Sc.all "Live @ Silk City in Philadelphia, PA 09.23.03" CD
[Scarcelight]
Here we have just under a half-hour of experimental electronic sounds resting largely on the softer and more ambient side - though still somewhat rugged in nature. The bulk of the sounds are thick low-end rumbles with faint crackles and electronic tinges faintly peeking out over the core of the track. The composition is relatively consistent in presentation, with little significant variation from start to finish. Things vary back and forth in terms of layering and overall activity, but the general atmosphere is very consistent in large chunks. Around 10 minutes in things change over into vibrating feedback tones, gradually building back into more of a low-end drone with a little added crispy midrange happening at the outer periphery. The final seven minutes or so of the piece start to strip away the layering, cutting out most of the low-end in favor of a faint sizzling component with sputtering rumbles breaking in and out underneath. I imagine there's a little more going on under the surface as a whole, but the representation provided by the disc itself is probably not quite as bright and involved as the actual event was firsthand. My only real complaint with this offering is that the output volume is too quiet in my opinion, so perhaps it could have been mastered louder. Perhaps it's so quiet on purpose since the piece is rather calm, but I still think a louder output volume would help bring out some of the details of the performance. The sound quality is on the muffled side as well, perhaps a bit muddier than I would expect based on the Sc.all live performances that I've witnessed in person, but I don't view that as a significant problem. I'm sure it takes a little something away from the work as a whole, but it still works in this form, and comes across as very warm. The CD-R comes in a simplistic white digipack sleeve with screenprinted patterns and text in orange, blue and silver. The disc face has the same types of screenprinting on it, and makes for a very minimal but effective package that I think looks pretty damn good for a D.I.Y. affair. Oh, and it's hand-numbered on the back out of 95 copies. Not bad. This is definitely a nice little handling of a limited edition effort. (6/10)
Running time - 27:31, Tracks: 1
[Notable tracks: there's only one]
Scarcelight Recordings - http://www.scarcelight.org

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