
Totem is currently available at:
http://www.disciplineglobalmobile.com/shop/
& http://www.burningshed.com/
TUNER Links:
Pat Mastelotto: http://www.patmastelotto.com
Markus Reuter: http://www.markusreuter.com
Renee Stieger/Sirenee: http://www.sirenee.com
TU Live! (including TUNER live): http://members.aol.com/kingcrimsonlive/tulive.htm
(And a huge personal thank-you to the TUNER camp for supplying my copy of this CD.)
posted by Owen at 8:10 AM
2 Comments:
This is one of my most favorite albums. Yes I like it better than Pole.
I think that Totem is far stronger than Pole precisely because it did *not* feature many guests.
Pole seems like a totally different animal. It actually as if TUNER have lost their original identity, sadly.
Owen, your blog is full of some wonderful writing. Thanks.
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