This is astonishing music, a liquidy headbox of aural shapes, whose forms hardly change yet seem to encompass infinite viscosity within them, like rainbow pools of oil on water.
wire 12.94
Unapologetically minimalist in its beatlessness and atonal splutter, this LP adheres to the Songs Have Been Done school by being one continuous piece divided into five nameless movements. Bang up the Ikea-fitted street of Michael Nyman and Phillip Glass, only rougher, less cyclical and cramming in more ideas. It's also far too engaging to be ambient. Put it on while ironing and you risk burning your prize garments.
The sharp, crystal melodies suck you in and the whole thing appears to grow and evolve like some continuously spiralling fractal. Flag-wavingly obscure and esoteric it may be, but 'Islets' is easier listening than you'd imagine.
select 1.95
This isn't simply ambient, and it is not ambient dub. Anthony Manning puts together synth sounds with eccentric modifications for an ambient plink sound. Take two tabs, don your snorkel gear and swim with reef fish as they come into and out of focus, and the drugs move you back and forth with the ocean, and as the bubbles sparkle all around you as they head for the surface, you will understand the structure of the sounds. Bassy motions are the swells, and lighter synth sounds are the bubbles. Even the cover can convey the music. If you are a hopelessly religious conservative, stare at the cover while listening to the music at loud volume.
spies.com
Manning is a key figure in early 90's abstract electronic music. I cannot quite get a handle on what he is up to here. Islets is oft-considered his greatest work, but I can't really measure it against anything else from the man. On it's own terms, it's an exquisite esoteric listen. I wonder what would've happened had he made himself into a brand name rather than say, Aphex Twin. The software is not quite there for him in '93 or '94 it seems, but he gets great effect from how he runs his tapes backwards, simultaneously letting lines bubble up and get sucked back down to the river bed..
imbidimts.blogspot.com
What seems like an eon ago, well 1994 to be exact, the classic "Islets in Pink Polypropylene" first shot into the public's gaze. The material still sounds light years away in terms of electronic composition, structure and instrumentation, feeling all the more astounding when you realise that all the material originates from the editing sections of the Roland R8 drum machine.
Anthony Manning's music has more in common with the great electronic composers like Steve Reich and Morton Feldman than many of his contemporaries. 'Islets' creates deeply moving tones that blend into vibrating percussion sections, like witnessing a sythesised Indian tabla player master at work. Purest moments of grace and poise. Along with "Chromium Nebulae" on the shortlist for the Baked Goods desert island list. Timeless and indispensible.
Baked Goods
Before you enter the maze, know where you will be exiting. Take note of any tall objects such as trees, buildings, or roads, which will produce noise. While you walk through, be sure to carefully note where you are. Remember intersections, turns, and checkpoints in the maze so you do not walk down the same path twice. Scored graphically then composed from the depths of a Roland R8 drum machine. Unsurpassed & totally unique..
www.everyoneforever.com
Light years ahead of the game, this CD will be the best thing you hear all millennium - if you know not, you really should. Enough.
skimo.com
Calmer and more evenly paced than elastic variations e.p. which preceeded it, though follows up on some similar melodic pattern work, though with much more space in the compositions.
These Records
A lo-fi abuser of the latest tech, this spaced cadet uses a solitary drum machine to create a unique calm from errant harmony. Deep stuff.
id 1.95
Marks a milestone in electronic music, nothing less. Flowing spheres of music, there gos on and on. This was original made on a Roland R-8 drum machine and I’m not kidding but listening too this beatless music, it makes it very hard to believe.
tine
This cover meant so much to me at the birth of the 'electronica' era. The sleeve is no classic, but caught Mannings' renaissance man ideal - creating everything himself. The imagery is part of the music, sounding way ahead of its time, using mathmatical structures, and huge hand drawn graphic notation. Aesthetically distant from the hard-edged techno design of the time, Anthony being in a isolated world of his own, backed by the intelligence of Irdial Discs.
De:Bug