HR045 — Dave Prescott -- Red Shift Part 2 — C46 — 1987
REVIEW by Jerry Kranitz
Red Shift Part 2 was part of a series of… I believe five… that Boston area electronic musician Dave Prescott released on various labels.
The set opens like an alien orchestra warming up, with string plucking sounds, distant violins, but also electronic insects, light drones, and vague static and humming pulsations that add a rhythmic feel. There are multiple elements, but it feels so cosmically quiet and calm, though there really is a lot happening.
The pace gradually picks up as an array of kinetic electro rhythmic bits and pieces dance about, assisted by sci fi sound effect tones, pulsations and more. But there’s also voices, which may be one person talking or a conversation between two people. I can’t tell or make out what they’re saying, but it’s secondary to what develops into both Dance Of The Martians revue and World Of Tomorrow effects exploration.
Side B starts off with synths that sound like Sun Ra at his most freeform experimental. The free-jazz space electronics are tempered by a slowly ominous percussion pulse, light radio static and soundscapes, and more voices chattering away in the background.
After a while Prescott changes course from the avant space jazz vibe to a Kraftwerk Computer World meets Berlin school syncopated groove. Very cool and would be right at home at the Neue Deutsch Welle space station dance club. But we soon shift course again and are launched into video game Star Wars battle in space chaos mode, where Prescott unleashes his full arsenal of effects, and it feels like the Ra vibe again, morphed and mixed with robot chatter, and electro swarms.
This whole tape is a poster child for how creatively remarkable homemade electronic musicians could be. Prescott does a great job of keeping the thematic flow continually moving and shifting throughout.
Red Shift Part 2 was part of a series of… I believe five… that Boston area electronic musician Dave Prescott released on various labels.
The set opens like an alien orchestra warming up, with string plucking sounds, distant violins, but also electronic insects, light drones, and vague static and humming pulsations that add a rhythmic feel. There are multiple elements, but it feels so cosmically quiet and calm, though there really is a lot happening.
The pace gradually picks up as an array of kinetic electro rhythmic bits and pieces dance about, assisted by sci fi sound effect tones, pulsations and more. But there’s also voices, which may be one person talking or a conversation between two people. I can’t tell or make out what they’re saying, but it’s secondary to what develops into both Dance Of The Martians revue and World Of Tomorrow effects exploration.
Side B starts off with synths that sound like Sun Ra at his most freeform experimental. The free-jazz space electronics are tempered by a slowly ominous percussion pulse, light radio static and soundscapes, and more voices chattering away in the background.
After a while Prescott changes course from the avant space jazz vibe to a Kraftwerk Computer World meets Berlin school syncopated groove. Very cool and would be right at home at the Neue Deutsch Welle space station dance club. But we soon shift course again and are launched into video game Star Wars battle in space chaos mode, where Prescott unleashes his full arsenal of effects, and it feels like the Ra vibe again, morphed and mixed with robot chatter, and electro swarms.
This whole tape is a poster child for how creatively remarkable homemade electronic musicians could be. Prescott does a great job of keeping the thematic flow continually moving and shifting throughout.