Giuseppe Ielasi ~ Plans
How to respond to this single 30 minute, 50 second piece? Contextualise
it within a gaggle of like-minded wayfarers or use it as springboard to
reflect upon the state of abstract electronica in 2005? Music may be deployed
for infinite purposes, including open-minded, in-the-moment wondering...
0.00: Water wheels, pendant hums. The (almost) too-familiar striations of
digitalia alternately scratched upon and kneaded into the ear. Eddying whirlpools,
a giant echo chamber, blustery days by the seashore, ghosts of gulls circling
above, coasting and diving.
3.30: sudden fade to crunchier climes, little squeaks and squeals, the sound
of a windmill gone awry. Axles and wooden wheels off-kilter - imagine spokes
clattering against suspended metal rods. Cut to film of warm front, flying
just before it, being buffeted gently along. Gulls screeching in the immediate
vicinity, wind-borne dust and grit obscuring eyesight.
9.30: junkyard buildup, guitar strings quiver, momentum breaks up into small,
metal pieces crashing into and over each other. Signal streams gathering
in force, everything else cuts out. A pitted, streamlined hull gathers form.
13.37: Vacuum suction, everything disappearing into the nozzle; radio interference.
Distant roars, activity.
17.10: biscuit tin rumours, drums reflected in shards of broken glass.
21.10: birdsong, canary, at least caged for sure. Crunch of falling gravel
(is the avalanche burying the bird? Undertones of the surreal). At 23.18
bird still audible, it lives!
25.30: guitars and drums flicker together in a cascade of reverberant sound
28.10: whiplashes, cans opening, pops and clatters as the guitars rise up
again, transfigured.
I’ve no idea how Plans constructs its conceptual logic, but its episodically
interleaved structure is engaging and its ear for textural beauty is impressive.
NB see this blog entry detailing the rejection of this review.