Location: |
Title: |
Mix Oscillations |
|---|---|
Artist: |
Celluloid Mata |
Label: |
Noise Museum |

After a couple of EPs and two albums on the French label Noise Museum, Celluloid Mata release Mix Oscillations. A collection of 11 remixes of tracks from the Bimbo Oscillations CD. Similar to the last review of a Noise Museum album - Oil 10, this album comes into the category of chance discovery in a local shop.
The collection opens with Come To Me Chicks, a remix by electroniCat. The track is strong and works well as an opening piece - rhythmic electronic programming and crackling, vibrant beats. DJ Olive follows with another nice track, Tea Time On Dooms Day. Perhaps even my favourite piece in the collection - with its vocal sample of a child saying "tea" and a big strumming bass. Intermittent layers of bass and noises are also well placed along with strategic changes in pace. The whole bass sound gives the track what can only be described as a groove.
In a more caustic vein comes Bimbo No Way, a mix by Elektroplasma. Initial scrapings establish suggestion , while the resultant ka-thudding runs with it. A rhythm piece with a noise edge, building in incremental steps. From the slow fade emerges the rattle an pause of string sounds and aelwin by Drahomira Song Orchestra. With the introduction of a vocal sample the mood becomes darker. Less about a suggestion of mild confusion. aelwin feels like an uncalm sea, somewhat choppy, but not menacing in itself. Though a hunch tells us there is something below that surface and we watch the motion of shadows.
Reaching Oil 10, we come to the first band I actually have anything by, allowing me to comment more on a comparison. Based on Oil 10's in/out I can say that celluloid mata vs oil 10 has a strong dose of Oil 10 in its sound. Buzzed electric waves, thrown switches over the floating bleepiness. Snipping percussion glitches well with the steady boom-boom of bass. I like it.
Following that is Romance aka James Plotkin, an artist who I have gained an increased measure of respect for, having seen him perform live. No Bimbo Or I'll Die has a swirling feel, quickly joined by a two tone percussion. Similar to DJ Olive's remix the strength of string/beat combination creates a certain groove sensation - perhaps a suggestion of a surf influence? Mixing through it come a range of noises and voices, making the whole a curious affair.
MultiplexYakuza is the mix from Fragile, a niggling something says that I know the name, but I can not place it at the moment. The feel of Multiplex Yakuza is decidedly more "ambient" - understated programming and mild bleep lines. The beat layer is more pronounced but it fades in and out in a manipulated form zero point - one - zero point, almost streaking in effect. Another nice piece, where again vocal samples change the mood, but not in a detrimental fashion.
Along with James Plotkin, I had seen DJ Speedranch and Janski Noise perform, now that pairing makes their contribution. Cinematic Haunts Of The Intense Claustrophobic Goosander follows the titles suggestion - lots of cinematic suggested moods and effects. The original track appears to be struggling through, but the abuse of the mix makes it discordant and bitty.
www.zone51.com (http remix) is the contribution by Belgian technoid artist Imminent Starvation. Another artist I am particularly familiar with, and as such can see his touch. At the core is the modem connection, while trademark thuds plod the steady wait. Initially in the same territory as the likes of Oil 10 and Fragile's mixes, though increasingly rattled with progression.
The 10th track is Zorn 0.1 mixed by Nikolaps, one of the artists here I do not know at all. Building electronic whines and waves suggest that the music is perpetually about to get out of hand - yet it never does. Clicks are regular and vocal samples are muffled. The last track is Last Cell To Grind mixed by Matt Wand of Stock Hausen & Walkman, another act I have seem live and am in fact about to see for a second time any day now. Chaotic and unpredictable is what I expect, and given the number of times I wonder if the disc is skipping I guess Wand lives up to expectations. As for the original track I suspect you have the least chance of hearing it in this mix.
To close, I reckon that in an industry of pointless, self indulgent remix albums featuring exclusive collections of cloned tracks, Mix Oscillations stands out. Without doubt one of the best mix collections I have heard to date. Key mixes for me being supplied by electroniCat, DJ Olive, Oil 10, Fragile and Imminent Starvation; with Elektroplasma and Drahomira Song Orchestra being close competitors.
RVWR: PTR
August 1999
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