Articles
2009 Artists' Picks
Lymbyc Systym

Albums
Cory Allen
aus
The Bird Ensemble
Canaille
Catlin & Machinefabriek
Greg Davis
Loren Dent
Dirac
Drafted By Minotaurs
Flica
Sarah Goldfarb & JHK
Gown
John Hollenbeck
Viviane Houle
I/DEX
Akira Kosemura
Andrew McKenna Lee
Le Lendemain
LRAD
Lymbyc Systym
Melorman
Muskox
The Mercury Program
Nikasaya
Northerner
nörz
Noveller / Aidan Baker
Redshape
Marina Rosenfeld
Stripmall Architecture
Sturqen
Wes Willenbring
The Tony Wilson Sextet
Julia Wolfe
Peter Wright
Zelienople

Compilations / Mixes
Blackoperator
Glimpse Four:Twenty 03
Kod.eX
Portland Stories

EPs
Molnbär Av John
Tommi Bass & B.B.S.C.
Julian Beau
Colours-Volume 5
Dalot
Echologist
Simon James French
Geiom & Shortstuff
General Elektriks
Geskia
Ernest Gonzales
Gradient
Jacksonville
Joker
Ann Laplantine
Loko
Machinefabriek
Stefano Pilia
Damian Valles

Damian Valles: Rural Route No. 1
Standard Form

The Toronto-based Standard Form label makes its first foray into three-inch territory with a very nice three-track set by Damian Valles. Rural Route No. 1 finds the sound-sculpting guitarist having relocated from an urban to rural setting and channeling his response to the change in twenty minutes of live-sounding material built from processed guitar and percussion.

The thirteen-minute running time of “Low Population Density” identifies it as the key piece of the three, and the track lives up to expectations. Following a restrained opening of environmental noises, Valles' electric guitar playing moves into the spotlight, at first laying the groundwork with a ponderous, metronomic figure and then building on it with multiple patterns. The collective sound grows intense and the melodic weave more intricate, until two-thirds of the way through the music swells to an aggressive snarl that feels primed to explode. Valles pulls back, however, and gradually eases the material down until it exits as quietly as it began. Though it's a tad more conventional by comparison, “Swale” layers tremolo shudders over a plodding percussion base in still-memorable manner, while “Minor Variance” conjures a lonely and desolate feel in its Labradford-styled moodscaping.

The Rural Route series is oriented around ambient, experimental, electronic, electro-acoustic, and field recordings-based material with each installment issued in a three-inch format and in a limited run of 150 copies. Let's hope Valles' fine inaugural contribution is a sign of things to come.

January 2010