Sleep Research Facility ‎– Nostromo

Remember all that tense and eerie creeping around through that hulking spacecraft in the original Alien movie? Well, Sleep Research Facility wants to take you on a tour of that same ship--going deep into its bowels, with hardly any light, as intense and ominous as any scene with Ripley skulking through the vastness of the Nostromo's interiour spaces. Yes, welcome aboard, all hands on deck.

This 2007 CD is a reissue of Sleep Research_Facility's limited edition 2001 debut CD on Cold Spring Records (original pressing run was 1000 copies). It adds one more track, "Narcissus," to its original five track--A-Deck to E-Deck--playlist, which is a delightful bonus because this initial effort from SR_F definitely leaves this listener wanting more.

The tracks on this disc are dark and deep with an emphasis on lower end frequencies. At times it will shake your walls even at a moderate volume and I can only imagine what listening to it with a proper 2.1 setup would be like: intense. Depending on the track, the bass frequencies provide anything from a slowly pulsating rhythm to a steady background drone. This easily captures what it might be like--in the imagination, anyway--to be wandering around on a spaceship powered by some kind of nuclear fusion reactor, and not to mention readily bringing to mind the feeling of drifting through the seemingly boundless void of outer space.

Soundscapes unwind slowly on Nostromo. This is an exercise in experimental, dark ambience, yes, but there definitely seems to be a meditative aspect to these recordings as well. Put this on through some headphones, get comfortable, breathe deeply and regularly, and I'm pretty sure you'll be successfully transported into some strange interiour landscapes. The pacing is sedate but not dull. Tracks unfold with drawn out sounds, pulsing tones, minimalist pondering synths, and healthy doses of skillfully dialled reverb. At times there is a palpable sense of dismal foreboding.

But it's not all droning electronica and throbbing bass frequencies. On several tracks there are "glitch" type elements recontextualized from glitch's more (at times) upbeat approach and frequent drum and bass sort of sensibilities. In other words, the glitch sounds heard on Nostromo fit in well with the overall vast glacial textures and serve to remind us that perhaps we really are part of a doomed crew's terminal voyage.

Glitchy or otherwise "abrasive" sounds add subtle layers of more "noise" oriented experimentalism into some of the tracks, but without going anywhere near overdriven, difficult to listen to cacophony or "wall of sound" type audio escapades. All the noisy goodness sits well balanced within the greater context of the dark, cavernous, slow moving soundscapes, and certainly serves the conceptual side of the endeavour.

As of this review, Nostromo has only been released on compact disc. The CD itself comes in a regular jewel case with a clear insert tray. Removing the disc reveals a slick schematic style drawing of the Nostromo as seen from the rear, and the disc itself has a similar style drawing done from a top-down perspective. There is a booklet insert with suitably dark and minimal artwork gracing its pages. On the rear cover of the booklet thanks is given to Ridley Scott (as "R. Scott") "…whose work continues to inspire."

Nostromo is an excellent exploration in experimental dark ambience, and I highly recommend Sleep Research Facility's work here: it's fucking awesome. This release gets nine and a half ears out of ten.

This release on Discogs.

Interested listeners can even find "A-Deck" on YouTube (albeit, of course, with YouTube's severely compressed audio, which, in my opinion, does not quite do the piece justice, but it'll definitely give you a decent taste).

Colin Potter – Two Nights

Inside the included plastic sleeve.

Originally released on cassette in 1981, this effort is Colin Potter's first attempt at recording a "live" performance.  Each side is its own piece, each of which was recorded on one of two successive nights in his studio in a single take and presented unedited, as is (see the liner notes image below). The long out of print cassette was recently rereleased by Deep Distance Recordings in a limited run of 500 pressings on split green and red vinyl.

First thing to note about the release is the absolutely gorgeous packaging. The record is housed in a die-cut 'cones' sleeve which allows light to shine through the transparent green/red vinyl. It looks absolutely stunning when held up in front of a light source, and the picture here does not really do it full justice.

Out of the sleeve, in front of the light.

The recording itself falls under the "electronic" genre of music, although there is plenty of effects processed guitar amongst the sounds of sequencer programmed synthesizers and the mechanical beating of a drum machine. The material has been further classified as "Abstract," "Noise," "Minimal," and "Experimental" according to the Discogs release information of the original cassette.

I would say that this recording is not really "noise," as there is definitely harmony and readily noticeable distinct instruments playing structured individual parts. "Abstract" and "experimental," sure, why not, but I would perhaps even balk at calling it "minimal" as there is definitely a "fuller" sound stage much of the time with at least a few instruments frequently adding their individual voices to the mix.

Oh so pretty.

I would also say, given the somewhat repetitive nature of the programming, this could possibly fall into a "drone" sub-categorization, but perhaps the more (at times) frenetic guitar work might keep it from being heard as such.

Speaking of which, and as Potter notes himself in the insert, there are times when the guitar work goes a little astray--with the occasional, but seemingly rare, "bum notes"--however, overall, it fits in very well with the gurgling, buzzing, and/or droning synth parts and keeps pretty good time with the pulsing drum machine. If these were more or less  "impromptu" recordings, then I'd say that Potter has done more than a fine job at creating nicely layered pieces that have a fair bit of variety while at the same time relying on a core of more or less straightforward step sequencer programmed parts. It seems to me that in this aspect the guitar really carries the driving force of the pieces, lifting them out of mechanical sounding repetitiveness, and, again, easily pushes these recordings outside of a  simply "minimal" sound.

5" x 5" Insert

Overall, this is a fun and easy recording to listen to. There is enough structure and variation in the parts to keep these pieces moving along at a fair pace balanced with enough repetitiveness and drawn out synth notes to give the pieces hints of a more droning oriented sound. Both sides are ready compliments to one and other--Potter seemingly choosing to use the gear that he had available to create "Two Nights" of self-smilar recordings.

Rotating and ready to go on the RP1.

As far as quality goes, and since I bought this brand new I feel I can reasonably mention this, there is some small amount of "surface noise" at times in terms of occasional "pops" and "clicks." I have found this is sometimes the case with small run indy pressed releases and is certainly part and parcel of the whole "vinyl listening experience." That said, some of these "pops" could also be attributable in part to static on the record as my copy seems to have gathered itself a pretty high amount of charge, heh. Other than that, this pressing sounds great and is, as far as I know, a faithful representation of the original.

As Potter went on to frequently work with the "experimental" legend Nurse With Wound (among others), it seems to me this set of two pieces is at least worth having with regards to placing Potter's work in a more historical context: it's a sort of "origins issue," if you will. With this in mind, I give this record eight ears out of ten.

This release on Discogs.