MICK HARRIS & MARK SPYBEY

BAD ROADS, YOUNG DRIVERS

  1/  Good Way to Start a Bad Day                (Harris,Spybey)               6.59
  2/  Institute Good Motoring on Bad and I Mean  (Harris,Spybey)               2.59
                     Bad Roads
  3/  Bad Way to Start a Good Day                (Harris,Spybey)               6.42
  4/  Mister Bod                                 (Harris,Spybey)               4.20
  5/  Muffel                                     (Harris,Spybey)               6.18
  6/  Dschungel B-216                            (Harris,Spybey)               7.12
  7/  Aeper                                      (Harris,Spybey)               3.22
  8/  Der Regen                                  (Harris,Spybey)               6.38
  9/  Bad Honey                                  (Harris,Spybey)               7.07
  10/ Misery Gote                                (Harris,Spybey)               7.09
  11/ Waaal                                      (Harris,Spybey)               5.20

          Recorded at The Box, Birmingham, UK and Klaverland, The Netherlands
          Produced by Mick Harris and Mark Spybey
          Mastered by Frankie Pett
Mick Harris and Mark Spybey: sounds; Niels Van Hoorn: saxes.

          2000 - Hush Hush (Canada), HSH04 (CD)

REVIEWS :

This is volume 2 of the 3 part Hushush "Threesome" series of collaborations between Ambre, Mark Spybey (Dead Voices On Air, Propeller) and Mick Harris (Scorn, Quoit).  Harris sent material to Spybey, who was residing in The Netherlands at the time, to add to and finish along with the help of friend Niels Van Hoorn(blower) of The Legendary Pink Dots.  It's difficult to tell where exactly Harris ends and Spybey begins (or vice versa) here as both share a predilection for a variety of beats, sounds and atmospheres.  "Bad Roads.." is literally littered with all the above.  Beat and bass rhythms are prevalent throughout most of the 64+ minutes in a range of tempos and styles, from infectiously off-kilter funkiness to deep minimal hip hop to firecracker drum 'n bass.  "Good Way to Start a Bad Day" (which takes several attempts to get the motor up and running) and "Dschungel B-216" are top notch while others are good but not quite as interesting.  Along the way are a handful of essentially beat-less sound composition speed bumps that combine electronics with other sounds such as a sax blare resembling a car horn and the ringing of a telephone.  "Aeper" is a brief, distorted orgasmic scream while "Waaal" gently caresses with a steady sonic ambiance and inaudibly altered vocals.  Van Hoorn's sax adds a blare, drone or riff to several tracks, moreso here than on the latest Dead Voices album.  "Muffel" and "Misery Gote" in particular sound as if all three men are in the same room jamming.  All in all "Bad Roads.." is a fine album that finds and takes advantage of the collaborative sweet spot amongst the talents of those involved.  Look for Mick Harris & Ambre next, probably early next year ...

Mark Weedle

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Fasten your seatbelts... Installment number two of Hushush's Threesome series* features a collision between the considerable noise-making talents of mark spybey (of Dead Voices On Air , etc.) and those of Mick Harris (of Lull, Scorn, et. al).

The 11 drum-driven tracks of bad roads, young drivers make for a grungy electronic joyride over bumpy, twisting pavement with detours through various odd and dangerous sonic regions.

I told Hushush head Dimitri della Faille (a.k.a. sonic experimentalist szkieve) that, with Mick Harris involved I fully expected the disc to be more rhythm-oriented. He replied "Actually the person who is respnsible for most beats on this release is Spybey! Surprisingly enough!!" Regardless of who's making what sounds, there's alot to hear on this darkly energetic roadtrip (including roadside assistance from special guest Niels Van Hoorn, saxophonist of the Legendary Pik Dots.

A couple of false starts lead to a warm-up, then we hit the road with good way to start a bad day; brazenly swaggering beats pound in intricate, evershifting patterns through several layers of swirling murk, wavering radiation, bass murmers and insectoid chittering. We reach a sputtering, crashing, buzzing gridlock in the next track though... institute good motoring on bad and I mean bad roads (2:59) breiefly stalls amidst incessant honking blares and phone-y rings as slight rhythms are buried way below. A steadily churning beatstream fades in, out and under a muffled engine-drone in bad way to start a good day.

Mister bod's beatless panorama of softly industrialized textures expands like evening mists over a distant skyline. Static-encrusted waves surge then recede to allow the spattering drumbeats of muffel to boldly strut their stuff; jazzy horn blares lend a retro-cop-show flair (I picture Sgt. Joe Friday tripping down some neourban avenue littered with discarded dreams). Muffled chants are overrun by slowly plodding percussion which soon picks up strength as dschungel B-216 (7:12) wanders the foggy byways of some blighted perimeter.

Rhythmic energies pulse through der regen's actively mutating undercoating of bass fluctuations and echoey shimmers. The deep buzzing tones and shapeless sax explorations of misery gote are lashed with the spastically flailed e-drums and crashing metals. Beat-free waal closes on an obtuse flow of humming magma from which unintelligible robotic voice patterns emerge.

* The series makes three pairings among spybey, harris and ambre (a.k.a. Belgian John N. Sellekaers). The first collaboration was the less-rhythm-intensive sfumato between Spybey and Ambre.

When mark spybey and mick harris take the wheel, you can expect a certain amount of recklessness-induced turbulence, but motion-sickness aside, they expertly freewheel it down some mighty interesting (though only occasionally truly "ambient") soundscapes. Lightweight listeners might file bad roads, young drivers under "uneasy listening", but the sonic collision results in an appreciative 8.6 from these happily battered ears. Cool stuff!

David Opdyke (courtesy of Ambient Entrance website)