BENOIT PIOULARD
Lasted
KRANK145
Kranky 2010
14 Tracks. 40mins02secs

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Despite a very French-sounding name, Benoît Pioulard is actually the long-running solo project of Michigan-born Thomas Meluch. After a few self-released albums, Pioulard’s first commercial release, a seven inch single entitled Enge, came out on Moodgadget in 2005, and was followed less than a year later by his debut album, Précis, on Kranky. Under its gentle folk exteriors, this album ventured into more experimental electronic territories, creating an overall complex and contrasted soundtrack. This album was followed by a second, Temper, two years later, on which Meluch continued to develop his particular blend of songs and instrumentals. Since, there have been a handful of limited seven inch releases for Type, Hall Of Owls and Blue Flea, countless compilations appearances, a collaborative album with Praveen and a cassette mini album, Valley, which was recently issued on FM Dust. Continue Reading »

CHRISTOPHER BISSONNETTE
In Between Words
KRANK118
Kranky 2008
06Tracks. 50mins48secs

In Between Words nurtures the universal within the particular, the history within the humdrum. A growing interest in the scattered and repetitive sounds of daily life has developed on the part of Christopher Bissonnette, and this work reflects it with all the spirituality and ingenuity of a mirror.

First an instrument or found sound establishes a pattern explicitly, and then, in a spectral manner, it reappears in a distant tsunami of dense, multilayered ambience. Afterwards high harmonics and out of reach scratch intone the motif time and again, and the variations multiply one on the other. Continue Reading »

CLOUDLAND CANYON
Silver Tongued Sisyphus
KRANK111
Kranky 2007
02 Tracks. 23mins35secs

At twenty-three minutes, this EP from Cloudland Canyon is a tight, concentrated workout for freeform percussion, guitar and woozy ambient washes that pull at the listener’s nerve endings. All of the segments of which these works consist are ingeniously sequenced together, taking full advantage of each moment of contrast or continuity. The opening piece is defined by layers of telegraphic bleeps slipping and sliding over each other, to the accompaniment of distant, contorted percussive crashes, and heavy, reverberating guitar figures. Continue Reading »

BENOÃŽT PIOULARD
Précis
KRANK098
Kranky 2006
14 Tracks. 36mins52secs

Despite what the name and album title could suggest, Benoît Pioulard is not the latest French talent to make it to these shores. Instead, Thomas Meluch, who hides behind the Gallic-sounding moniker, hails from the South Michigan city of Ann Arbor. For years, he has been assembling precious little vignettes which he has then collected into very limited self-released albums and EPs, yet, Précis, released on Chicago-based imprint Kranky, is Tom’s first record to benefit of a wide release. The album follows Mr. Pioulard’s debut Enge EP, published earlier this year on Moodgadget. Continue Reading »