Top Bar
Musique Machine Logo Home ButtonReviews ButtonArticles ButtonBand Specials ButtonAbout Us Button
SearchGo Down
Search for  
With search mode in section(s)
And sort the results by
show articles written by  
 Review archive:  # a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z

Pas Musique - Abandoned Bird Egg [Alrealon Musique ý - 2013]


French "non-music" jam band Pas (or Pas Musique, as they labeled for this release) have returned this year with another full length of their murky sound sketches, "Abandoned Bird Egg".  Sounding something like a noodly, playful garage band derivation of Zoviet France (the band thanks Robin Storey in the liner notes) and Throbbing Gristle, they possess little of the mystique of either band, but do deliver scattered moments of spontaneous amplifier grit and textural curiosity.

I was not a fan of the previous album, "Flanked by Women and Pumpkins", thinking its ashy, phased out sound environments a bit too muddy, unengaging and similar to the output of your average stoned high school guitarist's chain of effects pedals.  Lack of direction is also a problem on this album: the band seems to choose a sonic palette for each song, and flail aimlessly within that framework for the duration of the track.  This format is borrowed from krautrock groups or Throbbing Gristle, in which a 'motorik' drum machine pulse would repeat ad infinitum, allowing the entire band to play noise solos at once.  Where more skilled groups manage to conjure storms of swelling energy from beneath the rhythm, with this group the elements never quite cohere; no one seems to be playing together and the effect is far too nebulous.

In the case of the incessant distorted guitar playing, I feel like I'm listening to a first year guitarist solo endlessly, struggling to find the blues they have spent too little time with.  There's nothing particularly 'avant garde' about the style; it sounds like an attempt at pentatonic that is riddled with mistakes.  While I'm all for experimentalism in music, as well as atonality, noise improvisation, et cetera, I do think that in most cases, a certain level of skill is required to express the ideas that come to the mind the way they're meant to be heard.  Regardless of skill, there's simply a lack of focus or momentum on part of the performers.  Rather than listen to this, I would encourage anyone to organize an experimental bedroom jam themselves.

As with the previous album, there's something formulaic and obvious about a lot of the music here.  The track "Modern Witchcraft" contains a sample that states "this is modern witchcraft" and female "aaaahh"s and chanting which one might stereotypically associate with 'witches'.  The track "Something Indescribable" repeatedly employs a sample saying "I found a way of life that was indescribable".  Part of the charm of groups like Zoviet France was their ambiguity; never would have they stooped to such obviousness.

A "noise" jam band like this is supposed to make up for lack of conventional musicianship with atmosphere and fierce intent, and as this group has neither, I feel this album is no more a success than was their previous.  I can't recommend this album to anyone, there are many superior groups new and old.  Go and listen to some Zoviet France, O Yuki Conjugate, Wolf Eyes, Prurient, et cetera.

Rating: 2 out of 5Rating: 2 out of 5Rating: 2 out of 5Rating: 2 out of 5Rating: 2 out of 5

Josh Landry
Latest Reviews

Pas Musique - Abandoned Bird Egg
French "non-music" jam band Pas (or Pas Musique, as they labeled for this release) have returned this year with another full length of their murky sound sket...
290324   Stuart Argabright & AfterAfte...
290324   Piranha - Piranha(DVD)
280324   Typhoon Club - Typhoon Club(B...
270324   Jerzy Skolimowski Collection ...
260324   Latex Choker - Sealed
260324   Occlusion - 59: No Input Wall
260324   Nihil Impvlse - Anabasis
260324   Marta Forsberg - Sjunger För...
260324   The New Boy - The New Boy( Th...
250324   The Stargazer’s Assistant - ...
Latest Articles

The Music of Clay Ruby & Burial H...
Over the last couple of decades Wisconsin native, Clay Ruby has been creating some of the world’s finest dark electronic music under the Burial Hex mon...
280324   The Music of Clay Ruby & Buri...
290224   Sutcliffe No More - Normal Ev...
100124   Occlusion - The Operation Is...
181223   Best Of 2023 - Music, Sound &...
051223   Powerhouse Films - Of Magic, ...
181023   IO - Of Sound, Of Art, Of Exp...
210923   Lucky Cerruti - Of Not so Fri...
290823   The Residents - The Trouble W...
110723   Yotzeret Sheydim Interview - ...
250523   TenHornedBeast - Into The Dee...
Go Up
(c) Musique Machine 2001 -2023. Twenty two years of true independence!! Mail Us at questions=at=musiquemachine=dot=comBottom