James Plotkin & Mark Spybey - A peripheral blur (1998)

It must have been a weird day in New York, back in 1996. Two men improvised an unprepared soundscape in front of a festival audience at the Brooklyn bridge anchorage. Their performance turned out succesful and it sparked their interest to collaborate further with a recording project.

To recreate the conditions of their shared performance, Mark Spybey sent tapes containing first-take improvisations of vocals, ethnic stringed instruments and various toy sounds to James Plotkin, who then laid out multiple layers of his manipulated guitar sound into the mix.

Although the source sounds are rendered beyond recognition, the end result is a very fluid and minimal ambient album. Totally void of beats, the album progresses through the use of simple looped melodies surrounded with gentle washes of noise and drones.

It's always a joy when artists manage to complement each other. Not only on an audial level, but on their artform and aesthetic as a whole. Not too many albums manage to pull off the feeling of fluffy warmth and calmness where you can get sucked into, with an indescribable sense of dread and danger looming in the sonic textures, at the same time.

Five sound collages of headphone enjoyment dedicated to the insomniacs amongst us, especially the chosen few reloading the front page numerous times a day. Hope you enjoy!

Download part 1 | part 2
(95+20MB/320CBR)