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FERIAL CONFINE (=ANDREW CHALK) - Meiosis

Format: CD Label & Cat.Number: Siren Records SIREN 022 Release Year: 2013 Note: re-mastered re-issue of the second release from 1985 (MC by Broken Flag) by the old 'ambient noise" project of ANDREW CHALK - on 11 untitled tracks MEIOSIS oscillates between high pitched micro-detail (feedback or shortwave) hiss noise and quiet analogue drones and field recordings, in the first half very raw & energetic but with a true sense for slight changes & (tape) manipulations... this comes in the typical facsimile mini LP style; lim. 500 copies Price (incl. 19% VAT): €15.00 Warning: Currently we do not have this album in stock! More Info "A debut release on CD of the second part of the trilogy of recordings by Ferial Confine dating back to 1985. Here sensitively remastered by Denis Blackham from the original master tapes at Skye Mastering and with a beautiful facsimile mini LP style sleeve, made in Japan. Meiosis was initially published via the Broken Flag label in England in late 1985 on C60 cassette and deleted shortly afterwards, although there appeared some copies in circulation. In view of the high sonic range of much of Meiosis, it was clear that a duplicated cassette was an inferior release format-already in that period when CD was not really yet familiar. Even though 28 years' is perhaps a lengthy wait, Siren Records is pleased to finally present a fully remastered version of Meiosis on CD. It follows the same production quality of the initial release The Full Use Of Nothing, and Meiosis forms the bridge between that and the subsequent album First, Second And Third Drop (released in 2007 on CD). Amidst the chaos of the first two albums appears a sense of order and melodic structure that is already strongly established by the close of Meiosis. Early experimentation in acoustic percussion and primitive multi-tracking techniques shaped the sound and spirit of these formative recordings, somehow very tentative but leading to an on-going fascination with subtle shifts in balance and nuances of sound within a limited palette, albeit in a wild and free series of performances here. As the second part of the projected Siren re-issue trilogy ; 'The Full Use Of Nothing' (1985), 'Meiosis' (1985) and 'First, Second And Third Drop' (1986), the primitive energy and somehow primeval expression of the first two albums is a vital key to the distinct changes and subsequent refinement that would follow afterwards and contains the pure essence of the project, from a different period almost 30 years past. Meiosis is in an edition of 500 copies with Japanese language obi and features the original reproduced artwork by Andrew Chalk for the album. The CD was manufactured by in Japan. Layout by Magda Stepien, translations by Daisuke Suzuki." [label info] ghostsonwater.blogspot.de "This is the long lost recording of Andrew Chalk's 1985 album Meiosis, which was originally issued as a cassette on the seminal UK noise imprint Broken Flag. For those of you (and we know there are many of you out there) who are enamored by the impressionistic pools of dreamtime sound that make up most of Chalk's more well known albums, the Ferial Confine aesthetic is a considerable departure. But for those of you who can also sink your teeth into a delicious chunk of noise (and yes there are plenty of you out there too!), this album will hit that teeth-gnashing sweet spot. In the mid '80s, Chalk was not only involved with the Broken Flag circle, but also with Organum and The New Blockaders; and parts of this albums parallels much of the TNB / Organum strategies for densely aggregated, metal-compacted noise junk. Unlike the power electronics sound of Ramleh / Whitehouse, this shared aesthetic sounds like recordings of sheared metal plates being sped up and having the high-pitched frequencies of those scabrous grinds amplified into frenetic transmissions of aggravated tactility. It's almost a more listenable, more psychedelic, more acoustically based form of the aggro-minimalism of the Harsh Wall Noise format which was proposed a couple years back. While this aforementioned sound is the dominant strategy for the first three tracks on Meiosis (following suit from the first Ferial Confine album The Full Use Of Nothing), the middle tracks predict the more contemplative, dark drones that Chalk would produce on his late '80s albums Crescent and East Of The Sun. Here, deep rumbling electronics ripple through delay patterns alongside the resonant acoustic frequencies of suspended pieces of metal and even some field recordings of bird songs. Certainly not the pastoral impressionism of his current output, but very much looking forward to what he would be doing nowadays through a more industrially minded and jackbooted lens. By the end of the album, the searing feedback-blistered frequencies return, albeit with a weirdly psychedelic series of electronic glissandos buried beneath that's akin to early noise-junk Merzbow jamming with Daphne Oram. Very cool. If anything, Meiosis is a fantastic archive from the British underground; and given the collectability (and bootlegs) of the Broken Flag cassettes, this is necessary reissue. Hand fabricated by Andrew Chalk in a tip-on style sleeve with an obi that sports the title in Japanese." [Aquarius Records]