Evil Pupil "Gallons of Void" CD
[Cyclop]
This one-man project hails from Canada and creates nice atmospheric experimental soundscapes using samples, synths, and guitar. The tracks tend to be repetitive and calm, using lots of deep and resonant ambience with some musical elements as far as tangible melodies and such. The samples are actually very well integrated too, they don't feel pasted in, and they're often field recordings and sounds of that nature as opposed to vocal samples. A lot of percussive sounds (and at time subtle beats) are employed that create a curious effect and make me wonder what means were used to generate the sounds. At times the beats use very natural sounding drum tones, which would be very impressive if they were created using synthesizers. Admittedly there are a few tracks that are more minimal and can be boring, but I find more musical compositions such as "Funeral March on Hollywood Boulevard" and the slow building "Autopsy of a Tragedy" to be incredibly promising. The banjo in "La Pendaison du Caporal Marcel Macabre" is a little out of place and strangely upbeat compared to anything else on the disc, which I find disruptive, but most everything else flows together very well. The only other thing I'm not that big on are some of the slightly louder/noisier elements or synths, granted nothing gets even remotely harsh... I just feel that those specific textures aren't used very well, and take away from the project's true strengths. There's supposed to be some multimedia material on the CD-Rom portion of the disc, including some demo mp3's and other such add-ons, but everything seems to be created in Flash, and nothing would load up for me beyond the introductory page, so I'm not sure what the bonus features really have to offer. The disc comes in a great looking digipack with some sketchy little diagrams and tiny photos, and then a little bit of crisp text that provides recording information and all that stuff. I think that a handful of these songs could have made for an excellent EP, as I feel like there is a good deal of filler laying around, but this is yet another great experimental act from the apparently flourishing Canadian scene. (6/10)
Running time - 41:53, Tracks: 9
[Notable tracks: Level 01: Stomach Burns, Funeral March on Hollywood Boulevard, Autopsy of a Tragedy]
Cyclop Media - http://www.cyclop-online.com

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