Birds Of Tin - Motion Mimic (XFZ, 2003)

1 Motion Mimic 16:55
2 The Idea Of Order 13:42
3 Circumvent 9:18
4 Plucked Kinetic 6:47
5 The Beauty Of Creation 7:45
6 Kin Dust 11:49
7 Eaten By Teeth Of Flame 9:03
8 Thaw 0:30

Birds of Tin is the long running experimental/dark-ambient project of Brooke Oates. Over the course of more than 10 years of releases, BoT have collaborated with artists such as Rapoon, Steve Brand (Augur), Ene, and Mechanism. While the sound of BoT has been compared to:zoviet-france:, Rapoon, The Hafler Trio...etc, BoT manages to create a recognizable and original environment out of pure sound. Experimentation with a unique personal touch and perspective... Influences are varied and the overall effect is like listening to a Rothko or Jackson Pollock painting.
Discogs

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Birds of Tin & Mechanism - Scapegrace (self release, 2000)

1-1 Untitled (42:40)
2-1 Untitled (50:07)

Ambient improvisée enregistrée en live sans post production...

Improvised discs. The first (I think) one, begins with a loop of a disc skipping at the end groove, with various low frequency grinds coming in, the texture thickening with whistle, gurgling and electronic rattles throughout this single-work side. I first was impressed by Birds of Tin in their split with Augur, Strange Seeds Come From Odd Flowers, still in print from Manifold (without the limited, deluxe, burlap packaging with two extra cassettes.) The second starts out with a type of electronic snoring slide with metallic percussion, as if Alberich were falling asleep at the forge. Brooke Oates, a/k/a Bird of Tin, wrote to me that "The Scapegrace CD was a collaborative project. Each CD was recorded live in my home studio. Both pieces were completely improvised and there was no post recording editing at all." Recommended to those who like the electronic and sound-texture part of improvisation, such as fans of Erstwhile and Intransitive releases. Oh, and great packaging: two CDrs facing each other with notes on a CD-shaped celluloid film and soft sandpaper between the discs, held together with a nut and both.
La Folia

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Rapoon & Birds Of Tin - Monomyth: Par Avion (Manifold Records, 2004)

Monomyth
1-01 Rapoon & Birds Of Tin Gravida (7:49)
1-02 Rapoon & Birds Of Tin Holla's Fountain (11:12)
1-03 Rapoon & Birds Of Tin A Frequent Returning (5:39)
1-04 Rapoon & Birds Of Tin Lost, Probably (6:52)
1-05 Rapoon & Birds Of Tin Fetch (15:10)
1-06 Rapoon & Birds Of Tin Multiform (4:40)
1-07 Rapoon & Birds Of Tin Cast The First Stone (16:50)

Raw Monomyth
2-01 Rapoon Untitled (7:12)
2-02 Rapoon Untitled (8:12)
2-03 Rapoon Untitled (6:52)
2-04 Rapoon Untitled (8:51)

Solo Tracks For Monomyth
3-01 Birds Of Tin Holla's Fountain (Original) (15:11)
3-02 Birds Of Tin Gravida II (8:57)
3-03 Birds Of Tin Fetch (Original) (5:46)
3-04 Birds Of Tin Cast The First Stone (7:57)
3-05 Birds Of Tin Multiform (Original) (2:39)
3-06 Birds Of Tin Quickening (Remix) (25:54)

Version limitée de la collaboration entre Birds of Tin et Rapoon de l'album Monomyth (qui est toujours en vente et ne sera donc pas posté ici), les deux CDr l'accompagnant rendent compte du travail de chacun des artistes...

Newly released from the Manifold Label to compliment the release of the 'Monomyth' collaboration by Rapoon and Birds of Tin. This is a limited edition set of 199 numbered copies, check for availability. Contains the 'Monomyth' mass-release disc, as well as Rapoon 'Raw Monomyth', a CDR of exclusive material, and the Birds of tin 'Solo Monomyth' CDR, unreleased material, remixes and raw material. Wrapped in a ancient-looking raw parcel work, with vintage Air Mail and Par Avion stickers, as well as stamps, wax and and other postage archetypes. Rough twine encircling the package holds an authentic letter or greeting card from the
40's through the 60's. We spent months gathering the antique parts to create this fascinating package. Not two are even close to being alike. Both of these discs are of the caliber you would expect from any other full-length release by either artist. Not simply raw material, oddities or so-so tracks but captivating, energized works. The Rapoon disc is interesting for it's almost minimal, spacious sound, as it was originally used as the basis for the collaboration and thus contains less ornamentation and density than a mass-release Rapoon record. The Birds Of Tin is remarkable because it manages to reveal a little about the artists method through the remixes and alternate tracks. But another part of the disc is the endless plain of dark, strange
ambient it shows, similar to the earliest Birds Of Tin work. The mass-release 'Monomyth' disc is always availablein the store, regardless of this items state.
Manifold Records

le CD1 est toujours en vente / 1st disc is still on sale
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Birds Of Tin : Ene - .Key Ray. (Mystery Sea, 2001)

1 Key Nell (5:07)
2 Open Doors (6:41)
3 Paper Lock (12:43)
4 Clear Passage Through (11:16)
5 Thin Walls (0:14)
6 Entry (7:24)
7 Endless Empty (10:07)
8 Key Ray (11:24)

Pour sa première réalisation Mystery Sea fait collaborer Birds of tin (Brooke Oates) et Ene (Scott Hudgins).... Long flot de sons évoluant et muant lentement....

For its first release, the new belgian dark ambient label Mystery Sea has chosen to present eight track composed together by two american projects, Birds of Tin and Ene.
"Key Ray" is a nice album of flowing drones, very surprising for people who, like me, were expecting something far more rhythmic, considering what Ene's "Cost vs Consciousness" album sounds like.
No beats here, but long soundscapes of dreamy tones,
slightly distorted background ("Open doors") and looped basses.
With its relentless droning of distant tunes and very bleak arrangements, this album sounds like a muffled storm, with a lot of bass and heavy elements gathering in the background, while the front sounds, lighter, are flowing nicely.
The CD is instrumental, with the exception of a long sampled ranting in "Paper lock" and "Clear passage through", which made me think a lot of the kind of things Godspeed You Black Emperor! like to sample (think of "Slow riot for new zero Kanada").
Sometimes getting a bit more in a noisy direction ("Paper lock", "Entry"), sometimes silence-like (the short "Thin walls"),
"Key Ray" is an unexpectedly experimental album that combines both very nice atmospheres and a thicker, somewhat heavier side on which the emphasis is more put on the effects applied to a very distant wall of noise than on the calm tones that dominate some of the tracks (like the melodic beginning of "Endless empty", before it gets full of saturated sounds).
Heavy in its atmospheric part and light in the noise, this album is a weird mixture that stays calm but never gets really relaxing, making the listener uncomfortable about wether a storm is going to break out of the dense elements layered on the tracks.
Not as twisted as Wilt, and darker and more disturbing than Liquid Morphine, this is a nice CD for Mystery Sea to present itself, and something that use bleak tones and drones in a personal way (which is all the more surprising when you consider that two differents acts are responsible for this sound).
A very ambient sea indeed, but that is deep and whose waters are not so calm.
Recycle Your Ears

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