Work of the Month #9: Murcof - "Cosmos"

Setun

Just going to write up a brief bit about this album now if anyone else hasn't got it yet:

Got it as a christmas present along with a few other cds (Japanese Koto Music, Ali Farka Toure with Toumani Diabate) and while they're all fantastic, it's Cosmos that hasn't really left the cd player since Christmas day.

It's more minimal than anything Murcof has done before on the leaf label (afaik) - Murcof's signature glitchy beats of high-frequency sinewaves and buzzes can only be heard on two or three of the albums six tracks. Ambience, often like the sound of wind rushing up an empty corridor mixed with subtle synth noise, features heavily. The first track begins just so - faintly recognisable sounds emerge tempoless out of sinister drones, eventually giving way to some string and voice tracks weaving in and out of the background noise. The piece climaxes with the sound of a church organ and some strings playing a simple melody, in direct contrast to the restraint of the opening minutes (perhaps this is your spacecraft taking off into the Cosmos? ). The second track is recognisable Murcof, again using ambient noise as a pedal drone to set off some glitchy beats and keys samples. The third track is all drone, with a subtle ascension in volume peaking around half way through the track. A lot of distorted and bitcrushed sweeps and morsecode-like beeps linger in the background. If we're following some kind of deep space narrative, the ship has probably just switched to autopilot. The fourth track beeps like medical equipment and buzzy string samples resonate in and out like a swarm of wasps, giving way to a fantastic processed piano sample. The fifth track is another ambient ascension in volume with saw waves and organ sounds that abruptly drops in volume, leaving a lingering voice sample to end the piece. The last part of the journey through the cosmos begins with the sound of mechanical machinery, slowly being overtaken with rainy percussive chime samples intermittently interrupted by loud grinding noises replicated on orchestral instruments.

The perfect soundtrack to science-fiction reading or gaming, imo. I can see how critics might have disliked this in comparison to Remembranza or Martes with its extended sections based around ambient noise and jarring waveforms, but as you might have guessed, I'm really enjoying it. It's loaded with atmosphere, and when the noise eventually does break into glitchy beats and the keys samples are dropped in something special happens indeed. Definitely worth a listen, if not a purchase imo.

old gregg

hmmmm ... thanks for this, will check it out

Setun

If you like your electronica to sound like it has come from another planet 1000 years from now, do!

cornbb

Cool, cheers for taking care of that! I'll sticky it and add the necessary bells and whistles now...

Setun

Have you made the purchase yet cornbb?

If not, DO!

cornbb

Daddio wrote: »

Have you made the purchase yet cornbb?

If not, DO!

Yep, I got hold of this a few weeks before Chrimbo Although I haven't had a chance to put it on very heavy rotation yet I've gotta say I like what I hear - at times I start to think its purely atmospheric and ambient but its remarkable how many very, very subtle loops/rhythms are slipped in there too.

Many of the tracks on this have been demanding my attention more than I expected (as opposed to being just background/ambient music), on the whole its a bit more jarring than what I initially thought it would be (and thats not a bad thing at all :pac:)

Code

Big fan of Murcof's stuff - have the Cosmos album too, great music !