While I await, eagerly and with sweat-slicked palms, a CD-R of the forthcoming Superpitcher full-length which is being posted to me as we speak by another of my favorite publicists in the entire world, who remains anonymous here only to spare him the deluge of requests that would surely ensue were I to spill the pot of beans (pitcher of beans?) that he's repping this hot little number, I'm consoled by the fact that today I finally tracked down the Ghost Cauldron 12" featuring Superpitcher's "Smallville Remix" of "See What I've Become" (on !K7).
Man, that was a long sentence.
Anyway, it's a curious single. I've been trying to coax a copy out of !K7 for ages but, deaf to my entreaties, they left me high and dry. Thanks for nuthin'! Fortunately, one very long MUNI ride to the Haight and several dozen cashed-in CDs later, the joint is finally mine. I thought I remembered Ghost Cauldron being kind of hip-hoppy nu-soul, but I could be wrong -- honestly, the label's identity has been a bit featureless for a while so it's easy to get confused. The Superpitcher drafting seemed like a strange fit, but it all becomes clear. The Ghost Cauldron originals here, "Are You Conscious" and "Fun Physical (Physical Body Edit)" are big techy analog stormers, the first in a sort of quasi-schaffel mode, a bit like The Emperor Machine with all the danger taken out (though there are some lovely, buoyant arpeggios), and the second more i-F flavored, flush with overdriven keyboards and fat floppy snares (plus, inexplicably, some rolling congas). It could grow on me, or just fall flat. Time will tell.
Anyway, the whole reason for even logging on was the Superpitcher side, so we'll just get to it. Opens with "Ambient Skit," a two- or three-minute ambient passage that, sadly, does not represent the transfer of the hip hop skit to the ambient realm. Shame, really -- imagine what you could do with various sketch tropes (game shows, call in shows, corner drug deals, coitus interruptus, poor weaves, gold-plated SUVs) in a more Enoesque context. Ok, maybe not much. As it is, "Ambient Skit" is lovely and incidental and pretty unnecessary, sort of like the new Pass Into Silence album (except that I remain weirdly fascinated by it, convinced that behind its apparent mediocrity there is a hidden world of greatness -- this theory to be explored further very soon).
As for Superpitcher's "See What I've Become"? Fucking lovely. What else do you want me to say? It's got all his trademarks -- flanged vocals disintegrating into pixel-buzz; shoegazey guitar samples, complete with backmasking, hammered into the most exquisite jewelry in the world; an absolutely huge snare drum that even Billy Squier would approve of pounding right down the center of it all; and of course entire galaxies of starblips harnessed into frothing, foaming chords as dense and distant as the Milky Way. In fact, it has almost all the trademarks of his mix of Contriva's "Stuck," which is probably my favorite Superpitcher production (not to mention my favorite melodic techno track) of all time. His "Stuck" mix is still better, but this is awful nice.
Now hurry up and bring me that CD-R.
Posted by philip at January 30, 2004 06:20 PM