Goodiepal - Havet / Flower Farmer - Prunes (Reckno)
This time, after interviewing Chris from Reckno last time I am record reviewing new two tapes from the label. The first one i'm doing is a tape that has two different artists on it which is what you call a split; because it is split between two different artists who get a side of the tape each to do their music on. One of the interesting things about this is that the tape has two covers, one on each side, so you can turn it over to have the art that you like best - the cover that I liked best is the one for the Flower Farmer side of the tape because it has a nice cartoon picture on it of a woman with a blue face but I think the other side is nice too.
The other side of the tape is the first one that I'm going to review and it is by a man called Goodiepal who is a Danish man with a funny moustache who's real name is Parl Kristian Bj
ørn Vester and when we looked him up on the computer it said he not only does music but he also does talks and writes books about music too and he rides around on his homemade bike which must be a quite special bike because he can use it to make electricity to fuel the things he makes music on - I'd quite like to see this bike as I can't really imagine what it looks like.
There are two long songs by Goodiepal on this tape and I liked them both very much. When the first song started what it sounded like to me is that there is a man, maybe Goodiepal himself, who is sat on a beach early in the morning and the waves are crashing and he is ringing bells as he's watching them but then some drums start and I think these sounds like drums to wake people up, maybe because there is something bad coming. It goes quieter again then though after the drums and then there are sounds like women wailing and crying and it all sounds a bit spooky to me because there are some quite spooky sounds in there like a bell ringing occasionally and long noises which go on for a long time. I liked this one a lot because it made me think of old films where bad stuff happens like War of the Worlds from 1953 and I like old films like that so that's a good thing to be reminded of. Here is a video of the advert for War of the Worlds for you to look at:
The next song starts of with bells and waves like in the last one except this time there are lots more of them and there are long sounds again but this time not as long as in the last one. I kind of thought this sounded like the world has woken up after the bad stuff in the last song had happened and things are sort of okay again so things carry on as best they can - I liked this Goodiepal music very much, it reminded me a bit of classical music and a bit of science fiction music and I thought it was very interesting to listen too because it's quite strange and wonderful.
The next side of the tape is by somebody called Flower Farmer who I couldn't find out much except his real name is Florian Yarrow and that he makes "radical computer music". I thought that his surname is Yarrow is quite interesting because the housing association that runs the house I live in and that pays for The Gate where I write these reviews is called Yarrow Housing which is a bit of a coincidence.
The music on this side starts off with a song called Eight Story Pool Ball and it starts off with what sounds like a keyboard playing quite slow but then it starts going all fast when the drums come in and it is very strange indeed and then after a bit it goes even faster and even weirder. It's not what I'm used too at all this music and it made me think of a disco for weird people who dance all strange and when you talk to them they talk all strange too, I don't know where these people would come from though; maybe Mars and maybe this is Martian music for Martian people. Here is a story I made up for this song:
I was walking down the road and a girl run up to me and she said she was from mars and was being chased by the police so I told her that I would look after her and we escaped from the police and went to the strange Martian nightclub and she liked it there and we talked to the other Martians and had a good time.
The next song on the Flower Farmer side of the tape is called Ice Cream Eraser which is a bit of a funny name for a song and I don't really know what it means. This one is a bit slower than the last one and reminded me of the horses going round on the carousel at a fairground. I always go to the fair when it comes to Shepherds Bush Green and go on a few of the less scary rides because I'm not really keen on the bigger rides where you go too fast or go upside down because I reckon i'm a bit old for the types of rides.
After Ice Cream Eraser is the next song which is called Kaleidomotive and I thought this sounded a bit like the other ones if they were going a bit wrong but I think it's supposed to sound like that. I thought this one was funny and it had lots daft sounds in it that made me laugh that I liked a lot.
Next up is one called Ocean Glow which is quite slow and I thought sounds a bit like bagpipes played over dripping water and pots and pans being hit. I liked this one a lot because it reminded me of my Grandfather who was a Scotsman.
The last tune on the tape starts off with music that sounds a bit like the music we do here on a monday when we do musical improvisation. It's quite a calm sounding tune compared to some of the rest of the Flower Farmer tunes (though it gets a bit less calm at the end) and my favourite bit in it is a noise that runs all the way through which sounded to me a bit like a small dog whimpering.
Overall I would say this was a very interesting tape with two very interesting and very different artists on it and I enjoyed it very much and think other people should give it a go because I think they would find it very interesting too. I would give this tape 10 out of 10.
Our Love Will Destroy The Earth - Jet Plane Joy (Reckno)
The second tape I am reviewing is by just one musician called Campbell Kneale from New Zealand. Campbell Kneale has made lots of different music using different names and on this tape he is calling himself Our Love Will Destroy the Earth but we listened to some other stuff by him where he uses different names so I could learn more about him.
The first song I listened to is from an old Various Artists CD thing called Two Ducks on a Truck which had Cambell Kneale on it as Birchville Cat Motel. The song I heard from this sounds like a snowstorm and is something called a drone song and I quite liked it.
The reason why I know it is called a drone song is that we did a Music Appreciation Session where we listened to some Droney music; we listened to some old Indian music and we listened to some Didgeridoo and Alphorn and some modern classical music and some electronic music too. Also as part of this we listened to some Black Boned Angel which is another Campbell Kneale thing and it sounds like really slow heavy metal so we played it really loud. We all liked the Black Boned Angel record except Ashley who said it wasn't really his thing.
On the tape that I am reviewing now though Campbell Kneale is not called Birchville Cat Motel or Black Boned Angel because he is called Our Love Will Destroy The Earth and it doesn't really sound like the other things by Campbell Kneale that I've heard at all because it is a lot noisier.
The first song on this tape then is called Glittery Skin and it starts off with a load of noise where you can't make out what anything is but I think there is a voice in there but I can't work out what it's saying. After a bit of this there are some big guitars that start and then stop and it goes all quiet and there is quiet noise like birdsong and then next song starts and it is guitars and noise again and sounds to me like a huge band playing loads of guitars at a big concert. I thought this was very interesting indeed to listen to but some of the people at the Gate had to leave the room because they thought it was too noisy.
The next song is called Jet Plane Joy and this is very different from the last song though it does have big guitars too, this time though there is rock drumming in it and the guitars are rock guitars too and they play the same thing over and over and it is very, very rocking indeed and reminded me of punk or heavy metal music a bit and I think this is a good thing because I like punk and heavy metal.
On the other side of the tape is the next song and this is starts off with noise like a radio not tuned in properly and then there is heavy guitars again and drums and I think maybe vocals but it is all a bit muddy sounding so you have to listen close to hear them. I thought this sounded like a rock concert again and I was thinking it was maybe a concert where things go a bit wrong cos it goes all funny sounding. The next song sounds a bit like this too and there are lots of sounds in there all mixed up in what sounds like a big tunnel. This makes it sound quite weird and very different and I liked it a lot.
The next song is the last song on the tape and is called Skinny Glitter and is a bit quieter than the others to start with but soon gets louder, it's still a bit calmer than the others I thought though and there is a voice I could hear all mixed up in there that I thought sounded like an angel singing. I thought this was a nice way to finish the tape because I like angels.
Overall I would say I enjoyed this tape a lot even though it was very noisy and I'm going to take it home and listen to it more. I very much enjoyed learning about Campbell Kneale and listening to this tape very much so I am going to give this tape 10 out of 10 too.
