Monday, April 4, 2011

Review: Bee Mask - From a Will-Less Gigolo of a Divinity to the Gore-Spattered Lion on His Own Hearth, Odysseus Becomes "Odysseus" (Deception Island, 2010)

Bee Mask is an alter ego of Philadelphia, PA citizen Chris Madak (previously Cleveland, OH). Over a few years, Madak's music has evolved from the cold, static, skeletal endless drones to a much smoother (and more diverse stylistically) entity. With an incredibly long and playfully unwieldy name "From a Will-Less Gigolo..." offers a travel through many different zones of experimental electronics, ranging from melodic suites to abstract acids in the style of Morton Subotnick. Side A begins with a majestic synth miniature, a synthetic symphony topped with a dreamy lead, which sounds like a sci-fi guitar soundtrack. Then the styles change at an almost kaleidoscopic pace, even though each side clocks at a little bit more over 10 minutes, it leaves a feeling of being much longer - each section is atmospheric enough to fully immerse the listener. The wall of chimes, a quiet, introspective melody slowly turns into cold, minimalist drone in the style of Bee Mask's earlier releases like "Elusive Lunar Bow". Once it dissolves into nothing but a slab of somewhat muted white noise, a sequenced bliss begins to emerge, only to fade again as the side ends.
The beginning of side B (both sides are untitled) is eerily similar to the beginning of side A and is a straight continuation of the synth workout at the very end of side A: a short kosmische sequencer-driven introduction gives way to an abstract soundscape with speech samples sped up beyond recognition, distant synth squeals and what appears to be echoed, sparse Roland TR-808 drum samples. This abstract painting of sound gradually changes into a chilling chime melody slowly fading into trademark early Bee Mask glacier drone ornamented by occasional analog bleeps and bloops. The tape comes to an end with a hazy organ suite propelled by short, needle-like sequenced notes. "From a Will-Less Gigolo of a Divinity to the Gore-Spattered Lion on His Own Hearth, Odysseus Becomes "Odysseus"" is a great step in Chris Madak's progress- the number of different moods and style he can touch is damn near unbelievable and I feel in my bones that he can create something truly breathtaking in the near future.

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