PLATeau - Music For Grass Bars
cEvin Key can seem to do no wrong. With his latest project, platEAU, cEvin is joined by Phil Western (aka Philth of Off and Gone) and Anthony Valcic. Music For Grass Bars is just as the title suggests; ambient structured music that can be used for mind altering purposes. Now since Key is involved you can bet that these isn't your average
ambient tunes. A bit more chaotic and a lot less structured than typical ambient music, these pieces come close to sounding like tamed Download songs. Schipol is a short, beatless piece that gradually draws the listener into the musical domain that platEAU have created. Soft ebbing synth patterns that sound as if they are drifting through
space give way to a distant pounding drum that gradually nears as Noordelight takes over where Schipol leaves off. A slight similarity to eighties styled percussion is joined with tribal drum patterns and swirling keyboard effects as Noordelight builds itself up. The keyboards drift out of earshot and the various drum patterns take over for the remainder of the piece. Dutch Flowers (which will soon have an EP all its own) is a cyber-enhanced ambient piece with gritty synth pulses and a tumultuous thumping beat. In several places this track changes ever so slightly, making it stand out from the normally repetitive ambient genre. Crypto is a clangy composition with a metallic beat joined by a plethora of distinctly different noises that come and go. Another track that has some peculiar noises and sound effects added in is Chateau Plateau. This piece also boasts a rubbery percussion line and sci-fi sequences. Purple Passion is an airy piece with ethereal sequences that wash in and out underneath the strict techno beat. Every single tune on this CD has something to it that makes it stand out, whether it be the manipulated beats, the dreamy sequences, or the odd noises. Music For Grass Bars is yet another amazing work of art by a group of individuals who know how important it is to be unique.
INDUSTRIAL BIBLE
www.industrial-music.com/ib/
PLATeau
Music for grassbars
cEvin Key, Anthony Valcic and DJ Phil (Off & Gone etc.) alter the downloading in
Vancouver's Subconscious Studio to produce a techno album for dancing and in the
case of the more liberated European countries, sitting in a cafe and rolling a
spliff to. If we could only get a few topless women to fight for that right
here, we might have a similar freedom one day. Until then, you'll have to settle
with the reproducing the menu of this disc's cool 3D "multi-Image" cover in the
privacy of your own home while you mellow out of Plateau's mesmerising
techno-house cuts like "Noorderlight" and the psychedelically phased "Urban
Chillage" The stand-out track is the smooth but deep "Purple Passion", which
will probably be an in-demand brand in the grassbars of Amsterdam soon, if not
already.
Chris Twomey
(Exclaim! August 1997)
PLATeau
Music For Grass Bars
On the opening track "Schipol," some sort of triangle slowly appears in the soundscape, followed by a beautiful soothing melodic loop. The whole track could be viewed upon as an intro. No beats or drums. Very relaxing.
Boom...boom ...boom...a very plain drum takes over on "Noorderlight." Hi hat plus handclaps is added, and makes me think of house music songs made back in the eighties, and then again not. The beat/rhythm keeps altering. Not much, but still enough to avoid the track getting annoyingly repetitive. The melody from the previous track carries us a long way into the song.
A dominant beat is the backbone of "Dutch Flowers." On top of it is an improvised random kling-klang of a synth that sounds a bit like the one Richard Kirk is so fond of on his newer songs. Echo comes and goes. Go with the flow. Still, awkward little sounds/noises are added and a really powerful one comes in during the last 30 seconds.
Immediately on to the next song! There is no break between "Dutch Flowers" and "Crypto." This is more up beat and complex, which really captures my attention. A complex rave track is the best way I can describe it. "Crypto"+smoke+strobes could easily do the job at a rave party.
"White Widow" starts off with a rolling beat made up of some impossible-to-describe sound. I recognize a sound effect Skinny Puppy used at the very end of "Punk In Park Zoo," as if Key was playing that sample on his drums. A quite funny quack from a duck is simulated with an odd knob on an old keyboard, I'm sure. The whole song is kind of messy but that's the trademark of the Subcon guys. Great ending, the whole thing slows down, goes into a loop and fades down.
"Urban Chillage" or Exploration of a bass drum. On top of that a hi hat and some
guitar sounds too, I think. Halfway the beat changes in a totally unpredictable way, and
once more at the end just before it fades out. I think this was only 5 minutes of a much
longer studio improvisation. One of the more complex songs so far.
"Chateau platEAU" slowly builds up a hypnotic beat which changes from time to time. I don't notice it, unless I pay specific attention to it. They play with noises on top of the beat, some are random others form a pattern. A really cheesy synth comes in at one point and has a
middle-eastern atmosphere to it. I can't help but smile.
I think Key plays his drumosaurus on "The Kind." Complex patterns of beats and noises -- a very layered song. Almost Download-like. It still has the overall minimalistic sound to it. No rough edges is perhaps a better way to describe it.
"Superskunk #3" is basically fun with a drum machine. No regular, well known beats
(read danceable) of course. I don't know what else really to say about this one.
A great loop introduces "Purple Passion." There's a floating texture to this song not seen on the other tracks so far. Beautiful. Still the boom-tshick-boom- tschick though, but
not annoying at all.
"Stench" is unlike any of the previous tracks. Very Downloadesque. I simply love the way they play with rhythms. Lots of noise at the end, but still controlled until the very last second......and then the cd ends. My favorite song on the album.
Last Sigh Magazine
www.waste.org/lastsigh/
PLATeau
Music for Grassbars
(subConscious / Hypnotic)
A project featuring cEvin Key, Phil Western and Anthony Valcic, platEAU acts as a sharp contrast to the dense, improvisational sounds of the trio's main gig, Download. Moving away from Key's industrial roots, this disc consists mainly of stark and minimal electronics, influenced equally by the classic techno sounds of Detroit, and the classic pot parlours of Amsterdam (Key's current home away from home). Western's influence is much more pronounced here than in the work of Download, and many of the tracks have the same flavour as his other projects, Cap'm Stargazer and Off & Gone. Given the departure of Mark Spybey from the camp, perhaps we can expect a similar vibe to infiltrate Download's upcoming album, III.
Greg Clow
Feedback monitor
www.stainedproductions.com/feedback/
(written for October/97 issue of Chart)
PLATeau Music For Grass Bars (Subconscious Comm/CAN)
Produced by Anthony Valcic, Phil Western, and Cevin Key The current Download line up
transforms into Plateau for eleven tracks of minimal techno. Yes, you heard right. Producer
Anthony Valcic, DJ Phil Western (of Off & Gone and Cap1m Stargazer) and the prolific former Puppy Cevin Key did not consciously set out to be the next Basic Channel. In fact, these recordings are just leftovers from Download sessions. But such fine scraps they are. Experimental throughout, but still possessing the necessary funk factor.
Andrew Duke
www.streetsound.com/clickpicks/
|