download weekend (pt. 1)

UPDATE 5/1:
DOWNLOAD WEEKEND (pt. 1)
Okay, I listened to all of the albums, however, everything from Sidewinder on was listened to away from the computer, and I wasn't able to pay as much attention as I had for the initial releases, so it looks like I'll have to do III, Effector, III Steps Forward, and Fixer again in the near future. For now, enjoy the reviews posted. ;)

Also, let me know if some of the album art pics aren't showing up. I am getting an off-white block for some of them, but the pics show up on some of my friends' computers, so...
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4/26: Currently gearing up for an all Download weekend. Now that I officially own all of the Download albums, I'm going to listen to the entire Download discography in chronological order (in order of the material being written and recorded, not in order by release date).

My first (from the) Vault shipment (containing 11 CDs - the entire Vault 1 and the three current Vault 2 releases). I've always loved all the eras of Download, but I've never really tried to piece together the different mutations into one cohesive whole (and I believe that they can, and do, actually exist in a similar space). For the Vault albums, this will be basically my first in-depth listen to those, and I'm hoping that they add a significant amount of insight into the already dense Download catalog.

Either during the process of listening to all of this music, or in the aftermath, I will post short reviews below.


Here's the offical playlist for the weekend:


Skinny Puppy - Puppy Gristle
Friday - 5:43 PM
What a GREAT START to my Download weekend. Currently 17:02 minutes into this beast, first real in-depth listen to Puppy Gristle and I am completely floored. This bridges the gap between Skinny Puppy, Doubting Thomas, and Download. The aggressive and disturbing atmosphere of Last Rights (Ogre's overdubs are definitely still in LR mode, although this was recorded in '93), the bizarre and eclectic sound design of The Infidel, and hints of what was to come with Download in the complete realization of "brap". You can feel the energy in the room, I can imagine cEv and Dwayne alternating between completely spaced out and utter childish joy at the nature of these sounds. I love the gritty distortion from the gristlebox, I love the manipulated string sounds, its all a very surreal experience. I feel like in the future I will be listening to this to follow up the Last Rights experience as much as possible, but this blog ain't about the Puppy discog.
Friday - 6:02 PM
Okay, 34:50 in. Some beautiful synthwork here, nearly beats out the strings at the end of the track "Download" from Last Rights. After the onslaught of distortion, these sounds are just amazing. Now it seems like the track is winding down a bit, some sounds going on that sound similar to granular synthesis (although I'm pretty sure no one really knew that it was called "granular synthesis" in the early '90s.

Final Score: 4.5/5

Download - Inception
Friday 6:23 PM
So far this is less immediately progressive than Puppy Gristle, the first couple tracks remind me of the less accessible Doubting Thomas material, especially from the Father Don't Cry EP (two of the tracks from that EP are actually from '94 and would sit nicely next to most of this material). Basically a mix of the noisy aspects of Last Rights and Doubting Thomas, but also with some similarities to the production style glimpsed on The Process.
Friday 6:41 PM
The last two tracks have really upped the game. I just heard "Left the Radio On" and "Deepdark Modular". "Left the Radio On" is a demo of the track Sidewinder (from the Eyes of Stanley Pain and its namesake EP) that contains the original vocal samples (supposedly from a Peter Gabriel track) of a man chanting. Very effective, I love the side of Download that references world music and creates something new from ethnic influences. "Deepdark Modular" is the first track on the album to feature Mark Spybey, an integral part of the first Download incarnation. You can definitely hear Dead Voices on Air-esque drones and noises that add another dimension to cEvin and Dwayne's synthetic jamming. The next track is "So Easy to Kill", one of the few tracks on Inception that also appeared on the fabled (and super rare) Download Tester. This one seems to be influenced by the production of Puppy Gristle in its repetitive and trance-inducing noise, rounded out by, again, Doubting Thomas style snippets of conversation. The track mutates around the 5:00 mark, dropping the noise levels to allow for a few moments of fragile piano before another all out analog assault. It is at this point, with the speakers absolutely cranked, that I realize just how GREAT this stuff sounds. I can hardly believe that this stuff sat around on DATs for the better part of 10 years. Sounds incredibly fresh and groundbreaking even today.

Later in the evening:
Finished the rest of the album in the car. Car stereo isn't nearly as spectacular as my permanent setup in my room, but Inception was still enjoyable. Also listened to the Inception outtake "Dragon" on the vault 1 bonus compilation Encore. There are some moments of absolute brilliance here, but there are also some dull, less inspired tracks (which is just the nature of being an improv based unit). I still highly recommend this album, even the duller tracks sound years ahead of their time and are interesting, I just think that some of the 5 minute pieces here would work better as short breakdowns or interludes (see Furnace for how to implement strange little experiments that otherwise wouldn't work on their own within a new track).
Favorite tracks: Left The Radio On, Deepdark Modular, So Easy To Kill, Krackerzz, Thats.Our.Process

Final Score: 4/5

cEvin Key - Music for Cats (selected tracks)
Friday 10:31 PM
Music For Cats contains several songs from the early Download period, including tracks from the aforementioned Tester. Here is a list of the DownloadMFC tracks I included in the Download Weekend playlist:
- wind on small paws
- meteorite
- herbalist rule
- greenhouse gases
- have you ever felt like this
- blotter
- i still ate her (not actually on MFC, but released on Wild Planet, track originally from Download Tester)
These tracks were selected from the tracklist for Tester found on Todd Z's Download discog page (link on litany). The tracks that feature Dwayne would not have sounded out of place on Inception - thanks to alien8 on the litany forums for reminding me to include the MFC material. I won't rate the album here because I'm not listening to the thing in its entirety, but suffice to say that if you enjoy the tracks above, you'll enjoy a lot of the material on Inception, and vice versa.


Download - Charlie's Family
Friday 11:06 PM
Charlie's Family begins. 1:52 seconds in. Forgot how disturbing the samples in "Beautiful" were. Also forgot how disturbing and odd the finished product film (The Manson Family) was. So far the vibe in this track is, again, somewhat similar to Doubting Thomas, but there's more going on here, something vaguely more sinister than any DT track.
Friday 11:11 PM
Now playing "Gristle Dog Corr," which is one of the two Download tracks that is composed primarily of edits of Puppy Gristle. It is strange to hear that gigantic and gargantuan jam paired down to a 6 minute track. However, "Gristle Dog Corr" focuses on the tension between the beautiful strings and the bizarre gristlized noise, and infuses the whole thing with more of those disturbing snippets of dialog from VanBebber's as-then-unreleased film, which makes the whole thing more interesting than the sum of its parts. Interesting note: the latter portion of this track basically sounds like a precursor to Gridlock's Trace album, with the sparse pads and digital clatter. The far-reaching influence of Download can not be overstated.
Friday 11:24 PM
It only gets more disturbing from here on out. I can't help but conjure some bizarre Halloween imagery, probably fueled by the artwork and the fact that a song on the album is entitled "Trick or Treat". The version of "Tweeter Blower" is vastly superior to the Inception version due to the inclusion of a strong rhythmic backbone. I also find it hilarious that immediately following "Tweeter Blower" is "Catblower". I'm imagining the guys jamming to one track and the tweeters rupturing, and then listening to another track and the cat rupturing :D. ... I guess maybe this album inspires such deranged thoughts.
Friday 11:40
This is definitely the most sparse sounding Download release so far. It's like the negative image of Inception - a lot of the same concepts, turned upside down and very uncomfortable. There is a definite comparison to some of what Coil was doing around this time, (Black Light District anyone?), although I would argue Charlie's Family is an easier listen due to the presence of rhythm and something of recognizable melody. Make no mistake, this is not an ambient release - just a more minimalistic one than what Download was known for at the time. I love the disquieting atmosphere, I love the minimalism, I love the whole Halloween vibe - this is definitely the most underrated of the early Download material, which is unfortunate - there's a wealth of great stuff here.
Favorite Tracks: Trick or Treat, Tweeter Blower, Yes, Thank You

Final Rating: 4.5/5

Download - Furnace Re:Dux (reissue Disc 2)
Friday 11:59 PM
Re:Dux begins (this is Disc 2 of the Furnace reissue, the second installment in vault 2). Had to take a short break after Charlie's Family blew me away. For those of you who don't know, Re:Dux is a collection of the jams directly related to the Furnace sessions, so its like a freeform, less song-oriented version of the album.
Saturday 12:07 AM
On "Re:Dux Part 3". So far I've definitely heard material that ended up in two or three tracks on the proper Furnace album. Some of Spybey's vocals seem to still be in place, but without the structure-imposing edits. You'll expect the song to shift and head toward the next portion (Furnace is always in flux, thats what I love about it. More on that later), but instead the groove just keeps going. It would have been amazing to be in the room for these jams, there's just so much creativity! I'm completely astounded by what's going on here. These sounds totally envelop me. I keep referring to the picture of the guys in the studio featured in the layout of Inception - each member is surrounded by a bank of synthesizers and other noisemakers.
Saturday 12:18 AM
The biggest change from Inception and Charlie's Family to the Furnace Sessions is the sense that Spybey really stepped it up in terms of musical involvement. I can hear him subtly in the earlier material but I can really feel his style all over Re:Dux. He reinforces that spiritual, transcendent quality that we all know cEvin, Dwayne, and Phil are capable of. Another interesting shift is that, in the earlier releases, the music is decidedly electronic in all aspects - the percussion, the melodies, the noise, but here, in the inception of Furnace, if you will, the lines begin to blur. This music sounds alive, it is truly organic, and I often cannot tell where field recordings and homemade string instruments end and synthesis begins. This is what leaves me in total awe of the synergy of these four musicians (and the ever elusive Ken Marshall). I truly believe that a good portion of this mutation is due to Spybey's involvement, the Dead Voices on Air releases of this period (New Words Machine, Hafted Maul, Shap) have a similar otherworldly quality that, when paired with these synthetic gurus (Spybey has admitted on numerous occasions that he does not consider himself a "musician", which is what separates him from the other members of Download, in a way) makes for some of the most amazing albums of all time.
Saturday 12:33 AM
Is that Dwayne talk/singing about 4:00 into Re:Dux Part 8? Wow. I know Spybey starts chanting shortly afterwards (I think), but someone with a higher pitched voice is saying some three syllable word or phrase over and over before that. Interesting.
Saturday 12:40 AM
This is very cool. Basically makes the connection between Inception and Charlie's Family and Furnace and beyond. This disc is more melodic and relaxed than Furnace, but it doesn't stand alone incredibly well (and it obviously wasn't meant to). It works best when listened to in close proximity to the proper album and/or Microscopic, whether before or after.
Favorite tracks: I won't pick any because it seems pretty obvious that this was meant to be listened to straight through, and only indexed for convenience. However, Part 6 is probably my favorite, if I had to pick one.

Final Rating: 4/5

Download - Furnace [remastered] (reissue Disc 1)
Saturday 11:38 AM
I was driving around town this morning listening to the album and I remembered the first time I heard this record. After acquiring VIVIsectVI about 5 years ago, I went on a Puppy-purchase rampage. Strangely, this was one of the first purchases I made (purchased at the same time as Microscopic). I remember sitting on the floor of my room with my head right under the speakers, completely absorbed. I couldn't begin to understand or love this record, but I was drawn to it by its unspeakable complexities. It would be years before I could truly say "yes, I love Furnace" instead of "well, I respect it". And even though it is definitely one of my favorite albums of all time, I can't pretend to say that I've heard all there is to hear on this record.
Saturday 12:26 PM
After many interruptions, I'm about 4/5 of the way through. Currently finishing up Lebanull. This album is so dense, I'm listening as attentively as possible and I still feel like I haven't "touched bottom", like there are still sounds I'm not quite hearing. Every time I think I have this album figured out, it shifts, mutates, and slips through my fingers. Another interesting dynamic shift from Inception and Charlie's Family to Furnace is the inclusion of Genesis P-Orridge. He was present and a contributing member for Puppy Gristle, and now he's back influencing Download again. Interviews from this period seem to hint that GPO wasn't nearly as involved with the production aspect of this record as he was with Puppy Gristle, but that doesn't change the fact that I shiver during Lebanull when he cries: "Do you see what I see? / Do you hear me?" His contributions add a lot of diversity to this record, and everything about GPO seems in stark contrast with Spybey's delivery, which just serves to intensify the schizophrenic nature of this album.
Saturday 12:36 PM
This is interesting. It seems like the material that was built from the jams on Re:Dux is located primarily on the first half of the disc - Seel Hole, Cannaya, Stone Grey Soil, all have very recognizable elements featured on Re:Dux.
Saturday 12:47 PM
Finishing up the album now. 7:17 into Marred. I feel like I've been through the rabbit hole (cliche, maybe, but true). I also feel like I could spend days listening to this album. I'm sure I'll be returning to Furnace much more often now.
Favorite tracks: Omniman, Atallal, Lebanull, Marred

Final Rating: 5/5
Overall rating for Furnace Reissue: 5.5/5

Download - Microscopic
Saturday 12:51 PM
Microscopic begins.
Saturday 12:55 PM
I'm going to skip the remixes by outside parties for two reasons:
a) this is DOWNLOAD weekend!
b) I'm pretty sure that I dislike both remixes :)
Saturday 5:25 PM
Listening to this was very fragmented. I guess I didn't have quite as free of a weekend as I thought. Overall, this is a nice addition to Furnace. The two new versions of Noh Man's Land are highly enjoyable, Energy Plan is amazing and minimal and Coil-esque (to an extent), the title track features what may be GPO's best contributions to the whole era. The remixes are less than spectacular, but then again, I've never been a fan of NEWT (strange, because I like Haujobb), nor am I a fan of Biosphere. The in-house Omniman remix is hardly different from the original, I think the overall structure is slightly different, so maybe it should be labeled "Omniman (Alternate)".

Overall Rating: 3.5/5

Download - The Eyes of Stanley Pain
Saturday 6:32 PM
3/4 of the way into Stanley Pain, now 3:05 into Outafter. This record is really brilliant at times. I've been blown away by Suni C, Base Metal, Collision, and Sidewinder so far. There is a definite shift from Furnace to EOSP that I think lies mostly in a role change on the part of Spybey. He's become much less involved in the production of the music and much more of a vocalist. This is cool, on the one hand, because Spybey's vocals were so buried and "just another instrument" on Furnace, here he rivals Ogre. What we have here sounds more like Inception, musically, than anything on Furnace or Microscopic, which obviously had a much higher level of Spybey involvement in the musical creation. This means that EOSP is much more immediate than its predecessors - this is easily the most Puppy-esque Download album. Very similar to The Process in overall sound, one gets the idea that these tracks may have been the ones that Ogre rejected for The Process because they were too "techno-y". Separate and Killfly, especially, strike me as possible Pup-outtakes. Seperate could even be a hold-over from the Last Rights sessions. Another interesting note is that Phil Western is not credited as a member of Download for EOSP (he plays keys on Glassblower, but that seems to be the extent of his involvement), so now we see that Download is back to being primarily a Key and Goettel project with interjections from Valcic and Marshall. Somewhere, I read that EOSP was not recorded in concentrated and focused sessions like Furnace was, which lends a bit less of the cohesive feel present on the former album. I feel like a lot of the magic present on Furnace has been traded for a more direct and aggressive approach which works very well (these guys can do no wrong), but fto me isn't nearly as effective as Furnace.
Saturday 6:49 PM
Another note: Fire This Ground is vastly superior to Gristle Dog Corr, as far as being a track constructed heavily from Puppy Gristle material. While Gristle Dog Corr is basically a summarization of Puppy Gristle (at least to my ears), Fire This Ground uses Puppy Gristle as a basis for forming a very stand-alone track, by (I think) adding some rhythms and a (more) cohesive structure.
Favorite tracks: Suni C, Base Metal, Collision, Fire This Ground, The Eyes of Stanley Pain

Overall Rating: 4/5

(TO BE CONTINUED)


Just to prove I actually own all of this (and to brag a little, after a few years of collecting steadily), here's a pic of my Skinny Puppy + related collection:


Jealous? :D

I'm still missing some singles and some vinyl rarities, but really I'm pretty proud of this collection.