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2LP
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KRANK 014LP
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2022 repress. "The second album from New York City's Bowery Electric was released in late 1996, less than 15 months after their self-titled debut, but it found them having traveled light years musically in the interim, the group having seemingly decided to see how far they could take the guitar/bass/drums/vocal setup into the atmosphere. Every aspect of their approach had been refined and focused: squalling, distorted guitars had been transformed into hazy, sensual sheets; the live drums transmuted to sampled rhythms more in debt to the blossoming down-tempo sound of the day; bass lines reduced to their most basic diagrams; vocals submerged to become one with the narcotized fog of the instruments; even the lyrics were reduced to a few minimal lines used sparingly so as not to overshadow the dynamic. Beat is a lush and dense mantra of shadowy percussion, barely-there vocals and immersive drones that envelops the listener in an opiated blanket of sound. The second in a trio of albums released by the core duo of Lawrence Chandler and Martha Schwendener, Beat is without doubt their definitive artistic statement. Coming 20 years to the day of its original release, this is the first time this album has been available on vinyl in almost two decades, and the first ever U.S. vinyl release."
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CD
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KRANK 014CD
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Transcendent 2nd full length album for the label, recorded 6/96. "With their now familiar sense of economy apparent in the arrangements, Beat finds Bowery Electric adding layers of analog synth and sampled guitars to their 'drone n' bass' foundations, along with programmed loops and live beats; further befuddling those Luddites still wondering whether the band is rock, post rock, ambient or dance." Stolen off the internet, summing things up: "Beat is a STUNNING record. A truly seamless meeting of their dreamy glacial drift, the muscle of the first (Loop-ish) 2x7", and the overpowering dub-erotic feel of Mad Professor/Massive Attack. Organic, metallic, and icy/hot. A compendium of contradictions which is one of the sweetest listens you'll hear all year. They certainly deserve the 'drone & bass' tag -- but don't expect Jenkinson breaks. The electronic elements are kept simpler (and buried)." --G Man II.
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