Despite living in a relatively remote area of
the world, Australia has always excelled when it comes to electronic music.
Be it the numerous Clan Analogue collectives, or the commercial beats of
Paul Mac and Infusion, Australian electronics holds a quality considered
on par, if not above, the world leaders.
Melbourne-based bedroom producer Anthony Pell proved this very point
on his debut release in 2001. Gathering praise from his home audience
and across the world from such notable on-liners ChainDLK and Apell's
debut was a solid concoction of electronica, jazz and rock. On his second
album, Apell punctuates those reviews with more solid sequences and introspective
movements.
"A nice epic feel a' la Radiohead."
Drawing equally from Massive Attack, King Crimson, Moby and Bill Laswell,
Beaver Street & Beyond runs the gamut of genres in the space of 13
compositions. Opening with a jazzy Entertainment
Complex Apell would sit rather nicely next to a number of Clan artists,
whereas Digirap adopts the rock with
a strong dub undercurrent.
However, it's on the subtler moments (Tim and Tony and Summer) where Apell excels.
Soothing synthetics combine with Latin-inspired acoustic guitar and darkened
brass to create a nice epic feel a' la Radiohead.
Never the one to rest on the one influence, Apell continues to draw from
a range of genres including seventies prog rock, eighties dub nineties
hip-hop, and new millennium electronica. Additionally, sparse vocals are
employed for effect, including the samples of monk-like chanting and choirs,
however the majority of the long-player is vocal free.
Another top quality Australian electronic release
that quite deservedly should acquire plenty of notice from the national
airplay bigwigs.
Warren
Wheeler - The Sound Monitor |
