Ben Frost - By The Throat

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Press release
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5...according to our Phil on Fri 23 Oct, 2009.

This new Ben Frost album is well tasty. It took me a while to get into the last one but when I did it blew me away. 'By the Throat' is quite similar in the way it doesn't immediately hit you. I've heard it a few times now and it's really quite fantastic. Dark droney, doomy fuzzy atmospherics which suck you in to Mr Frosty's dark world of doomy fuzzyness. The press release says if you've got records by Sunn O))), Fennesz, Tim Hecker, Thomas Koner and Murcof then you'll like this and I think that's totally spot on. It practically does all my work for me it's that spot on. It's very eerie sounding powerful music which has a haunting disturbed quality that's totally wrapped in beauty. Quite a hard thing to accomplish I think and Mr Ben has done it splendidly here. Spend plenty of time with this one as the more you spend on it the more you'll get out of it. Lovely stuff.

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BEDROOM COMMUNITY - Iceland’s most esteemed label. And what a stunning album to kick off with, one of the most mindblowing records released this year!...if you are looking for an ambient/electronic companion album to the magnificent Sunn O))) ‘Monoliths and Dimensions’ record then look no further.

* Ben Frost represents one of today’s new breed of musicians who conjures an aural broth that inhabits an amorphous cross-section of genres. It’s impossible to truly classify where he is coming from musically but it would be safe to say his fans would also have records from Sunn O))), Fennesz, Tim Hecker, Thomas Koner and Murcof lurking in their collection.

* To call him an experimental electronic musician brings no justice whatsoever. His recent performance at Sonar was heralded by Resident Advisor as being "awe inspiring...the most visceral show of the festival".

* Ben Frost took the spotlight and smashed it to pieces in 2007 with his breathtaking and critically acclaimed LP ‘Theory of Machines’. Wire Magazine said "it is simply awesome--- this is Arvo Part as arranged by Trent Reznor", Mary Anne Hobbs included him on her acclaimed "Evangeline" mix CD. Boomkat named Frost "one of the most interesting and groundbreaking producers in the world today" and even went so far as to call ‘Theory of Machines’ "the future of electronic music".

* Three years later, Frost has returned with his second full-length for Bedroom Community, BY THE THROAT. Where ‘Theory of Machines’ came sterilized in fluorescent light, BY THE THROAT is blood red and cloaked in shadow. Produced in Iceland by Ben Frost and Valgeir Sigursson (Bjork, Coco Rosie, Bonnie ’Prince’ Billy), BY THE THROAT features performances by Amiina of Sigur Ros fame, The Arcade Fire’s Jeremy Gara, Swedish metal outfit Crowpath and composer Nico Muhly.

* Aside from the purely musical language of harmony and melody, like Amiina’s strings on "Leo needs a new pair of shoes", there’s the level of musique concrete; the weaving of non musical sounds into the musical fabric. We hear the snarling of wolves and the groaning of lions in ‘Killshot’, the microscopic clicking and whirring of hunting killer whales in "Through the roof of your mouth" and the unmistakable sound of a human gasping for breath in HÃ–bakÃºsja. Then there’s the sheer physical experience, the literally visceral effect of Frost’s seismic rhythms and high- pitched shrieks on your body. These extra-harmonic elements are not just effects to punctuate the musical narrative in BY THE THROAT, but are integral, unifying motifs.

* BEN FROST will be touring extensively through 2009/2010

* Tracklisting:
1. Killshot 2. The Carpathians 3. O God Protect Me 4. Hibakusja 5. Untitled Transient 6. Peter Venkman Pt I 7. Peter Venkman Pt II 8. Leo Needs A New Pair Of Shoes 9. Through The Glass Of The Roof 10. Through The Roof Of Your Mouth 11. Through The Mouth Of Your Eye

5...according to Andrew.

As good as Fever Ray was, I'd still pick this as my album of 2009.I've been listening to it for weeks, though 'experiencing it' may be amore accurate description as it's a far from passive creature. It'sthat weird thing of having almost limitless potential from playing thesame recorded sounds repeatedly - it just keeps giving things updepending on your mood, location or whatever. Some of the noises onthis album are almost impossible to classify as animal, human ormechanical, like some hybrid species is in your ears. The mangled breath on 'Hibakusja' is one of the most disturbing things I've heard in a very long time yet with an underlying beauty. Quite, quiteextraordinary how much exists on that little shiny plastic disc. Genetic alchemy, anybody?Oh,and it has wolves too - lots of them. Always a win bonus.

Rating: 5 out of 5

So, what do you think? Best reviewer each month gets £10 off their next order!