Wizard Of – Lifer/Exister (Jehu And Chinaman)
Cassette/DL
Out Now
After several digital only EP releases, Bob McCully releases his first
material under the name of Wizard Of and it’s a bit of a monster of an
album. Two side-long pieces, Lifer and
Exister, which are split into five movements each.
‘Lifer I’ starts with a dubstep beat and soon
grows with the addition of other sounds and effects, including some sort of
oscillation then a vocal effect, possibly Indian in origin, which is treated to
a high pitched squeal. The voice is a
common theme throughout, creating one of several links between the tracks,
initially a continuous snippet looped over and over and then slowly adding bits
of the vocal to make a more elongated excerpt, liken the pitch to Another
Dimension by The Prodigy.
Each movement has a new beat whilst retaining
similar elements of dubstep and drum ‘n’ bass, ‘Lifer II’ has a superb wall of
sound not unlike Dan Friel’s recent Total Folklore album. Taking you on a journey from high to low,
through dark and glimmering, it really is a very clever piece of work.
If there’s a downside to the album then it is
it’s form of physical release. Most of
my music listening is done in the car (or the bath!), and without a cassette
player in either of those locations, I’m pretty limited. The album is available through Amazon as a
series of individual mp3’s, but, the full impact of the album is lost on single
tracks, and, due to each side being a continuous mix, the gaps in between
tracks are poorly executed.
Listening to the album as Bob intended,
Life/Exister is a quite stunning piece of work utilising drone, dance and
varying vocal effects. The sound can be
intense and is something to behold. An
album worthy of a widespread release and one that you really should do your
upmost to hear.
8/10
Published on Louder Than War 121/04/13 - http://louderthanwar.com/wizard-of-liferexister-album-review/
No comments:
Post a Comment