OFF: Porcupine Tree/IEM

[Jonathan Jarrett]

On Mon, Dec 10, 2001 at 11:10:45AM -0500, Nick Medford typed out:
> On Mon, 10 Dec 2001 04:11:02 -0500, K Henderson <henderson.120 at OSU.EDU>
> wrote:
>
> >More interesting is the news that the last 2 IEM works ("Have Come For Your
> >Children", "Arcadia Son") are now out on CD in limited fashion.  I only
> have
> >the first self-titled.  I think there was a second one called "Elevator to
> >Christmas" or something like that.  Is that still LP only?  So who carries
> >these IEM thingies?
>
> Try http://www.burningshed.com/
>
> Has anyone here heard either of these IEM releases? I do quite like "The
> Gospel According To...", but not enough to automatically fork out for more.
> Comments?

        Yes, actually, I've got them both, although typically the news
that _Arcadia Son_ was coming out on CD only reached me after I bought the
vinyl version. `Escalator to Christmas' remains exclusive to that 12" and
vinyl only however, I was rather expecting it to be reused after so much
similar reuse with PT.

        So, what are they like? Well, the later release, _Have Come For
Your Children_ is in fact I think mostly earlier, as parts of it turn up
again in _Arcadia Son_. It's essentially five long jams (*not* one track
as the blurb says though there is no track-listing) along similar themes,
quite moody and compelling bass-work driving them along, though not
complex really apart from what Steven has done at production level. The
first jam is split in two to make six tracks total. They're basically five
different ways of doing the same thing but it's definitely a band with an
idea of what they're about and very tight jamming indeed; I like it,
though I wouldn't call it startling. Apart from the last track which has
the drums put through enough effects that at first I thought it was using
breakbeats.

        _Arcadia Son_ is a decidedly more deliberate kettle of fish, and I
think I can safely say it leaves the first album well behind. Track by
track it weighs in as:

Wreck: a minute and a half of chaotic noise and feedback
Beth Krasky: solely a vocal sample from an American women of that name
We Are Not Alone: long dub track with stupid pseudo-American vocals by
        Steven as far as I can tell, lots of little weird noise underneath but
        not a great piece that will live forever
Cicadian Haze: percussive-based track, lots of bongos and atmospheric
        electronics, somehow gives me the feeling of an attempt to create
        an Indian summer in an English suburban garden
Politician: noises and weirdness bringing previous to next
Arcadia Son: is a chunk of the first jam from _Have Come For Your
        Children_ without quite so much studio tweakery, making it really
        quite mean-sounding
Shadow of a Twisted Hand Across my House: the business. Twenty minutes
        long, starts with another of the same sort of jams but much
        higher-energy than the others, lots of tight snappy drums, and
        slowly quietens into a tranquil but cold piece of synth
        atmospheric very much like Tangerine Dream's `Circulation of
        Events', finally taking shape in a keyboard pattern as it fades
        out into...
Goldilocks Age 4: you can probably guess what this short out-tro is...

        All in all it's a thoroughly good album. It's quite strongly
derivative in places (from Steven Wilson? Never!) but the blend is good
and the overall feeling of it much colder, harder and more intentional
than the sloppy wet PT stuff of late. I play it often. In the absence of a
new pink-era Tangerine Dream I think Steven's modern takes on that and
related ideas may well be a possible future for the Krautrock
sound. Yours,
              Jon

ObCD: Band of Gypsys - _Live at the Fillmore East_


--
        Jonathan Jarrett                Birkbeck College, London
                 jjarrett at chiark.greenend.org.uk
        --------------------------------------------------------
  "The large print giveth and the small print taketh away." (Tom Waits)