back   Gospel - discipline tkmc 001 Discipline's TKMC release is mystifying. Almost no track titles or details, the disk cloaked in blurred artwork, with wide stretches of grey on the insert; the music contained therein is just as shadowed. Using cracked electronics and primitive effects pedals, the album kicks off with a 30-minute piece that reflects the artist's technique of stacking multiple loops and field recordings. This is followed by a series of 'polite', well-mannered constructions. Drones blossom one after the other to form calm panoramic soundscapes, only to be intercepted by a few incidental chants from another time and space. Discipline manage to capture queasy, warped loops, subject them to the stresses of sonic overload, and layer them out in intriguing structures that are as urgent as the chants of a wayward autodidact. Despite the strict use of laptops, the end result is a warm organic tapestry of sounds.         nevermind where, just drive - Scrambled Eggs tkmc 002 A couple of guitar power chords crack down after one last breath, as if to announce an intermission. You feel instantly propelled into the smoking room of a small concert hall, with its small vending machines, tinkling clocks and foggy ambience. This relatively short release (Scrambled Eggs's third...) consists of a suite of sketches, aborted song intros, and abstract song structures, and was recorded and mixed in December 2004 in the band's hometown of Beirut. The album's dramatic noise collages seem decisively divorced from any specific regional or cultural origins. The foursome combines trash noise guitars, electronics and tape machines, backed by bass and drums, and engulfed by a thick sheath of maximalist distortion. The result can be steadily hypnotic at times, and volatile, mirage-like, at others. Including guitar-generated pulses and drones and sudden jumps in volume and intensity, the album represents an uncompromising sound, the latter shifting restlessly between moods and arrangements, never settling into anything resembling a comfortable groove, but opting for an episodic series of compressed but intense tableaux.         BAO - BAO tkmc 003 Even lifeless scraps of metal have their say on this record. Recorded in one restless day in June 2005, this is the first studio release from BAO, a free improvisation trio based in Beirut, active since 2002. The sounds generated by this fearless threesome float along the far frontiers of colorist harmony, occasionally venturing into texture-land. Jingly, drone-like, and detuned guitar elements hover on the edge of melody, coupled with tape-sampling intrusions, peculiar blooping percussive bonks, and choking trumpet. The vitality of interaction between the musicians, arising from their ability and responsiveness as improvisers, sets these 5 pieces apart from routine nebulous drift and impressionistic sketches. Engineering mood and crafting atmosphere are part of the agenda, but the real interest resides in a sense of three accomplished instrumentalists sparking together, collaboratively shaping a busy flow of sound, while each leaving their personal mark upon it.