One of the great attributes of electronic music is the lack of a
template an artist must follow to meet a certain criteria. Resultantly, the
artist must determine its own goals and then proceed. Is it to express a
feeling, stimulate an audience? Length? Dynamics? Structure? Lack of structure?
Consideration of any number of these or none at all? Therein lies
the beauty.
But also the dilemma as a reviewer. With no baseline how does one
evaluate? Given I am allotted a good number of these to review, this dialogue is ongoing in my mind. It's all
apples to oranges. So what do I do?
I listen to each tape on its own terms. I try to not make
comparisons, though I do acknowledge influences, should there be any that are
obvious. Take Heroin Holiday for example. This tape, a full length offering
titled "Near Places" immediately strikes me as well-recorded. The
sound is upfront, bright, clear, dynamic. It opens with "Sky" a
dreamy bell-laden work that is both original and engaging. Immediately followed
by "D333 Trax" which meshes well with the first track yet sounds
nothing like it. A redundant pattern of synth beat interspersed with various
bloops, bleeps and other noises. It builds, slowly, which displays a subtle
dynamic that lends itself well to listenability and appreciation. Then it
fades, then it is gone.
Next up we have a blend of noise, voice and keyboard synth when
segues into more noise and less rhythm. This track, "Hammer F" runs
into "Moscas" which is a montage of quiet sound occasionally
interrupted by short intense bursts. This goes on for sometime but is
cautiously non-repetitive and never boring. Mesmerizing stuff this. All
fourteen plus minutes of it.
"Dr" is an abrupt turnaround. It portrays intensity
right out of the gate settling into a clock like beat with thunderous synth
bursts. "Mr. B" is more rhythmic. Steel drums, done electrically, tap
out a bold statement. It's almost upbeat.
Finally we come to the grand statement of this collection.
"Nuvem" is nearly half an hour of a journey through rough terrain. At
16:08 it breaks down momentarily then quickly regains traction.
The second half of this track is much more of the same. My only
criticism is its length. It doesn't seem to have much more to say from this
point on. The album ends with the wispful "Dusty Dreams"-a
psychedelic stroll through backward tracking. A nice way to close up shop.
Heroin Holiday is from Portugal. This release was recorded in
2015/16 and all done live. The tape is available through Bandcamp in a limited
edition of fifty. This copy is #49. The outfit has other releases on Bandcamp
as well. Well worth checking out.
-- Bob Zilli
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