The Blue Room (Edward Ka-Spel)

Alan Ezust

One of the reasons I keep buying everything the dots release is in hopes
that I will come across more music that does "it" for me. A lot of the stuff
that came out in the 90s is pleasant but not moving in the same way. This is
my own personal experience.

But I put on the Blue Room last week and it's like a cloud has lifted. The
brilliance I felt from the dots of the 80s shines through brightly on this
recording.

So let's go through some of the songs which really left an impression.

Scarlett Cross: A song about vampires. And they say the LPDs are not goth!
hawhaw... Very pretty. I like it. Reminds me of the Golden Age...

Supper at J's: This is the song that blew me away though. It starts off with
this drony harpsichord and some deep dark and high pretty synth sounds.
Kinda reminds me a little of the song cloud-zero. And one by one, these
other weird noise and sound effects get looped on top of it, and they're all
so pretty and distracting and yet they still fit! Reminiscient of Hotel
Blanc or Coma. Then it turns into a very noisy atmospheric piece which goes
on for another 5 minutes. I wish it would have gone back to the original
theme in the end, to give a sense of closure, but oh well.

Roman Candle: When you listen to this LOUDLY and the "lay me down" chorus
kicks in, it fills the room! wow.

Design Jault: A little too repetitive for me… But then in the last 15
seconds it suddenly breaks the pattern and starts to sound interesting. But
usually I skip over this track.

Hotel Y: jaysus. What an intense song. It's another one of those "epic"
songs with noisy parts in the middle that I love so much! I wish the lyrics
were printed on this thing. I will try to transcribe it sometime.

Cause and FX: This is another one of my favorites on this album. Kinda poppy
with some very intense sounds thrown in every now and then. The "boom boom
boom" part of the song at 1:25 reminds me a bit of Eunsturzende Neubauten's
Hirnlego . The "say 'sir now, that will do just nicely" made me think of an
old Momus song, "How do you like my sister, mister?" and the count-down from
nine brought me flashbacks of My Thorny Thorny Crown. But most of the song
was just totally bizarre and original and wonderful. Very schizophrenic.

Mosquito Munch Fandango: What a great song, and what a great name! So
wonderfully nutty. I guess one of my problems with most noise is that it
seems to have no direction, or flow. But this song definitely does. There's
a driving beat, recurring themes, etc. I'd love to play it on the radio just
so I can say "mosquito munch fandango" on the air.

Shall we share water, brother? Vangelis meets Coil. Sounded great in the
beginning but it just never went anywhere. By the time the song was over I
said *phew*.

Blue Room: An unexpected treat! Reminded me of circa-1987 Die Form...

Overall, quite worthwhile, and a pleasant surprise. Highly recommended.

mark weddle < markw@southwind.net >

Overall impression: very good. Wow ... what a year for Dots and related
releases! As if the wonderous new Legendary Pink Dots album, "Nemesis
Online" and vol 2 of Ka-Spel's "Down in the City of Heartbreak and Needles"
weren't enough, there's also 3 new solo releases (see also Twilight Circus
Dub Sound System "Horsie", technically out in '99, and The Silverman
"Silvermandellas"). "The Blue Room" is simply the most accomplished album to
date by the Pink Dot's frontman. Edward creates fairly minimal but
impressive electronic (keyboards/samples/programmed percussion)
backgrounds/atmospheres for his excellent poetic lyrics and unique vocal
delivery, similar to many of the electronic based songs on the LPD's
"Chemical Playschool 10" album. Musically these songs are varied, some are
quiet and subdued, some are rather abrasive and clanky (several songs have
sections of both spliced together). Two songs ("Cause and FX" and "Shall
We..") are entirely instrumental, both are nice examples of Edward's ability
to assemble pulsating electronic sounds. "The Blue Room" won't reside in my
cd players as much as "Nemesis Online", but it's certainly a worthwhile
companion. The artwork/insert by Rachel K. is beautiful and can only truly
be appreciated via the double lp version of this album (which also features
a vinyl exclusive 3 part instrumental suite). Sing while you may ...

Freq E-zine

The arrhythmic drum machine and mocking New Ageisms of "A Roman Candle"
combines scathing, sardonic half-believed cynicism with a yearning for
human warmth ; "Design Fault" manages the astounding trick of pulling a
melody from what sounds like "D'y Ken John Peel?" and, through judicous use
of echo, plus one of the more stumbling, minimal drum machine patterns and
sample loops of recent years, with the poetic, sub-religiose revolutionary
nihilism of the lyrics, makes for the best Ka-Spel track since the awesome
Tanith and The Lion Tree album. "Hotel Y" has a shuffling, brushed
percussion loop and watery, self-despairing lyrics about the end of a
relationship which seem to form a good proportion of Ka-Spel's solo songs,
before another extended instrumental suite which moves from upbeat stabs of
brassy samples into washes of blanched atmoshpherics and recycled, glitched
sample loops which converge into discordant babel. What refreshes, as ever,
is the variety pulled from the keyboards and samplers, the
compositional deployment of a distended rattle here, a pulsing loop there
and the cunningly peculiar use of vocal and instrumental effects which
transform EK's voice from the hushed tones of an existential coward into
the demonic giggle of a maniac with the space of a single song

Sparking emotion and inventive discordia alike, The Blue Room establishes
its own self-contained universe, bearing a passing resemblance to the
mundane reality, populated by melancholic lovers and vampire suitors,
earnest declarations of re-incarnated eternal love to a soundtrack of
mellow Jazz and jet engines at take-off; and the guest vocals of Lisa, who
provides the stirring title track with both a different voice, and a
reference back through Ka-Spel's past albums and their guests. There's even
"Shall We Share Water Brother?" - which is part Vangelis, and perhaps part
Heinlein's Stranger In A Strange Land if the post-Messianic mood connects
to the reference in the song title. Strangely familiar as Ka-Spel's
alternate world maybe, it's probably best not to live there too long for
the sake of sanity- though, compared to the dissapointments of this one,
it's an intriguing place to visit.

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