The prolific Richard H Kirk returns to his already overwhelmed
fans with yet another project. From his studio in Sheffield,
where he seems to spend most of his life, he explores
once more the possibilities of bleeps, noise and radio
waves. Blacworld is RHK at his very best.
Built around the concept of short wave radio frequencies
and voice recording manipulation, Subduing Demons
(In South Yorkshire) is the third in a series of
four records to be released by Kirk. If Darkness
At Noon was a rather quiet musical affair, and
LoopStatic,
a heavy technoid monster, then, Subduing Demons
is a cerebral work. The album opens with a voice recorded
from a satellite radio transmission, on a bed of deep
electronic bleeps and noises and African percussions.
It’s The Truth sets the tone for the rest of
the record. With years of digital tweaking behind him,
Kirk knows what to do with sounds. All along Subduing
Demons, the man tortures his samples, arranges
waves of vintage synths on non-academic rhythm patterns,
and constantly disconcerts. Digging deep into his Cabaret
Voltaire roots for industrial inspiration, Kirk demonstrates
his agility at inserting some light in his dark horizons,
when he turns an acoustic guitar sample into a dub weapon,
(Europeanz). The heavy hip-hop beat on Financial
Institution, together with a highly repetitive
guitar sample gimmick, echoed in the following This
Planet or Coup-d’Etat, give the album
one of its darkest moments. In contrast, Pop-u-lation,
with its bouncy feel, covers the other end of the spectrum,
still inducing Kirk’s trademark dub, but this time in
a rather funky, early-Warp, way. Guerrilla War
and Cyber War conclude the album, the earlier
in a concise trip-hop form, the later with a more radically
hard edge, both displaying the signs of radio conversations.
This third part in the series of short wave radio frequencies
experiments is definitely the most interesting and achieved
by far, and Subduing Demons (In South Yorkshire)
is one of the most exiting Kirk releases in years. The
album has a lot to offer, the man using his wide palette
of sounds and experiences to the full.
5/5 |
