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LP
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ALT 031LP
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The second album from Basic House for Alter takes a sober turn towards the thematic intersection of occult knowledge and globalized black operations, brokering a piercing anxiety throughout, from the tension between the scale of the politics being invoked and the familiarity of the covert identity tactics to music cultures, subcultures, and the like. The opening track to I Could Tell You But Then You Would Have To Be Destroyed By Me turns from a naive fatalism to an addled stream of consciousness that flirts, just about, with psychosis, establishing the record's push-and-pull between the local and the global, the personal and the public. Swarming, hinged string sections light the way ahead, barely hinting at the edges of a space with a rhythm, as if attempting to induce claustrophobia with the engulfing rush of total darkness. In moments of continually tapering collages, Basic House appeals to paranoia. Never sustained to the point of exhaustion, it frames the placid momentum of its quieter passages when seemingly domestic recordings collapse into cracked dub motifs. However, more critically, it signals the play between the hyper-vigilant mindset that seeks to protect itself and its order, and the intuitive processes by which we code the means for this into our social signaling and general communication.
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ALT 012CD
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Basic House is the solo electronics project of Stephen Bishop, a mainstay of the DIY scene in the UK's North East and the brain behind the label Opal Tapes. Bishop works with equipment both rudimentary and highly technical which become aligned together without bias to create a singular sound that focuses on decay, stagnation and apathy towards clichés within the current climate of electronic music. Oats is his new full-length record with six deep compositions woven together to create seamless transitions between them. "AR II" opens the record with fragile and haunted electronics before developing into something almost melodic with an imposing 4/4 kick. "Child Confession" follows with dead electronic hums, whispered samples and a sluggish half-speed techno thud which gives way to a collage of cruddy noise and scalpel-sharp bursts of clatter and a crude non-rhythmic bass pulse before ending in the buzzing maelstrom of "Interiors," which is equal parts Florian Hecker and Andy Stott at his most visceral. "Est Oan" begins the second half of the record ominously with slightly absurd farmyard groans that eventually melt into hypnotic machine music. The industrial lurch of "B.G. Feathers" is the closest Bishop comes on this side to hitting anything resembling a groove and instead evokes the grinding power of Maurizio Bianchi's best '80s material. Mastered by Stephen Bishop with vinyl cut by Grammy Greg at Masterpiece. CD version contains 40 minutes of bonus material, re-worked from previous cassette releases. Photography by Traianos Pakioufakis.
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LP
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ALT 012LP
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LP version. Basic House is the solo electronics project of Stephen Bishop, a mainstay of the DIY scene in the UK's North East and the brain behind the label Opal Tapes. Bishop works with equipment both rudimentary and highly technical which become aligned together without bias to create a singular sound that focuses on decay, stagnation and apathy towards clichés within the current climate of electronic music. Oats is his new full-length record with six deep compositions woven together to create seamless transitions between them. "AR II" opens the record with fragile and haunted electronics before developing into something almost melodic with an imposing 4/4 kick. "Child Confession" follows with dead electronic hums, whispered samples and a sluggish half-speed techno thud which gives way to a collage of cruddy noise and scalpel-sharp bursts of clatter and a crude non-rhythmic bass pulse before ending in the buzzing maelstrom of "Interiors," which is equal parts Florian Hecker and Andy Stott at his most visceral. "Est Oan" begins the second half of the record ominously with slightly absurd farmyard groans that eventually melt into hypnotic machine music. The industrial lurch of "B.G. Feathers" is the closest Bishop comes on this side to hitting anything resembling a groove and instead evokes the grinding power of Maurizio Bianchi's best '80s material. Mastered by Stephen Bishop with vinyl cut by Grammy Greg at Masterpiece. Photography by Traianos Pakioufakis.
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DIGI 054LP
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Opal Tapes figurehead Stephen Bishop has pushed a lot of boundaries with his label and his own music under the Basic House moniker since bursting onto the scene a few years back. The label in particular carved out a deep niche early on and its momentum seemingly can't be stopped. Caim in Bird Form originally appeared as a very limited cassette on Digitalis earlier in 2013 and now finds its proper home on wax. Basic House is never static, always burrowing toward the center of the earth but missing by a few degrees. "Caim in Bird Form" is gritty, while stilted beats crawl on "I Found You," leaving tonal wreckage in its wake. Bishop ups the ante with the bleak futurism of "64 Bummer" -- synths float skyward blacking out the sun underneath a veil of heavy bass making for one of the album's best moments, along with the caustic sonics of the title-track. And then, just when the darkness gets out of hand, the circus comes to town in the form of "Ultra-Misted" to massage your ears. Features gorgeous artwork by Savwo, cut to vinyl at Dubplates & Mastering, Berlin.
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