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One of the more interesting new labels starting in 2008 is Distant Noise, which is the brainchild of Tarl Broad-Ashman, better known as Innerrise. I have spoken of my fondness for Innerrise's remix work, and i was pleased to see him starting a label to release music that he find interesting. Distant Noise releases limited edition CDs that come in cardboard sleeves, and the first release of the year is Sending Triangles by Luga. I suspect a bit of nepotism is at play here, as Luga is the project of Lewis Broad-Ashman, brother to label head Tarl. Oh, what a corrupt world we live in...
There is about 40 minutes worth of music here, and on the whole it is pretty good. Let me discuss a few highlights.
The album kicks off with Curved (H)air which consists of Vangelis-like keyboard drones and skittering beats. This type of sound seems very common among the things i listen to these days, but Luga does it well.
Vocalist Kari Tribble (and yes, that is, apparently, her real name) lends her voice to Tims List. Tribble's voice is echoey and spacey, and Broad-Ashman combines this with some chugging keys and beats to create a tune not unlike the sort of stuff that Rhys Fulber is doing in Conjure 1 these days. That is to say, this is a lush, dense song with delicate female voice, and it moves along at a loping pace. Rather pretty.
White Sundays comes next, and is a short interlude of wandering synth tones. Not bad, and it serves as a sort for introduction for Sign Language, my favorite here. After the synths of White Sundays fades out, the next tune fades in on a tinkling of keys and a light drone. The keys form a positively joyous melody that seems to dance around the speakers. Eventually Luga brings in a simple drum beat, and the song moves forward from there. It is playful and fun.
Slow Face is another tune that builds slowly. Here the keyboard tones are deeper, but their melody once again tinks along. The beat that Luga brings in later is more stuttering, but this song is generally similar to Sign Language. Continuing to lower the tone, Design Files starts with a low bass beat, and is generally a slow paced tune whose structure is similar to the two that came before it, but it comes across as a slow bass tune, almost dub-like.
The next tune hearkens back to the album's start, as The Gentle Nod is similar in nature to Curved (H)air. Luga does this type of thing well. The next track, the album's title track, is more skittering in nature, but in general is similar. And finally things end with Interluding Thoughts (Outro), which carries along the same vibe. These last three tracks kind of blend together for me.
Luga's music is pretty consistent, and i am interested to note that on his MySpace page he refers to this stuff as "organic shoegaze electronica". That description is pretty apt, both for his music and a lot of what we write about here on EvilSponge. Lugs fits right in with the bulk of my collection, and while this isn't the most ground-breaking release, it is interesting enough to hold my attention. I look forward to more from Luga, and from his brother's label in general.
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