PAUL SCHUTZE+PHANTOM CITY

SITE ANUBIS

  1/  Future Nights                              (PS,Bjorkenheim,Laswell,DW)   12.23
  2/  An Early Mutation                          (PS,RB,Bjorkenheim,BL,DW)     7.24
  3/  Blue Like Petrol                           (Schutze,RB,AB,Laswell,DW)    7.08
  4/  The Big God Blows In                       (PS,Bjorkenheim,Priester,DW)  7.04
  5/  Ten Acre Ghost                             (PS,RB,Buess,BL,Wachtelear)   6.30
  6/  Eight Legs Out of Limbo                    (Schutze,RB,Coxhill,BL,JP,DW) 12.34
  7/  Inflammable Shadow                         (Schutze,Coxhill)             6.27
      (aka: Vermilion Sands II)

          Raoul Bjorkenheim's tracks recorded at the Jazz Department, Sibelius
            Akatemia, Helsinki, Finland
          Engineered by Janne Uiksten
          Alex Buess' tracks recorded at 2.8.1. Studio, Basel
          Engineered by Manuel Liberskind
          Lol Coxhill's tracks recorded at Centre of Sound and F.U.K. Sound,
            London, England
          Engineered at Centre of Sound by John Tyne
          Engineered at F.U.K. Sound by Adam Routh
          Bill Laswell's tracks recorded at Greenpoint Studio, Brooklyn, New York
          Engineered by Robert Musso
          Julian Priester's tracks recorded at Sound Sound, Seattle, Washington
          Engineered by Tom Fallat
          Dirk Wachtelaer's tracks recorded at Phantom, Brussels
          Engineered by Erwin Autrique
          Paul Schutze's tracks recorded at The Surgery, London, England and Wolff
            2.8.1 Studio, Brussels
          Engineered by Paul Schutze and Alex Buess
          Recordings compiled, mixed and edited at Wolff 2.8.1 Studio, Basel by 
            Alex Buess and Paul Schutze
          Produced by Paul Schutze
          Post mix and editing by Andrew Hulme
          Mastered by Denis Blackham at Porky’s
Raoul Bjorkenheim (1-6): guitars; Alex Buess (2,3,5): bass & contra bass clarinet; Lol Coxhill (6,7): soprano saxophone; Bill Laswell (1,2,3,5,6): bass; Julian Priester (4,6): trombone; Dirk Wachtelaer (1-6): drums; Paul Schutze: keyboards, tapes, samplers.

          1996 - Big Cat Recordings (UK), ABB106CD (CD)

REVIEWS :

(Note: In my mind a review is just a snapshot of my impressions of music at a given point or points, rather than opinions worth defending or dogmatic theory. Anything negative relates to sounds that might not have managed to reach their appropriate pleasure receptors, and who knows sometime they might.)

This is the first record I've heard by of this artist, so I can't provide any context on the career-evolution-background, or the current in which they swim.

Paul Schutze, "Anubis Site" on Big Cat Records, 1996. This is ambient/experimental in the tragic mode, that is it starts out fairly blissful and winds up in the Dark. Boy I love the natural drum sounds (Dirk Wachtelaer) on this record, and the guitar distortion (Raul Bjorkenheim), right from the first seconds (Future Nights) this is fascinating stuff. This is one of a few discs that seem to have something in common with ye olde Bitches Brew (Miles Davis), which I suppose kicked off a whole new era of soundscaping ensemble work, but the production quality is clearer. I wish there was a little more pacing of the tracks on this record, it's all somewhat loud and uptempo with ambient drifts in and out...By about track four ("The Big God Blows In") you've got some pretty growly grumbly industrial noise happening here atop a pounding syncopated rhythmn...Well come to think of it track 5 ("Ten Acre Ghost") slows things down a bit, but there's still quite a bit of unsettling noise designed to drive the unbatty few out there batty...Track 6 more noisome beats with what sounds like a vibraharp but more likely synclavier. You know there's a lost art of liner notes languishing somewhere, this stuff is barely legible...If they could have chilled right about now (three-quarters in) with some deep ambience I'd be giving this unrestrained furious thumbs flailing upward...The final track ("Inflammable Shadow") has some actual bleepiness wafting in and out, and I should mention there's nicely subdued Laswell basswork throughout...well it finally gets chill, never even approaches sweet after the first two tracks. I'll be trying to get up to speed on Schutze who has a considerable discography behind him. This is ambient in the sense you could have it on in the background at just the right volume and people with their wits about them will no doubt be wondering what that is.

jrv