Candlesnuffer
Apsomeophone
Apsomeophone is Candlesnuffer's second CD release, following on from the self-titled meisterwerk on Dr. Jims in 2001. The title is taken from the name of one of French musique concret pioneer Pierre Henrys studios - Apsome - and its fitting, as Apsomeophone is, in a sense, a tribute to the groundbreaking works of the great concret musicians of yore and indeed a series of irreverent odes to contemporary classical composers of many stripes. But - and thats a big but - before you start thinking this is some kind of chin-stroking slab of "serious" music custom-designed for the arts-grant/wine-&-cheese circuit, let it be known that this is Mr. Dave Brown at the helm. Apsomeophone brings together the worlds of "composition" and rock, a meeting point of low- and high-art, a collision of the electric and the acoustic (and the occasional electro-acoustic). In it ye shall find moments of Derek Baileyesque guitar destruction, looped guitar twangs, repetitive, percussive chimes, drones, Japanese film samples, doom-laden power chords and out-of-nowhere noises leaping and disappearing in a moments notice - all cut and spliced with a masterly precision. Play it loud and the effect is awesome. The point? If this was released in 68 with a Wergo label stamped on its LP sleeve, youd probably skip a few meals to grab it, bragging to your socially-challenged collector friends of your score for the next fortnight.