steering clear of the mainstream
since 2001

june 2010

review
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info opinion

Living Ornaments / Accelera Deck

"Narrominded Split LP Series #1" CD

Narrominded

Genres: experimental electronic, electronica, glitch

Narrominded
Gevers van Endegeeststraat 10
2132 SM Hoofddorp
The Netherlands

Dec 13 - 19 2004

It's a shame this split LP was only released in a limited edition, as it has some truly inspired music on it.  The work of Dutch duo Living Ornaments is really incredible - they compose warm, glitchy soundscapes that stay within an accessible realm.  Bits of tunefulness and melody are buried amidst electronic fuzz and crispy pops and clicks.  Their part of the split is broken into eleven short tracks, but these flow into each other very well.  Although their style is definitely sound art, its texture lends it an accessibility not common in the genre.  The split LP is worth buying for Living Ornaments' part alone.

However, there are two sides to every split (unless it's a three- or four-way split...), and Accelera Deck can't be ignored.  Their style is much less accessible than that of Living Ornaments, but it is still worth a listen.  Accela Deck (from the USA) is much noisier than their splitmate; their first track, "Feedback Song," is a very abrasive piece that treads the outer boundaries of harsh noise.  "Eidolic" is less of an aural irritant, fortunately; however, it is still much less calm than Living Ornaments' work.  The main focus of Accelera Deck's side of this LP is "Spangle," a twelve minute drone that eventually degrades into an acoustic guitar sample.  It is a remarkably beautiful piece of experimental electronic music, but a good attention span is required to stay with it until the end.

Overall, this is a solid introduction into Narrominded's new set of split LPs.  If future installments turn out as strong as this outing, there should be much to look forward to.  Bring it on!

85%

Fun Fact: In addition to making music together, Living Ornaments' Lars Meyer and Coen Polack are the duo behind Narrominded's label activities.  According to their bio, "like to use tasty but obscure Dutch words as their tracktitles."

Matt Shimmer

[Vitals: 15 tracks, distributed by the label, released 2003]