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2LP
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SCH 014LP
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CD
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SCH 014CD
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Classic year 2000 debut album by this Scott Herren (Prefuse 73, Savath & Savalas) alias. "Agony is not what comes to mind when I think of Scott Herren's music. The 25 year old multi-instrumentalist from Atlanta has many aliases: Delarosa & Asora on Schematic, Savath & Savalas on Hefty, and Prefuse 73 on Warp. All of his styles fill a listener's ear (and heart) with ecstasy, rather than agony. So why the name? To know the answer, you must read and listen further. Agony, Delarosa & Asora's first full-length album on Schematic, is alive, bubbling with melodies and frequencies that span a range of emotions from serenely mellow to brilliantly intense. Beauty threads every piece together, leading you on a meditative walk in you thoughts. Like cellular automata, minuscule clicks and pops assemble themselves in to rhythms that convolve into a dusty drum set, riveted cymbals vibrating, as a an assortment of sweet notes simmer inside a frothy soup of melodies. The sounds reach you ears, triggering feelings, like colorful brush strokes on a bare white canvas. Each song inspires new hues and patterns, and the end result is a painting you will examine long after the music has stopped. How is it that some art provokes us to paint by numbers with our own feelings? Although a work has a unique meaning to it's creator, we interpret it in our own way, making it ours. Art that does not dictate its meaning has this effect on us. This is a goal of good art, and Agony succeeds. There is one exception though, when we sense a precept from the artists -- at the opening of the song, Agony. A crying woman's voice is torn and stretched, kept from forming words, sentences, and maybe stories of pain. The symphony of lights distracts her and she is gone, they shimmer and grow into a landscape of lush sounds and colors. The tone is one of relief, serenity, and new insight. This is a perfect metaphor for understanding this album and its odd title. From the distressed woman's voice -- the anguish we face in the name of love, we earn peace. Pain, especially where love is concerned, can yield tranquility and wisdom. Just like salt is a key ingredient in the recipe for most desserts, though we never taste it, it would not be as sweet without it. Sweet music is the by-product of this Agony. Scott's influences may not be clearly evident in his music, but they carry weight silently through everything he does. Just as the jazz fusionists of the early 1970's combined the pounding, earthen rhythms of Africa with the acid-soaked psychedelic sounds of modern America, Herren adopts an indirect influence with a modern parallel. He takes what Schematic is known so well for - solid, intricate rhythms, woven together like a tough and resilient, dark fabric, and the fuses them to a cashmere, soft-colored melodic structure. His synthesis is something all together new for Schematic and electronic music in general. Organic and earthy in place of synthetic and alien. More precious and natural, sentimental and real, conscious of its' flaws. This is the gentle touch, or rather push that Schematic needed to produce a Lily of the Valley. This is the gentle touch that you need in your music collection. Take a moment, get comfortable, and have a listen. I think you'll agree." -- Josh Kay [Note: The cover says "Part 1" but this is a complete album and there is no "Part 2"!]
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CD
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SCH 013CD
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Delarosa And Asora is Scott Herren, otherwise known as Prefuse 73 (Warp) and Savath & Savalas (Hefty). Luxurious sleeve artwork By Designer's Republic. A22 minute EP leading up to the Agony full length (thematically linked, but no musical overlap between these 2 releases). "There are a handful of artists in nearly every genre who create art that is dismissed when it first reaches the public because it is either out of vogue, too strange, or cannot be comprehended within the framework of that which surrounds it. In other words, its importance and significance can only be understood retroactively, meaning that it set the stage for a 'new wave' that had yet to break but this 'new wave' could only be understood once others joined its ranks. That is where Delarosa & Asora's Backsome EP must be located. Quite simply, it arrived too early to be absorbed and understood. Thus, it is astonishing to consider that this prescient EP, thankfully released bu Delarosa & Asora (AKA Scott Herren, otherwise known as Prefuse 73 and Savath & Savalas) sounds as if it could have been recorded last week. Herren's ability to create towering sound sculptures with impossibly limited equipment is inspirational. Long before the present trend in 'electronic music' in which hip-hop and jazz were incorporated into the fabric of the music, Herren was creating these pieces in isolation in Atlanta. There are so few electronic musicians on the same historical wavelength: Carl Craig and Kirk DeGiorgio are the only two ones I can think of. And Scott Herren certainly should be mentioned in the same breath. Without a hint of contrivance, the Delarosa & Asora material brings together the spirit of Herbie Hancock and The Headhunters' finest moments, a leap into an ocean of roiling basslines, and tricky live percussion. Many thought that Herren's Savath & Savalas' Folk Songs for Trains, Trees, and Honey EP on the Hefty (licensed to Warp for Europe) was an electronic record, yet every track was made with live instruments. The Backsome EP again demonstrates that, like Richard Devine, Scott Herren is a composer of extraordinary skill, whose dexterity around both live and electronic instruments is a rare combination of skill and innovation." -- Tim Haslett.
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