this package comes from jonah goldstein and bill byrne's oks label, operating out of nyc. going into this, i had no prior knowledge of the label nor its artists, but bill sent me one hell of a press kit with all the information i'd ever need to know. i was definitely impressed with his thoroughness and appreciated the professionalism shown on oks's part. okay, firstly we have...

the painful leg injuries

backwards, broken and incorrectly
[2005, oksrna]

ok, yes, first things first, the project name. what's up with it? who knows. sure, it's not the greatest, but don't let that first impression be the lasting one. the painful leg injuries are a duo comprised of bill byrne and his wife suzanne. pli is mostly bill's doing, suzanne lends her cello talents, but all other instrumentation and electronics are handled by bill, and their music is mostly of the downtempto/ambient/electronic sort.

upon first listen, via the duo's myspace, just to get a feel for where the painful leg injuries were coming from, musically, i foolishly lumped pli into the drone/ambient realm, but after listening to them more closely, i realize that they are more than that, much more. the music is very layered. there may be quite a bit going on at once, but it all has a balance to it and nothing ever seems forced or like it's too much. also, there's a definite sense of melody to the music that i didn't pick up on at first, in my haste. one of my favorite things about the music here is how well bill can bring together colder, uglier (i mean that in a good way) sounds with prettier, more memorable ones. i can appreciate each of those on their own, but when brought together, the results can be stunning. my eveinng strolls and can i always be the cosmos? are the main tracks that really bring this meshing to your attention. the latter has a background layer that is pretty sparse and cold sounding, but then there's also some prettier theremin (possibly) playing, and what sounds like the kind of chimes that you'd hear from an old music box. the former has a similiarly themed backdrop with some nicer sounding, memorable music. those two tracks pretty much constitute the nicer sounding portion of the album. the rest of it is a colder listen. while there's more going on to each track aside from that detached feeling, there's less of a melodic element than what was displayed during the first few tracks, but that's not to say that the rest is less sonically interesting. it's actually probably for the best that pli doesn't portray itself as a one-trick pony, it keeps the disc dynamic. so this whole marching idea didn't work out and found me in the dark are backwards, broken and incorrectly's noisier tracks. noisier in terms of the piece's main layer, the rest is either ambient electronics or instrumentation, but they're definitely louder than the rest of the pieces on the album. excluding songs that i've talked about, the remainder is a more subdued affair, but definitely enjoyable.

bill sent me the foxy digitalis review for this cd, along with everything else, and the reviewer noted that he was 'won over by the total lack of melody that permeates the entire album', and i'd have to disagree (overall i thought their review, while positive, wasn't very informative). it's not completely catchy, but there are moments on here that you can get into and that are pretty noteworthy. though the album does spend the majority of it's time in more austere territories, nevertheless, backwards, broken and incorrectly is an excellent listen, and a fine debut release for the duo. it's also a nicely packaged cd. when experimental can sometimes by synonymous with no frills, it's refreshing to have some people who care about the visual presentation as well as the music...and not have it cost twenty bucks.

Hum It Casually, Like You Mean It

various artists

men in white coats
[2006, oksrna]

typically, when you hear the phrase 'men in white coats', you think of the people who come and take folks away to nuthouses...those aren't the men in white coats that this compilation is appealing to, rather, what we have right here is a science-themed album. loosely, from my standpoint, taking their cues from biology, physics, graphology, psychiatry, cryptozoology and chemistry, we have an experimental compilation with quite a backstory behind it. from oks: 'crystalline atmospherics collide with dense cinematic behemoths across each one minute piece inspired by a different scientific concept, theorem, or phenomenon'. altogether, there's forty-five tracks by three different projects: el plan de aguavodka, the painful leg injuries and the unevenness of the moon's surface. this disc marks the first major release from el plan and the unevenness of the moon's surface. the compilation works wonderfully as a whole, with the artists taking alternating turns, but for reviewing purposes i'll break it down into individual efforts.

u/m/s is oks's other co-owner, jonah goldstein. prior to this project, jonah's big claim to fame was as a sound designer and movie editor. also worth mentioning, for the sheer absurdity factor, is that jonah collaborated with musical weirdo crispin glover, better known as george mcfly from the back to the future movie franchise. awesome. the fifteen one minute tracks that jonah offers us are all quite good and show off a nice range. if i had to stick to one predominant sound, it would be a somber experimental one. it's hard to really capture someone's overall sound when you're working with, roughly, one minute long songs, but while a majority of the pieces might not stick in your mind afterwards, they're good to listen to while they're there, and they're interesting enough that i'd want to check out more fully realized works by jonah's u/m/s endeavor. that's the most important part.

el plan de aguavodka is the result of ohio-based multimedia artist john ibarra's labor. perhaps, even moreso than jonah's offerings, el plan manages to cover a lot of ground with his sixteen compositions. sure, like the other two artists on here, john can whip up some cold, distant, sounds, but he'll also throw in some organic instrumentation, field recordings, noisier pieces and a few of his tracks are pretty memorable.

pli's works on the comp. drop the sense of melody shown on backwards and adopt a bit more of an experimental noise angle. i'd say that the noise aspect is much more of a factor than on his debut album. it's not harsh, not at all, but if you go into this cd expecting the ambient side of bill's music, you'd be in for a bit of a surprise. i definitely like the direction of these compositions. i won't say that i like them more than the toned-down works, each has its own identity, and all styles are pulled off nicely.

science was definitely not my favorite subject back in school, and i nearly failed physics in high school, but that doesn't stop me from liking this cd. i can't say that i pick up on the theme that these artists are trying to convey, but i was entertained by all the explanations of the tracks and their titles. to read what i'm reading go here. the album is a very nice experimental compilation, and while it was a pain in the ass to tag all of the mp3s from the cd, i liked the fact that compositions averaged around a minute in length, and each artist managed to express a lot in that given time. it's hard for me to choose a favorite artist on here, they all put their best foot forward and offer their own unique stylings. listen to it and judge for yourself.

The Unevenness of the Moon's Surface Rapture Of The Deep: L'ivresse Des Grandes Profondeurs
El Plan de Aguavodka Red Hot Symbiogenesis Jam
The Painful Leg Injuries The Timecube Cubed