The electronic music genre is rife with experimentation and daring new approaches. Styles are adopted, mutated and personalized. Conventionality is an illusion that few synthesists are willing to accept. Yet, so much EM can be codified into familiar modes: ambient, the retro school, dance, meditation aids, musique concrete. It's rare to find someone exercising a completely fresh style.
Pub is such a wondrous gem.
PUB: Single (CD on Ampoule Records)
This CD from 2002 features 74 minutes of fluid electronic music.
This music possesses a distinct sideways quality, a murkiness that makes it seem as if the tunes exist in a watery realm...or maybe it's the listener who is trapped in a liquid vantage while the music wanders free in the open. Whatever the perspective, the result is astoundingly attractive. Mesmerizing. Outstanding.
Surges of sound wash forth, artfully arranged to achieve a swaying milieu of alluring melodies. Keyboards, guitar, bass, even percussion--all are forced through a peculiar lens that bestows each resonance with an otherworldly character. Cycles are established, then layered to produce a lush panorama of sparkling delight.
It becomes difficult to separate guitar from knob-generated electronics. Each sound conceals its origin with crafty masquerade, eventuating a pleasing morass of melodies whose resonance saturates the mind like an odorless gas. Riffs of bewitching quality are transformed into undulant streams that refuse to be confined by shores or current, soaking the environment with their enchanting intonations.
While hardly an up-front element, the percussion lends a strident guidance to the tunes. Reverberating tempos shudder and slush their way in tandem with murky electronics.
At first glance, this music seems ambient in nature. Closer examination (or prolonged exposure) reveals the intricate depth of these compositions. What initially seems to be soothing soundscapes unfolds into a lavish structure of supple construction. Fluid passages are peppered with artful subtext in the form of auxiliary harmonics, elevating the music to a unique position in the EM genre.
PUB: Legless (CD on Ampoule Records)
This release from 2006 offers 72 minutes of amiable electronic music.With this release, the band impresses a degree of clarity on their slushy sound. The keyboard driven electronics still possess a fluid demeanor, muffling the choppy hand-to-keys style, but the end product exhibits a crystal legibility now. Moderate tonal atmospherics fill the background, providing a moody foundation for the music's congenially prominent elements. A certain sway attributes the lead riffs with a sinuous quality that is quite satisfying.
While functioning as an integral component, the e-perc remains gentle and languid. The tempos are pleasantly immersed in the mix, a rhythmic susurration that provides a temperate agitation.
A touch of glitchiness creeps in via an assortment of auxiliary electronics, bestowing a quirky sparkle on the tunes. A shuffling illbience taints the understated e-perc too.
These compositions churn with a soft vigor that relies on a bubbly murmur to convey the melodies. While an illbient touch has infected the music, the tunes are still quite melodic and straightforward. This tuneage is easygoing, yet laced with just the right degree of pep to elevate it beyond ambience.
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