Cavern of Anti-Matter (CAM) are Stereolab mainman Tim Gane, original Stereolab drummer Joe Dilworth and synth meister Holger Zapf. This is their second album and is a collection of mainly instrumentals, bar two of the twelve tracks which feature guest vocals from Bradford Cox (Deerhunter) and Sonic Boom (Spacemen 3) also as a bit of a bonus we get Jan St. Werner (Mouse On Mars) twiddling some knobs with a bit of sound processing .
Stereolab fans will be on board with this release as there are definite echos throughout of that lab sound, pulsing rhythms and electronic numbers crossed with guitars. Cavern take what in the wrong hands could turn into cold soulless electronic sounds and beats and breathe life and energy into them with twirling melodies and full textures. From the tripped out bliss of ‘Tardis Cymbals’ to the nightmare scape of ‘Hi-Hats Bring the Hiss’ we get taken on a fantastic 72 minute journey, an Electro Krautrock adventure through the minds of CAM. One minor point is that ‘Liquid gate’ doesn’t really seem fit to the feel of the album, a vocal post rock rock number which is a quality piece in its own right but sounds a bit out of place (think money, Dark Side of The Moon) even though there are other tracks that have a more band sound, this one departs a bit too much from the flow.
What will, I’m sure, keep this one on heavy rotation is the great complexity of the music (which has stopped me from picking any individual track out as a favourite) I found myself going back over the album and finding new delights within the layers every time. ‘void Beats / Invocation’ gets better with every listen, and I’m sure will quickly become classic with some, in the meantime,
here’s a taster….
“Cavern Of Anti-Matter are spectrum addicts, setting up tiny rhythmic cells and expanding on them in certain ways, splitting the melody and stretching out. The melodic movement is much slower due to the lack of words. At the moment, the Cavern sound is more what I want to do” Tim Gane.
3LP Tracklist:
A1. tardis cymbals
B1. blowing my nose under close observation
B2. insect fear
B3. melody in high feedback tones
C1. hi-hats bring the hiss
C2. liquid gate (featuring Bradford Cox)
D1. pantechnicon
D2. black glass actions (featuring Jan St. Werner)
E1. planetary folklore (featuring Sonic Boom)
E2. echolalia
F1. void beat
F2. zone null
CD Tracklist: dl
01. tardis cymbals
02. blowing my nose under close observation
03. insect fear
04. melody in high feedback tones
05. hi-hats bring the hiss
06. liquid gate (featuring Bradford Cox)
07. pantechnicon
08. black glass actions (featuring Jan St. Werner)
09. planetary folklore (featuring Sonic Boom)
10. echolalia
11. void beat
12. zone null
Out Now on Duophonic records
3LP / CD / DL
Catch them if you can: Gigs
- 26 Feb 2016 – Generiq @ Cellier de Clairvaux, Dijon, France
- 27 Feb 2016 – Festival La Route Du Rock, St Malo, France
- 29 Feb 2016 – The Moth Club, London, UK
- 01 Mar 2016 – The Paradiso, Amsterdam. Netherlands
- 11 Mar 2016 – Kantine am Berghain, Berlin , Germany
- 3 Jun 2016 – Primavera Sound Festival, Barcelona, Spain
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