Franziska Baumann “Eternal Ice Melts (Voice Sphere Remixes by Lull, Seetyca, Clemens Presser, and Submerged)” [soleilmoon]

cujo   2/26/2007   A Library

Well before you know what the ???gimmick??? is, this album is a keeper. It???s remixes from Baumann???s 2004 album Voice Sphere, which is music made by recording the sound of melting glaciers (stereo, zoom, contact mics).

Of particular worth is Track 3, which takes you on a spelunking trip through the human psyche. You wander through a cavernous human brain, observing drippy medulla oblangati, underground rivers of id, thunderclouds of doubt, and some husky song and crazed yodel. Left hemisphere and right hemisphere are explored.

This is brought to you by Mick Harris aka Lull, who also supplies Track 5, a basso profundo drone that will put your subwoofers to the test (mine failed).

The sound of glaciers melting is sterile, pure, and just a switch away from being foreboding. Even the techno/glitch beat that emerges on track 6 (which is in no way unwelcome) seems like it???s a ProTools click away from Venetian Snares destruction.

-Cujo, KFJC, January 2007