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from Ampersand Etcetera 2001-16 (9.26.2001) written by Jeremy Keens
http://ampersandetc.virtualave.net/ampersand.html & jeremy@pretentious.net
Various Artists
Lost and Found: A Foundry Anthology
The Foundry/Hypnos Fou10
http://www.foundrysite.com
Michael Bentley's The Foundry label issued a fascinating range of material, from Bentley in various disguises and collaborations, in the fading years of the last century (doesn't that sound a long time ago!), most prominently as eM. A recent teaming up with Hypnos has provided a valuable fillip in terms of marketing and distribution that has allowed the label to continue with a bright future and without affecting Bentley's artistic independence. Already there have been 5 co-releases which have demonstrated that the vision is still there (and the sixth, Trillium, will be reviewed in 2002_09), and has in fact broadened as the label roster expands beyond Bentley. This latest release, a double album, is an opportunity to reflect on the labels past and future, underscoring the strength of the label, and will perhaps stimulate latecomers to the venture (mainly through Hypnos) to delve into the back catalogue.
The first disk is the pre-Hypnos Foundry, and while not Lost, it is probably less well known. All the releases have been discussed here over the course of &etc history Michael was among the first people to send me stuff as Ampersand directly. I see this disk as an Exploration into the nooks of the Bentley musical persona (all the tracks are either by him or in his collaboration with Nathan Kreisberg as Rhomb). It is Rhomb who open the set, with three tracks from across releases including a rerecording of 'Above the earth' which leads off, a nostalgic wistful combination of music box, tones and percussion which seems on the edge of becoming the littoral that Mollusk will explore. As the Rhomb tracks proceed a wider structure to Bentley's music becomes apparent a mixture of this edge-ness and a play of finer lighter components over a deeper base. 'Occluded forms' has a big base with keys skittering and tones over, snatches of melody passing, 'Empty roads' prefigures Mollusk with call like twinkles over a slow pulse with layers of melody, a bending noise and later an organ. The mood and method continue into eM's three in row: crackling pulse over a low murmur and organic mellowness in 'Chasm', a vinyl runout groove and strange organ is edgy in 'Edison naps' and 'Temple ghost simoon' with long keening scratchy tones, scratchy crackle and skitters, adding a big rumble and tush later: the second is from a non-Foundry release, the 6mini-cd collaboration Archipelago, whose participants pointed at The Foundry's future.
The disk then switches between various artists: The Apiary give us 'Dreams of ragnarok and sysiphus' with stepping portentious synths, horncalls and a clattercrackle that sounds suggestively voice like and eventually does become clear (what are you afraid of), and 'Repeat (part three)' an extended play of a slow deep stately melody of long tones with clatter and whirl over, becoming stringlike and changing feel throughout. EM return with 'Shoals of stars' long fuzzy tones, echoed percussion squiggles and pulsing burr in a melancholy drift, and Rhomb have two more: the deep rumbles, tuned percussion and high tones of the 'Ice fields' and mysterious rhythmic taps and noises juxtaposed with a melody in 'Darkened'. And finally in this half, two from M Bentley 'Flora' with fast pulses, rapid taps, strummed guitar and voice tones, and a journey through 'The space between the stars' with sonarish bleeps, long tones, metallic edges and whistly animals.
The selection of tracks, and their sequencing, emphasises the continuity across the releases and Bentley's personae and collaboration, in producing a satisfying dreamy drifting ambient that does 'provide a coherent listening experience'. Some tracks and moods are missed to emphasise an ambient mood, but it is a great entrance-way. There is an indication of more 'lost' material in fou07 an Apiary MP3 release, hopefully posted later in the year), but eM 'Telecom' abstract telephonics (fou08) is lost to us, though it has 'mutated into another project altogether'.
If the first disk is an Exploration, the second is a Celebration of the combination with Hypnos and the flowering of the Foundry. The numbering as Fou10 it 'predates' the Hypnos collaboration and is a hinge between the two periods. There are tracks from all the Foundry/Hypnos releases: two instrumental selections Dean Santomieri's Boy Beneath The Sea, emphasising the cool guitar, percussion and synth mellow jazzness of the album; a drifting space ambient track from eM's All The Stars Burning Bright with emerging long burr-edged tones, mysterious spaces; Seofon et al give us 'Lessons in being nothing' where long wavering layered ringing tones and a shimmer provide an opportunity for bells and voices to join an increasing beat; an intriguing track from Jonathon Hughes' Trillium will be reviewed in the next &etc (by date, not number) and whose sensuousness fits here. And Mollusk (now revealed that Malcolm Bly is another M Bentley persona) has a lovely track from Accretions, with washing undercurrents, soft processed echoes floating on the surface, scratchy horny noises: it builds into orchestral and then strangely vocal forms.
Mollusk leads on the non-album material, appropriately as this is his final dive (unfortunately, though the processes and tricks that Bentley has pursued here will inform his later work, and have been prefigured in earlier releases, and I was sure I could hear some Bly in All The Stars). The tracks are collaborations with Jonathon Hughes on 'Argonautica: four' (which was available on the Mollusk site) with loud upfront calls building over deep tones and is very Mollusk, and with Santomieri in the 'Farewell to the deep' where a slow deep resonant drift is the sea for washes and calls. A grand farewell. An outtake from eM's All The Stars Burning Bright is spacious drifting ambient dotted with bright brittle stars, and an alternative version from Seofon's album dreamy rhythmic marvellous melange that induces a hippy trippy air. 'Bertram's room' which eM created for the No Compression Festival, and was on the compilation reviewed here, is a tale (for which there is a video) where after some voices, various clicks, blips, voice sounds slowly loop over a melancholy sustained chord bed, some becoming more active, and accreting before some final voices. For the Foundry aficionado the most exciting track on the anthology is one from eM which provides a fascinating glimpse of a 'forthcoming Foundry project' with 'Piano ship' where a slow rhythmic creaking is the bed for a slow piano, animal calls (post-Mollusk) and strange washes: an enticing new direction.
Reflecting Bentley's and The Foundry's multimedia side, there is an indispensable PDF file available on site with more of the evocative photos and notes on the label and tracks (it is interesting to read my poor descriptions against Bentley's revelation of the source material, and has made me relisten to some tracks) plus a couple of extra MP3s.
This 'sampler' release faces all the usual problems: readers of Ampersand will have purchased the full Foundry catalogue by now anyway, on my glowing and honest recommendations; while newcomers may think twice as once they listen to this they are likely to want to buy all the originals, perhaps making this a redundant purchase. However it comes at the right time in The Foundry's history, offers sufficient new or less available material, and has been lovingly chosen and sequenced (and also completely remastered to great effect) to provide a self-sufficient and different enough listening journey to make it a valuable addition to your collection.
[see also Jeremy's comments on our first releases here, on our chapbooks here, on Seofon's Zero Point here, on Dean Santomieri's The Boy Beneath the Sea here, on eM's All the Stars Burning Bright here, on Mollusk's Accretions here, on the Foundry project 360° here]