I am a Recoil "fan", and here's a review I wrote of the last album.
Artist: Recoil
Album: Liquid (2000)
Liquid is the fourth album release from 40-year-old Alan Wilder’s Recoil project. As far as categorisation goes, it is easier to state what the album is not, rather than what it is: it is not rock and it is not dance or pop. This is perhaps unsurprising, given the subject matter that inspired the theme of the album: “In 1994 myself and my partner Hepzibah were driving in the middle of nowhere in Scotland when a Tornado bomber crashed in front of us,” explains Wilder. “Two airmen were spread across the countryside. I kept thinking about it, and of what was going through the pilot’s mind during the last 30 seconds of his life. In the end it became a kind of concept for the whole album.” Wilder claims that Liquid is the gradual unfolding of a dying man’s memories – that each piece on the album can be viewed as an event from the pilot’s life.
Liquid consists of ten pieces of music, some of which include spoken or sung vocal parts from singers and spoken-word artists. All the usual Wilder trademarks are to be found scattered throughout the album: the undulating string arrangements underpinning many of the pieces; the razor-sharp decay envelopes and the almost subliminal sampled atmospherics that creep up on the listener during some tracks. These elements, combined with Wilder’s refusal to adhere to any musical structure or form he has previously explored, makes for an intense and sometimes difficult listening experience.
Album opener, Black Box (part 1), introduces the doomed pilot. Sampled strings swirl ominously as narrator Reto Buhle sets the scene. The close mic recording of his voice, devoid of any treatment other than compression and equalisation, results in a feeling of intimacy – of being inside someone’s head. After almost three minutes, track two begins with eerie whispers and noises. Want is firmly rooted in Wilder territory with its lightning fast analogue resonant filter cut-off blips and driving bass. Throughout the album, the work of Curve’s Dean Garcia on bass guitar, combined with live drum sources – mainly jazz oriented – is used often. Want is a prime example of how these elements have been recorded into ProTools and then manipulated and edited. New York spoken-word artist Nicole Blackman engages the listener with her taunting and erotic vocal, treated at various points with delay, severe mid-range equalisation, distortion and pitch shifting.
Track three, Jezebel, provides some light relief, as it is possibly the most conventional piece of music on the album. Recorded in the 1930’s by the Golden Gate Jubilee Quartet, Wilder has taken the original vocal elements of the song and built a completely new track around it by adding his own blend of strings and other sounds using ProTools. The result is the rather disturbing story of Jezebel from the Bible, who is punished for her evil deeds, set to a modern and engaging piece of music.
Breath Control is the story of a woman who is introduced to extreme sexual pursuits by her lover. When she kills him during one of their more experimental encounters, she discovers she has a taste for murder. Again featuring Nicole Blackman, this track contains similar elements to Want and could even be considered Want II. Last Call for Liquid Courage features New York poet Samantha Coerbell and is a bleak tale of the goings-on at a club for those who like to indulge in group sex. This track is best described as an up tempo version of Want. It could be suggested that Wilder has attempted to create a more cohesive listening experience in Liquid, something that has perhaps eluded him until now.
Strange Hours featues the talents of none other than Diamanda Galas who, on this track, sounds like a manic Tina Turner. Jazz percussion and strings are much in evidence, as is clever ProTooling of whole sections of music. Quite what the song is about remains a mystery, however. Vertigen follows, featuring Recoil fan Rosa Torras, chosen for this track on the strength of a tape she sent to Wilder of her speaking in her native Catalan tongue. A sorry tale of teenage motherhood follows with Supreme, narrated by Samantha Coerbell, and is perhaps the weakest track on Liquid. More interesting is Chrome, again featuring Nicole Blackman. Dealing with unusual sexual pursuits, Chrome rises, falls, stops and starts unexpectedly and makes effective use of a solitary droning cello at intervals throughout.
The droning cello returns, along with the undulating sampled strings in the closing Black Box (part II). Once more, Reto Buhle narrates and the album ends with effect layered upon effect to create a claustrophobic feeling of tragic finality. In Liquid, Wilder has created his most complex, experimental and cohesive work to date. It is not, however, an easy listening experience.
Artist: Recoil
Album: Liquid (2000)
Liquid is the fourth album release from 40-year-old Alan Wilder’s Recoil project. As far as categorisation goes, it is easier to state what the album is not, rather than what it is: it is not rock and it is not dance or pop. This is perhaps unsurprising, given the subject matter that inspired the theme of the album: “In 1994 myself and my partner Hepzibah were driving in the middle of nowhere in Scotland when a Tornado bomber crashed in front of us,” explains Wilder. “Two airmen were spread across the countryside. I kept thinking about it, and of what was going through the pilot’s mind during the last 30 seconds of his life. In the end it became a kind of concept for the whole album.” Wilder claims that Liquid is the gradual unfolding of a dying man’s memories – that each piece on the album can be viewed as an event from the pilot’s life.
Liquid consists of ten pieces of music, some of which include spoken or sung vocal parts from singers and spoken-word artists. All the usual Wilder trademarks are to be found scattered throughout the album: the undulating string arrangements underpinning many of the pieces; the razor-sharp decay envelopes and the almost subliminal sampled atmospherics that creep up on the listener during some tracks. These elements, combined with Wilder’s refusal to adhere to any musical structure or form he has previously explored, makes for an intense and sometimes difficult listening experience.
Album opener, Black Box (part 1), introduces the doomed pilot. Sampled strings swirl ominously as narrator Reto Buhle sets the scene. The close mic recording of his voice, devoid of any treatment other than compression and equalisation, results in a feeling of intimacy – of being inside someone’s head. After almost three minutes, track two begins with eerie whispers and noises. Want is firmly rooted in Wilder territory with its lightning fast analogue resonant filter cut-off blips and driving bass. Throughout the album, the work of Curve’s Dean Garcia on bass guitar, combined with live drum sources – mainly jazz oriented – is used often. Want is a prime example of how these elements have been recorded into ProTools and then manipulated and edited. New York spoken-word artist Nicole Blackman engages the listener with her taunting and erotic vocal, treated at various points with delay, severe mid-range equalisation, distortion and pitch shifting.
Track three, Jezebel, provides some light relief, as it is possibly the most conventional piece of music on the album. Recorded in the 1930’s by the Golden Gate Jubilee Quartet, Wilder has taken the original vocal elements of the song and built a completely new track around it by adding his own blend of strings and other sounds using ProTools. The result is the rather disturbing story of Jezebel from the Bible, who is punished for her evil deeds, set to a modern and engaging piece of music.
Breath Control is the story of a woman who is introduced to extreme sexual pursuits by her lover. When she kills him during one of their more experimental encounters, she discovers she has a taste for murder. Again featuring Nicole Blackman, this track contains similar elements to Want and could even be considered Want II. Last Call for Liquid Courage features New York poet Samantha Coerbell and is a bleak tale of the goings-on at a club for those who like to indulge in group sex. This track is best described as an up tempo version of Want. It could be suggested that Wilder has attempted to create a more cohesive listening experience in Liquid, something that has perhaps eluded him until now.
Strange Hours featues the talents of none other than Diamanda Galas who, on this track, sounds like a manic Tina Turner. Jazz percussion and strings are much in evidence, as is clever ProTooling of whole sections of music. Quite what the song is about remains a mystery, however. Vertigen follows, featuring Recoil fan Rosa Torras, chosen for this track on the strength of a tape she sent to Wilder of her speaking in her native Catalan tongue. A sorry tale of teenage motherhood follows with Supreme, narrated by Samantha Coerbell, and is perhaps the weakest track on Liquid. More interesting is Chrome, again featuring Nicole Blackman. Dealing with unusual sexual pursuits, Chrome rises, falls, stops and starts unexpectedly and makes effective use of a solitary droning cello at intervals throughout.
The droning cello returns, along with the undulating sampled strings in the closing Black Box (part II). Once more, Reto Buhle narrates and the album ends with effect layered upon effect to create a claustrophobic feeling of tragic finality. In Liquid, Wilder has created his most complex, experimental and cohesive work to date. It is not, however, an easy listening experience.
