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

Nettle - El Resplandor: The Shining in Dubai [Sub Rosa - 2011]

Clocking in at under 33 minutes, El Resplandor: The Shining in Dubai re-imagines King-via-Kubrick’s seminal haunted hotel story in the shiny capital of modern Arabia’s excess.  Its primary conceptual failure is that such a creative and ambitious side project, from New York’s DJ /rupture (Jace Clayton), was afforded such a limited runtime.

The music here approximates the original source material but hardly touches upon the sonic equivalent to the epic cinematography that marks the film with such overpowering senses of locale and isolation, both crucially necessary for a story about stir-craziness. That said, the compelling music ably reproduces its inspiration’s recipe for an atmospheric blend of experimental, electronic, and classical music; it all just plays like a work-in-progress. The haunting female vocals that open El Resplandor and occur again at its premature climax serve the same sort of ominous but shallow hook as Wendy Carlos’ doomy theme for the 1980 film.

The rest of the record comprises a number of slightly dissonant, string-laden jam pieces interspersed with bursts of electronic effects that approximate Bartok’s studied cacophony—here given a North African tinge—while also playing to the repetitive minimalist strength of Kubrick’s favorite suspense-building contemporary composer, György Ligeti. “Espina” makes some real headway in terms of establishing the setting, and the buzzy “Empty Quarters” thickens the mood, but it’s not until the centerpiece “Simoon (Wasp Mind)” that an unsettling sinister undercurrent begins to play out in true Penderecki fashion, a welcome development that ultimately plays more like botched resolution than intriguing conflict, as the few remaining minutes of music lack narrative spark.

El Resplandor is perhaps better suited for a live setting, in which the venue would become part of the haunting experience as the unexplored motifs are given space to expand and substantiate.

Rating: 3 out of 5Rating: 3 out of 5Rating: 3 out of 5Rating: 3 out of 5Rating: 3 out of 5

Richard T Williams
Latest Reviews

Nettle - El Resplandor: The Shini...
Clocking in at under 33 minutes, El Resplandor: The Shining in Dubai re-imagines King-via-Kubrick’s seminal haunted hotel story in the shiny capital of moder...
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 - ...
250324   Liza Lim - Annunciation Trip...
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