Collections of Colonies of Bees "Stuck" CD
[Pillowscars]
This trio uses only percussion/feedback, guitars, and computers to create one of the strangest CD's I've heard in awhile. Only one track, "Stuck", makes up the entire disc, and the whole song is very quiet and sparsely arranged, with the instruments almost never really playing at the same time as one another (unless a lot of effects are used to manipulate their natural sounds). It all ends up being very, very minimal, and the percussion is really only used incredibly faintly - to the point where you can only barely recognize the snare rolls under some light distortion with a few ambient hums in the distance. The piece starts quietly (which sets the pace for the rest of the composition) with some random guitar noodling that's spacious and improvisational, somewhat experimental/progressive influenced, but dryer and using few effects. Eventually the guitars sort of cut out and a bunch of electronic glitches and such take over, still very calm and spacious, implementing lots of breaks of silence (or close to it). Things sort of move to and fro from there, and the aforementioned percussion starts to ever so slowly build up to recognizable "beats" with around six minutes remaining in the song. It never really "comes together" though, if that makes sense... it feels like a 33-minute buildup that never quite hits the apex. It's strangely anticlimactic, but somehow interesting because of that fact. As for the recording, it seems fine to me. It's clear and bright (when the volume reaches such a level), and some of the slight rawness feels either intentional or potentially due to effects. For instance, the drums sound rather dry, but some of the computer effects and drones are very smooth and flowing. It's well done, I have no real problems with the sound I don't think. The CD comes in a bright orange sleeve with bright orange and brown printing showing weird illustrations of honey and honeycombs and other stuff associated with bees. Inside is a little insert printed on red paper, and that's about it. I can't say it's the most interesting thing I've ever heard, mainly because it's honestly not all that engaging to me. However it is a nice piece of work, and if you're interested you should act now since this is limited to 500 copies. (6/10)
Running time - 33:04, Tracks: 1
[Notable tracks: there's only one]
Pillowscars - http://www.pillowscars.com

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