A remastered Touch edition of a release originally only available on a 2010 cassette from Ash International, Draught No.1 documents two 2008 performances by BJ Nilsen. On the first, recorded by Charlie Poulet at the ICA, rousing harmonies emerge out of a storm of static and scraping metal before dissolving into serene ambient drift; it's hard to do justice in words to the magnitude of effect that Nilsen achieves with this fairly conventional narrative arc, and, as electronic music performances go, this one is really something of a masterclass. The second side, recorded by Anna Cruise at Puzzle in Caen, is more dynamic, at times more furious; certainly less polite. Nilsen reels us in with sustained organ drones and ice floe strings, before leading us to a slow-motion but completely devastating climax of grinding, excoriating noise - imperial distortion if ever we heard it. This is cerebral music but crucially it's also full of feeling, it's cathartic, and we'd have to say it ranks among the Swede's very best work.
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A remastered Touch edition of a release originally only available on a 2010 cassette from Ash International, Draught No.1 documents two 2008 performances by BJ Nilsen. On the first, recorded by Charlie Poulet at the ICA, rousing harmonies emerge out of a storm of static and scraping metal before dissolving into serene ambient drift; it's hard to do justice in words to the magnitude of effect that Nilsen achieves with this fairly conventional narrative arc, and, as electronic music performances go, this one is really something of a masterclass. The second side, recorded by Anna Cruise at Puzzle in Caen, is more dynamic, at times more furious; certainly less polite. Nilsen reels us in with sustained organ drones and ice floe strings, before leading us to a slow-motion but completely devastating climax of grinding, excoriating noise - imperial distortion if ever we heard it. This is cerebral music but crucially it's also full of feeling, it's cathartic, and we'd have to say it ranks among the Swede's very best work.
A remastered Touch edition of a release originally only available on a 2010 cassette from Ash International, Draught No.1 documents two 2008 performances by BJ Nilsen. On the first, recorded by Charlie Poulet at the ICA, rousing harmonies emerge out of a storm of static and scraping metal before dissolving into serene ambient drift; it's hard to do justice in words to the magnitude of effect that Nilsen achieves with this fairly conventional narrative arc, and, as electronic music performances go, this one is really something of a masterclass. The second side, recorded by Anna Cruise at Puzzle in Caen, is more dynamic, at times more furious; certainly less polite. Nilsen reels us in with sustained organ drones and ice floe strings, before leading us to a slow-motion but completely devastating climax of grinding, excoriating noise - imperial distortion if ever we heard it. This is cerebral music but crucially it's also full of feeling, it's cathartic, and we'd have to say it ranks among the Swede's very best work.