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Euro-Rock/Contemporary
ANOMIE: Cool, Clean & Cosmic LTD EDITION
A single 50 minute track recorded live at the Luna Dome and here we have an
excellent example of their assemblage of space-related and political samples
mixes in with a melting pot of music that encompasses psychedelic, space-rock
and Krautrock, with a strong yet languid feel as the guitars, bass, drums and
samples weave some exceedingly hypnotic musical spells with hints of Gong, Hawkwind,
Hillage, Ash Ra Tempel & Agitation Free in there along the journey. Recorded
a bit low, so you have to turn it up a tad louder than normal to get he desired
effect, this is the sound of predominantly instrumental, not so much powerful
as "studied", Kraut-psych where guitar mostly takes the lead role,
where the music occasionally strays into early seventies Tangerine Dream territory
too, but for which the overall effect is quite superb.
Andy Garibaldi
PSYCHOTROPIC ZONE - Psychedelic Music Club
ANOMIE
A Trip into the Unknown
24th Century Productions
Anomie is a very spacious duo formed by Stuart Bartson and Colin Wilson from the UK. These fellows also now play in a band called The Pyramids of Snazu. This, as far as I can tell the first Anomie album, includes very mind-expanding stuff. Both members play the guitar, bass, keyboards and synthezisers. In addition, Stuart takes care of the programming and sings. They have used a lot of samples on the CD and for example some texts by our good friend Dr. T. Leary (on tracks "Chain of Life" and "Slide Interfusion"). The programmed drums disturb me occasionally, but not much. The other weak link is the vocals: they suck a bit. The album is a very nice space trip in any other way, and they have managed to create very interesting, floating ambience especially with keyboards and synths. A lot of this is even psychedelic ambient music, but there are also rockier, guitar-driven hippy songs. The booklet of the album explains the recording and mixing process in great detail, and I'm sure this interests some of us. This is an exciting album that's worth getting into. The band have released at least one studio album and one live album after this one. It's possible to see them at the Glastonbury Festival, where they have also plays before.
"ANOMIE's Cool, Clean & Cosmic launches with an expose of the John F. Kennedy assassination cover-up and the corruption of eyewitnesses by the CIA in Beyond Belief. Orbital-insertion is achieved by the neo-psychedelic Fox-1-Obscured. Driving bass lines, pounding drum rhythms and scything psyche-out guitar take it to the other side as it investigates the absurdity of Government military and social policies. An exploration of insanity follows with Exquisite as chimes, clocks and wild birds sing - or are they just all in the mind?
"Different nebulae are observed in Starsequence Alpha and then the Law of Fives is explained in Choir of 5ives, with help from the United Earth Choir. The saga continues with From the Moon to Jupiter as we consider the fact that ‘They were doing it then and will probably try in the future’. The Violence of Silence follows exploring the harsh reality that what is worse than violence by some are the blind eyes turned by the rest of us. Melancholic chords, floating vocals and soaring guitars take it up and down and out as a star going supernova. Slide Interfusion brings us home on this odyssey aboard the Trans-Galactic Express. The beautiful piano of Perfect Close finally lays us down to rest in the belief that, with constant vigilance, the men in grey suits will not drive us over the edge, and we will make a better world.
"If you like something original and a bit different with an ambient/rock feel, this has to be the album of the year."
"ANOMIE - DEMO.
"This is a mix up of The Orb and more notably, Barret's Floyd. I compare
everything to Floyd, don't I? Strange...... Anyway, this is like The
Shamen's Strange Day Dreams LP. Peaceful I suppose but with the
necessary drama. Rather good actually."
"ANOMIE have music that is full of crashing ocean waves, bird song and other ambient doodlings, real chill out room stuff, slow drifting mindscapes..... they're good."
"ANOMIE - A Trip into the Unknown tape.
"A hypnotic collage of music and samples used to create compositions
that are mostly ambient/psychedelic with the occasional loud guitar.
Occasionally I lost concentration a little, but mostly there's a depth
and quality to their material which works really well."
" 'An enigmatic group who mix music and sound collage to create hypnotic soundscapes' so it says on the tape cover - and ANOMIE have just reviewed themselves in a nutshell.
"But you need to know more, right? - Psychedelic sounds, eastern/western mellow yet slightly industrial sounds, no banging and clanking though, it's all very soothing despite the sometimes slightly dirty guitars and although the description may have you thinking otherwise, it flows like a musical river, true sometimes it hits on jagged rocks but it all flows just the same.
"Constantly changing ambient blissouts, a smooth rollercoaster ride to the other side of reality, fine and recommended ambient experiments in flowing thoughtful music/cut-ups/songs."
Last updated 21.2.06