Clinical Archives is one of the most prolific netlabels, with a roster of releases that increases almost by the week – and they are all free downloads. These are three of the most recent:
Antanas Jasenka’s Art Action is derived from a laptop set he did at a festival in Austria back in May 2003, and subsequently remixed and remodelled. It’s a set of glitch and drone with symphonic flourishes and bursts of noise. It has more warmth than a lot of music found in this genre, with less reliance on data clicks, and machine-tooled precision. It also runs an interesting journey from the, sometimes, harsh and extroverted sounds of the first couple of tracks to the delicate tones and micro-clicks of the final two.
Tracks
01 Slashing rain 6:46
02 Slater 8:21
03 Single-seater 2:50
04 Single-track 3:09
05 St.Johan in Tirol 4:51
06 Silence 4:25
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Pianist Joe Frawley’s Ritual Research is a real oddity. It starts off with a lovely, but pretty conventional piano piece (the title track), but from then on in is a collage of looped voice samples, hymns, choirs and all manner of other effects. It has a strange impact on the listener, where the focus is drawn to different elements on each listen. The whole is far from a cacophony, with plenty of passages of grace and beauty, but is quite difficult to take in. It’s weird how certain voices and phrases stay with you long after the music has finished. Ritual Research is an interesting and rewarding project that is probably less of an intellectual challenge than I make it sound.
Tracks
01 Ritual Research 2:35
02 Inquiry 4:03
03 Hymn 1:21
04 Profana Sacra 6:58
05 Grounded Theory 4:45
06 Mistress of Ceremonies 3:58
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The third EP is by the mysterious, Brooklyn-based Adeptus. It has just three tracks, the first, and by far the longest, being the title piece “Humanity the Teenager”. It’s actually more of a suite than a single track. Beginning as a distant ambient drone, with glassy chimes like starlight, it then goes through a phase of steam-turbine like rhythms and ends with a simple and delicate techno-pop melody. “Indisputable Fact” is a beatless, dark ambient drone, while “New Kind” returns to the melodic IDM tune that closed the title track, but with a live bass and drums rhythm section. An interesting, eclectic and accessible release.
Tracks
01 Humanity The Teenager 16:41
02 Indisputable Fact 04:17
03 New Kind 06:44
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Websites
www.clinicalarchives.spyw.com/
www.myspace.com/exerpm (Antanas Jasenka)
www.joefrawleymusic.info (Joe Frawley)
www.myspace.com/adeptusdiffuz (Adeptus)
