Cyclic Defrost: Passage
While they’re still best known to their respective mothers as Marty Frank and Zak Roberts, Abelcain and Cdatakill have both reached a point where they’re considered ‘veterans’ of the US breakcore scene, having released impressive backcatalogues through labels such as Sublight and Low Res. This shared album release ‘Passage’ on Ad Noiseam follows in the wake of Abelcain and Cdatakill’s collaborative ‘Bleeding Hearts’ 12” series of 2007, and collects together tracks from the duo’s 2002 collaborative release ‘Six Stigmata’ on Zhark International, alongside their remix ‘vs.’ EP ‘Playing With Knives’ on Low Res of the same year, and a further four previously unreleased contemporary remixes. While other recent breakcore-oriented releases on Ad Noiseam by The Teknoist and Sickboy have focussed upon the ‘cartoon’ aspects of the genre via tongue-in-cheek sampling, as this sprawling 70 minute collection illustrates, Abelcain & Cdatakill both cast a distinctly more dry and dystopian slant on proceedings.
In truth there’s precious little ‘light’ to be found here. Abelcain’s opening ‘Kissing Ice’ gives good indication as to the sort of ferocious aesthetic that predominates here, fusing fussilades of distorted trashcan junglist breakbeats with cascades of eerie minor-key piano trills in a manner that calls to mind a seriously pissed-off Squarepusher, while ‘The Dream People Call Human Life’ matches storms of drill and bass Amen breaks with ominous choir samples and fragments of off-key orchestration. Indeed, it’s no real surprise to find out that Abelcain’s previously released unofficial remixes of Skinny Puppy, as it’s that outfit’s fusion of the furiously percussive and distorted with moments of unexpected sonic beauty that’s perhaps most frequently called to mind here. Elsewhere, sidetrips into yawning dark ambience and vast industrial samples on tracks such as ‘Canto V’ and ‘Isabella’ manage to be equally, if not more terrifying and foreboding than their more bpm-loaded counterpoints, simply because they hint at so much understated darkness. As for the four new tracks, they manage to provide another impressive bonus into the bargain, with tracks such as ‘Raining Glass’ even revealing the influence of hiphop in their midtempo breakdown sections. While the unrelenting nature of this expansive collection may prove too much for some listeners in its entirety, on the whole ‘Passage’ impresses.
Machinist: Passage
Два очень активных и влиятельных американских резидента мировой брейкор-сцены ABELCAIN и CDATAKILL решили выпустить коллаборационный сплит-альбом, включающий треки с ранее изданных винилов “Six Stigmata” и “Playing With Knives” плюс четыре новые совместные композиции. Перед нами классический мелодичный брейкор, хорошо спродюсированный и исполненный на высоком техническом уровне. Быстрый, хлесткий, обжигающий, жесткий, хамелеонный, подразумевающий множественные вариации по части ломаных ритмов, ретро-футуристической сэмплоделики, нойзовых извержений и классических пианинных мелодий, а также значительно расширенный за счет использования мрачных эмбиентных и индустриальных тем (“Izabella”, “Falling From The Sky”, “Respirator”, “Faust”, “Aquirre der Zorn Gottes”), а также редких хоровых песнопений. Не могу сказать, что перед нами самая тяжелая или экстремальная разновидность брейкора, но музыка на “Passage” подобрана достаточно разносторонняя, активная, выразительная и умеренно сумасшедшая по меркам жанра. К тому же избегающая грязных дисторшн-перегрузок и претендующая на музыкальность! (Часто за брейкбитовыми эскападами звучат придуманные мистические завывания и ностальгические ретромелодии, а также чистой воды классический авангард и дарк эмбиент.) На общем фоне положительно выделяются треки “Raining Glass”, “Black Bone Orchid” и “Tornado Sirens”. На мой взгляд, Marty Frank и Zak Roberts раскрывают на данном релизе всю суть брейкора, поэтому для тех, кто интересуется подобными звуками и ритмами, “Passage” определенно должен представлять интерес. Остальным людям, которые осознанно игнорируют данный электронный жанр, тут ловить нечего. Прослушав по долгу службы в машинном депо немало брейкор-релизов я могу с уверенностью сказать, что материал диска “Passage” не претендует но новизну или оригинальность. Это всего лишь очень техничная, неглупая работа и неплохой экскурс в экспериментальный жанр для новичков. P.S. Снова отмечу работу художника Magnus Blomster, делавшего обложку для диска. Все-таки классный у него стиль. Смесь гламура и готики, эротики и эзотерики. Красота! [7 баллов]
Dagheisha.com: Passage
Vari scambi di coppia (all’interno della stessa e unica coppia…) vengono praticati da Abelcain e Cdatakill, che scelgono di riportare alla luce due 12 pollici pubblicati in modalità condivisa nel 2002 (‘Playing With Knives’ su Low Res Records e ‘The Six Stigmata’ su Zhark International) e ad essi aggiungono altre quattro tracce inedite per un totale di quattordici pezzi e oltre settanta minuti di suoni che rimbalzano e sobbalzano, ma senza limitarsi a un incessante percuotere o spezzare, preferendo portare la propria, di entrambi, ricerca sulle ritmiche e sul sound a un superiore livello di consapevolezza creativa e architetturale. Che poi si stia parlando di due rinomate teste pensanti che applicano le teorie del drum’n’bass e del breakcore all’elettronica (pur se vale anche il viceversa) vi può già fornire chiari indizi di quale sia la materia plasmata nel disco. Però è nella varietà delle digitali soluzioni strutturali e strumentali ideate che va ricercato il punto focale di ‘Passage’, perché attraverso il mutare costante degli scenari proposti Abelcain e Cdatakill cercano di fornire meno punti di riferimento possibili e introducono un buon numero di variabili nelle composizioni. Non sempre in grado di sorprendere, ma comunque apprezzabili.
Cyclic Defrost Magazine: Valentine
“This song’s about killing yourself, this song’s about depression, the women who leave. The car has no brakes and we’re flooring it. We’re gonna hit something - so what…” A terse voice spitting out these words opens ‘No Brakes’, the first track on Valentine. With sampled/cut-up female vocals and gloomy piano, this almost sounds like a bad trip version of Moby. Cdatakill is one Zak Roberts, a breakcore producer comin’ atcha from Denver, Colorado, and Valentine is his third full-length album. However he seems to be mining a different seam from breakcore here - this album is heavy, dubbed-up, industrial and moody. His stated goal is: “to pin opposites together, to bring sounds that normally oppose and conflict with each other into a seamless aural nightmare and daydream, to expose and glorify the beautiful alongside the violent.” ‘Yesterdays’ samples an old Billie Holliday song, framing the ghostly vocal samples in a paranoid atmosphere of sickening distorted beats and bowel-loosening bass pulses. I don’t think we’re in Jazzland anymore, Toto… A weird, sampled Middle Eastern-sounding woodwind melody snakes its way through the dark spaces of ‘Nefertiti Dub’, punctuated by violent, thick metal guitar stabs - this one wouldn’t sound out of place on Massive Attack’s Mezzanine. Several tracks on this CD could cause serious damage on the dancefloors of those clubs whose patrons like their tunes dubby, dread-filled, queasy and fucked-up.
Sonic Seducer Magazine: Valentine
Auf seinem dritten Vollzeitwerk lässt es die Breakcore-Ikone ungewöhnlich ruhig angehen. Anstatt klanggewordenen Wahnsinn in Höllentempo zu zerhacken, in Rudimenten wieder zusammenzusetzen oder gründlich zu verkrempeln, bewegt sich Zak Roberts aus Denver/Colorado jetzt eher zwischen Dub und Trip Hop. Aber keine Angst: von problemloser Konsumierbarkeit ist man noch weit entfernt. Alles, was ansatzweise massenkompatibel werden könnte, wird umgehend vernichtet und von gesampelten Gitarren, rückwärts laufenden Gesängen und Melodiefragmenten, knarzigen Sounds, Tribal-Beats oder Percussions überlagert und zertrennt — gerne gleichzeitig. Und dennoch: Das Album strahlt eine gewisse Schönheit aus. Harmonische Partien laufen fast pausenlos unaufdringlich im Hintergrund mit; sie zu entdecken, ist keine große Schwierigkeit, vorausgesetzt, man kann sich überhaupt auf das anstrengende, 41 Minuten andauernde Experiment einlassen.
Pop Up Magazine: Valentine
Zgodnie z niewypowiedzianą regułą niemieckiej wytwórni Ad Noiseam, pod pseudonimem Cdatakill ukrywa się jeden tylko muzyk, a mianowicie pochodzący z Denver Zak Roberts. Jednak niemalże dla zaprzeczenia innej reguły tego labela, kojarzącego się z ekstremalną elektroniką, miast potężnych nawałnic połamanych rytmów i noise’owych eksplozji ciskanych słuchaczowi prosto w twarz, Cdatakill stawia na strukturę i przestrzeń swych posępnych dubujących, trip-hopowych kolaży. Rezultat jest niezwykle przekonywujący. Głębokie, zdubowane pulsacje basów wraz z niespieszną rytmiką tworzą wciągające krajobrazy, których przyciągająca siła wzmacniana jest wielopłaszczyznowymi samplami, wędrujących od przetrawionych wokali, przez brzmienia orientalne i partie symfoniczne po (sporadyczne, lecz jednak obecne) zwarcia gitar. Roberts buduje aurę tej płyty konsekwentnie i unika nadmiernego eklektyzmu, nie rzucając się ani na głęboką wodę piosenek ani elektronicznej dominacji rytmu. Każdy kolejny element, wydobywany ze swadą i pomysłem z arsenału brzmień i zagrywek, okazuje się być nieco odmiennym obliczem spójnej wizji i emocjonalności tej muzyki, która ekstrahując z dubu i break-core’a ich najciekawsze dla siebie elementy prowadzi do formy wciągającej, głębokiej i intensywnej. Wymownym dowodem na autentyczność i przekonanie, z jakim Roberts tworzy te muzyczne imaginacje, jest zdumiewająca, drenująca przeróbka Yestardays Billie Holiday. W efekcie otrzymujemy album gęsty, precyzyjny w przekazie – wrażenie takie wzmaga też rewelacyjna okładka płyty – i absorbujący, którego zalety najlepiej ujawniają się przy odsłuchu nocą. Jeśli „Rossz Csillag Allat Szuletett” Venetian Snares jest dla kogoś przeżyciem zbyt wstrząsającym, to „Valentine” przynosi odrobinę adekwatnego wytchnienia. Zdecydowanie warto.
Vital Weekly: Valentine
If you thought that everything coming out of the breakcore-community deals with firestorms of explosive breakbeats, Zak Roberts teaches you quite another lesson on the latest shot from his project Cdatakill. In contrast to most other releases from the breakcore-field the rhythm-texture of breakbeats does not smash the face of the listener from the forefront of the sound picture. It is more integrated in the music as a whole. And the speed of the rhythms does not compete with the speed of sound. More likely we are dealing with textures belonging to the world of dub-based trip hop with rhythmic patterns. Distorted drones of noise launched from a Roland 808 rhythm machine adds a dirty and rough feeling to the complex mixtures of processed voice samples, Middle Eastern percussive beats and weird guitar. From the atmospheric and melodic “You are mine” to the harsh interpretation of Billie Holiday’s “Yesterday”, Cdatakill certainly push the boundaries of the breakcore-scene with this excellent album.
Gothtronic.com: Valentine
Cdatakill is a band that certainly isn’t among my favourites, but made quite a name by combining several genres and ideas. Both Cdatakill and the label Ad Noiseam are becoming more and more popular in both noise/industrial and the d’n’b-scene and it’s clear “Valentine” can only strenghten this position. The biography mentions ‘a very mature, interesting and beautiful album full of surprises and intensity’. Let’s see.. Besides of the rough sound here and there, it’s obvious that Cdatakill made progression since the last album, “The Cursed Species”, and goes on in creating a hybrid of beats, clicks, cuts, sounds and samples. The way this is brought is not often beat-orientated but the general beats are pushed more to the back, whilst melody lines - call it a collage of sounds if you like - built up out of slow ambience, subtle guitars and even Egyptian influences are placed to the front. By doing this, “Valentine” demonstrates how splintered the breakcore-genre actually is, as I find it hard to compare with the wellknown names that pop up in my mind when you say ‘breakcore’. It is however this what distuingishes Cdatakill from the rest, and Zak Roberts clearly demonstrates that by combining guitars with the mentioned Egyptian sounds (”Nefertiti Dub”) or by adding more ambient-influences (”Arapahoe County Sunset”) he knows how to combine styles and therewith jump out of the masses. The beats are subtle, electronic sounds are combined with several instruments and the result is a very good album. Even the Billie Holiday-cover “Yesterdays” is a good song now, and without really pushing the limits, Cdatakill proves he’s back on track with something not a lot of artists can do. ‘A very mature, interesting and beautiful album full of surprises and intensity’; not one word is a lie.
Grooves Magazine: Valentine
Denver-based producer Zak Roberts is certainly no stranger to fans of all things breakcore, having released a slew of characteristically aggressive records since the early ’90s on a number of different labels including Zhark and Lo Res. Valentine represents a significant break from the rapid-fire breakbeats of 2004’s The Cursed Species and shows Roberts venturing into dub-infected downbeat atmospheric soundscapes—though all of his trademark menacing tension is definitely still present. Staccato metallic outings such as the densely polyrhythmic “You Are Mine” definitely carry more than a hint of early Skinny Puppy in the way that they blend eerie, gracefully reversed instrumental samples with sparse electro percussion, while Billie Holliday’s “Yesterdays” undergoes a serrated industrial dub treatment that sits somewhere between Techno Animal and Scorn’s forbidding soundscapes. While the predominant focus is distinctly upon sinister hard-edged atmospherics (brought into sharp focus particularly by the fusion of swirling snake-charmer flutes and chugging metal riffs of “Nefertiti Dub”), there are plenty of moments of undeniable beauty packed in amid the gathering tension. Like many of Skinny Puppy’s most evocative moments, with Valentine, Roberts has created a work that generates serious atmosphere through its judicious deployment of both sharpened aggression and fragile vulnerability. Special mention must also be made of the gorgeous sleeve art, which comes courtesy of Magnus Blomster.
Igloo Magazine: Valentine
Yet another reason to love the ever fascinating Ad Noiseam label is how the artists are allowed room to grow. Zak Roberts, a.k.a. Cdatakill, has made his name over the last few years by grinding up the breakcore scene (with two previous records on Ad Noiseam, as well as releases on Zhark, Low Res, and Eupholus) and yet, with Valentine, he’s jettisoned most of that furious staccato beat work for something truly elegant and beautiful. Diving deep into the trip-hop dub, Roberts’ Valentine is an evolutionary left turn that brings all manner of new life to moribund structures. “You Are Mine,” for example, is the best Muslimgauze track I’ve heard in several years. Really. It is creepy how Roberts has taken some of the Bryn Jones’ rhythms and timbres and built something so referential yet still so alien. The bass lines and the echo of dusty record grooves shimmer like early ’90s period Muslimgauze while the looping vocal track snaps the mood forward to some of Jones’ later experiments. If the rest of Valentine turned out to be nothing more than a tribute album, that would have been fine, but Roberts pauses here, lost in vibrant rhythms and dust-storm grit of the Middle East, for just a moment before spiralling off into other territories. A ghost of Billie Holliday anchors “Yesterdays” in an juke joint opiate haze. Her voice is unraveled into a series of shivering echoes, a cascade of half-formed vowels that tumbles over slippery percussion and electrified synthesizer melodies. “No Brakes” opens with a nihilistic warning–”The car has no brakes and we’re flooring it; we’re going to hit something, and so what?”–before hurling itself into a howling haze of looping Persian vocals, phantasmal piano melodies, and dark-hop rhythms. “Nefertiti Dub” swirls with phantom reeds, a loop of woodwind melody that has been lost for many generations until it has been rediscovered by this gentle dub sandstorm. From somewhere else, the storm has collected the last performance of a string orchestra playing from the deck of a doomed river barge while the storm’s electrical discharges coalesce as spurts of metal guitar noise. “Raining Glass” lumbers between elegant trip-hop and doom-laded dark-hop, with fine diamond melodies strewn in the lugubrious substrata stomp; while the distress signals of “Tornado Sirens” moan and writhe beneath a flickering strata of glassine percussion. The closer, “Arapahoe Country Sunset,” is filled with the warped tones of a spaghetti western guitar (via Dead Hollywood Stars’ re-imagining of the cinematic western soundtrack) and a percussive chaos reminiscent of Winterkälte beating up Amon Tobin for his breaks. Roberts ends Valentine by wrapping a homage to the furious breakcore of his past around an atmospheric evocation of future possibilities. Magnus Blomster’s original artwork references Audrey Beardsley’s gothic ethereality, and it encapsulates both the phantasmal delirium and the decadent distress of Cdatakill’s music. If Valentine is a love letter, then its intended recipient is the soul that believes in both angels and monsters, love and disaster, pain and redemption. Very highly recommended.
