david kristian - cricklewood CD
Alien8 Recordings
"Kristian's relationship with
synthesizers isn't just analog heaven - it's tantric communion, obsessive intercourse that
preserves itself by withholding pop catharsis."-"Listening to it is like
voyeurism without sensationalism; all the more perverse for its coolness."
-Carl Wilson
(Mirror)
"Experimental electronic segments by Kristian, who normally performs
techno-ambient style music for labels like Fax (sic) and Discreet. With
Cricklewood, one is reminded of Asmus Tietchens, PGR and Brume, each for
different reasons. One eight minute piece has long periods of silence, punctuated by
mysterious noises of destruction. In other pieces, long, digital fractals unfold and
dissolve, grinding softly away like alien mechanisms. Electronic malfunctions within
virtual domains, sculpted into brilliant clouds of overwhelming sonic mist. The tonal
patterns are complex and multilayered in places, or alternately sparse and subjective.
Cricklewood
is the sort of record that sparks only the flicker of fascination at first, seemingly
subdued as whole, but during subsequent listens its appeal grows, and clever,
mesmerizing patterns manifest, the combinations explode into something(s) utterly
mesmerizing."
-(Manifold)
"Sit down with this recording and listen
to it uninterrupted and in it's entirety." -
Cricklewood is a
captivating creation that leaves me hovering two inches above the ground."
-Jeff Feinberg
(Vice)
"Here's a reasonably great CD constructed
from a gaggle of analogue machines by Canadian David Kristian, known to some for his
drum'n bass releases on Discreet/Indiscreet and Dropbeat records. Most of the sounds on
this new release were generated in real-time using control voltages derived from pitch
material from other instruments. It was something of a strut back in time for me; the last
I heard like this was the Michael Winnerholt CD on Multimood, which was a motley
collection meandering of blips and blurps compared to fine, subtle constructions by David.
The ghosts of composers and bands not-yet-dead dance jigs in
Cricklewood,
and despite separate tracks, this collection comes across as an almost symphonic piece.
Nervous knocking slips into reversed reverberation...the Sonic lads from Pan on Valium,
perhaps ? This slides into a semi-eastern, but almost certainly extraterrestrial gong
being pounded by insistent metallic flies. Footing now lost, I slip further into the
oscillators, into my stirred memories of Morton Subotnick's
Wild Bull,
Silver Apples Of The Moon and 4 Butterflies of years ago. Soft
subterralien murmurings precede the sound of something big being encouraged to fit through
a space too small for it. Spurred on by a brief display of Star Wars
synthesizer artillery we finally fall through the narrow seam into a gritty landscape. On
the horizon a rising sine. A bold, eccentric sashay accompanies us to the edge of the end.
Hmm, finely tuned and very carefully made music. A sense of peace. A piece of sense."
-MP
(Vital
Weekly)
"If you don't know David Kristian from
his previous drum n' bass releases, or from his contributions to Lo recordings
compilations among others, then you will miss out on the surprise of this new release. The
Canadian artist has ditched his drum machines in favour of a favourite synthesizer, the
EMS VCS-3, as primary sound source, and a whole bundle of kit for sound conversion and
processing. "Most of the sounds were generated in real time using control voltages
derived from other instruments," apparently with a Fender Precision bass as control
source. Kristian conceived the disc as a tribute, both to electronic instrument pioneers
Electronic Music Studios of London, and to Forbidden Planet soundtrack
composers Louis and Bebe Barron. Inevitably, this raises high expectations, which Kristian
has met with a meticulously crafted set of the first order. In other hands the currents
and frequencies at the heart of his music could conspire to make the listener quite ill.
Kristian, however, manages to induce just that subtle degree of queasiness, to add a
visceral edge to the sonorities he crafts. These are minimalist works in the best sense,
deep as the deepest dream-blue of Yves Klein or Derek Jarman.
Cricklewood
infringes upon the province of Ambient soundscapers and the Electro avant garde alike, but
its singularity of intent puts all comparisons out of mind. For anyone with the least
interest in quality Electronica, this is essential listening."
-Tim Owen
(The Wire)
"...On
Cricklewood,
Kristian uses EMS' classic synth the VCS-3 (the favourite of Eno during his Roxy days) to
control the sounds sourced from voltage generators and other synths. Kristian's abstract
knobology was inspired by Louis & Bebe Barron's pioneering electronic soundtrack to
the 1956 science fiction film Forbidden Planet. And like the intense
moments of that soundtrack, Kristian produces some speaker-challenging sine waves on
tracks like King Oscillator and Motorway.
Cricklewood
is recommended for collectors of early electronic music..."
-Chris Twomey
(Exclaim)
"...Canada is a strange place...Cricklewood
is all analogue hums, sci-fi swooshes and electronic crackles, which is not surprising
since it was recorded in tribute to Louis and Bebe Barron, the sweethearts who created the
still eerie, primordial electronic soundtrack for the 1956 flick Forbidden Planet..."
-Christopher Porter (Alternative Press)
