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'the eyes of stanley pain' - sub08 1996 'sidewinder' - sub10 1996
http://www.SUBCONSCIOUSSTUDIOS.com/
Tracklist TEOSP:
01. Suni C
02. Possession
03. Turin Cloud
04. Glassblower
05. h Sien Influence
06. Base Metal
07. Collision
08. Sidewinder
09. Outafter
10. Kill Fly
11. Separate
12. Seven Plagues
13. Fire This Ground
14. Eyes of Stanley Pain: Puppy Gristle, Pt. 1
Tracklist "Sidewinder" EP:
01. Sidewinder (re-mix)
02. Glassblower (re-mix)
03. Base metal (re-mix)
04. Chalice
05. Shemaesin
06. Im5
07. Attallal (re-mix by haujobb)
08. Lenge t'agn
Credits:
Chris Peterson assisted with engineering and mixing on these CDs. Both were assembled and released at Subconscious Studios. Download is generally a Project of Cevin Key of Skinny Puppy. The artworks of both CD's are worth purchasing the CD's just for the artworks, as no one else but Dave McKean did them.
Review: THE EYES OF STANLEY PAIN
The second, and arguably best release by Download, the ground cEVIN and Dwayne of Skinny Puppy founded after (and before) its death along with Ken Marshall and Mark Spybey (ex-Soviet France), EOSP finds cEVIN and company enhancing the abstract nature of their 1st album ‘Furnace’ and expounding on it by adding more “structured” elements like Mark Spybey’s/Genesis P. Orridge’s vocals, patterns, and in places a far more synthetic sound. The last disc for Dwayne (sadly) & Spybey both to appear on, they would never sound this way again, accessible and yet totally unhindered by rules. Why its listed here, aside from obvious reasons, is that Chris Peterson assisted and engineered on this disc, and it also sports some of the best artwork Dave McKean’s ever done (albeit in a flimsy cardboard package that has since been mangled in most everyone’s CD towers). Many have assessed that this is what ‘The Process’ should have sounded like…
1. Suni C.
The album kicks off with some distorted voices and a starting motor-like noise of some sort. This breaks way to an absolute yet structured chaos of beat shards, blips, and other frantic noises. The mix progresses as more sounds swirl about and it all builds to this soft crescendo of strings and atmospheric textures as Mark drones on about a metaphysical journey of some sort. It ends on a high, peaceful note of strings, chords, and a light melody. Exhausting, and its only the opener…
2. Possession
A high BPM dance beat storms through this track right from the beginning as distorted and “wet” sequences roll over a heavy bassline. Distorted (better get used to this word) fragments of lyrics pop in here and there, as well as an odd bellhop *ding!* Very danceable despite the chaos, near the end it breaks into a slower almost Middle Eastern flavored grind. The end is amazing, everything whirling together into a massive sound mindfuck meltdown that dissolves right into the next track.
3. The Turin Cloud
A collage of laser noises and other bits of sound fades in before an awesomely heavy 4/4 beat kicks in. Great drum sounds, the beat just pounds its way out of your speakers. This song showcases Spybey’s great vocal abilities, as he growls and hisses on about religion. A few beat breaks accompanied by odd samples, a thick and almost atonal bass synth, and screams pop in give way to another noisy mindfuck ending, with a blood-curdling scream by Spybey. The most violent track on this disc, but not the noisiest…
4. Glassblower
Seemingly everyone’s favorite track, this is the noisiest. Another collage of grinding metal noise and screeching guitars breaks to another heavy 4/4 beat and various noise-constructed breakbeats. Very stripped down in comparison, but loud as fuck, Spybey whispers along to the caustic dance patterns, the most notable being a loud static-y almost rock n’ roll type overlaying drum beat. No melodies, its all rhythm n’noise that ends with the same grinding from the beginning. A bit too short, though that problem would be fixed in the remix on the Sidewinder EP.
5. H. Sein Influence
Genesis P. Orridge’s first appearance on this disc is a logically more quiet track, following the previous two blasts. A typical off-the-wall Genesis rant goes on over another dance beat, with overlaing horns/trumpets and harsh bass noises blare in the background. The traditional Skinny Puppy drum kit is used in effect there (and if you don’t know what I mean, then you have no right to listen to this yet ). A bit more unremarkable than the previous tracks, it’s still a nice groovy head-nodder, although said groove is atonal and mostly just propulsive rhythm, its still rather groovy.
6. Base Metal
One of the most laid back and atmospheric tracks on this disc. Running water spills on throughout this track, at first annoyingly but you get used to it. A fluttery string line floats over a rumbling beat collage featuring what has to be at least 4 different base drums. Echoing vocals by Mark propel this relaxing, almost New Age-type track. The remix on the Sidewinder EP is more interesting though, IMO.
7. Collision
The longest track on this disc, at about 10 1/2 minutes, this track undergoes a few mutations, to its great benefit. After about a 3 minute intro of floating, almost wave-like noises and glitches and human voices, a dance beat appears out of nowhere with Mark actually singing (guess how? Distortedly!) along with an oddly quirky bassline…pretty cool, but cEVIN’s right, Bill is the master . Slow monstrous growls loop in, and the track breaks into a spacey clock-filled twilight zone, before the beat comes back, which then breaks down into a totally different more electro-styled fast beat. A simple but solid bassline comes in, pushing the track along with more highly distorted-yet-harmonious vocals. Very empty in places, a change of pace from the chaos of the first half of this disc (and this song even!).
8. Sidewinder
The sort of first single of this CD, cool chimes and space-beeps fade in on this track, ushering in a fucked up, stuttering beat that, while short, punches its way through the layers of noise and synth distortion in the back. Dj Egyptian (a local Jamaican street-rapper cEVIN met while there) bridges the latter part of the track in, a slow, grinding Middle Eastern styled breakbeat. Noise washes and scraping glass pour over the beat with distorted and unintelligible vocals, churning away till the end. The beginning part should have been longer to even it out, but Download’s all about breaking the rules, so…
9. Outafter
A song that cEVIN and Dwayne originally started for the Crow movie, but was rejected. Brandon Lee loved it however, and so they decided to add it onto here, naming it b\c it came Out After the movie. Dedicated to the late Mr. Lee, this is a relatively smoother track out of them all, a fast jungle-type breakbeat flows along with another quirky bassline. Synth washes and strings and a cool high-pitched squeal/chant glide in the back. Good if unspectacular, frankly I’m not sure how this would have fit the movie anyway.
10. Killfly
My least favorite track, though its not uninteresting. Appropriately named, many of the effects and beat manipulations feel very insect-like, buzzing and crawling across a lyric and cricket filled background. Distorted breakbeats and odd popping noises flutter all around another atonal rhythm.
11. Separate
Oddly structured and almost easily digestible, this is one creepy track. Manipulated phone recordings chatter about over creepy strings and a slow building mood. Genesis P. Orridge drones some more in this track, dueling in parts with Spybey with 2 completely different sets of lyrics. A slow, heavy Skinny Puppy-ish beat drones on with strings and more phone noises as Genesis fades out and Mark takes over. Very unsettling and good.
12. Seven Plagues
A backwards satanic sounding voice gives way to a heavily distorted drumloop heard in the remix of Pig’s ‘Rope’ if you’re familiar. The watery, muffled distortions on the beat are awesome. Odd bass noises and pitch-shifted whines flutter all around this primarily beat-oriented track. Then out of nowhere a bunch of bongos roll in over chords and bells and more demonic low voice, which goes on until the original beat comes back in. Close to being filler, it’s still a nice track nonetheless.
13. Fire This Ground (Puppy Gristle pt.1)
At the time in 1996, we wondered when pt. 2 would ever come out, until we found out this was just a portion of a long 45-minute noise jam between Puppy and Genesis. P. Orridge (who’s on this track somewhere, although not vocally). All rolling, stuttering noise, great for fans of early proto-industrial like, well, Throbbing Gristle. Harsh, grating noise piles up completely unstructured, and Gen even breaks out the old gristlebox for old times sake! Worth it if you can take the pain…
14. The Eyes of Stanley Pain
The title track is another breather much like ‘Base Metal’, although no drums, just soft washes of noise and distorted jazz-type guitar picking. An unsettling female voice seems to say “It was directed by Stanley Pain”, although all members have gone on record saying it was a cut and paste job of a woman’s voice that only ended up sounding like that phrase. Soft yet very unnerving, this track serves as a nice denouement with its distorted voices and aimless guitar and piano plucking, a nice counterbalance to all the chaos above.
Overall: An awesome disc through and through. Though not without some filler, the filler it does have is still pretty good and worth at least even a cursory listen. From here, after Spybey left and Dwayne died, cEVIN, Philth and Ken Marshall would go on to more trancey and technofied leanings. Their most accessible CD, but their best by far. In many places cEVIN and Co. have invented a new kind of dance music (at least) that will never be rivaled. Like Skinny Puppy and their noise? Get this. In many ways its what The Process should have been (even though I like The Process as it is).
Review by D.Sudia aka r3co1l
Review: SIDEWINDER EP
A precursor to the Eyes of Stanley Pain album, this mix EP doesn’t hold many surprises, but a few nice bits make it worth a cursory look at least. The mixes, save for Haujobb’s, are all much more stripped down in many places.
1. Sidewinder (re-mix)
An almost instrumental mix (although all the voices were hard to discern anyway), Dj Egyptian and most of Mark Spybeys vox have been removed, while the Middle Eastern slow beat part has been extended, with additional strings and low-end drones added. Not too terribly different (none of the mixes are, really) but a lot more space has been added.
2. Glassblower (re-mix)
Also almost the same as the original version, the saving grace of this mix is that the awesome distorted rock beat over the dance beat has been extended in places, making this track longer and a little less rushed-sounding in my opinion. Other than that and a few tweaks, it’s the same, but worth it for the extension, this track needed to be longer.
3. Base Metal (re-mix)
The final remix by Download themselves, this one is the most different. A dub-flavored drum loop and bass has been added to the main beat, and everything for some reason sounds a lot cleaner. The running water doesn’t run through the entire track in this mix, only popping in here and there, a better idea if you ask me. Like all the mixes it’s a bit more stripped down, but although containing all the same elements this just feels very different.
4. Chalice
An apparent b-side from the EOSP recording sessions, this is a quirky little track with a slow marching beat and various hits, clacks, taps and rolling percussion in the background. A chipmunk like voice stutters around all cut up, with the main rhythm being composed of some kind of beep collage. Nothing spectacular, but not bad either, and rather short.
5. Shemaesin
Chaos in the vein of Suni C. from EOSP. A multitude of ridiculously sped up techno pulses (can’t really call them beats b/c they’re not that loud) pour forth while Mark rants about…well you really have no idea what he rants about anyway. Sampled motorcycle noises and warped choral voices abound over tons of rhythmic noise. A bit too random and aimless for my tastes.
6. Im5
Oddly empty and sparse sounding track. More a showcase for Spybey’s vocal manipulations, he hisses and screams and chants his way through this very experimental piece. More of a spoken word piece than anything, just Marks voice over various noise loops and looping samples. Nothing spectacular.
7. Attallal (re-mix by Haujobb)
Haujobb contribute and awesome mix of one of the tracks from Download’s first CD ‘Furnace’, though bearing little to no relation to the original cut at times. Light ambiences and a creepy mood descends as chimes and noises give way to a warped and chopped up beat. Haujobb do a great job keeping up with Download here this is the best song of the disc. Beats layer on top of each other as the song progresses, with bass synths and chords keeping up the atmosphere. Not as manic as Download, it’s much smoother, to good effect.
8. Lenge T’agn
A throwaway minute long noise fest. Not sure why it’s even on here, it’s too short to be anything of note. Just some random loops, one sounding like distorted laser fire.
Review by D.Sudia aka r3co1l
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Last updated 2005-05-01 23:52:57 by: unknown user.
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