Ellen Fullman -- The Long String Instrument (1985)

Ubuweb/Apollo

• Drone 
• Minimalism 
• Sound art 
• Avant-garde
• Abstract 
• Conceptual 
• Post-psychedelic 
• Experimentalism 
• Microtonal

Memphis'est Tennessee'st pärit ameeriklanna Ellen Fullman'i ligi neli kümnendit tagasi loodut peetakse oluliseks teoseks eksperimentaalmuusika ringkondades. Esmapilgul võiks arvata, et taiese moodustavad metalsed (ent harmoonilised) droonhelid on komponeeritud prepareeritud keelpille (nt tšello, viiul) või kirikuorelit kasutades. Tegelikkuses kasutas ta pingutatud paarikümnemeetrilisi metalltraate (The Long String Instrument), millel ta manipuleeris vaiguste näppudega. Tulemuseks on pikad akordid, mis loovad ülemhelisid (hakkavad tekkima kaugemal kui 10 meetrit), ning vahele on kuulda ka koputamist (rütmid-löögid tekivad 5-10 meetri ulatuses) -- moodustab 5-loolise taiese rütmistiku. See on näide sellest, kuidas materiaalsuses kätkev võimalikkus on teoks tehtud tänu artisti füüsikalisele arukusele, mõistes pealtnäha tühja traadi potentsiaali. Võib hõlpsalt ette kujutada, kuidas EF komponeeris ja salvestas -- kõndides sadu meetreid traatide vahel, traate puudutades, neid hõmrudes, üle nende libistades; etendades seega nii improvisatoorset kui performatiivset (heli)kunsti. Sõna otseses mõttes traadimuusika.

MOMUS – Timelord (1993)

Ubuweb

• Singer-songwriter 
• Alternative pop 
• Synth-pop 
• Alternative dance
• Art pop

Comment: as we know very well Nick Currie aka Momus shares his six albums (1987-1993) with us via Ubuweb being once released on a famous indie imprint, Creation Records, being also home for such seminal innovative indie rock luminaries as My Bloody Valentine, and Slowdive. Later on, it got home for Oasis but that's a different story (and not so crucial by the impact). In hindsight, Ubuweb is definitely a proper place for his churned-up oeuvre. In principle, Momus goes around like an ominous, academic version of Pet Shop Boys on one side dissecting borderline themes (or at least these ones the politically correct West is ridiculously supposed to have no talk about darker, seedy sides of the human being), sarcastic lyrics yet full of embarrasing sincerity, and on the other side being backed up by witty orchestrations and poignant synth-backed rhythmic treatments. The background of the issue was related to his relationship with a young woman of Bangladesh descent, Shazna Nessa. Obviously by the case the issue sounds to be more doleful, yearning and plunged in incantations of looking backwards and then forward. Given that as his swansong on Creation, it also fits to the thoughtful mood. Moz once sang /Life tends to come and go/That's okay/As long as you know/. Great.

Momus – Voyager (1992)

Ubuweb

• Synth-pop 
• Alternative pop 
• Art pop 
• Singer-songwriter 
• Electronic pop 
• House pop 
• Alternative dance

Comment: Nick Currie aka Momus had released six long players in the while of 1987-1993 for Creation Records and some decades later decided to upload them at Ubuweb for free download. I can remember for listening to a Creation Records compilation of two discs and I could not find out any tracks from the three most important artists from the roster – My Bloody Valentine, Slowdive, and Momus. At least the first two ones have proven to be historically the most influential (the impact and reverence to them), their albums are not being articles in second hand shops like the albums of a poor man's Beatles as it strikingly happened after the mass hysteria had been calmed down in 1997. Nick Currie was way too sophisticated and ironic and contemplative to be somehow a mainstream pop icon. Especially if his music could be compared with Pet Shop Boys as if reflecting it through a twisted mirror and on other hand because Momus' sound was more profound, catchy and providing more credibility. In a word, the ideal appearance of PSB. Furthermore, Nick Currie can be considered one of the most honest and prophetic artists at all. Voyager was the penultimate within the discography by offering glimpses into different topics like virtual reality and digital revolution, mirthless life situations and expectations and impending apocalypse. Implications of diving into simulacra, and alienation and silly escape on drugs and frantic behaviour are still relevant and will be more desperate in the future. Great (pop) work.

Momus - Poison Boyfriend (1987)

Ubuweb

• Art pop
• Alternative pop
• Indie pop
• Singer-songwriter
• Baroque pop
• Chamber pop
• Soul funk
• Leftfield
• Electronic pop