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3Phase

by chaircrusher

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1.
2.
Giving 05:18
3.
Cash Back 05:49
4.
Dingaling 08:03
5.
3 Phase 05:21
6.
Chucky Canon 05:41
7.

about

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I first encountered Kent Williams (Chaircrusher) in the comments section of the now defunct Analog Industries blog back in the late 00's, but hadn't really had the opportunity to dive into his music until early 2018 when we had a brief twitter conversation and exchanged some free download codes. I listened to his Balsamic Remora EP and was hooked! I've been paying close attention to each Chaircrusher release ever since. Last year's "Not This Time" blew me away. We're absolutely thrilled that we are able to share his latest mini album "3Phase" with you

~Michael Southard, Triplicate Records
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This music grew out of experiments with the VCV Rack software modular synthesizer. I try to make melodies that constantly change while still having musical coherence. I used boolean logic to combine clock pulses running at different rates to trigger note sequencers. The note sequences are deterministic and repeat over time, but the way they stagger and leap appealed to me, and hopefully to other listeners. Thanks to Jeremy Wentworth for developing new Rack modules to make my ideas about logic and rhythm come alive. Comparing my process to what my composer mother has done for 60 years, write notes on paper, it feels like cheating, but the music here is emotionally compelling to me. With a modular synthesizer, you build systems you think you understand but then they surprise you. These are my happy surprises.

~Kent Williams (Chaircrusher)
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The new Chaircrusher LP has phased into this plane of existence and deserves our attention. It's ethereal pleas punctuated with schizoid beats & echo-laden synth stabs are hard to ignore right from the get-go of opener Monte Christo, in fact they cross the bridge from intriguing to downright enjoyable as the kick drums drop by and get your head bobbing. From here we are locked into a cool little groove that seems over too soon despite the formidable size of the track. The mood is forgetting your troubles, dancing in acid rain, freaking out to an extent that you become immersed within the world of gorgeous contradictions CC has constructed for us.

Often-times throughout the course of 3Phase CC seems to delight in melding experimentation with brutal functional dance music. This, more often than not leads to some rather thrilling moments. Of course, such a formula would not be possible to synthesize without it being coupled with the emotional maturity of CC's melodies, which seem to grow evermore cohesive as the record progresses. The springy, can-do attitude the second tune 'Giving' validates the formula perfectly, marrying funk-laden melodic passages with a relentless mechanistic rhythm that carries an energetic vibe throughout its five minute length.

Next up the experimentation-focused aspect of the record becomes the dominant force again, offering up piercing high-cutoff synth washes that recalibrate your eye-floaters into kaleidoscopic patterns until you cross into another dimension. Well no not actually but they're weird and you'll probably enjoy them. The brittle, minimalist percussion that bleeds in halfway with its stuttering handclaps and compact kick drum combined with the floaty, borderline Aphexian swells brings to mind a utopian future cityscape where everything is inexplicably chrome. Equally futuristic in terms of synthwork, and with some fantastic percussion arrangement is the following 8 minute monster Dingaling, a sprawling mid-album epic awash in Id-tickling arpeggios and some lovely key-waves. If you're anything like me, around the half-way mark of this CC is rather adept at anticipating just which chord your brain already knows it wants to hear next (frankly that scares me a little) and this massive bag of ear-candy seems bottomless in that regard, delivering good vibe after good vibe, and honestly never feeling it's duration. Once you hear it you'll agree that it'd be just fine if it went on for an hour or so, such is the crunchiness of the groove.

On to the title track, presumably baptised as such because it represents the rawest expression of the set of aural expressions Chaircrusher sought to explore throughout 3Phase, and yes, the on-paper dissonant methodologies behind the records craft that work spectacularly to its advantage are more evident here than ever. The scattershot wood-tap percussion sequences carry a ghostly key-line loftily through the sonic roof as elsewhere dada-ist synth lunges frantically mutate and compel you to pay close attention to the secret chills hidden throughout. I'd say this is challenging music, but it doesn't make you work to enjoy its fruits, nor does it carry itself as such. It's music to lose track of time and space to and I'm kind of into that.

Wrapping up we have two meaty offerings of synth-funk goodness. On the penultimate track Chucky Canon we're treated to the sweetest moment yet: a winding melodic synth-line that lays bare the soul of the piece modulates slightly and recalls Dingaling's uncanny perfect-chord-to-play-at-this-current-moment-in-time prescience, growing almost haunting as the song phases out and the mammoth closer 'Buffalo Soldiers' creeps menacingly from the icy darkness. Steamy lo-fi drums plod in and out of earshot before giving way to the familiar flute-like sound that's shone a mysterious light through vast canopies of 3Phase's musical ecosystem at this point feeling like an old comforting friend. The sweeping drums and the pastoral quality of the melody bring to mind some shining glade half-remembered from another time, synthesized birdsong and vast caverns filled with reverberations from a long forgotten source. The stunning shift in tone here allows the record to wind-down gracefully, leaving the listener enveloped in a mist of contentment. There's a lot that makes this album appealing, and you won't have a lot of trouble finding out what that is, after all, Chaircrusher has done the hard work for you.

~George Evans - Triplicate Records
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credits

released February 14, 2020

Written & Produced by Kent Williams
Mastered by Michael Southard
Artwork by Bryan Kraft

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chaircrusher Iowa City

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