|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
CD
|
|
EEAOA 034CD
|
"Matt Shoemaker's first full-length album for Elevator Bath is Soundtrack for Dislocation, an entirely self-contained account of a fantastically abstract and intensely personal vision. As with much of Shoemaker's work, this is an album permeated with a very potent sense of unease. And despite the fact that the use of field recordings is very minimal here, there is a no less organically tangible quality which only contributes to the feeling of disquietude. For those unfamiliar with Matt Shoemaker's work, Soundtrack for Dislocation is absolutely the ideal place to start as it is arguably the most fully-realized project in his catalog. All the necessary elements are present: The enigmatic cover and interior images, the cryptic track titles, and of course the recordings themselves - densely packed and elaborately evolved aberrancies, open to various interpretations. Shoemaker seems to have provided more than enough clues to the puzzles he offers in his works but, like the most effective tales, these subtle indications cannot quite account for all that happens. The rest is up to the astute listener who accepts this very inscrutability as the reward. Matt Shoemaker's music has been released by such labels as Trente Oiseaux, The Helen Scarsdale Agency, Mystery Sea, and Ferns Recordings. He resides in Seattle. Packaged inside an extra thick, full-color, matte finish, 6-panel digipak featuring Shoemaker's beautiful photography, this compact disc has been issued in an edition of 509 copies."
|
|
|
Artist |
Title |
Format |
Label |
Catalog # |
|
|
PIC. DISC
|
|
EEAOA 031LP
|
"Elevator Bath's ongoing series of picture disc LPs (each record being adorned with full-color artwork by the recording artist) continues with Matt Shoemaker's debut appearance on vinyl: An enigmatic pairing of new recordings with appropriately cryptic artwork. Much of Shoemaker's recorded output prominently features the use of field recordings (see his Tropical Amnesia One CD), but in this case he has eschewed such grounded measures and has instead sculpted a two-part puzzle which seemingly exists on some other plane(t). Layer upon evolving layer of sonic phenomena is still the methodological trademark, but the content is almost entirely electronic, lending a great deal of vivid color to a description of blackest space. The two works presented here are powerfully mysterious, unsettling examples of Matt Shoemaker's prowess as a composer of details, of moods and tenses. The improbably relevant artwork for this picture disc consists of two collages utilizing Shoemaker's own hand-dyed paper. The images, as well as their meanings, are essentially abstract and yet remarkably familiar. On the A side, the 'Isolated Agent' scuttles in a circular motion, forever locked in an endless search for the unknown element. The B side depicts the constant retreat, the 'Stranding Behavior' inevitably resulting in/from confusion. 'You realize what you are implying? That we owe our human condition here to the intervention of insects.' Matt Shoemaker's music has been released by such labels as Trente Oiseaux, The Helen Scarsdale Agency, and Ferns Recordings. He resides in Seattle. This picture disc LP has been released in an edition of 233 copies."
|
|
|
Artist |
Title |
Format |
Label |
Catalog # |
|
|
CD
|
|
TOC 022
|
"His music consists of an ever-changing, intricate web of sounds defining spaces in constant transformation. It is very detailed, very present. Transitions between soundscapes, sometimes very slow and very gradual, sometimes very surprising, keep his music going; often different strata of time are present simultaneously. Matt is a master in building and sustaining tension by means of changes in density of sounds and events, as well as by modifying the frequency range of the spectra used. Another interesting quality of his music is that it brings the abstractness of concrete sounds taken out of their context to consciousness. I noted these general impressions while listening to the first of the two pieces, and I'd like to describe the second one in more detail: I can't help but think of it as an immense, surrealist electronic rain forest, filled with tiny noises, far-away calls, and sudden showers of rain. The piece builds up slowly to stay quite intense and urgent over a longer stretch of time, and, after a change in harmony, to end (and finally fade away) in weightlessly floating vastness." --Bernhard Günter, April 2001.
|