ANDREW LILES

BLACK END
Forming part of 'The Vortex Vault' a mail-order only series of 12 CDs.

TRACK LISTING
.Ohm
.As on a Dung Hill
.Kojack without the Hat
.Kay-loong-meu-tuk
(The begining of the End of the End of the begining of the End)

A thousand curtsies and twice as many thanks to Steven Stapleton who appears on 'Ohm', R K Faulhaber who narrates on track 2 and Matt Waldron who sings and plays guitar on track 3.

THIS IS THE END OF THE END.

REVIEWS

Bizarre Magazine
Consisting of 12 individually released CDs, this is, in part, a collection of unreleased material from one of the UK's finest electronic experimentalists' studio archives. A collaborator with similar sound envelope-pushers such as Nurse With Wound and The Hafler Trio, Liles' music mixes minimalist drones with antique instrumentation and natural noise for a sonically surreal sound. This is dark ambience in its most eclectic form - sublime, sinister and visually spectacular.
By Billy Chainsaw

Brainwashed
Andrew Liles shuts the door on the Vortex Vault with this final installment which includes contributions from Steven Stapleton, R.K. Faulhaber, and Matt Waldron. It's an atypical entry in the series and one of the most intriguing if only be cause of its spectacular finale.
Stapleton is listed as contributing to the first track, "Ohm," but it's unclear exactly what he does. The atmospherics the song delves into toward the end sound more like his style than does the voice that repeats the title as if i n a mantra devoid of mysticism. It's a somewhat disappointing track given the personnel. More amusing is "As On a Dung Hill," in which R.K. Faulhaber lists se lf-deprecating traits such as "I am filthy/I am riddled with lice/Dogs, when they look at me, vomit/My skin is encrusted with the scabs and scales of leprosy an d covered with yellowish puss." Its playful organ and drums make it one of the more accessible pieces from the entire series and one of its most humorous. Matt Waldron's vocals and distorted guitar provide the backbone for "Kojack Witho ut the Hat," but the song is a little too repetitive without much of a payoff, and its novelty wears off after repeated listens.
While those three songs aren't without their charms, the real jewel is the nearly 40-minute "Kay-Loong-Meu-Tuk," which sprawls haphazardly in continuously cross-fading 8- to 34-second increments over 95 tracks, cycling through a variety of musical styles in the process. Parenthetically subtitled "(The Beginning of the End of the End of the Beginning of the End)," some sections hint at elements that may have been culled from previous Vault material. Yet it's no retread either. Other than the ending passage lifted from the recurring "Anhedonia," I can't pinpoint any specific tracks that may have been used, only general i mpressions. Either way, this song is wholly its own with high-tension drones, rattling machinery, rushing water, sparkling pianos, and a harrowing choir, among many other elements, that make it such a bizarre cinematic treat.
As an ending to the album and the Vortex Vault itself, this track may not be an echoing boom, but the haunting impression it leaves is no less subtle. It has been a fantastic run, and this sweeping epic seals the Vault shut unforgettably.
Written by Matthew Amundsen
Monday, 10 March 2008