|
Post by bagels on Aug 2, 2011 15:44:06 GMT
|
|
|
Post by dirtydisco on Aug 29, 2011 15:36:14 GMT
Is any Whitehouse fan not entirely in love with this new "Cut Hands" release? I hate it, and it's not because it's different than Whitehouse, I just hate it. I only recently got around to listening to much of it because what I initially heard was rubbish. I read one review that said something about "not to worry it's not a "world music" coffee house CD type release" but it is. I can see this being played in any and all of Cincinnati's most pretentious coffee houses or even Starbucks. Some interesting noises here or there but overall, it's dull. I'm not one to want my favorite artists to keep doing the same thing over and over again either, progress is great, but not when it sounds like the musical accompaniment to a college art students thesis project that he dreamed up on some computer music program he download for free. Or like the music they play in the bat-house or big-cats house at the zoo. It's boring, and uninspired. Not very "voodoo" either in my opinion (as I've read that word in many reviews in describing it), or dark, or foreboding. It's about as "voodoo" or "scary" or "dark" as one of these upper middle class kids around here who are 'wiccan' and listen to 15 year old Nine Inch Nails and Marilyn Manson. It puts me to sleep.
Again progress is great, but alot of the praise for this Cut Hands release seems to be entirely, ENTIRELY, because it is a William Bennett, Whitehouse side project.
|
|
|
Post by Danhod on Aug 29, 2011 18:53:02 GMT
I can see this being played in any and all of Cincinnati's most pretentious coffee houses or even Starbucks. Woah! ...Only Impassion I find it hard to believe that every (or even most of) Whitehouse's fans will love it, i'm a fan of this music type anyway so i enjoy it, but in a different way to Whitehouse.
|
|
|
Post by blackacrylic on Aug 29, 2011 18:57:33 GMT
don't hold back dirtydisco, tell us what you *really* think
|
|
|
Post by dirtydisco on Aug 30, 2011 3:01:45 GMT
admittedly i woke up on the wrong side of the bed today, but it is a horribly dissapointing album to me. As annoying and embarrassing as it is for so many noise groups to continue trying to sound like 80's Mauthausen Orchestra, Come Org. or Broken Flag releases, or to try and shock with vanilla fantasies of Pedophilia adinfinitum, ad nauseum (such as Nicole 12, wishing he could reach the perverse heights of 'Quality Time" or "Mummy & Daddy) I'd rather listen to rehash-copy-cat-shit like that over uninspired djembeing and congaing any day.
|
|
|
Post by Susan Lawly on Aug 30, 2011 9:18:22 GMT
I don't often get a chance to do this, but here are some comments (and by the way, my respect to the original poster is due):
- Is any Whitehouse fan not entirely in love with this new "Cut Hands" release? I hate it, and it's not because it's different than Whitehouse, I just hate it. I only recently got around to listening to much of it because what I initially heard was rubbish.
every single Whitehouse album from the first to the very last has elicited similar initial responses to this (often overwhelmingly, often from previous fans, often using the exact same language), so I really have learned to be very relaxed about being called 'rubbish'
- I read one review that said something about "not to worry it's not a "world music" coffee house CD type release" but it is. I can see this being played in any and all of Cincinnati's most pretentious coffee houses or even Starbucks.
I don't know about Cincinnati, but the trendy coffee houses around here (including the local Starbucks) exclusively play radio-friendly indie or Southern Californian AOR; only in my fevered aspirations and dreams could cappuccini be drunk to the soundtrack of Bia Mintatu; in fact, given the current choice, I would quite happily settle for whale soundtracks and New Age
- Some interesting noises here or there but overall, it's dull. I'm not one to want my favorite artists to keep doing the same thing over and over again either, progress is great, but not when it sounds like the musical accompaniment to a college art students thesis project that he dreamed up on some computer music program he download for free.
this is a variation on the classic familiar 'oh, anyone could do that' argument that's consistently slung at new art and music, been hearing that since day one too; my response is the same: why then isn't anybody else doing that? because of course they probably can't or haven't thought of it yet
- Again progress is great, but alot of the praise for this Cut Hands release seems to be entirely, ENTIRELY, because it is a William Bennett, Whitehouse side project.
I hate to disappoint anyone but Cut Hands is most definitely not a side project...
WB.
|
|
|
Post by Danhod on Aug 30, 2011 9:53:22 GMT
It might grow on you, if you have actually brought a copy
|
|
|
Post by dirtydisco on Aug 31, 2011 7:13:18 GMT
i did buy a copy, new, over a used vinyl 2xLP reissue of "total sex" some idiot sold cheap to the same used record shop, unfortunately. W.B. makes some good points though. But I still feel the same. He's still brilliant though.
|
|
|
Post by Danhod on Aug 31, 2011 10:41:27 GMT
Every time i buy something used, advertised as Near Mint / Like New, they always turn up scratched and bent to hell.
|
|
|
Post by flappage on Sept 7, 2011 23:53:28 GMT
I like it, but i'd like to see some more noise in the next release
|
|
|
Post by Susan Lawly on Sept 9, 2011 14:39:16 GMT
new review from amazon.co.uk by Dipesh Parmar
Cut Hands is the new project from legendary noise-provocateur William Bennett, better known as the man behind Whitehouse. Bennett has had a long-standing fascination with african music, especially Congolese and Ghanaian ritual drumming<!--more-->, collecting all sorts of Congolese and Ghanaian percussion instruments over many years.
Anybody who has heard any of Whitehouses music will know its never an easy ride, and so it is with Cut Hands. But there is a distinct difference with Cut Hands that is far removed from Bennett's back catalogue. 'Afro Noise I' places itself in the dark corners of African music, a harsh and menacing album, full of aggression. But the surprise is how meditative some of Bennet's music is, there are hints of ambient music, even jazz.
The driving percussion of 'Stabbers conspiracy' hits you immediately, a complex barrage of drums and pulsating metallic beats are rapidly layered into a chaotic frenzy. Similar tracks like 'Backlash' and 'Impassion' emphasise the physicality and tribalism of the music, its not difficult to be moved by its sheer hypnotic power.
But its not all out and out aggression, and this is the surprise. Bennett's music has rarely shown signs of subtlety in the past, but its in abundance on this album. Traditional african instruments such as djembes, doundouns, ksings and other acoustic drums are mixed with modern electronics. Tracks like 'Four Crosses', and 'Rain Washes Over Chaff' reach into you in ways the other more visceral tracks can't, leaving you in a dream-state. But there is always a lurking sense of unease accompanying any periods of meditation, you are never in a state of bliss for long.
At times the music conjures extreme levels of noise, ear-splitting doesn't come close to describing how divisive 'Nzambi la Lufua' is. But these extremes are necessary to convey what Bennett is seeking to show of his experiences in Africa, of a tumultuous continent living on the edge of extremes of beauty and violence. 'Bia Mintatu' is a brilliant example of the horrific extremities William Bennett will take you to, avoiding the ear-shattering din of 'Nzambi la Lufua' and in its place a wash of distorted percussion, forboding drums and digital noise slowly consumes you, an unstoppable primal force of nature.
Like many people, my experience of African music hasn't gone beyond the usual "world music" offerings, not that there is anything wrong with it. But it does give you a distorted view of African music which Cut Hands simply slices through, Paul Simon's Graceland this most certainly isn't!
'Afro Noise I' is a rich and varied album, each track is unique in its own way and the whole really is an experience like no other album i've heard this year. The mix of traditional african instruments with white-hot electronics is superbly mixed and produced by William Bennett. 'Afro Noise I' is forthrightly unapologetic from start to finish, you'll be hard pressed to find a more powerful album in 2011.
|
|
|
Post by Susan Lawly on Sept 22, 2011 15:52:17 GMT
|
|
|
Post by Susan Lawly on Nov 16, 2011 17:19:57 GMT
|
|
|
Post by Susan Lawly on Nov 20, 2011 4:05:05 GMT
|
|
|
Post by Susan Lawly on Dec 7, 2011 14:32:54 GMT
|
|