Side-Line
It's not really a surprise to know that Andrew is an "art addict". His
website abounds in links for interesting sites where aestheticism reigns
supreme. This sensibility comes out his ambient sound collages where he
reinvents the definition of logic. A logic, where the superficial calm
is often broken by oppressing and disturbing atmospheres, like a sleep
that will never come. This abstract manipulation creates a feeling of
malaise absolutely... concrete. Never our senses have been so shaken by
this intelligent and out of time creation. Andrew Liles is certainly the
last alchemist of experimental music.
Drone
Records
Neues Album des surrealen Briten, der sich hier dem bizarr-erotischen
Werke HANS BELLMERS verschrieben hat, und Frauenstimmen collagiert und
verfremdet in spannungsgeladene Kompositionen einbaut.. auf der bonus
CDR gibt es zusätzlich noch einige Remixe..
Brainwashed
For an album that is right at forty-six minutes long, it sure does seem
to last an eternity. The entire record is basically a series of tones
accompanied by various passages concerned with or describing sexual perversions.
At first this seemed like an exciting enough prospect: Andrew Liles associates
Aural Anagram with the various productions of Hans Bellmer. Bellmer was
one of the first post-Dada surrealists, his self-portrait appears on the
cover and I assume that the artwork in the liner notes is either inspired
or drawn by him. The primary sketch on the liner notes depicts a nude
woman on her hands and knees with her lower torso "x-rayed" to reveal
her womb and sexual organs. At the same time, she is pleasuring three
different men who are shown only by the presence of their penis. It's
a strange image to be sure, but none of the sexuality in the picture makes
it into the music in any way. Each track sounds remarkably the same with
various vocal samples describing various perversities or sexual observations
made from a nearly medical standpoint. Nothing changes throughout the
duration of the recording: many of the tones used have the same color
and feel throughout and much of the vocal samples simply repeat themselves
into boring oblivion. It sounds more like one long recording than a series
of nine compositions inspired by an explicit artist. It may be my hormones
talking, but with a premise like this, the album certainly could've been
more exciting and retained its rather dark and ominous atmosphere. In
the end, that is what makes everything about this recording so dull: it's
too dark for too long and with little to no variation in the bleakness
of it all. It's an interesting exploration of an artist and an idea but
it fails as a composition as a result of being far too limited in scope.
On the other hand, the remix album included with the first one-hundred
copies of Aural Anagram is a more cohesive, varied, and interesting exploration
of droning sounds and sexual expression. Instead of being a series of
nine tracks like the original was, Anal Aura Gram is four tracks tied
together very closely so that the recording can be experienced as a whole.
By cutting the album down by ten minutes and condensing much of the original
material, Liles creates an almost deafening world. It isn't deafening
because it's overly loud or overpowering in any way, it's just that the
sounds used produce the aural equivalent of claustrophobia. Every sound
has a tactile quality, whether it is feathery softness or the cold feeling
of making a discomforting observation. More melodic elements are present
than on the original and not so much time is devoted to near-silence or
frustrating repetition. The vocal samples are used more sparingly and
multiple textures are used throughout so that nothing overstays its welcome.
This sort of attention to detail adds to the eerie and dire feelings that
were attempted on the original mix: various melodic tones float like bubbles
and are flourished by rolling sparkles in piano-like ascents and descents.
Small buzz-saws cut away quietly in the background while other alien sounds
stutter and chop their away across the sound spectrum. Here and there
feminine moans and abrupt cries appear and disappear within the mix creating
a vaguely erotic tension while maintaining a secretive tone that hints
at violence, destruction, and (somehow) infidelity. There are fewer overtly
sexual references made, but the ones used are both exciting and unsettling.
The re-mixes are everything Aural Anagram could've (and should've) been,
so those interested should grab a copy before they all disappear.
Lucas Schleicher
http://www.brainwashed.com
Vital Weekly
ANDREW LILES - AURAL ANAGRAM (CD by Macrophonies) As seen on a recent
tour through the USA: performing is Andrew Liles - for the lovers of Coil,
The Hafler Trio and Nurse With Wound. Andrew is from Brighton, UK and
might not the most known player on the music scene there, but he sure
is someone to keep an eye open for. 'Aural Anagram' is his second 'real'
CD, after many CDR releases and some vinyl. Despite being divided in nine
tracks, I think it's really just one piece. The whole thing deals with
painter Hans Bellmer, whom I must admit never heard off, who depicted
bizarre images involving female nudes. His drawings, etchings and visual
anagrams inspired this CD. So can we say that Liles sound like the aforementioned
three? I think it's hard to see Coil and The Hafler Trio, but yes, Nurse
With Wound, I can second that. Female voices play an important on this
CD. Although I find it hard to understand what they are saying (why do
I just understand 'sexual organs' at one point?, maybe that's the idea),
the way they speak their texts and the way Liles processes them reminds
me very much of the first couple of Nurse With Wound, 'Homotopy To Marie',
'Insect' and 'Ostranenie'. But whereas with good ol' Nurse With Wound
they were embedded in a more industrial kind of thing, Liles takes out
some of his keyboards and waves together a lush pattern of ambient sounds.
Occasionally adding some highly processed 'other' sounds (water, people
having sexual intercourse), the overall sound is mostly ambient. One might
object that the line (old-) Nurse With Wound and Andrew Liles is short,
or that Liles pulls a lot of effect tricks on his music, it's a very nice
CD that is certainly worth getting. Compared to 'An Un World' not a step
forward - but sideward. 'An Un World' is a collection of nice tracks,
'Aural Anagram' is a nice concept album. (FdW)
Hans Bellmer
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