ANDREW LILES
BLACK WIDOW
Forming part of 'The Vortex Vault' a mail-order only series of
12 CDs.
TRACK LISTING
To Maim a Donkey - Part I
Bengali Bergman
Dove I - (Noodles & Cheese)
!Hey Ho!
To Maim a Donkey - Part II
Quicksand Mud Slide
To Maim a Donkey - Part III
Dove II - (Hoodle on a Plinth)
So Vogue - A La Mode
Black Room - Part II
Fly Face
A Hippo Took An Apricot
Uncle Alf
God Doesn't Fuck About
Black Room - Part I
Eternal thanks to Ernesto Tomasini who sings, narrates and translates
on trks 3, 7, 10 and 13. Further gratitude to Dr. Malik who narrated and
translated into Urdu throughout.
REVIEWS
BRAINWASHED
Written by Matthew Amundsen
Sunday, 01 April 2007
The latest installment to spill from Andrew Liles' ambitious and generous
Vortex Vault series casts Liles as the ringleader of a black magic vaudeville
act. Theatrical and playfully whimsical, this multilingual, dialogue-laden
album is a striking release that shifts modes effortlessly, revealing
new finds from Liles' unlimited bag of tricks at every turn. The human
voice, both speaking and singing, forms an integral part of this album.
The unpredictable way it's interspersed with music and the different languages
that appear and vanish gives the impression that there’s some bizarre
stage performance in progress, even if I'm at a loss to explain what it's
about. The vocals range from the spoken word to the operatic, and the
effect is jarring only when it’s intentional.
Musically, there are plenty of fascinating objects to behold in this cabinet
of curiosities. "Bengali Bergman" has dirge-like strings and
a beguiling Eastern accompaniment. Hand drums make up a large part of
"Quicksand Mudslide" as some feline entity patrols the border.
This piece is interrupted by startling electrical zaps as if some modern
alchemical wizard is channeling the secret energy of the universe. It‘s
one of the most arresting moments on the disc. Also surprising, albeit
in a different sense altogether, is the song "God Doesn’t Fuck
About," a percussive jazz funk so convincing that I momentarily forgot
what album I was listening to until the airplane rush of an ending reminded
me.
Although a few recurring titles appear sporadically throughout the album,
they are not simply multiple versions of the same song. Instead, they
are different enough from each other to suggest they are somehow parts
of a related story or theme, even though the instrumentation and mood
are often dissimilar. Yet it's a tactic that works in the service of the
unexpected.
The breadth of this album and its beautiful presentation really make it
an impressive package. Even the devilishly genial hand-puppet shadow grinning
on the cover reflects the fun to be found within. Liles and Beta-lactam
Ring are raising the bar ever higher with this series, and they both deserve
a lot of credit for making these incredible recordings available.
VITAL WEEKLY
This is the fourth release in a total of 12 CDs in the Black Series by
Liles, current member of Nurse With Wound and general magic man. Like
the previous CDs in this series, Liles uses more and more vocals in his
music, which complement his music wonderfully. On this disc famous actor/singer
Ernesto Tomasini (who also appeared on Crowded Skies on the BBC television)
adds narration and sings. There is even narration in Urdu (by Dr. Malik).
Starting off with the thumbpiano of To Maim A Donkey we are sucked into
the surrealist world of Liles, where things are never quite what they
seem. Strange samples and dark sounds creep in and out
and are laced with a unique sense of humur (as in A Hippo Took An Apricot).
Before you know it, you're humming along to The cod-James Bond theme And
God Doesn't Fuck About, before you realize it's just a little off-beat
(and definitely off-set!). The best issue of the Black Series so far,
this CD is highly recommended. (FK)
BLACK WIDOW
{Vortex Vault}
CD - Beta-lactam Ring Records - 2007 - (USA)
RE:GEN
MAGAZINE
Part Four in
The Vortex Vault series ongoing series of rarities and collaborative works,
Black Widow sees Andrew Liles bringing in a couple of guest vocalists:
Urdu professor Dr. Malik and Italian cult performer Ernesto Tomasini.
An eclectic mixture of Urdu, Italian, and English draws the album together
in a loose thematic arrangement, while Liles' arrangements and studio
work ensure an ongoing sense of eclecticism. Instrument choices range
from primitive to classical; "To Maim a Donkey, Part I" starts
things off with a bit of thumb piano, but just as you prepare yourselves
for an exploration of African themes, "Bengali Bergman" takes
things in a radically different direction, merging the classical traditions
of East and West in the form of sitar and cello. Voice also plays a prominent
role; "Uncle Alf" is a mysterious little narrative piece—like
a Ligotti short story, it's somehow both innocuous and chilling—set
to gently ringing ambient tones, for example, and "Dove I (Noodles
and Cheese)" layers Italian speech over humming vibraphone. Only
one selection, "To Maim a Donkey, Part III," is built around
actual singing in the conventional sense. It's a sort of operatic nugget
about... well, maiming a donkey. Conceptually, it should be offensive
to opera fans and donkeys alike, but in practice, it's ridiculous enough
that only the most humorless and ardent supporters of either could possibly
take umbrage. Lyrics aside, Tomasini's vocal range on the piece is uncanny;
he sings both the English and Italian parts, in tenor and falsetto, respectively,
and sounds for all the world like two separate people. Dr. Malik's contributions,
on the other hand, are dry and rather mumbling, but this too is surprisingly
effective in places; "Dove II (Hoodle on a Plinth)" is particularly
gorgeous. With nothing more than quiet speech and understated pianos,
it achieves a subtle loveliness that recalls Current 93's Soft Black Stars
crossed with a Punjabi graduate school seminar. At first listen, there's
not a lot holding these tracks together, but Tomasini's campy performance
and Malik's businesslike narration manage to pull things together in an
unlikely cohesion. In any case, it provides further fuel for thought to
Liles' already eccentric output and makes a welcome addition to The Vortex
Vault.
Posted: Wednesday, July 25, 2007
By: Matthew Johnson
Associate Editor
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
