Murcof - Martes (2002)
1. Memoria
2. Mapa
3. Mir
4. Mármol
5. Mao
6. Muim
7. Mes
8. Maíz
2. Mapa
3. Mir
4. Mármol
5. Mao
6. Muim
7. Mes
8. Maíz
My Review :
A pretty damn fascinating album. Martes sounds like a typical Warp records release with the weirdness replaced with thoughtfulness; while the processed drums and clicks certainly sound like something you might here on a rhythmically spastic Autechre track, they're arranged into regular, danceable, almost club-friendly beats, allowing what sits over the top of them to really breathe and stand on its own merit.
And it's a good job too, because some of these arrangements are excellent. Murcof clearly has a passing interest in classical music, but he treats it in largely the same way he treats his beats - tiny snippets reconstructed into something bigger. He occasionally hints at shifting tone clusters but only actually uses two or three dissonant notes and holds them - similarly, "Memoria" makes out like it's about to introduce a long, flowing cello melody, but the instrument only ends up repeating the same two notes. Ditto the pizzicato playing on "Mir" - it's another loop, just hitting in a different register. It's like everything, tonal or not, is treated as percussion, whether it has clear melodic content or it's just a dull thud.
Martes succeeds, though, because it pulls off the same trick that acts as diverse as Massive Attack, Lamb, Kraftwerk, Burial, and New Order have typically relied on - placing sad, dark, affecting music over steady dance beats. Considering the general lack of anything 'human', this is a pretty emotional album - it'd be as welcome on a chill-out mixtape as it would on a glitch or techno one. Despite its refusal to ever truly spazz out and go properly nuts, you suspect IDM would be a much more fitting description for this than most things; this really is intelligent.
And it's a good job too, because some of these arrangements are excellent. Murcof clearly has a passing interest in classical music, but he treats it in largely the same way he treats his beats - tiny snippets reconstructed into something bigger. He occasionally hints at shifting tone clusters but only actually uses two or three dissonant notes and holds them - similarly, "Memoria" makes out like it's about to introduce a long, flowing cello melody, but the instrument only ends up repeating the same two notes. Ditto the pizzicato playing on "Mir" - it's another loop, just hitting in a different register. It's like everything, tonal or not, is treated as percussion, whether it has clear melodic content or it's just a dull thud.
Martes succeeds, though, because it pulls off the same trick that acts as diverse as Massive Attack, Lamb, Kraftwerk, Burial, and New Order have typically relied on - placing sad, dark, affecting music over steady dance beats. Considering the general lack of anything 'human', this is a pretty emotional album - it'd be as welcome on a chill-out mixtape as it would on a glitch or techno one. Despite its refusal to ever truly spazz out and go properly nuts, you suspect IDM would be a much more fitting description for this than most things; this really is intelligent.
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