[sonicl]

I'm not sure that I've seen this on sale in ages, and now that I have (at Volcanic Tongue) I'm recommending it to you all:

Gate/Michael Morley
The Lavender Head / My Dear Sweet Reluctant Sweetheart
Hell’s Half Halo HHH-14
2xCD
£10.99

 

Beautiful double set from Michael Morley of The Dead C that crosses the woozy, cinematic repeat-frame minimalism of My Dear Sweet Reluctant Sweetheart with the late-night electronic pulse-scapes, loops and swooning fades of the original Lavender Head.


Aquarius Records review:
Before we delve into a detailed discussion of Gate's latest release, let me just say that this album is gorgeous, droney and dreamy and about as un-noisy as noise gets, with chirping electronic whale-call blips and bleeps and luscious gossamer washes of thick and crumbling guitar. There are a few 'difficult' moments, but for those of you who haven't heard too much Gate or Dead C, this might be the perfect record to get your feet wet. And those of you who are already fans, well, do we even have to tell you that this is essential? No. But it is. Essential. Completely.

Michael Morley's output in the New Zealand free-noise / avant-rock ensembles Gate and AQ-faves The Dead C has always been purposefully unsettling. He's primarily armed with gritty, somnambulent guitar noise and a half mumbled voice, yet "My Dear Sweet Reluctant Sweetheart" offers a drastic shift in his aesthetic focus, as he has recently put down the guitar in favor of electronics. This double CD features reworkings of two previously recorded pieces, with a condensed and vastly different remix of Gate's 1999 vinyl only double album "The Lavender Head" and a recapitulation of his 1996 soundtrack to the cacophonous sound installation "My Dear Sweet Reluctant Sweetheart."

For Morley, the use of electronics is not just about the technological filters and modulations offered by drum machines and synthesizers, but also the ability to recontextualize and deconstruct the sampled fragment. Morley's use of the quotation may not seem anything new in comparison to, say, Amon Tobin, until he brings the woozy melancholia and troubled combativeness of his earlier guitar-based work to these electronic compositions.

"My Dear Sweet..." is a series of electronic dirges made by collaging together various samples of contemporary electronica onto a really noisy 4-track with lots of tape hiss. Aphex Twin's "Selected Ambient Works 2," Panacea's "Twisted Designs" and something resembling Biosphere or Orbital are some of Morely's sources. These are pretty simple overlappings of rhythmically synchronized loops with elements of his guitar noise phasing in and out of the mix. And on "The Lavender Head" Morley loops his patented guitar grit into abstract slow-motion warbles, forming downtempo rhythms that appear lost in a sea of lo-fi tape hiss -- something *NEVER* heard in any other electronica. Really nice!

Sound clips:
Light.1.1
Pe.ch.1.aiff
Jsex.1.sldge

Now order it, before it's too late!

[PAULYBEE2656]

mmmmmmmmm. soounds nice!

[Toilet & Bowels]

i bought that (and a few other gate things) at the dead c gig in london

[Phlegmscope]

I bought gate's 7" awhile ago, but it didn't do much for me.
Sounded like a bit half-arsed dead c or something... I've only given it one spin though.