EC Split 12
by Gen Ken and Seiei Jack
an Electronic Cottage release
Gen Ken
All compositions created by listening.
Many thanks to: AMK, Charles Cohen, Charles Rice Goff III, Cody Brant, Conrad Schnitzler, Crystal Penalosa, dAS, David Jones, David Lee Myers, David Prescott, Ginkner, GX Jupitter-Larsen, Haim Collectivo, Hal McGee, Heinz Weber, Jennifer Vanilla, Jesse McClure, John Cage, John Sulak, Joshua Greene, Laura Norman, Leif Elggren, Luna, Lord Litter, Mariano Airialdi, Mark Moreland, Mark Schomberg, Markus Diehl, Monty Cantsin, Nancy Montgomery, Nimbu, Ninah Pixie, Rafael González, Rod Summers, Ryan Boyd, Saciandana Swami, Saint Augustine, Scott Konzelmann, Sean Julian, Seiei Jack, Small Cruel Party, Steve Dalachinsky, The Enchantress of Bioluminosity, Tommy, mom and dad, and many others too numerous to fit here.
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Seiei Jack
TOOLS
PANASONIC RX-PA7 PERSONAL PA SYSTEM
IZOTOPE SPIRE STUDIO
BROKEN ACOUSTIC GUITAR x1
BROKEN ELECTRIC BASS x1
A TAPE
VOICE
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Review by author Jerry Kranitz:
Gen Ken’s set is a fun feast of contrasting collage work, making heavy and often humorous use of voice samples. AND it’s gets reeeeally freaky experimental-psychedelic at times!
We start off with an amusing collage of language instruction samples, accompanied by Asian inspired flute ensemble and howling bells. It got me giggling as I recalled the silly language instruction tapes I used to listen to at school. ‘Tech Lesson’ features whirring electronics, birds chirping, harmonica, robot speak, and a collage crowd of instructional voice samples, all glommed together in a sometimes carnivalesque atmosphere. I love the varying moods and general sci-fi soundtrack vibe of ‘All Thru The Night’. It has a cold, mechanical feel at first, soon becoming lightly menacing, but then a pleasant melody is introduced along with lightly chanting vocals, and is peppered throughout with whimsical effects. On the one hand simple yet LOTS going on! ‘Old Spirits Melt Into Thin Air’ features more contrasting bits of backwards and efx’d voice samples, haunting atmospherics, and a frenetically grooving bongo rhythmic pulse, which is all so Psych-E-DEL-ic!!
‘Patchy Fog’ is one of the more purely musical tracks, ranging from dreamily spaced-out electro dance, various tasty little melodies, and an acoustic blues-folk vocal number. The oddball contrasts come with the weather report samples, fuzzy static effects, dissonant strings, and soundscapey vibes. It reminds me of Pink Floyd’s ‘Alan’s Psychedelic Breakfast’!! ‘Gone’ feels like a continuation, with its tripped out backwards effects, church bells, and creepy voice narration. Hats off to Ken for good FUN collage craftsmanship!
Jack Seiei’s set is a series of ‘KEN’ titles. It kicks off with a scratchy, choppity, echo’d tribal tin can percussion dirge. It’s got a great groove, in a stumbling through the toxic wasteland kind of way. ‘KEN3’ lays down a hup-tup-3-4 percussion march, propelled by light but doomy bass riffage, shimmering string action, and various clanks and clunks, creating a strangely rhythmic blend of sound-art and avant-punk. But somewhere after the halfway mark it goes quiet and Jack is laser focused on a hushed, ambient scraping pulse. This let my guard down… and then BANG!!!... ‘KEN5’ clobbers my cranium with its noise efx’d industrial and Frankenstein lab electrodes assault. ‘KEN6’ blends a chorus of chattering Italian voice samples with more electrode / percussive machine shop aggression. ‘KEN7’ thrusts us into an eerie industrial land of lost souls, with its anguished demonic voices, ghostly howls, and spaced-out supernatural soundscapes. And ‘KENX’ is similar to the opening track, finishing the set with what I’ll call experimental Scratch-Rock, doing all kinds of fun mangled things to string instruments and percussion. Another solid pairing of EC group members!
Rather than describe what this sounds like (a futile task), I will describe how it makes me feel. First it is much like white noise, blocking the world around me. It's just me and whatever I happen to be giving my attention to with no distractions or external worries. Then it is energizing and uplifting. I have more focus and energy. These soundscapes get me in the zone to help me concentrate on whatever I'm doing, whether it be washing dishes or scrolling Facebook. And it sounds damn cool too. dharmalogos
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