[releases] afe083lcd
ur: triadic memories

Track List:

1.  Movement #1  11:27

2.  Movement #2  7:26

3.  Movement #3  20:52

Description:

Ur were born in early 2005 as a collaboration between Federico Esposito and Mauro Sciaccaluga, both active in the italian hardcore circuit. They were later joined by Andrea Ferraris, past and present member of Burning Defeat, Permanent Scar, Onefineday, Deep End and One By One.

Ur made their live debut at the Afe-Party in November 2005, and since then their live-sets have become more and more frequent. Recently they also opened for Eugene Chadbourne and Wolf Eyes during their italian tours.

Their music is mostly based on free improvisation and its sonorities can't easily be described without referring to the seminal work of the well-known and wildest Industrialists of the late '70s / early '80s.

"Triadic Memories" is their first "official" disc and comes after the self-released "Baptism & Birthday". There is a strong dramatic feeling in their powerful sound, where everything seems to reproduce a sort of wedding between the modernity of the media and the primordial instincts of the performers.

"Movement #1" is taken straight from "Baptism & Birthday", and is usually played as the opening number of their live-sets. The track begins with an high-pitched theremin sound laid on a bed of reverbered and tortured bass guitar. More percussions and distortions appear along with a looping voice as the music turns into industrial madness.

"Movement #2" is a more laid down piece of music built on a continuous drone enriched with scraped metals / objects and a female voice building tension over tension. Surprisingly enough, an accordion enters the mix accompanied by more looped voices and fades out as the track ends with cymbals hits.

An early version of "Movement #3" already appeared as an untitled contribution to "Breaking Down the Barriers 1995-2005, Ten Years of Afe", an on-line compilation issued by Afe in late 2005 to celebrate its tenth birthday.

With this final track we return to the industrial atmospheres of "Movement #1": feedback and bass distortions overwhelm a glockenspiel as an hooter alarm becomes more disquieting loop after loop. All sort of uncomfortable noises are used, and "Movement #3" ends with the lonely sound of a breathing voice.

Far away from Power Electronics and Harsh Noise, "Triadic Memories" is more a sort of psychedelic and liberatory journey reminding the best old-school Industrial music experiments.

"Un CD-R sicuramente piuttosto "crudo", di grande immediatezza ma anche di grande efficacia, che pur rinunciando evidentemente alla ricerca di soluzioni e forme sonore particolarmente sofisticate, "raffinate" e/o sperimentali, risulta ugualmente di grande fascino e di sicura presa."
Oltre il Suono [more]

"Riferimenti chiari all'industrial delle origini emergono da "Triadic Memories" degli Ur..."
Blow Up [more]

"Triadic Memories", uscito recentemente su Afe, è una piacevole sorpresa di industrial vecchia maniera dal sapore però fresco e moderno, improvvisazioni drammatiche e dal sapore ritualistico, che ricordano in parte Last Dominion Lost e SPK da una parte e dall'altra i Throbbing Gristle, dietro però uno strato di noise più accentuato e un retrogusto CMI."
Electroworld [more]

"Autentici viaggi ambientali che, in rigor dogmatico, destrutturano completamente il concetto di canzone, accostandolo semmai, con minimo sforzo immaginativo, a certe introspezioni di Einsturzende Neubauten del periodo "Halber Mensch" / "Armenia" oppure alle collaborazioni di David Sylvian e Holger Czukay come "Flux + Mutability"
Sodapop [more]

"Filo conduttore sono l'industrial e certo isolazionismo sonoro, in particolar modo nelle due tracce che aprono e chiudono il disco, "Movement #1" e "Movement #3": entrambe si rivelano come suite che di fatto sono attraversate da ipnotici drones creati di volta in volta da un massiccio utilizzo di loop vocali e dal theremin nonché caratterizzate da crescendi di intensa psidechelia rumorista... Un gruppo dalle altissime potenzialità."
Sound and Silence [more]

"Le tre tracce presenti nel lavoro compongono un quadro sonoro che dipinge macerie musicali e inquietudini assortite, un'incessante lotta tra la caduta e il riassestamento puntellata da loop di fisarmonica, theremin, feedback, ritorni ossessivi, microritmiche e una probabile ghost track in bilico perenne tra ambient e rumore bianco. Un esordio che sulla distanza potrebbe promettere già buonissime cose."
Rocklab [more]

"...il clima che avvolge le composizioni è costantemente caratterizzato da un sentore di freddo tagliente, figlio sia del noise (in frequenza variabile), che dei loop e feedback sinistri che si vengono a creare..."
Dagheisha [more]

"Ur use their tool well, and know how to dose aggressive bursts and more expanded fragments; their sound could appeal to a wide range of industrial-ambient lovers (especially those into IRM, Non and Throbbing Gristle's soundtracks)."
Chain D.L.K. (1) [more]

"Overall, this is an enjoyable disc. I would recommend it to people that like noisier dark ambient like Inade or Terra Sancta... "Movement #1" is an interesting track, densely layered with looped spoken word samples, what sounds like an abused guitar, and a hell of a lot of feedback. Various elements come to the forefront, only to become submerged in the maelstrom once more. It slowly disintegrates at the end... "
Chain D.L.K. (2) [more]