viernes, 9 de abril de 2010

Valet / Richard Youngs -Tsuki No Seika: Volume 2

Not The Original cover art
Genre: Experimental
Label: Root Strata

The theme behind the Tsuki No Seika series is a restriction to acapella music, so each contributor has to operate within vocals-only guidelines (whilst supplying their own artwork for the sleeve, incidentally). Kranky artist Valet (aka Honey Owens) offers what ostensibly seems to be a radical cover version of Mudhoney's seminal 'Touch Me I'm Sick', which here is rendered within a swarming, groggy swirl of edited vocal tones that brings a kind of cloudy beauty to the piece. At times it sounds as though it's got some oral percussion going on in there too, which is most welcome. Richard Youngs is no stranger to this acappella lark (take a listen to his Summer Wanderer LP, for further details), and his hypnotic 'Fen Flowers' manifests itself as a minimalist, abstracted, multitracked take on the traditional, Ewan MacColl school of hand-on-ear folk singing. It's a strange blend of disciplines, but his hypnotic delivery has real weight and resonance to it. Tremendous stuff from both parties.

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