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Smoking the Century Away — Animated Weightlessness
(Nuggetphase Productions no#, 2001, CD)

Animated Weightlessness Cover art

Another textural trip from the Mexican duo from Loch Ness and Humus. This time out the result is more firmly focused on electronic effects and manipulations, leaving out a lot of the various acoustic sounds heard on the first disc (reviewed in issue 20). Acoustic 12-string guitar, synth, fx, basses, bells, and percussion all contribute fairly equally to the sea of sound. Like the last outing, instruments and other sounds are just as likely to be used for their tonal colors as for their melodic potential, though percussion often plays its standard — and sometimes very dynamic — rhythmic role, and bass often lays down a repeating pattern that helps coalesce various segments into form. As with the first, this was recorded in Mexico and The Netherlands, and if some of these tracks were adapted from the previous recording sessions, they've clearly chosen to use them in a more electronically-dominated role. All the tracks are fairly abstract sound collages, no more so than the opening 20:30 "Even More Glueland." Its concern is primarily texture though it isn't entirely without musicality due to the percussion, bass, and shifting soundscapes that advance contextual themes. Some segments are improvised or sequencer / loop based, with improvised overdubs, but most are probably composed, or perhaps "premeditated," with repeated and harmonized melodic phrases. It's a fun trip, particularly with headphones with the lights out, and as its title hints, it goes beyond The Netherlands and Mexico and heads straight for outer space.

by Mac Beaulieu, Published 2002-04-01

You can forget the luggage, only your head is a taking a trip. What the fuck is this? From the minds of Jorge Beltran and Victor Basurto comes Smoking the Century Away, an excursion into aimless electronics. Animated Weightlessness is comprised of cycles and drones, weird pitch oscillations, odd electronics, and bizarre sound tones. Occasionally the strange voice will float in. Musical it is not, but it’s not noise either. There is more here than a buzzsaw. And on occasion they will gel into a percussive noise resembling a rhythm. "Smoked Psalm" is a nice track, it’s only a bit more than a minute, a nice repeating cycle, which pulses and shines. But in all this is just too weird for me. I am unsure where this falls into the music classification system. All I do know is it has been driving me nuts since I began listening to it. If the sound of broken glass and things falling apart is music to your ears, by all means get this.

by Dane Carlson, Published 2002-04-01

Filed under: New releases, Issue 24, 2001 releases

Related artist(s): Smoking the Century Away

 

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