| Tone of Arc — Urgent Turquoise (23 October 2015) |
Tone of Arc — Urgent Turquoise (23 October 2015)
• Album mě dostalo do transu. Pojďme si říct jasně: ‘Urgent Turquoise’, druhá celovečerní deska od SanFra’s Tone of Arc, není určena těm lidem, kteří se s přesností laseru zaměřují na nesčetné, stále se měnící mikrožánry. Multi–instrumentalista Derrick Boyd a zpěvačka Zoe Presnick (životní partnerství) se nepokouší potěšit příznivce bubblegum bass, deep filthstep, skweee, chapstep, ani žádného jiného formátu hyperspecifické hudby.
• Místo toho, cílovou jednotkou pro ‘Urgent Turquoise’ v současné fragmentované zvukové krajině je ten, kdo prostě chce strávit nějaký čas s poutavě uspořádáným, mírně pomateným a koneckonců i melodicky příjemným albem, a nevztekat se příliš na téma stylů. Duo je v podstatě dotlačí k témuž, na co přišli první lidé, když zjistili, že rytmické bouchání kostmi po skalách bylo docela fajn v pravděpodobně nikdy nekončící snaze proměnit život na bohatší zážitek. Nebo, jak Boyd/Presnick osvětluje svým poněkud mystickým způsobem: “Hudba je sluchovým projevem, jakýmsi auditoriem, barvícím našeho ducha a tím, jak se rozmanitě ohýbá a cirkuluje, manipuluje dění kolem vás a skrze vás a vy přispíváte k podpoře růstu tohoto ducha k posílení života. To je konečný cíl a není lepší způsob jak to udělat, než tvořit a hrát.” Zkrátka, je to směs téměř všeho, co lidé vymysleli, na drážkách to svobodně drží pohromadě, pořád je to hypnotičtější a lepší až k vrcholu v podobě basové tónické primy v bezkonkurenční ‘Roxys Young Blood’. Vývoj snad nikdy neskončí.
• Derrick Boyd and vocalist Zoe Presnick serve up an eccentrically pleasurable musical mélange. ‘Music is the auditory manifestation and colors of your soul as it bends, blends and manipulates around you through you and by you to support our spirit’s growth. To enhance life is the ultimate goal and there is no better way to do so than playing and making music.’ — Tone of Arc
Location: San Francisco, California
Album release: 23 October 2015
Record Label: OM US
Duration: 101:27
Tracks:
01. Practicle Particles 5:16
02. Cave Fingers 5:39
03. The Best Place To Fall 8:39
04. Alice In A Can 5:28
05. Intimate Bones 5:23
06. Waiting Room 4:32
07. Baboon Baby 5:05
08. Chromatic Flight 6:48
09. Shutters Are Shaking 6:33
10. Chant No 1 4:36
11. Roxy’s Young Blood 6:06
12. Tear Drops On The Moon 5:59
13. Fog & Haze 7:18
14. Provoco 9:43
15. Galavant 9:53
16. The Rip 4:29
℗ 2015 OM RECORDS
• Tone Of Arc bring a glimpse of real musicality to the underground scene mixing techno, punk, funk, 80’s, and nameless styles much like Zappa into colorful explosions of sound. Their show is something rarely experienced on the dance floor consisting of San Francisco producer/life long musician/vocalist Derrick Boyd on guitar; bass and keys and his wife, vocalist Zoe Presnick Boyd. Their fully mixed slew of original songs consumes the audience with a sense of bravado and daring blurring the line between traditional live performance and the microprocessor–obsessed futurism.
• On ‘Urgent Turquoise’ their first full–length album for Om Records, Tone of Arc take us on a 16 track sonic adventure comprised of 14 originals and two unforgettable covers (the already massive Spandau Ballet ‘Chant No.1’ and unforgettable Portishead ‘The Rip’). Styles upon styles are what we have on display here. From the standout first single ‘The Best Place to Fall’ to the very odd ‘Baboon Baby’, the musicianship and creativity is on full display here. Every listen gives a deeper experience to the album, and new standouts constantly jump out as if to say trick or treat! Perfect for Halloween or cuddling up by the fire or dancing under the full moon, this is an album worth your attention!
Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/omrecords/sets/tone-of-arc-urgent-turquoise
Label: http://www.om-records.com/
Review
Bruce Tantum — October 23, 2015; XLR8R Rating: 7.5/10
• Let's be clear: Urgent Turquoise, the second full–length from San Fran’s Tone of Arc, isn’t geared toward those folks who focus with laser–like precision on music’s myriad, ever–mutating microgenres. The San Fran duo of multi–instrumentalist Derrick Boyd and vocalist Zoe Presnick (partners in life as well as the studio) aren’t attempting to please fans of bubblegum bass, deep filthstep, skweee, chapstep , nor any other hyperspecific music format.
• Instead, the target audience for Urgent Turquoise — and, in today’s fragmented sonic landscape, this runs the risk of sounding quaint — is one that simply wants to spend some time with intriguingly arranged, slightly unhinged, and ultimately pleasurable tunes, with fretting too much about style. The duo is basically aiming toward what those first hominids who discovered that banging bones on rocks in a rhythmic manner was kind of cool were probably shooting for — the never–ending quest to turn life into a richer experience. Or, as Boyd and Presnick put it in their slightly more mystical way: “Music is the auditory manifestation and colors of your soul as it bends, blends and manipulates around you through you and by you to support our spirit’s growth. To enhance life is the ultimate goal and there is no better way to do so than playing and making music.”
• The result is something of a sonic variety pack, with a slightly otherworldly vibe serving as the unifying factor. Lead cut “Practical Particles” opens with some bluesy guitar, with tribal percussion and an emotive, wistful melody sending us off to points unknown; “Chromatic Flight” weds a gentle groove to a playfully plucked melody, upping the funk factor in its second half via growling analog bass and chanted vocals; and the bleepy “Galavant,” with its jagged edges and ominous vocals, is both a little bit menacing and a whole lot goofy. Elsewhere, “Roxy’s Young Blood” blankets its twangy guitar, eerie keys and Presnick’s yearning vocals under swathes of reverb, a martial rhythm and insistent, two–note bassline supplying its propulsive force, while “Baboon Baby,” with its rubbery bottom end, marimbas, spoken–word lover–man interlude and stripped–down arrangement, is an alternate–universe take on ‘60s AM–radio gold. Even the songs that at first seem to own the most to tradition — like “Alice in a Can,” which begins as something of a ‘70s–era prog–rock ballad — takes enough weird twists and turns to keep things interesting.
• Perhaps best of all are a pair of cuts that Boyd and Presnick have borrowed from a couple of bands that, we might assume, are among Tone of Arc’s inspirations: “Chant No.1” hews fairly close to the Spandau Ballet original (which is good, because it’s an sterling groove to start with), and their version of Portishead’s “The Rip,” which serves as Urgent Turquoise’s closer, trades the plaintive Beth Gibbons vocals of the Portishead version for a majestic, sublimely heartfelt duet. It’s a beautiful finish to a fine set of song — and while this album won’t be for everyone, those who listen with an open mind will find much to love. • https://www.xlr8r.com/ 
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| Tone Of Arc — Urgent Turquoise (23 October 2015) |
• Místo toho, cílovou jednotkou pro ‘Urgent Turquoise’ v současné fragmentované zvukové krajině je ten, kdo prostě chce strávit nějaký čas s poutavě uspořádáným, mírně pomateným a koneckonců i melodicky příjemným albem, a nevztekat se příliš na téma stylů. Duo je v podstatě dotlačí k témuž, na co přišli první lidé, když zjistili, že rytmické bouchání kostmi po skalách bylo docela fajn v pravděpodobně nikdy nekončící snaze proměnit život na bohatší zážitek. Nebo, jak Boyd/Presnick osvětluje svým poněkud mystickým způsobem: “Hudba je sluchovým projevem, jakýmsi auditoriem, barvícím našeho ducha a tím, jak se rozmanitě ohýbá a cirkuluje, manipuluje dění kolem vás a skrze vás a vy přispíváte k podpoře růstu tohoto ducha k posílení života. To je konečný cíl a není lepší způsob jak to udělat, než tvořit a hrát.” Zkrátka, je to směs téměř všeho, co lidé vymysleli, na drážkách to svobodně drží pohromadě, pořád je to hypnotičtější a lepší až k vrcholu v podobě basové tónické primy v bezkonkurenční ‘Roxys Young Blood’. Vývoj snad nikdy neskončí.
• Derrick Boyd and vocalist Zoe Presnick serve up an eccentrically pleasurable musical mélange. ‘Music is the auditory manifestation and colors of your soul as it bends, blends and manipulates around you through you and by you to support our spirit’s growth. To enhance life is the ultimate goal and there is no better way to do so than playing and making music.’ — Tone of Arc
Location: San Francisco, California
Album release: 23 October 2015
Record Label: OM US
Duration: 101:27
Tracks:
01. Practicle Particles 5:16
02. Cave Fingers 5:39
03. The Best Place To Fall 8:39
04. Alice In A Can 5:28
05. Intimate Bones 5:23
06. Waiting Room 4:32
07. Baboon Baby 5:05
08. Chromatic Flight 6:48
09. Shutters Are Shaking 6:33
10. Chant No 1 4:36
11. Roxy’s Young Blood 6:06
12. Tear Drops On The Moon 5:59
13. Fog & Haze 7:18
14. Provoco 9:43
15. Galavant 9:53
16. The Rip 4:29
℗ 2015 OM RECORDS
• Tone Of Arc bring a glimpse of real musicality to the underground scene mixing techno, punk, funk, 80’s, and nameless styles much like Zappa into colorful explosions of sound. Their show is something rarely experienced on the dance floor consisting of San Francisco producer/life long musician/vocalist Derrick Boyd on guitar; bass and keys and his wife, vocalist Zoe Presnick Boyd. Their fully mixed slew of original songs consumes the audience with a sense of bravado and daring blurring the line between traditional live performance and the microprocessor–obsessed futurism.
• On ‘Urgent Turquoise’ their first full–length album for Om Records, Tone of Arc take us on a 16 track sonic adventure comprised of 14 originals and two unforgettable covers (the already massive Spandau Ballet ‘Chant No.1’ and unforgettable Portishead ‘The Rip’). Styles upon styles are what we have on display here. From the standout first single ‘The Best Place to Fall’ to the very odd ‘Baboon Baby’, the musicianship and creativity is on full display here. Every listen gives a deeper experience to the album, and new standouts constantly jump out as if to say trick or treat! Perfect for Halloween or cuddling up by the fire or dancing under the full moon, this is an album worth your attention!
Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/omrecords/sets/tone-of-arc-urgent-turquoise
Label: http://www.om-records.com/
Review
Bruce Tantum — October 23, 2015; XLR8R Rating: 7.5/10
• Let's be clear: Urgent Turquoise, the second full–length from San Fran’s Tone of Arc, isn’t geared toward those folks who focus with laser–like precision on music’s myriad, ever–mutating microgenres. The San Fran duo of multi–instrumentalist Derrick Boyd and vocalist Zoe Presnick (partners in life as well as the studio) aren’t attempting to please fans of bubblegum bass, deep filthstep, skweee, chapstep , nor any other hyperspecific music format.
• Instead, the target audience for Urgent Turquoise — and, in today’s fragmented sonic landscape, this runs the risk of sounding quaint — is one that simply wants to spend some time with intriguingly arranged, slightly unhinged, and ultimately pleasurable tunes, with fretting too much about style. The duo is basically aiming toward what those first hominids who discovered that banging bones on rocks in a rhythmic manner was kind of cool were probably shooting for — the never–ending quest to turn life into a richer experience. Or, as Boyd and Presnick put it in their slightly more mystical way: “Music is the auditory manifestation and colors of your soul as it bends, blends and manipulates around you through you and by you to support our spirit’s growth. To enhance life is the ultimate goal and there is no better way to do so than playing and making music.”
• The result is something of a sonic variety pack, with a slightly otherworldly vibe serving as the unifying factor. Lead cut “Practical Particles” opens with some bluesy guitar, with tribal percussion and an emotive, wistful melody sending us off to points unknown; “Chromatic Flight” weds a gentle groove to a playfully plucked melody, upping the funk factor in its second half via growling analog bass and chanted vocals; and the bleepy “Galavant,” with its jagged edges and ominous vocals, is both a little bit menacing and a whole lot goofy. Elsewhere, “Roxy’s Young Blood” blankets its twangy guitar, eerie keys and Presnick’s yearning vocals under swathes of reverb, a martial rhythm and insistent, two–note bassline supplying its propulsive force, while “Baboon Baby,” with its rubbery bottom end, marimbas, spoken–word lover–man interlude and stripped–down arrangement, is an alternate–universe take on ‘60s AM–radio gold. Even the songs that at first seem to own the most to tradition — like “Alice in a Can,” which begins as something of a ‘70s–era prog–rock ballad — takes enough weird twists and turns to keep things interesting.
• Perhaps best of all are a pair of cuts that Boyd and Presnick have borrowed from a couple of bands that, we might assume, are among Tone of Arc’s inspirations: “Chant No.1” hews fairly close to the Spandau Ballet original (which is good, because it’s an sterling groove to start with), and their version of Portishead’s “The Rip,” which serves as Urgent Turquoise’s closer, trades the plaintive Beth Gibbons vocals of the Portishead version for a majestic, sublimely heartfelt duet. It’s a beautiful finish to a fine set of song — and while this album won’t be for everyone, those who listen with an open mind will find much to love. • https://www.xlr8r.com/
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