REVIEWS

Andrew Liles
Black Market

Beta-lactam Ring Records

Posted: Friday, November 02, 2007
By: Matthew Johnson
Features Editor

Several of the albums in The Vortex Vault have seemed more like actual albums than collections of rarities and discards, but Andrew Liles kicks off the second half of the ambitious 12-disc series with a pile of tracks that, while intriguing, don't have a lot holding them together. "Malcolm" starts things off with deep moody piano chords, then "Robotic Monkey" takes things in a jazzier direction with bouncing saxophones and upright bass. "Taking Bumblebee to France for the Afternoon" embodies its title perfectly with sunny layers of fuzzed out brass and a soaring jet engine. Fortunately, the music on "Undiluted Puce Diarrhoea" is less directly related to its title, consisting of minimalist ringing tones, and the echoing cymbals and soft harps of "Horsehair and Milk" are more pleasant than such a concoction has any right to be. "Anhedonia (Part 3)" sees Liles reprise a track from the previous CD in the series, this time adding Tony Wakeford of Sol Invictus, who delivers the song's surrealist phrases ("We are alone with Walnut Mary") in his usual dour baritone. Generally speaking, Liles' work alternates between disturbing and playful, and Black Market offers plenty of both, ranging from the eerie darkness of "Time Waits for No Man" to the tinkling IDM of "The Jean Michel and Vangelis Taboo Liaison," an inside joke for those with electronic music obsessions if there ever was one. There's even a nod to Krautrock on the hypnotic psychedelic guitar strums of "Black Grass." The downside of all this variety though, is that it's really only going to appeal to people already familiar with Liles and his work. If you're going to journey into the depths of The Vortex Vault, this is probably too overwhelming a place to make your first incursion.