PIXSID - Atoms Apart

PIXSID is an intercontinental collaboration between Sid (aka. DJ Sid-the Apocalypze) based in Ohio, USA, and Pixieguts (aka. Australian vocalist Marie Craven), and Atoms Apart is their debut album, broadly downtempo hip-hop beats, trip-hop and electronica with Pixiegut’s vocals. The album also features a remix by Sheffield, UK-based electronic producer Adrian Carter and was mastered by Canadian DJ Crimson Death. Lyrics on ‘The Sea’ are by Canadian Andrei Masliev. The title is therefore very appropriate given the huge geographical distance between the collaborators but Atoms Apart conclusively demonstrates that distance is no barrier to electronic collaboration (maybe there’s a reference to quantum mechanics here?). This is an album that could only have been made in the 21st century but before I get too distracted by the process, it’s the music itself that’s the point.

There really are some great tunes on this album and Marie’s voice has a fantastic clarity that has proven in the past to work with a huge range of electronic collaborators. It has to be said though that this particular collaboration is among the best that she has ever done. DJ Sid’s electronica is firmly rooted in classic hip-hop and downtempo electronica such as Portishead and Morcheeba. Sid also successfully cultivates the classic vinyl feel so successfully evoked by artists such as DJ Shadow, whose spirit can definitely be heard here. The production is full of subtle analogue warmth, giving the music texture through imperfection and a perfectly evoked modern urban melancholy. The soulful distant horn samples on the instrumental ‘Paper Hearts’ and the vocal track ‘The Sea’ for example gain force through their previous use in this genre. The superbly deep sine melody in the intro to the smooth ‘Soft and Hard’ is another case in point. Across the whole album the instrumental elements have an instinctive depth and power which attest to DJ Sid’s talent as a composer.
The solid beats are equally important to the success of this album as well as its overall sound, with a punchy hip-hop feel and some creative drum processing. I also like the use of remixes of some tracks, which helps to give the album a feeling of coherence. Adrian Carter’s remix of ‘Lullaby’ is particularly arresting as the most experimental point on the album, using vocal samples from Pixieguts as the rhythmic element under burbling acid synths. ‘Atoms Apart’ is a very solid album indeed with a deep, chilled downbeat and thoughtful feel to it – an appealing soundtrack to the concrete jungle.
If I had to pick out one track it would have to be the absolutely beautiful ‘Wish I’, which boasts a soaring, emotive vocal melody and lyrics ‘wish I was dreaming again, wish I was in that other place’, swept along by waves of synth textures and slow beats. This track is in fact provided in two versions, ‘Wish I’ and ‘Wish I (reprise)’ and my only complaint is that given the effectiveness of the guitar introduced in the second version it definitely should be longer! I really could listen to this track again and again. Highly recommended.


PIXSID - http://pixsid.blogspot.com/
DJ Sid The Apocalypze –www.myspace.com/apocalypze
Pixieguts – http://pixieguts.com

HealeyIsland: Not Afternoon, But Evening

“Not Afternoon, But Evening” is the 2nd album from solo electronic artist HealeyIsland, signed to the White Label Music independent, and like his previous work is mainly electronic and an all-but-indefinable blend of lounge, techno, and downtempo influences. It’s an intriguing combination of sounds; the album explores the shadowy territory on the border of all these genres. As the title suggests, this album is darker than HealeyIsland’s debut release, though still containing snatches of humour in parts it has a dark, downbeat and introspective feel. The first few tracks on the album are low-key and instrumental- rather than making every track a big event Healey Island obviously knows what he wants to express, and slowly leads you into an album of considerable depth and subtlety.
“Your Final Journey” is the album’s first real statement of intent, containing bolder downtempo beats under a deep, eccentric lounge vocal and sparkling lead line. Slurred, indecipherable vocal samples complete the mix, lending the track a mysterious aspect that continues throughout the album. Like the next track, “Edwardian American Prefab”, much of this album edges into more uneasy territory with a lurking sense of self-doubt and accusation. “Ballad of a Nobody” is one of the standout tracks, and also the track that expresses this insecurity most clearly with the mocking humour of the lyrics addressed to a “shaven-headed fool” whose life is “way off track”, offset by bright cascading synths.
Although it often has dark undertones, the album as a whole is far from being unremitting gloom. “Moments After Joining” is one of the more upbeat moments, with a brilliantly exaggerated deep, smooth, unintelligible yet somehow euphoric vocal that feels like a celebration of the music in its lack of a need to be understood. A twisting jazzy instrumental and organic-feeling bass add up to make this my personal favourite from the album. “Red Car Crossing A Dimly Lit Bridge” contrasts this with acid electronic sounds, and more half-heard, distorted vocal samples return the sense of menace.
Euphoria never lasts for long before the album returns to lonely, twilight urban surroundings and smokey basement clubs. “Recriminations” is another standout, with more dark playfulness in the threatening, robotic vocal, before “Facsimile Fountain” which effectively utilizes a fast/ slow dynamic where some anger finally breaks through the surface in the more driving electronic sections. This is followed by the album’s one genuinely shocking moment, more so for the quietly restrained feel that much of the album retains despite its inventiveness.
“Not Afternoon, But Evening” is definitely head music- claustrophobic in places and understated in others, but crucially maintains a quirky creativity, coherence and balance between lightness and shade that make it a very rewarding listen.

You can find HealeyIsland here:
http://www.last.fm/music/HealeyIsland
http://www.myspace.com/healeyanalogueisland