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Binkelman's Corner by Bill Binkelman |
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Bill Binkelman is a long-time icon in the industry. |
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| Imprint |
| By Mark Mahoney & Michael Peck |
| Label: Self Released |
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| Imprint tracks |
1. A Fabled Utopia 
2. Initiation
3. Lower Density of Souls
4. Breached Tidal Motion
5. Pathogen
6. Static Migration: a Riddle, a Lament, a Prayer
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Imprint |
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To understand the brilliance of Imprint, the new album from M. (Michael) Peck and Mark Mahoney (two members of the trio The Amaranth Signal and also solo artists in their own right), merely read the following quote from the liner notes: "From lush celestial harmonics to the undercurrent of something altogether subterranean, our goal was to create an album that is at once undefinable, yet accessible. That was our intention – this our imprint." That sums it up nicely - undefinable yet accessible. Wielding an assortment of analogue and digital synths and a theremin (yeah!), Mahoney and Peck circumnavigate the entire ambient electronic music globe, from its earlier days of psychedelic noodlings to melodic soundscapes of retro golden age influence to contemporary abstract textural works, but always staying rooted firmly in a base of the familiar so as not to alienate the less adventurous fan of the genre.
The first track, A Fabled Utopia, brings to mind such pioneers of electronics and synthesizers in music such as Fifty Foot Hose, Hawkwind, and Tonto's Expanding Headband. Opening with spacy swirls of retro keys, weird effects and warm washes of synthesizer, before glowing glistening organ-like notes twinkle against an inky backdrop of cyber-crickets…and this is all in the first two minutes. Yeah, I'd pretty much say the music on Imprint is indescribable unless one has 10,000 words to do it in! Initiation has a quasi-jazz-fusion aspect to it, calling to mind the Soft Machine song "Facelift". Adventurous and somewhat abstract owing to the actual noises employed, there is still musicality inherent in the track as it develops past its initial bizarre (but not overly so) opening, with cool retro organ noodling and a circular melodic refrain playing in the background amidst the sounds of circuits opening and closing and electricity shorting out. Lower Density of Souls takes the listener into deep space with deliciously languid washes of pure analogue synthesizers bathing you in warmth before descending into deeper darker more drone-oriented textures. Breached Tidal Motion, is disquieting but not oppressively so, bearing some resemblance to Robert Rich's darker works (e.g. Stalker, A Troubled Resting Place, Calling Down the Sky) with its miasma of swirling drones and tones, mournful horn-like sounds, and vague rattlings deep in the mix. Pathogen may be the most abstract track here and, compared to some other cuts, it may prove somewhat challenging to the less brave souls out there, although the use of the theremin on the lead for part of the song sure does add a nice touch of The Day The Earth Stood Still nostalgia, as do the buzzing whirring analogue synths. Peck and Mahoney close things out with the mini-epic (fifteen and a half minute) Static Migration and, as usual, I simply throw my hands up in the air when trying to describe this long a track. Abstract skittering noises and burbblings mutate into beautiful twinkling retro synthesizers firing laser streams into the night sky and then morph into glitchy trippy beats married to analogue synths (a la psychetropic, a.k.a. Todd Fletcher) and its still not even close to being over.
Since my first exposure to these two ambient music wunderkinds on penumbra, I have been impressed with their unique vision of where electronic music has been and, more importantly, where it’s headed. Consummate craftsmen at their synthesizers and the mixing board as well (this stuff is incredible on headphones), Mahoney and Peck reveal enough talent and vision to place them at the forefront of this genre's current exploration of "retro-futurism" (a trend I've seen emerge over the last year or so). If you've any interest in or love of "pure" synthesizer music, you owe it to yourself to become "imprinted" with this fascinating album. Highly recommended!
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Rating: Very Good +  |
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- reviewed by Bill Binkelman on 9/23/2006 |
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