The Eternal Present
Down in the Welsh valleys something stirs. And it’s not the sound of Tom Jones being hit with another paternity case or the Manic Street Preachers waking up to the realisation they are shit. It be the sound of free enterprise in full flow. Which is the only way to explain the modus operandi of Elvis Coffee Records. They don’t want your money… not yet anyway… they just want to bring to your ears the latest sounds from artists they themselves admire. Postage costs is all they ask in return. They aren’t rich enough to do that but I bet if they were they would. And to think I used to take the piss out of the Welsh. Well no more. I’ll stick to an easier target from now on. The fucking English. Cunts one and all.* And if I’ve said that before in any other reviews… good. I’m not losing my touch.
This latest, oh so limited, release from the label features 7 acts. A compilation it is then. Starring… in no particular order… Psychic Space Invasion and Ghoul Detail who have already been covered (Mr Ghoul frequently) in AP before and Kiss My Farkyn, Les 7 Mondes, Analgeek, Swn and The Buff Monkey Ensemble. Although SWN and The Buff Monkey Ensemble were reviewed on the last Elvis Coffee Records compilation "The Breath of Forgotten Places" [read review here]. Best keep things factual. Record labels appreciate you more if you do that. And just like that last compilation there is much to admire on here. And one to shrug the shoulders and go ‘so what’ to. It all boils down to personal taste. I’m sure some readers actually think the Manics are a great band. See what I mean? In order then. Kiss my Farkyn: Experimental electronica. Almost verging on Japanese weird shit noise. Different. SWN: Kind of glitch based experimental electronics. Must be having a good day because I quite liked this. Funny old game this reviewing lark. Les 7 Mondes: Loud (ish) electronics patterned thing that made my shoulders go… slump. Ghoul Detail: My main man. Great to hear his stuff once more. Can do no wrong. Dark ambience be thine forte. A highlight. Analgeek: wanted to love them just for their name. Electronically fused with some other instruments not of this planet stuff… with voice added… a slow burner that was a genuine surprise. Psychic Space Invasion: A dreamy pastoral excursion that lived up to the ongoing hype surrounding the artist Ian Holloway. The Buff Monkey Ensemble: A fitting climax. More dream like structures that floated around in a very pleasing manner.
The thing is. What I think highly of, you’ll disagree with. With 41 minutes of music to choose from there will be something on here to make you sit up and take note. It might even make you want to contact the artists involved (details included on the insert) and say ‘Thanks for that. Great music dude’. For exactly £1.50... which covers up to 2 CDRs… what have you got to lose? You’ll waste a fraction of that amount sticking money into the one armed bandit down your local chippie. My love affair with the Welsh just keeps growing. - ANM, Aural Pressure
This' the second sampler of Elvis Coffee records I review and as I've said the last time this' a strange kind of label. The most of the music they put on their sampler creates a really uniform collage and nothing better than a collage epitomizes the approach of many modern/contemporary artists, uh?!. Drone music? Space music? Probably both of them...at last England is the cradle of many different genres of music one of which is psychedelia? (…bye bye Syd!!). When it's not “drone-odd” music, it indirectly (or directly who knows) pays tribute to people like early isolationists or to beautiful/degenerated minds like Nurse With Wound, weirdest Current 93 or something in the vein but everything here is more softly . Sideral music for odd people? Maybe…even if I don't know much about the most of the bands (apart those included in the first compilation) I'm sure some of them are definitely mature for some official release. Relaxing? Acid? Probably I'm writing this for the second time reviewing Elvis Coffee releases but that's acid music for modern fre-e-aks. Weird and interesting. - Andrea Ferraris, Chain DLK
Welsh label Elvis Coffee Records offers an updated sampling of their offerings on this brand new label sampler. This time we are up for a droning and atmospheric ride, but not lacking in variation.
The record is opened by Kiss My Farkyn´s space-jazz jippo Electrified Pleasures, which is not bad, but not too impressive either. Swn´s Bossa Eliptyca no.8 is an annoying piece: it starts out with really irritating looping rhythms which give me nothing but a good start for a headache, until they open into a very beautiful and serene sequence with electric whirrs and peaceful chimes, which I would love to sink into a bit longer. However, at the end those annoying rhythms get it on again. Les 7 Mondes´ Impromondes 1: Ghost Track is an entertaining track where doom-laden analog synths mix with brizzling space sounds – putting me in a mood of 60´s sci-fi movies.
Ghoul Detail offers multi-layered drones – quite good, but not that remarkable, unlike Analgeek´s truly beautiful Undergrind, which really encompasses the listener with a concrete atmosphere. A truly charged aural space where oppressive and peaceful feelings constantly brush into each other. Psychic Space Invasion partakes with a wavy, dynamic organ drone (notably better than on All God´s Children Got Space). Finally, The Buff Monkey Ensemble takes us to moist forests with Black Narbeth Money Tree, with a predominantly warm, serene and even melodic sound.
Elvis Coffee Records prove once again their ability to bring out interesting and varied experimental music, especially for drone friends – part of it is very successful, part less so. Especially worth getting for highlights like Analgeek, The Buff Monkey Ensemble and definitely also Les 7 Mondes. - -john björkman, kuolleenmusiikinyhdistys
This CD compilation features 7 bands from the record label Elvis Coffee. Kiss my Farkyn starts off with Electrified Pleasures. This is a strange 2½ minute electronic soundscape. Next up is Swn with Bossa eliptyco no. 8. This track is 8 minutes and begins with all electronic sounds that slowly goes almost nowhere until some like bells and stuff mix in and then the buzzing stops and the sound becomes more clear. Les I Mondes is next with Ghost Track, a 2½ minute pretty spacey soundscape. Ghost Detail is next with 3 long days in the Pipe. This is like strange sounds you would hear in a Sci Fi movie out in space, while being scared like hell… Very effective. Analgeek is next with Undergrind. This is a strange and mysterious one. I like the way the bass sort of just comes in every now and then while the sound of creaking pipes or what ever the hell it is makes for a freaky backdrop. Psychic Space Invasion is next with Dust comes from Saturn. It is a dark ambient soundscape. It is totally drifting as sounds of all sorts sort of meld together. The Buff Monkey Ensemble close the CD with Black Narbeth Monkey Tree.
If you like dark, strange ambient soundscapes, you should check out the bands on this label. And remember this is a very special record label in which all the releases are free, you only pay the postage! £1.5 for 1 CD or £3 for 3-4 CDs depending where you live in the world. - Scott, Aural Innovations
Working out of Wales, Elvis Coffee Records have adopted the policy of giving away their releases for the cost of postage rather than have them remain unheard on a shelf. A great place to start is with “The Eternal Present” a 7 track compilation which showcases the labels roster and features some fine drone/electronica within it’s 41 minutes, including the scratch and crackle of Swn, whose “Bossa Eliptyco no 8” is one of the highlights, as is Les 7 Mondes, whose “Impromondes 1: Ghost Track” is an expansive slice of electronic noise, whilst the perfectly named Analgeek have a ritualistic feel with “Undergrind”, the sound of meditating in a cave, the darkness slowly enveloping you. - Simon Lewis, Rumbles
7 projects for this compilation full of minimal music and wafting atmospheres. This is pure ambient stuff, like moving in other galaxies and distant stars. Some of the tracks remind me to the work of Wim Mertens in this familiar and pure soundtrack style. This sampler sounds as a soundtrack. The bands are Kiss My Farkyn, Swn, Les 7 Mondes, Ghoul Detail, Analgeek, Psychic Space Invasion and The Buff Monkey Ensemble. An album full of evasion and freedom! - Sideline
On the same label we have 'The Eternal Present', the second label compilation of bands on The Elvis Coffee Records label. Other than Psychic Space Invasion, none of the names mean much to me. Kiss My Farkin, Swn, Les 7 Mondes, Ghoul Detail, Analgeek and The Buff Monkey Ensemble for those who want to know. They all play some kind of music that is best classified as 'experimental' in whatever capacity. A bit of drones, computer generated time stretching or just a bunch of beats. Much of the material is rather lo-fi and consist more of ideas than of worked out pieces of music, but it's a nice collection. At least for those who want to seek out something really new. - FdW, Vital
