You need this.
John Shanahan | Quincy MA | 02/17/2005
(4 out of 5 stars)
"(From my site, Hypnagogue Ambient Music Reviews)
In his liner notes, Dwight Ashley explains that he was somewhat reluctant to release the songs on Discrete Carbon to the public because he felt they were personal--"a tension release." Let's all be glad he changed his mind. Discrete Carbon is elegant, challenging, and superbly crafted. Ashley spans a range from soft, melodic pieces to lazy sine-wave drones to harsh, compelling work that even its creator questions "whether it truly qualfie[s] as music."
Case in point: the third track, "Katalepsis." Here Ashley submerges a slow-moving, almost mournful synth melody beneath a wave of unrelenting static. Musically it is a truly relaxing piece, and while the mind and soul recognize that, the nearly intrusive barrage of shifting white noise forces a constant analysis of whether or not it belongs and what it actually adds. It is, without question, effective--as are all of Ashley's sonic choices. Every track has embedded elements that force the listener to take notice, along with subtler nuances that enrich the experience.
Throughout this CD, Ashley artistically intertwines music and non-music in an intoxicating, narcotic blend that commands deeper listening for fuller appreciation. It is dark, moody, and relentless in both its difficult complexity and its shadowy beauty. If you are up to the challenge and can approach composition with an open mind, Discrete Carbon will not disappoint.
"
Some Erie stuff
simpcity | 03/11/2005
(4 out of 5 stars)
"I recently received two cds by Dwight Ashley, this collection of stuff from 1999 and 2003 and the more recent Four with compositions from 2003/4. Erie, I say, cuz it's from Toledo, Ohio, on the shores of that Lake of same name. Now, place doesn't always count for much, I realize. But, if we are what we eat, then I think we sound like what we hear.
These ambient pieces sound like winter to me. (Course, I received them here in Reno in the midst of an hundred-year snow storm...) Track 3 "katalepsis" shimmers like an ice sculpture in the dark. Track 9 "examined by tweezers" seems a meditation on the modulation of sound passing thru an "empty" medium (the atmosphere perhaps, or maybe one's home as one works with the stereo on in the background).
Musically, I am reminded of the music of Jeff Grienke and of ambient Eno of the Discreet Music period. There is some happy piano music on a hidden track 15 reminding me somewhat of the happy piano music on Aphex Twin's "drukqs." Of the two cds, I think I like Four the best because of its darker edge.
"
Track Listings (10) - Disc #1
