vhf#72 Youngs/Bower Relayer CD
Second collaboration between these two stalwart titans of the true UK underground, coming 8 years after their first pairing on the Site/Realm LP. Relayer (the title no doubt a nod to the odd resemblance of 7 year old Rosalie Bower's cover art to another LP of the same title) throws out the live methodology of the LP for a dense set of layered studio recordings. Like the music of Bower's Sunroof! group, the tracks are rainbows of colors and textures with string drone, percussion, bleeps, and the unidentifiable competing in a mix devoid of the traditional "lead with backing" schema. Many tracks have the kind of welcoming electronic bed seldom heard since the demise of Harmonia, with ring modulated fuzz bleeping away over a chugging, but non-oppressive beat. Elsewhere, there's Youngs' Riley-style organ ping-pong, a little virtuoso Kalimba, thick wads of analog synth....you know where this is going. So tightly edited and accessible that this would be the perfect summer top-down CD, but what with it being released in November, you'll have to keep it safe until the thaw. 10 tracks, 48 minutes. CD $9Related Items:
