REVIEWS

"Psychedelic Talismans" LP

4/2021
Musik an Sich
https://www.musikansich.de/ausgaben/0421/reviews/pas_musique.html​www.musikansich.de/ausgaben/0421/reviews/pas_musique.html

Pas Musique is an electronics project made up of Jon Worthley, Michael Durek and Robert Pepper. Since 2008 the trio has been releasing one album after the next under this name, although not all three members are always involved. And so the new work Psychedelic Talismans is actually a solo album by Robert Pepper, which, however, has received the project's logo. It was taken in "corona-compliant" quarantine. The musician has dealt with the topic of Göbekli Tepe, a prehistoric site in Anatolia. To what extent this can be brought together with purely instrumental (except for a few voice samples) music and then this title, the artist has to answer himself. Certainly you can recognize some oriental sounds and moods in the dense ambient electronic sound, but more as a splash of color. The six pieces certainly correspond more to the actual title: the sound image has a very psychedelic effect and with its beats and mystical sounds, which in addition to the computer and keyboards, probably also come from an electric guitar. In addition to driving tribal sounds, there is dark, mystical psychedelic, as well as catchy keyboard sounds as well as wobbly electronics. And yet the whole thing is put together into a very compact 32 minutes. So this album delivers a predominantly dark electronic work between psychedelics and krautrock with a pinch of oriental influences and also some synthesizer beats, which pleasantly reminds of early eighties electronic music from the avangarde scene.

03/2021
​Baby Sue 
https://www.lmnop.com/2021-April-LMNOP-dONW7.html#anchor71398

Pas Musique - Psychedelic Talismans (Colored vinyl LP, Alrealon, Progressive/experimental)
Cool vinyl release from experimental music artist Robert Pepper who releases stuff under the name Pas Musique. Pepper's modern progressive music is a favorite among folks who favor this genre of music. And for good reason. Over time he has amassed an impressive catalog of music that is unique and well-crafted. This time around Robert opted to release a vinyl LP, and it's a beauty. The color of the vinyl is strange. I can't decide whether it's rose colored...or the color of blood? But the music is what counts, of course. And with the appropriately-titled Psychedelic Talismans listeners are treated to six lengthy instrumentals that would should appeal to just about anyone who ever loved artists and bands like Tangerine Dream, The Orb, Steve Hillage and Clearlight Symphony. These tracks seem to channel the overall feel of experimental progressive music from the 1970s without ever sounding derivative. Instead, Pepper constantly reinvents sounds and ideas from the genre to make his compositions completely his own. These six tracks offer a great deal in terms of heightened consciousness. But they could also very well serve as modern mood music for those wanting to elevate their environment a few notches. Six compelling cuts including "Splash of Red Touch," "Collected Fictions Brightly," "ABC of the Telephone" and "La Bas." Strangely focused modern electronic experimentation infused with cool melodies and sounds. I always love this guy's stuff. The LP includes a code for a free download. Heady beautiful music with a consciousness. Top pick.

02/18/2021
https://auralaggravation.com/2021/02/18/pas-musique-psychedelic-talismans/​
By Christopher Nosnibor

In the past I’ve struggled a bit with Pas Musique. It’s not that I don’t think it’s music, despite the project’s moniker – far from it. It’s simply a matter of taste: their music has often felt a bit easy, a bit contrived, in its gloopy synthiness, to my ears. It’s easy to judge, of course, but then that is the function of the music critic. We trade in opinions, and if everything was entirely objective there would be none. And there would be no art. Because art exists to tap into the emotions, into the psyche, to stir a response – and a negative response is a greater feat than eliciting a sense of complete indifference. Art serves to reflect and articulate life experience and those innermost thoughts. If art doesn’t connect in some way to the human condition, then it is worthless. So what does Psychedelic Talismans have to say? How does it connect?

I’m not sure. But then, in casting that seed of uncertainty, it succeeds in provoking some kind of engagement. So far, so good, I suppose.

According to the liner notes, rather than being a collective effort, Psychedelic Talismans is actually a solo effort from project founder Robert L. Pepper, which was recorded during Covid-19 lockdown in Brooklyn, New York, and the music and drawings draw their inspiration from the Turkish archaeological site, Göbekli Tepe, which is said to be as old as 10,000 B.C. As such, there are deep currents running beneath the fabric of the album’s six compositions.

Opening the set, ‘Splash of Red Touch’ is gloopy, but also led by sparse, brittle, alien synth sound that sounds like it’s echoing down a long pipe, and as the layers build, there’s a low, almost subliminal thud of a beat and a guitar that sounds like twisted metal scraps. Then there’s twittering birdsong and disconnected voices and there’s a lot going on, and not all of the elements seem entirely complimentary or pinned to the tame time signature, creating a swimming, dizzying sensation, and it plunges onwards with ‘Collected Fictions Brightly’, by which time the style is becoming clearly set: insistent, urgent beats, thumping, monotonous, primitive in the Suicide sense, overlayed with wispy, experimentally-orientated Krautrock synth wibbles and drones.

The vibe is very much vintage here, and often the instrumental pieces, which by and large hover around the five-minute mark, are quite meandering, and despite the low-end density that dredges the depths at points, despite the tense guitar notes that emerge twisted and strangled on ‘In Likeness of Me’, and the impatient palpating beats, and an emerging sense of unease that surfaces in places, for the most part there’s a certain mellowness that permeates the album. Great sonic expenses unfurl in long-echoing reverberations, crackling snippets of sampled dialogue, and long, slow-turning drones.

‘Las Bas’ brings the curtain down in a haze of drones and drifts and with a dash of Eastern mysticism, trilling pipe notes which bounce off one another and turn and fade, and if the piece, and he album as a whole, seems to lack direction, then its points of interest all lie in the diversions, the distractions, the divergences. And when so little else is happening, those detours are most welcome. And finally, I feel I click with Pas Musique.

03/17/2021
The Answer is in the Beat
https://theanswerisinthebeat.net/2021/03/17/pas-musique-psychedelic-talismans-alrealon-musique-2021/

Pas Musique: Psychedelic Talismans (Alrealon Musique, 2021)

Recorded solo under lockdown by project founder Robert L. Pepper, Pas Musique’s latest effort lives up to its name, with buzzing guitars and mesmerizing synth sequences coalescing into magical, uplifting pieces. Burning spirit jams filled with luminous textures, subconscious voices, and very tactile-sounding synth bass. There’s a good balance between hazy/ethereal and very plugged-in sounds, so that there’s fleeting grooves to latch onto and other gaseous sounds that seep into your brain when you’re not paying attention to them. The beat switches during “Splash of Red Touch-All” bump things up to a higher level. “In Likeness of Me” also diverts to a more playful rhythm halfway through before lapsing back into its previous acid swirl. “The Hour” has much more sporadic beats, jostling your awareness and ending with a warning that “the hour is approaching”. At the end of the violin-laced “La Bas”, the same voice surfaces again, stating that “I learned to accept the inevitable”. Even when heading towards destiny, there is still hope, and reasons to be thankful and celebrate.


03/08/2021
El Santo del Rock
https://elsantodelrock.com/2021/03/08/pas-musique-psychedelic-talismans/​

Pas Musique is a musical entity that we met during the promotional work of their 2019 album, The Phoenix, thus having the opportunity to present their work with the singles Ancient Culture in a Warp Drive, Electronic Brain, and A Finnish Bedtime Story, more in this 2021 the creative personality clings to life and, as a result of this struggle, he presents a new album made in a one-man mode by Robert L. Pepper, available via Bandcamp in digital format, and limited edition purple vinyl.

Psychedelic Talismans is a work of the conceptual type that takes us on an astral journey in contemplation of modern life from a tutorial that runs intuitively in an app designed to withstand confinement without losing human contact through the use of digital devices , in an effort to regain our humanity.

Pas Musique has in Psychedelic Talismans a work of the opposite profile to introspection, because although it goes in a sense of psychic-psychological connection it tries to establish a connection with the outside, in such a way that in pieces like Splash of Red Touch, In Likeness of Me, and ABC of the Telephone, the intensity of it is perceived, while in Collected Fictions Brightly, The Hour, and La Bas, it resonates in magnitude directly proportional to the consciousness of the listener.

02/2021
FELTHAT - REVIEWS

https://felthatreviews.blogspot.com/2021/02/pas-musique-psychedelic-talismans-lp.html

A child of a lockdown misery and creative spirit of Pas Musique's leader Robert L. Pepper comes as an untamed outburst of ambient music woven into six tracks. A magickal voyage through the terrain of sub-glitchy tracks that have a transcendental feel to them and beats that could easily be taken from a  Javanese gamelan but here transported into the realm of electronic music. As usual Pas Musique is a dense both texturally and rhythmically - stuff that is both experimental and to certain point psychodelic and plunderphonic but never gets muddled up - there's crystal clear structure of those tracks. You can definitely feel a DIY self-organising spirit which reaches beyond the tone of electronic sounds - it's like being on a rave within some dark rainforest but you are within the boundaries of the idioms that are being expressed by someone who is simply eloquent more than enough to take you on a voyage with a colourful ticket. A special kind of isolationism is felt here, Robert is based in Brooklyn, NYC and you can sense a spirit of something intimately and innately from there. 
A beautiful trip that it's worth to replay again ...
A communion with something unnamed...

February 2021
http://www.loop.cl/content/view/1768/27/
Guillermo Escudero

Pas Musique | “Psychedelic Talismans” | Alrealon Musique | 2021

Brooklyn artist Robert L. Pepper works under the moniker of Pas Musique and is the founder member of Alrealon Musique label.
The art cover is a new art series called “Psychedelic Talismans” and is inspired by the Turkish archaeological site, Göbekli Tepe, which is said to be 10,000 BC. C.
The music is based on theories that it was the first psychedelic spiritual center, according to the author of the book "The Immortality Key" by Brian Muraresku.
And of course, the music of Pas Musique has plenty of merit to represent these enigmatic places, as it is characterized by its enveloping atmospheres, gliding synthesizers, psychedelic atmospheres, sliding guitars and poignant rhythms. The heartbreaking guitar in the foreground on "In Likeness of Me" and the underground noises is the perfect prelude to a mystery movie. “The Hour” with its marked bass drum and “La Bas”, the closing track, with its sick guitar riffs and dark environments, make this album a benchmark for underground music.


March 1st, 2021
http://www.nitestylez.de/2021/03/pas-musique-psychedelic-talismans.html

Pas Musique - Psychedelic Talismans [Alrealon Musique Promo]

Released via the experimental and highly eclectic imprint that is Alrealon Musique on February 20th, 2k21 is "Psychedelic Talismans", the latest six tracks and roughly 32 minutes spanning album outing created by Pas Musique, at this point an artistic solo iteration and brainchild of the projects founder Rober L. Pepper. Embarking on a rather trippy and explorative journey with "Splash Of Red Touch" we're drawn into an ever meandering flow of drugged out, well psychedelia-infused temple music of sorts which potentially could've been created throughout one of the most esoterically enlightened moments of the KrautRock / Berlin School era whilst the subsequent cut "Collected Fictions Brightly" is pairing fast paced, yet somewhat pulsing and aimlessly wandering hollow drum modulations with wafting synth clouds, droning vintage atmospheres and washed out fragments of what might've been Field Recordings of random casual conversations to create a dreamlike sonic state before "In Likeness Of Me" veers off into unexplored lands of IDM and ChillOut where swampy low end morphings and inward looking dabblings on electric guitar blown over from afar meet to create a certainly solemn, somewhat ruminant sound foundation for deep state meditation. Furthermore the "ABC Of The Telephone" goes even further in explorations of electric guitar solos, this time in combination with organic, overwhelming and all embracing warm Dub / Crooklyn Dub / Illbient basslines, whirling feedbacks and echoes of a little oriental desert vibe whereas "The Hour" provides the probably cleanest take on stumbling Post-Dubtronica in combination with glittering, retrofuturist synth / modular bubblings on this entire album and "La Bas" weighs in an sweet amalgamation of early 90s Electronica live jams and fuzzed out, reverberating Desert Blues guitars for a closing. Highly intredasting stuff. Check.

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"The Phoenix" LP

March 12th, 2019
Musique Machine
By Lob Instagon
​
https://www.musiquemachine.com/reviews/reviews_template.php?id=7157&fbclid=IwAR3K521dNwHq-TUSY95YqSxn9PvcvmAHzirggXdeaIzSKyhMo7Iqtehjpu8

The Phoenix is the latest excursion from Brooklyn, NY based experimental/electronic collective Pas Musique.- who where founded in 1995 by outsider sound artist Robert L. Pepper. Over the years, Pas Musique have released collaborations with some of the more recognized names in the genre,(Faust, Rapoon, Zev, etc..) and have continued to stay fresh and inviting with its compositions and approaches to generating ear worthy electronica in the 21st century.
This collection of tracks was created and influenced by experiences the collective had during their 2016 tour of Indonesia and 2017 European tour. "This music was influenced by the experiences we had while during these tours. There are no lyrics but there are vocals, which are improvised sounds," says Robert Pepper.
"When growing up, I listened to a lot of punk and metal. Most of the time I couldn’t understand what the vocalists were saying unless I read the lyric sheet but the sounds the vocalists made were amazing. So I try to use the same idea but producing improvised vocal sounds by mimicking the style of punk/metal vocalists."

The opening cut, “The Phoenix” is by far my favourite track on this album- its a slow dark industrial edged dirge with metal percussion, analogue drones, clanky chains, and floating shadow like vocals that are simple moaning sounds that complete the dark tone of the track. "The Percussion" initially reminded me of some of the stuff you would hear behind Tom Waits, but as it continued on had elements of Nurse With Wound when in a groove. The next track, “Miss Globule” is nothing like that.. it is full EDM, leaning heavy on the traditional krautrock vibe...think Kraftwerk meets Klaus Schulze...dreamy swashes of analogue patches with a pulsing forward-moving beat.

The third cut, “Electronic Brain” starts with a vocal sample, then dives into a 90's style industrial dance groove, something like My Life With the Thrill Kill Cult would put on a b-side., complete with heavily processed vocals adding to the overall throwback tone of the track. Personally, I felt this track could have been shorter.. it sorta becomes redundant and hard to hold on to by the end of it...just too much of the same thing over and over and for too long. In contrast, IMO. The next cut “Ancient Culture in a Warp Drive” could have been longer, rather than the shortest cut on the album. It  leans into the progressive kraut electronic vibe...again I was reminded of the dreamy stuff that Schulze does...but just as I was falling into the trance-inducing magick of this track.. it ended. Next, “Xlalo” includes a heavy sampling of a verbal clip describing just who Xlalo the moon god is and that we should worship him..or her.. or them..however, you refer to a god in the correct pronoun. Both of the last two tracks also included prominent guitar parts as part of the mix...with the later one being heavier, and more screaming with some distortion. “Finnish Bedtime Story” is good trance groove electronics...the groove is like flowing water...with a repetitive keyboard riff that helps make the trance easy to find...the vocals are processed and hidden but fun when the creep up on you.

The final track “A New Sheriff in Town” is probably my second favourite cut...it again moves away from traditional EDM beats and creates a different atmosphere using hand percussion tones mixed with bells, laced with spacey bent analogue synth notations and middle eastern influenced guitar riffs. I could close my eyes and see Shiva belly dancing to this groove with her arms flowing in the incense smoke.. and then the clock stopped ticking and it was time to move on...

Overall my personal preferences were for the darker tones and vibes of the first and last cuts on this album. I would prefer to hear something that stayed in that shadowy element rather than stepping out onto the dance floor and trying to play there so much. But it is still a strong album. I never felt the need to end any track and move on to the next one. I would recommend this album to fans of Future Sounds of London, Not Breathing, Psychic Warriors of Gaia, and the bands mentioned in the review

March 11th, 2019
Cyclic Defrost
BY Chris Downton

https://www.cyclicdefrost.com/2019/03/pas-musique-the-phoenix-alrealon-musique/

Brooklyn-based artist Robert Pepper originally formed Pas Musique back in 1995 as an alias for his experimental solo performances, but since then, the band has grown into a four-piece, with Jon Worthley, Michael Durek and Jesse Fairbairn joining Pepper in the current lineup. Since the independent release of the band’s 2008 debut album ‘The Lyre Speaketh’, they’ve been consistently prolific, collaborating with the likes of Faust, ZEV and Rapoon amidst an impressively large discography of albums.

This latest album ‘The Phoenix’ follows on from last year’s collaboration with Rapoon ‘Composited Reality’, and sees Pas Musique continuing to blend jagged noise guitar elements with dark post-punk / industrial electronics and improvised wordless vocals. It’s the likes of Faust, Zoviet France and Throbbing Gristle that most immediately stand out as primary influences on the seven distinctly abstracted tracks collected here.

Title track ‘The Phoenix’ opens proceedings with slow clanging metallic percussion and bursts of distortion before dark droning synths buzz and growl at the centre of the mix against gnarled howls of feedback and monastic sounding vocal chanting. If the slow irregular pulse of the aforementioned track suggests the toxic pulse throbbing through Coil’s earlier records, ‘Miss Globule’ takes things out into lo-fi krautrock grooves as twinkling electronic effects and angular post-punk bass runs mesh with clicking drum machine rhythms and jagged guitar feedback in a manner that’s far closer to the likes of Neu! or Ike Yard.

Elsewhere, ‘Ancient Culture In A Warp Drive’ drops the pace down, sending layers of eerily detuned sampled orchestration washing like a chill wind over moody synthetic bass arpeggios and sparse drum machine rhythms, while tendrils of contorted electric guitar stretch out against sampled background chatter, before ‘Xialo’ reaches out into goth-tinged noise rock as vintage documentary samples give way to a dark storm of buzzing industrial synths, contorted vocal processing and squealing feedback, the cut-up samples repeatedly intoning “pray to the moon god” inducing a ritualistic atmospheric as the brooding bass tones curve and arc restlessly. While not all of this album immediately gels upon first listening, when it does there’s plenty of dark potency on show here.


January 31st, 2019
Dancing About Architecture
BY Dave Franklin
​
https://dancingaboutarchitecture.info/2019/01/31/the-phoenix-pas-musique-reviewed-by-dave-franklin/

Pas Musique seem to revel in confusion, in a good way of course. Even within their chosen electro-industrial sphere they seem more mercurial, more wilfully tricksy, more difficult to grasp than their contemporaries and you have to look back to the early art-attacks of the likes of Throbbing Gristle to find their parallel. The Phoenix is the musical equivalent of abstract art where clashes and contradiction are all part of the process and the fact that it is open to interpretation or possibly that it may have no obvious, direct purpose is sort of the whole point.

A Finnish Bedtime Story builds with an intensity and claustrophobia, layer upon layer, one sonic texture grating and colliding with the next, just enough structure to impart a beat, a strange rhythm and hints of melody to keep it on the right side of the song/noise divide. The title track…well, sort of doesn’t and sounds like an abandoned car plant having a bad dream. But not all music exists to make you want to dance and this grooves in a strange, existential way, even making you think about what music is and where it even starts and finishes.

Ancient Culture in a Warp Drive is the closing credit music to a deep space horror movie and Xialo is a driving and heart pounding take on ketamine-flavoured disco music. I’m not even sure what that means either! 

Pas Musique inhabit a strange world, one where soundtracks and dance music, industrial white noise, spoken word samples and free-form experimentation, warped groove and intense repetitious musical weight are all forced into a sonic blender. The result? Well, who knows what it is but isn’t the fun of art sometimes not understanding it but enjoying it anyway? Okay, maybe not enjoy, perhaps contemplate is a better word. Metaphysical, futuristic disco dirges anyone?


January 9, 2019 
JAMMERZINE

https://jammerzine.com/first-listen-pas-musique-a-finnish-bedtime-story-electronic-brain/

Thumpingly experimental with plenty of sonic twists and turns, today we offer two new tracks from the electro-wizards known as Pas Musique. I’ll start this review off with something I heard one of my favorite guitarists, Reeves Gabrels (The Cure, David Bowie, Tin Machine), say about his influences in an interview with the now defunct Guitar For The Practicing Musician. He had said that some of his greatest influences came from noises he heard, such as a broken escalator or a pair of airbrakes. I feel that when I hear Pas Musique. That their influences are real world and not so much music. That the white noise that some of us take for granted can actually be some of the most beautiful sounds around us. These obscure influences that may only be known to Pas Musique are evident in ‘A Finnish Bedtime Story’ ‘Electronic Brain’ in that they lie in between the music and life. Those are the influences we need to stop and listen to.


January 27, 2019
By Phil King
Audio Fuzz

http://audiofuzz.com/hear/out-of-this-world-pas-musique-a-finnish-bedtime-story/

Another futuristic electronica band, but seriously, these guys sound like they’ve come from Andromeda Galaxy.  It is no wonder in their band picture they are all looking up.  They are waiting for the mother ship.  Pas Musique are a four piece consisting of Jon V Worthley, Michael Durek, Jesse Fairbairn and Robert Pepper, pursuing the musical elements of electronic, experimental music with krautrock undertones.  To me, they sound a little like Neu! in that they are from somewhere else, yet there is something familiar about their music that keeps the listener from going, WTF.  This is a great quartet.  I am so glad bands like Pas Musique are letting us into their private worlds.  Thank you guys so much for being so talented and willing to share.


Pas Musique "Inside the Spectrum" Reviews


July 2, 2015
Slug Magazine
By Ryan Hall

https://www.slugmag.com/national-music-reviews/pas-musique-inside-the-spectrum/

Inside the Spectrum is 10 collages of morphing, undulating beats, guitar drones, manipulated electronics and acoustic instrumentation that, when put through the blender that is Pas Musique, sound like some terrifying, old-god mating call. Inside the Spectrum takes its cues and inspiration from the final frontier, blending in sampled lectures from physics professors and television edutainment from the Space Age that was still trying to understand and explain all of this new technology. What saves this record from another “interesting” (intellectually engaging but emotionally flat) designation is Pas Musique’s bizarro take on classic house, often allowing a 4/4 beat to ride into infinity while seemingly unaffected by the fuck-all weirdness happening around it. At a BPM right around our natural heartbeat, it makes the incomprehensible seem familiar and easily digestible. This album, with 10 tracks at around four to five minutes each, covers an ungodly amount of musical ground without sacrificing listenability. –Ryan Hall

Dec. 28, 2015
Scene Point Blank
By Andy

https://www.scenepointblank.com/reviews/pas-musique/inside-spectrum/

Forming in Brooklyn in 1995 as a collective based around abstract sound, Pas Musique translates to “Not Music” in French, a fact which gives some indication of what the adventurous listener is in store for on limited 2015 release Inside the Spectrum. That being said, much of what is contained in the wild, ten-track album is actually quite musical, though it goes well beyond what the vast majority of listeners might be familiar with. Perhaps the best way to describe this album would be to label it as sound collage: throughout Spectrum, wispy melodies are heard alongside pulsating electronic beats and an unrelenting swirl of weird sounds. Vocals of the almost inconsequential variety pop up intermittently to create an even more bizarre, some might even say unsettling atmosphere, but the album has an undeniably hypnotic aspect to it, positively tailor-made to inspire the subconscious.

The opening title track reminds me in some ways of Underworld's memorably dreamy “Little Fluffy Clouds” for its use of spoken word female vocals that swirl in and out of focus. That's about where the similarities stop though: while the Underworld track played as appealing ambient electronica, Pas Musique's piece incorporates rather harsh percussion along with droning bagpipes and hazy sonic texturing. Despite its more aggressive sounds though, this opener is strangely soothing, with the subsequent “Listening to InterStellar Space” walking a similar tightrope between being calm and vaguely unnerving. Here, chattering synthesizer tones and distorted guitars sound out over crisp electronic beats, the ingredients repeating and slightly evolving over the track's duration.

Arguably more influenced by '90s electronica and trance, “The Soul Catcher” makes use of a looping bass drop and more quiet, thumping rhythms before woozy melody and a whipping high-pitched sound effect surface. As suggested by its title, “Ancient Evil Aliens” has a noticeably stranger sound to it, with hollow bass heard over a clopping rhythm and sometimes whooping, sometimes droning ambiance and “First Breath of Speeding Light” builds into a seething track in which creaking melodies and chiming discordant tones surround and occasionally overpower the whirring, almost industrial underlying sonic base. Following the stellar “Mindless Mechanics” and somewhat grimy and slimy “Molecular Vibration,” the album hits one of its noisiest patches in “Blue Lotus Ritual.” This very mechanical and ominous track leads into the clanking “Cerebral Vacuum,” but warmer sonic elements are injected to provide a glimmer of hope in the midst of all the near-chaos. It's fitting that the album ends on an almost transcendental note: “Transference” is a comparatively brighter track built around wordless vocals, bubbling electronics, and fuzzy melodies, with barely audible dialogue samples fully integrated into the soundscape.

Pas Musique's free-flowing output may not be for everyone (which the group seems to realize considering this album's limited, 300 piece run), but it's a refreshing change of pace from typical 2015 electronica in which artists are frequently content to latch onto a groove and repeat it into infinity. Though Inside the Spectrum too is repetitive in a way, I feel as though the tracks play out in a manner that resembles the way in which dreams slowly and almost imperceptibly evolve. There's an appealing if appropriately bizarre flow to everything, and it would be difficult for me to call this anything less than effective sound art.


Aug 26,2015
Side Line Magazine

http://www.side-line.com/pas-musique-inside-the-spectrum-cd-album-alrealon-musique/

Content: Pas Musique started 20 years ago resulting from the creative brain of Robert L. Pepper. The band has mainly been active releasing albums during the past few years and we got the opportunity to discover the previous work “Abandoned Bird Egg” (2014), which was a weird, but interesting experiment reminding me of some famous pioneers in the genre.

“Inside The Spectrum” has been introduced as being inspired by space and philosophy. The transposition into music is a rather surreal idea as the name of the band has to be translated as ‘No Music’. So once again Pas Musique invites us to join imaginary ‘dada’-fields of music creation. This is not exactly about coherence rather than the creation of sounds and experimentation with the most diversified sources of noise. The title-song takes off opening with the sound of a bagpipe, but rapidly evolves into a sound labyrinth where you’ll have to find the little pieces creating a big sonic puzzle. Some kind of bewitching female vocals join to add some extra mysterious element to the track. I have to admit this is a rather successful beginning.
 
Quite progressively we’re moving towards chilling sound atmospheres mixed with pure experimental treatments and some passages driven by a slow rhythm. “Ancient Evil Aliens” is an interesting exposure holding on to its experimental basis, but still unleashing electronic loops and intriguing screaming-like vocals with an extra effect on top. We next move into more obscure sound paths, which are quite progressively becoming more experimental and decomposed.

I however become intrigued by the violin playing, which creates a kind of duality with the overwhelming sonic puzzle leading into a pure abstract creation. I can’t get away from the idea that most of the tracks have been accomplished by pure improvisation and that none of the Pas Musique tracks can ever be played the same. It remains a meaningful experimental voyage, which can serve as antidote to what we’re commonly calling ‘music’.

Conclusion: “Inside The Spectrum” makes me think of a sonic painting where the colors have been replaced by sounds and where the style is totally abstract and into modernism.



Vital Weekly
Frans De Ward

http://www.vitalweekly.net/977.html

PAS MUSIQUE - INSIDE THE SPECTRUM (CD by Alrealon Musique)
Quite an active force, Pas Musique from Brooklyn, NY, and in 2015 they have been going since twenty years. Their main man is Robert L. Pepper, but it's also very much a group/collective, which changes line-up and instruments all along, along with more permanent members as Amber Brien, Jon Worthley and Michael Durek. This core of four members is responsible for their latest release 'Inside The Spectrum'. Their music changes throughout their history, but what stays is their love for all things electronic and their love to structure things more loosely, almost in an improvised manner. At times they remind me of a more experimental version of The Legendary Pinks Dots, or perhaps just an instrumental version of the Dots. There is always some rhythm/groove/sequence going, either upfront or in the background, and the band improvises around that basic structure with guitars, synthesizers, samplers and sounds. Sometimes a bit too loosely I gather, and it seems machines are used to generate sound, but to what end? But when they keep their music a bit more together, throw in some samples, such as in 'Mindless Mechanics', which a more concentrated rhythm it actually works quite well. There is a certain krautrock aspect to be noted in this particular release, hissing and humming from those analogue synthesizers and ancient drum machines hammering away in a pretty psychedelic and trance like modus. It's probably not always as intense as it's supposed to be (or could have been), but in terms of pure entertainment value this works very well. (FdW)
​

November 13th, 2015 
The Sound Projector
By Ed Pinsent

http://www.thesoundprojector.com/2015/11/13/speeding-light/

Another rich fest of plasticine stew dark colour-noise from Pas Musique, the Brooklyn art-funk quartet led by Robert L. Pepper. Inside The Spectrum (ALREALON MUSIQUE ALRN061) is enriched with ideas, concepts and musings inspired by philosophy and space travel – and right there, the knowing listener assumes they’re going to be short-changed by some half-baked reinterpretations of the Sun Ra Arkestra and Alton Abraham’s Enterplanetary Konkepts. On the contrary, Pas Musique’s notion of space travel is to present it as a rather painful and awkward experience, where the astronaut is constantly aware of his own body mass cramped inside a tight spacesuit, and the physical experiences suggested by titles like ‘Molecular Vibration’ or ‘Cerebral Vacuum’ do not bode well for the holiday-making voyager to Venus. As ever, the complex fugs of music produced by the band are interspersed with appropriate vocal samples, all of them conveying the space-travel and omniverse theme and apparently taken from radio shows that might be the equivalent of Scientific American magazine in sound. As to the philosophy elements, I’m not entirely sure where they’re buried in the overloaded aural mix, but it’s possible that through the process of osmosis, I now will be equipped to manage deeper thinking in my daily routine, just through the act of listening. The package is a landscape format full colour art-book, the size of a large postcard, decorated with video grabs from the work of Jim Tuite, who screens his video art at Pas Musique gigs. I’ve never seen one, but I’d imagine the total effect of such a son et lumière experience would be quite intoxicating. From April 2015.


May 12th, 2015
Whisperin and Hollerin

http://www.whisperinandhollerin.com/reviews/review.asp?id=12391

Granted, I’m writing about this in my capacity as a music reviewer rather than an art critic, but the packaging and artwork that houses this release surely warrants some attention. A landscape booklet featuring multi-layered psychoseonsory images culled from video still art by Jim Tuite evokes the cut-ups of William Burroughs and Brion Gysin. 

It’s entirely fitting to the disorientating sonic collage that spreads and intersects across the album’s 10 tracks. Samples echo and splinter over rumbling walls of noise and fractured electronica, crunching drones, fizzing circuitry and alien din. Subsonic bass barrels over flickering microbeats beats. 

It’s a cerebral explosion of a noisewerk, at times reminiscent of Throbbing Gristle in its eerie dislocation and clattering rhythms with vocals reverberating endlessly in heavy echo. At times unsettling, the frequencies and modulations burrow their way beneath the skin and into the skull. 


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May 9th, 2015
A Closer Listen
By postrockcafe 

https://acloserlisten.com/2015/05/09/pas-musique-inside-the-spectrum/

Pas Musique‘s follow-up to Abandoned Bird Egg is an intriguing foray into sound collage, with multi-faceted instrumentation welded to vintage scientific dialogue, culminating in a sense of World Fair wonder.  If Public Service Broadcasting were more abstract, they might sound like this.

The world got its first taste of the album last year, when a remix of the title track was featured on a Wire sampler.  That track, which launches the album, is a succinct summary of the quartet’s sound.  In its current form, the track begins with a speaker introducing audio-visual equipment, then launches immediately into a morass of drone, drums, bagpipes and (light) female voice.  The thickness of the piece is as close as one can get to the live experience, in which sight and sound are given equal weight.  (The limited edition copy of the album also contains portions of Jim Tuite’s still art, which is integral to the shows.)

Special EditionThe beauty of the dialogue samples is their ability to contribute form to an album that might otherwise have seemed ethereal.  The samples serve as a tether to the earthly dimension, which is somewhat ironic since they often refer to space.  Since most of the tracks are short (4-5 minutes long), the reminders arrive frequently, grounding the listener who might otherwise drift into psychedelic rhythms and drown in swirls of smoke.  The speech on “extraterrestrial signals” in “Listening to Interstellar Space” is one of the most effective, as the music sounds like something that might have come from another planet.

At its heart, the music is electronic, although it’s not always suitable to the dance floor.  The first sign of overt bass arrives on “Ancient Evil Aliens,” which might lend itself well to slow tribal undulations.  PAS Musique is more interested in the investigation of frequencies than with mass appeal, but they do know how to appeal to the masses – albeit on their own terms.  It’s refreshing to encounter a band that touches upon accessibility from the experimental side, as a tonic to the many bands that touch upon experimentalism from the mainstream.

Pas Musique - Abandoned Bird Egg, Reviews

January 9th, 2014

http://www.peek-a-boo-magazine.be/en/reviews/pas-abandoned-bird-egg/

Pas Musique
Abandoned Bird Egg [CD]
Abstract • Electronics • Experimental 
[75/100]    
 Alrealon Musique 

09/01/2014, Chris KONINGS

Another album by Pas, or Pas Musique as they call themselves on this one, these masters of improvisation seem bent on delivering a new album each year. First I received "Pure Energy Output Sessions" which had me puzzled but I still liked the effort they made. Then I got "Flanked By Women And Pumpkins", an album I haven't really gotten time for and since this "Abandoned Bird Egg" is their latest, I'm not sure if I ever will... but I'll give it another shot.

The album has ten songs that are far from what your average Joe would call a 'song'... Loops, knobs whirling around, free jazz or art rock guitar in the best Fred Frith context, bubbly synths, sampled vocals, sheep... If you can think of it, they've got it. As said earlier in the "PEOS" review, they sound like they are having loads of fun and here on this record they seem to translate that a bit better. Anyway, songs I liked were the bubbly "Something Indescribable" and also "Modern Witchcraft", a wink towards the now quite popular minimal electro scene, especially with the sporadic ghostly female vocals... It does lose its way in the last minute, but you can just skip it then, and wonder why you are hearing bleating sheep? It's the start of "Esoteric Funk Classic" and that name says enough (it's plain weird).

"You Are Who You Are" has heavy, lo-fi guitars and "Humour In The Quarry" starts with bird-like synths, reminding me a bit of the LSD album of Coil. I guess most songs sound like they are drug induced mindbenders... so if you are up for a trip in some twisted minds, go for it. Another good one is the bendy "The Strobe Wheel" with crackling narration and spacious ambient.

Like the nice artwork by band member Robert L. Pepper. Maybe they could do Facebook contest? Let people send in pictures of their baffled facial expressions while listening to this 'musique concrète' and make their next artwork with it...

Chris KONINGS
01/09/2014


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September 16th, 2013

http://www.secretdecoder.net/reviews/2013/09/16/pas-musique-abandoned-bird-egg/

PAS MUSIQUE, “ABANDONED BIRD EGG”
POSTED BY PAUL SIMPSON ON SEPTEMBER 16, 2013
SECTION: REVIEWS TAGS:ALREALON MUSIQUE, PAS MUSIQUE

Alrealon Musique, 07/22/2013

Experimental collective PAS Musique released an album called Pure Energy Output Sessions a couple years ago, and the Myspace URL listed in the sleeve suggests that their name is an acronym for “Post Abortion Stress.” This isn’t meant literally as a reference to the emotions and difficulties a woman has after having an abortion, but rather in a metaphorical sense, referring to being aborted by society for being a deviant or nonconformist, or otherwise not fitting in with the commonly accepted societal norms. Their music is defiantly experimental, aiming to pursue its creative vision and construct sounds and textures without regard to genre or convention. But there’s a certain accessibility to their music, and even a deft sense of humor, which makes their music as solidly enjoyable as it is adventurous.

The group has collaborated with dozens of artists from all over the world, including Robin Storey of Rapoon, Z’EV, Al Margolis of If, Bwana, Black Saturn, Philippe Petit, and many others. Thus, their sound is extremely eclectic and hard to define, as if there was any point to defining it. On their newest album Abandoned Bird Egg, however, there’s a surprising amount of techno-influenced tracks with high-BPM drum machine beats, which seem less concerned with creating a frenzy on a dancefloor than with entering a hypnotic head space. Opener “Commercial Space” begins with a voice somewhat akin to Native American chanting, surrounded by dark foggy ambience, acid synth lines, disembodied voices, and shredded guitars, before a solid drum machine beat knocks its way into the mix. There’s an arpeggiating synth line along with the beat, but otherwise it seems like all the other sounds in the mix aren’t necessarily tethered down, they’re sort of floating around free-associatively. But even though the beat isn’t mixed higher than the rest of the sounds, and it doesn’t sound like it’s really guiding the track, the whole thing doesn’t seem cluttered — it all makes sense together. “The Light Inside” has a slower rhythm, with a spindly, non-danceable rhythmic framework, creating a tension-filled sort of experimental techno. Two tracks (“Something Indescribable” and “Abandoned Bird Egg”) feature dialogue samples from Robert Wise’s 1977 film Audrey Rose, and are among the album’s less rhythmic, more ambient tracks, utilizing violins, sputtering, sweeping synths, and dark guitar. Standout “Modern Witchcraft” features a memorable sample intoning “this is modern witchcraft,” plus a pulsating beat, a fluttering melodic guitar line, and sweet-sounding wordless female vocals. It still doesn’t qualify as a proper “song” in the conventional sense, but it’s a lot more accessible than you might expect from a group with such experimental ambitions.

The group’s sense of humor comes into focus with songs like “Esoteric Funk Classic,” which features bleating goat sounds and a slow, abstract rhythm with a synth line which seems like it could be from a funk song, but here’s it’s wholly reappropriated into a much stranger context. “Dark Canopy” opens with another somewhat funky bass guitar line, but it dissipates into a dark atmosphere with a jittery, clicky beat which seems too anxious to settle into a groove, along with fizzling electronics, and eventually some metallic guitar. Improbably, some bagpipes and tribal drums show up before the song’s end. The title of “Humor In The Quarry” lets you know immediately that this band is having fun and not taking themselves too seriously, with whizzing toy sounds and an ominous female voice whispering “I have your rubber ducky.” “The Strobe Wheel” opens with a stuttering, glitching voice and manipulated tribal percussion, before settling onto a slow, trippy drum machine beat, with circular patterns of distorted feedback and percussion, and an oddly excited-sounding bell ringing, before some flanged effects smother the last minute or two of the track. All of this album is a strange, ponderous, yet wholly enjoyable exploration of reality and psychedelic soundscapes.

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July 29, 2013

http://yeahiknowitsucks.wordpress.com/2013/07/29/pas-musique-abandoned-bird-egg-alrn035/

Artist: PAS Musique
Title: Abandoned Bird Egg
Label: Alrealon Musique
Cat#: ALRN035
Keywords: Abstract, Experimental, Soundscapes
Reviewer: Alex Spalding

The people at Alrealon Musique were so nice as to send me several CDs for review… this is one of them, the one that I instinctively felt drawn to review first. I dug around so as to learn more about the object of my analysis and came across this intriguing artist profile:

“PAS is a group out to create musical collages through the form of abstract sound. Their name refers metaphorically to those who have been aborted by society, because their point of view doesn’t fit in the constraints of ‘normal’ society. The term also refers the negative form in French, metaphorically negating everything that is established to start from a new beginning. The viewpoint fuels our creativity to create our own world of beauty. Since our inception the band has been interested in making music from the fringes of perception, creating soundscapes that aren’t defined by any particular conventions or viewpoints. The aesthetic underpinnings are defined by the notion that music can be whatever the ear perceives. It’s a conception fueled by the love of life and art. It’s a desire for honest artistic self-expression. The compositions themselves are more akin to soundscapes than ‘songs’ in the traditional sense. There are no clearly defined melodies, no structural landmarks that give you any sense of traditional anchor. This is not music making with any sense of or desire for commercial viability, but sonic sculptures in the mode of pure art.”

… that sold me on the artist’s concepts, as I found a lot of parallels between these descriptions and my own art and feelings toward art, the objective of chasing, exploring, expressing the beautiful from within the damaging, nihilistic acultural conveyor belt void so many of us seem to reside in. Anyway…

The first track is ‘Commercial Space’, which begins with what sounds like a vocal sample with lots of vibrato, making me think of… maybe a Massacration track being destructively mangled with effects. Some low noise drones come in, followed by a beep tone that slides up and down. Then there’s this sickly acid bassline sequence that’s wonderful. I’m quite sure it’s not a 303, some other machine maybe… something dirty, gritty. I can hear guitar shredding away… and then, when the electro/industrial rhythm came in, I was pretty much like… this is amazing. Very twisted, impossible to not feel absorbed in the gritty electro pulse of this music. I love first tracks on albums that are like this, instantly nailing you to your seat (or the floor, as the case may be)… less like one of those introductory wanks, like “Hey, here’s a small sample of the sort of sounds you might be hearing as we go further into the album” but just full-on, uncompromising art from the second you put it on. These disturbing voices are floating around while you listen, nearly throughout. Very low, subliminal, deep, reminding me a little of the experience I’d had the first time I listened to Download’s The Eyes Of Stanley Pain. It’s just very mental, inducing trance.

Next is ‘The Light Inside’. It sounds like old synthesizer ambiance recorded to tape, then a clipping 16th/step rhythmic noise comes in over it. I hear someone moving the resonance knob… it sounds like cryptic wind. This is very psychedelic / experimental / heavy, with a vibe like many old industrial cassettes. Severed heads also came to mind, but I couldn’t find the right tracks on Youtube to link.  It sounds like electronic maggots; larval sequences hook themselves into your bowels like so many worms. The track utilizes simple, repetitive structures, over which various noises and synthetic drones are laid. I love the way the rhythmic clipping manifests itself, mutating slightly over the course of the track. Static and strange electronic tones become thick through the tail end of the piece.

‘Something Indescribable’? I hope not, or I’ll have to just leave it at this! According to the inner package of the album, this track is one of two that uses samples from ‘Audrey Rose’, a film directed by Robert Wise in the year 1977. I hear an onrush of electronic tones and a voice talking about… something indescribable… and incredible… liquid electronics, drones, vacuum tubes, something that sounds like a guitar with treatments. This is like an ocean on an alien planet, a mindstream. You feel like leaving the body behind to travel in a virtual reality computer realm of infinite possibilities, or something like that.

My favourite track on the album is probably ‘Modern Witchcraft’, which begins with what sounds like a field recording from a greasy spoon diner dishpit, and throws in a vocal sample, these beautiful splashes of electronic arp chords, and then there’s a nice pulsating electro groove and some lovely vocals. This is lay on the floor with a blanket in a cold room music, contemplating getting up to grab something small to eat but not wanting to leave for even a moment because this track suddenly came on. Everything about this is something I like. The modulated guitar sound is very nice too, adding body to the piece, but the vocals were the part that made the track seem super special and cosmic. Toward the end I’m hearing all kinds of buzzing drones floating around, abstractions, an acoustic guitar.

The title of the next track, ‘Esoteric Funk Classic’, had me very excited to hear what might happen! But wait… it’s a trap! I’m hearing a goat man, then I’m hearing wind, then eventually alien abduction drones. Stomping electro bass, electronic crickets, theremin tones, some Moog bass after a bit. It’s really great. Now I’m hearing liquid drones, a choir pad creeping into the mix, some bell tones. Hot, distorted guitar amp frequencies are like a tiny voice in the central channel attempting to burrow their way into your frontal lobe. This gets absolutely nuts, like a science fiction android on the fritz, thinking it’s a ’70s porn star and attempting to mount your sofa.

I hear bass guitar and ambient drone harmonics on ‘Dark Canopy’! So nice! The sounds seem to be undergoing some intense noise or lfo modulation. Now I just hear flatly gorgeous waterfall synths, but the spell is broken by the siren call of a screaming synthesizer, the refracted sounds of tribal percussion, chirping gnat synths, an IBM drone in an absolutely sick frequency band range. Some guitar feedback comes in to throw me for another loop. This is the sort of thing I could so easily imagine someone haplessly wandering into from out of the land of the mundane and asking, “What are you listening to?”… and there could be no easy answer to this. There almost never is, but this in particular confounds all attempt at explanation. I would maybe chance saying “art” and leaving it at that. Do I hear bagpipes? They were only there for a moment, and now I hear nothing but drone.

‘You Are Who You Are’. On this, I hear a voice, sounding like a tribal chant, being cut up, timed gaps help reveal the bizarre electronic sounds underneath. Then some electric guitar comes in, I’m hearing voice samples… this is another intensely psychotropic mindscape, meant to blow whatever is left of your brain up it’s nose. Right now I feel as if I am on the world’s slowest-moving merry-go-round. But I, too, am in slow motion. Lovely little beep tone synth flutes are singing. We’re going so slow that our perception of time has flipped around to make it seem as if we are moving faster than light. Then we come back to the same ritualistic soundscape that the track began with.

I hear birds on ‘Humor In The Quarry’, it is like a whistling sound otherwise if I was mistaken. It also sounds like there is a low threshold of white or pink noise lurking in the background, harmonic distortion from a field recording perhaps? I hear a low, distorted bass throb, some stick percussion, alien zoo sounds. Then a deep, electro rhythm emerges. It’s like palm trees on Neptune. There seem to be vocals, more hushed, whispered than anything, but occasionally a pitch is sustained in the background as the wild soundscapes evolve and sounds multiply like amoeba. I love the tightly controlled electronic glitches that occur on this track, as well as on several others.

Very tribal beginnings which are taken to heavily modulated voice samples and noise drones on ‘The Strobe Wheel’, which instantly makes me think of Brion Gysin and William Burroughs’ Dream Machine. There’s a downtempo electro groove that comes in, and layers of electronic feedback drones, more alien oddities as far as the sounds are concerned! A toy bell rings. There are rhythmic, distorted tones like congas sounding off occasionally in dizzying patterns.

The final piece is ‘Abandoned Bird Egg’, which begins with violin? Viola? There are also vocal samples — I’m assuming these must be the samples spoken of in the liner notes culled from the film ‘Audrey Rose’. There is also a strange ambient guitar loop. White noise grows louder, and I hear a crunchy distorted guitar sound. Choirs from beyond the conventions of time. I hear a distorted bird call as well… vibrating drones… I feel like I’m surrounded by sky and unable to tell up from down. Bizarre mechanical ambiance eventually enters as well.

I really loved this album, on so many levels. These people are masters of their techniques, putting together some very interesting sounds with absolutely mindbending and exhilarating structures and ontologically alien moods. You can buy an Abandoned Bird Egg of your own to hatch at the link below:


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October 13, 2013

http://santasangremagazine.wordpress.com/2013/10/13/pas-musique-abandoned-bird-egg-englishpolish/

PAS MUSIQUE – ABANDONED BIRD EGG [ENGLISH/POLISH]13/10/2013 · by Santa Sangre · in reviews. ·
[reviewed by / autor recenzji : stark || ENG/PL]

[ENG]: Always afraid of such records. Where the only thing I’m sure of is that I’m not sure of anything. Where I have no idea what to expect, even though I’ve listened to the previous PAS record, “Flanked By Women And Pumpkins”. Concerns justified, as it turned out, because the very first track welcomed me with bass pulsations coming across the techno style. That is something I could in no way imagine would find its way in “Abandoned Bird Egg”.

PAS Musique is a Brooklyn team led by Robert Pepper. This time, the musical ensemble focused primarily on trembling and restless ‘vintage’ colored electronics, and its interaction with traditional instruments that suddenly appear in the different corners of the album – sometimes widely developed, sometimes in rudimentary form. And generally very nice, sometimes a little crazy, is the way the synths and living, breathing sounds are mixed here. My favorite song on the album is “Modern Witchcraft”. Perhaps it’s also the most accessible part of “Abandoned Bird Egg”, filled with melodic synths, warm female vocals and the “this is modern witchcraft” phrase repeated like a mantra. In fact if modern witches would work their miracles accompanied by such music, I wouldn’t mind giving in to them. An ethereal and moody piece.

In other songs Robert and the company aren’t cuddling the listener as much (I’m not saying it was wrong, after all, I was hooked as well). Because for instance “Esoteric Funk Classic” probably will never reach an evergreen status; yes, the guitar has got some sort of funky shade, but apart from that the track is steaming of dirt, sound scratches and scrapes and broken rhythms. Or “Dark Canopy” where background noises originating from 50s and 60s classic sci-fi alongside with acid guitar riffs, seem to challenge traditional musical structures.

In fact, each song is different, yet almost all of them contain this element of a duel between artificial and living organisms. However as in “Flanked By Women And Pumpkins”, the sound here is surprisingly approachable. I say “surprisingly” given the fact that PAS Musique is a highly experimental ensemble that doesn’t really give a damn about classic song forms. On the experimental field Alrealon Musique rarely go wrong, in this case they made it once again. A very decent and uncommon recording that certainly mandates a greater number of listens, as so much is going on here that it’s impossible to fully embrace the album after one, two or even five sessions. And therefore, to fully appreciate it.

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November 25, 2013

http://www.liabilitywebzine.com/?ac=non&contenu=viewchr&id=4970

Pas Musique

Abandoned Bird Egg
[Alrealon::2013]
|01 Commercial Space|02 The Light Inside|03 Something Indescribable|04 Modern Witchcraft|05 Esoteric Funk Classic|06 Dark Canopy|07 You Are Who You Are|08 Humor in the Quarry|09 The Strobe Wheel|10 Abandoned Bird Egg|


Alors eux ce sont des cinglés comme on les aime. Crée à New York par Robert L. Pepper, PAS Musique s'est vite transformer de projet solitaire à celui de groupe avec Amber Brien, John Worthley et Michael Durek. Ceci étant cela ne les a pas empêché de collaborer avec des intervenants extérieurs aussi prestigieux que Z'ev, Robin Storey (Rapoon), Steve Beresford, Philippe Petit, entre autres. Auteurs de bon nombre de disques celui-ci est censé être une réflexion sur les relations perdues à la nature et nos propres sentiments les plus enfouis du fait de l'influence cannibale de la société moderne. En écoutant ce disque ce genre de relation nous paraît quelque peu difficile à appréhender. Ceci étant, au-delà des idées que Abandoned Bird Egg est censé véhiculer, c'est la forme choisie qui est des plus intéressantes. Usant d'une musique situationniste, largement inspirée par le psychédélisme et la musique industrielle, on peut aisément voir ici un croisement entre Throbbing Gristle, Legendary Pink Dots, Rapoon ou Zoviet France. Le résultat est assez étonnant et souvent passionnant. PAS Musique est très loin d'être dans l'immobilisme. Toujours en mouvement que ce soit de manière rapide ou lente mais avec cette volonté d'imprimer une rythmique qui n'est pas forcément anarchique. Certes, il faut s'accrocher, décrypter, enregistrer, digérer mais le foisonnement d'idées qui existe chez ce groupe est tout à fait louable et riche d'ambiances angoissantes de tout premier ordre. Abandoned Bird Egg est donc ce reflet d'un monde devenu fou ou difficilement contrôlable et qui oublie ce qui devrait être essentiel. Disque anxiogène, donc, mais pas que. On trouve dans la démarche de PAS Musique un nouvel élan sur ce que devrait être la musique expérimentale ou post-industrielle. Certes, leurs méthodes ne sont pas neuves mais elles explorent parfaitement le côté obsessionnel de nos âmes. Un cas d'école dont beaucoup devraient s'inspirer.



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July 7, 2013

http://blog.monsieurdelire.com/search/label/PAS%20Musique

PAS MUSIQUE / Abandoned Bird Egg (Alrealon Musique)

Décidémment, le quatuor PAS et ses membres ont le vent dans les voiles. En plus de multiplier les aventures parallèles, ils maintiennent un rythme et une qualité de production dignes de respect. Abandoned Bird Egg est encore plus réussi que son prédécesseur, Flanked By Women and Pumpkins. Et l’univers de ce groupe tend à se rapprocher de celui de Philippe Petit, en termes de complexité et de profondeur dans l’enchevêtrement de sources, de styles, de directions. Appelons cela de la musique électronique par principe, mais c’est en fait un entrelacs d’instruments électroniques, électriques et acoustiques, de formes composées, improvisées et collagées. Chaudement recommandé.  [Ci-dessous: Écoutez deux morceaux de l'album.]

PAS and its members are on fire, my frieds. They keep branching out in different projects and maintain a steady pace of releases of increasing qualityé Abandoned Bird Egg is even better than its predecessor Flanked By Women and Pumpkins. And the band’s soundworld tends to creep closer to Philippe Petit’s in terms of complexity, depth, and pile-up of sources, styles and directions. Let’s call it electronic music by principle, but it is in fact a mesh of electronic, electric and acoustic instruments, composed, improvised and collaged forms. Highly recommended.  [Below: Stream two tracks from the album.]




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August 22, 2013

http://www.popmatters.com/review/174519-pas-musique-abandoned-bird-egg/

PAS Musique: Abandoned Bird Egg
By Gary Suarez 22 August 2013
Save the dodo.

Convenient though it may be, the systematic compartmentalizing of music hits a virtual wall from time to time. Simply put, they don’t make records like Abandoned Bird Egg anymore, perhaps for a good reason, perhaps not. These 10 engrossing tracks recall an industrial that once was, such cacophonous and ominously bustling sounds from the likes of Throbbing Gristle, Zoviet France, or more modern wreckers of civilization like the Belgian duo Silk Saw. Even without reading the posted mission statement, it’s clear that PAS Musique—a Brooklyn-based collective—operates outside the presently accepted categories of electronic music, a condition in which its members seem quite comfortable.
Yet for something so willfully outsider, Abandoned Bird Egg often revels in loops and trance-inducing repetition, suggesting an ascetic adherence to structure as the foundation of an otherwise experimental playground. Even with wordless vocalizing and found sound sampling, “Modern Witchcraft” thumps along reliably to a submerged schaffel house beat. Squirmy synths straight out of the Chris Carter solo discography captivate (“Commercial Space”, “The Light Inside”), while some vaguely Eastern vibes lurk and linger (“Dark Canopy”). Perhaps most appealing are PAS Musique’s attempts to deconstruct, warp and mask guitars (“Esoteric Funk Classic”, “You Are Who You Are”) to craft these immersive, albeit somewhat derivative soundscapes.

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September 21, 2013

http://africanpaper.com/2013/09/21/pas-musique-abandoned-bird-egg/

PAS MUSIQUE: Abandoned Bird Egg

Veröffentlicht am 21. September 2013 von admin

In ihrer Selbstbeschreibung klingen PAS Musique erfrischend old school, und zwischen den Zeilen lugt sogar etwas hervor, dass in unserer Zeit, gerade in „subkulturellen“ Millieus, längst unter dicken Schichten aus Abgeklärtheit und Coolness verschüttet scheint – ein kleines bisschen Idealismus. Die vier New Yorker, die die sogenannte Experimentalmusik schon weit länger bereichern, als Discogs suggeriert, arbeiten nach dem Credo, dass aus potentiell jedem Geräusch Musik entstehen kann, auch ohne stringente Rhythmen, vertraute Harmonien oder gar die gängigen Muster eines Songs. Ihr Ziel ist eine ganz eigene Welt der Schönheit aus fremdartigen Klängen. Bei all dem sind sie wahrlich nicht die ersten, aber ich hielt es schon immer für eine der Eitelkeit geschuldete Resignation, solche Konzepte über Bord zu werfen und durch Ratlosigkeit zu ersetzen, bloß weil ihr Anspruch als Lippenbekenntnis in gewissen Nischen Routine ist. Zudem versteht sich ihr vieldeutiger Name auch noch als Hommage an die Anomalen, Ausgesperrten, Abgetriebenen unserer Gesellschaft.

Je nach Blickwinkel mahnt ihr gerade erschienener Longplayer „Abandoned Bird Egg“ zur Skepsis und lässt die Frage offen, ob er den hochgesteckten Zielen denn gerecht wird. Im Einzelnen nämlich enthält die Musik etliches, das sich als Fundament eines kommerztauglichen Pop eignen würde: groovige Bässe mit viel Hall unterlegt wie ein Muster aus den Annalen des House. Funky Gitarrenmotive, allerhand Taktschläge, die an vertraute Strukturen von der Weltmusik bis zum Rhythm Noise erinnern. Dazu graduell ansteigende Kompositionen ohne nennenswerte Längen, die jedem Post Rock-Bubie eine Lektion erteilen. Letztlich ein Ereignisreichtum, der eher Reizüberflutung verursacht als das, was der gemeine Radiohörer ansonsten jeglichen Klangexperimenten attestiert – Langeweile. Schon das erste Stück, das bezeichnenderweise „Commercial Space“ heißt, enthält das meiste davon auf relativ komprimiertem Raum.

Dass all dies zusammen eher in Kakophonie mündet, lässt die Sache schon anders aussehen. Nun kann man schwer zugängliche Strukturen auf unterschiedlich virtuose Art erzeugen, und PAS erwecken den Eindruck, bei allem mit einem hohen Grad an Bewusstheit vorzugehen und ein Talent für überraschende Kombinationen zu haben. Altbackene, futuristisch konnotierte Elektronik und orientalisch anmutende „Ethno“-Sounds wirken keineswegs willkürlich gegeneinander geklebt und lassen im Kontrast vielfältige Assoziationen entstehen. Aus dem kleinteiligen Soundchaos, dass sich in den einzelnen Stücken mit der Zeit immer wieder anhäuft, winden sich oft gerade dann neue Komponenten heraus, wo man es am wenigsten erwartet hätte, und doch entsteht schnell ein stimmiges Bild. Selten entsteht der Eindruck atmosphärischer Widersprüchlichkeit, da die Stücke stets einen eigenen Charakter offenbaren, mag er auch noch so ungreifbar sein. Wenn „Modern Witchcraft“ streckenweise wie ein (bewusst) verhinderter Popsong klingt oder die Rhythmen sich in „Esoteric Funk Classic“ unsicher tastend nach vorn bewegen, scheint es darum zu gehen, die Funktionsmechanismen den Pop bloszulegen, in dem man den normalerweise gebändigten oder zurechtgestutzten Einzelkomponenten freien Lauf lässt und einen Ehrenplatz auf der Bühne zugesteht. Derart gut schafften das bissher, wenngleich mit ganz anderen musikalischen Mitteln, lediglich Coil auf „Black Antlers“.

In diesen Mechanismen und normalerweise versteckten Strukturen suchen PAS etwas Ursprüngliches, Urtümliches. Dass sie es hörbar finden, zeichnet sie als Musiker aus, die all diese Ansprüche formulieren dürfen, die bei vielen anderen zur Floskel gerinnen und deshalb besser vermieden werden sollten.




P.H.A.S.T.I:The Stages of Sleep: A Metaphor for Torun, Reviews

October 1, 2011

By Ed Pinsent

http://www.thesoundprojector.com/2011/10/01/cinema-solubile/

Little Nemos in Slumberland

The band P.H.A.S.T.I. is a collaboration, perhaps a one-time only affair, between the American group PAS and the Polish duo HATI. In April 2010 the Americans flew over there to participate in a festival which was cancelled, but still managed to hook up with the percussionists Rafal Iwanski and Rafal Kolacki to record The Stages Of Sleep: A Metaphor for Torun (PAS RECORDS 010) in the studio. The work has been edited and given a naming schema that proposes an oneiric odyssey, setting out to depict the mysteries of the sleep state in an intuitive and empirical manner. For the most part I sense the American half of the act are restraining themselves somewhat (some of their other releases show a predilection for abrasive and very strange-sounding impro-gloop) but perhaps they are more versatile than I realise. Not all of the suite works for me, and I tend to lose interest when the players wander off into a diffuse haze of percussive resonances and vague synth tones, but at other times (‘Sleep Spindles’ or ‘Delta Waves’) the music has a heft and substance that sits on the chest like two pounds of undigested cheese and betokens the nightmare to come. There’s also a video of the work and the release is available digitally from Alrealon Musique.

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P.H.A.S.T.I., The Stages of Sleep: A Metaphor for Toruń
NOVEMBER 10, 2011
by Hypnagogue

It seems that when you bring two experimental music collectives together, it’s not just a matter of doubling the amount of experimental. Rather, it’s an exponential growth with endless possible outcomes. Brooklyn-based sound and video aritsts PAS traveled to Toruń, Poland for a music festival and there hooked up with two members of Poland’s HATI. When the festival was canceled due to a national tragedy, the teams took the studio, christened themselves P.H.A.S.T.I., and churned out The Stages of Sleep.

First things first: this is quite decidedly not for everyone. When a gear list includes found objects, a Casio sampling keyboard, a theremin and a fishing rod, it’s even money that we’re going unusual places, musically. There is a great deal of clatter, clamor and noise. HATI is, if their own gear lists are any sign, a percussion-based act, loaded up with drums, gongs, rattles, bells and cymbals, along with the occasional flute. Given all that, I went into listening to this disc already tucked into a protective fetal position. But what’s here, while firmly in the anti-music/improvised music zone, is no less accessible than, say, your average dark ambient CD. Sounds come at you from all sides in a disconcerting blitz and force you to defend your personal concept of music, but digging through the mire reveals hints of a rhythmic base that gives the brain something to latch onto. (You’ll need a lifeline back to normalcy when you’re in the thick of “Theta Waves.” It’s just that odd and mind-bending.) In places there’s even more solidity. Amber Brien’s bass walks confidently through the middle of “Sleep Spindle” and provides a point of familiar focus while the rest of the team just lob feedback bombs and assorted sonic assaults. Things take an interesting turn beginning with “Delta Waves” and ending in “Sleepwalkers” as the group move into a trance-like steadiness of tone and then shift it, largely without disturbing the mental haze they’ve induced, through percussion. In “Delta Sleep” HATI’s gongs come into play, ringing out and clashing against the hypnotic flow. They pull the listener back to semi-reality with the jazz-infused tones of “Dreaming,” which enters quietly and builds in smooth succession. Percussion is again a strong focal point, along with hesitant piano. P.H.A.S.T.I. then melt these elements down back into the experimental space and ride that to the end of the disc–passing through, let it be noted, a section with harmonica and what sound like party horns.

Stages of Sleep is not a disc I’ll return to often, but I’m glad to have taken this collaborative journey. My expectations of this round of experimental/improv music were shown to be unjustified while at the same time I felt I was opened to the kind of possibility and scope of thought that drive a project like this. Again, this is not a disc that most people will be able to just dive into and dig; it takes effort to work through it. But the music, and your response to it, just might surprise you.


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WEDNESDAY, 21 SEPTEMBER 2011
PAN.O.RA.MA
http://panoramajournal.blogspot.com/2011/09/reviews-98-pashatipas.html

PAS/HATI 
(Usa/Pol)
"P.H.A.S.T.I." cd 2011
(Pas Music)
Without a doubt one of the best collaboration releases this year in the field of experimental musik! Pas,the amnerican project traveled Poland,in order to participate in the 3Rd CoCArt festival,with Hati,and from such amazing performing we have the plesure to present you "P.H.A.S.T.I",a cooperation album with interesting and dark pieces from strt to finish!! The creation of diverse atmospheres and impressive osunds,effects by PAS,and the suggestive ritual percussive osunds by HATI,were compenetrated through 9 compositions,in which you shall experience this unique magickal piece! for example tracks such as "Theta Waves" with strange subliminal voice effects,and atmospheres,emerging from the void,and going around with cymbals and diverse percussive sounds.or just "Sleep Spindles",with rythmic patterns and perfect work of bass lines and effects,complmenting perfect with the track in general."Delta Waves" emerges under percussive sounds crawling through ritualistic atmopsheres and ancestral touch. one of the best tracks here without a doubt!! A perfect mixture of dnese atmospheres,eclectic experimental soundscapes,and percussive elements to create a vast scenario full of dynamism and power!!!! "Delta Sleep","Sleepwalking" are just as shamanic trip to a new dawn full of diverse pieces,sounds and such ritualistic percussive sounds,flutes and atmopsheres. "Dreaming","Transportation(The Lost Step)" and "Final Level" closes this brillant cooperation between two exponents of experiemental music,with all splendour and dynamism only able when joining two projects such as PAS and HATI. The album comes in a beautiful 3 fold digicd including pictures and info of CoCArt performance.

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Bad Alchemy Review 6-2011  (google translation)

PAS / HATI present P.H.A.S.T.I. The Stages of Sleep - A Metaphor for Torun (PAS Records 010): As at 04.10.2010 the aircraft crashed with the Polish President Kaczynski, which was canceled CoCArt Music Festival in Torun. The invitees from Brooklyn quartet traveled to PAS and yet allied himself with the host Perkussionsduo HATI for this studio session. Rafal Rafal Iwanski & Kolacki play a smorgasbord of gongs, bells, rattles, cymbals, bass drum and thunder, to whistles and flutes. Of the American guests Amber Brien is a bass effects and amplified along with the Will Connor percussive accent. Robert L. Pepper thrilled with keyboards, synths and samples around each other, while Michael Durek a vintage Casio SK-1, and Theremin, as his friends also have using various odds and ends. This will jam for spontaneous, and folklore of imaginary Turnschuhtribalisten. The spirit of the early Amon Düül mixes with the low fidelity and Arte Povera, the freak folk-International. They could to sound, the music post-apocalyptic future small hordes. There were rituals that invoke the Lost, global fuel for dream trips away from disaster. A Neo-Primitivism, which uses the most ancient human skills: playing with what's there, can find a way out in the second reality of the dream, the imagination. Everyone his own Shaman. With the inner journey must make do without a GPS, all memory is erased, sleepwalking is the tightrope. Only with 'Dreaming', the dream itself, to remember the finger of how a tune goes. The Theremingeister howl and melancholy is paired with amazement. Music boxes plink remains of former beauty, a harmonica hums, warbles the beginnings of a new flute. For the 'Final Level', the autopilot takes over the control, involuntary dripping rain, the wind wischelt by the flute and the rattle snake rattle.The heart dictates the clock chimes the gentle daydream. [BA 70 rbd]

Original: 

PAS/HATI present P.H.A.S.T.I. The Stages of Sleep – A Metaphor for Torun (PAS Records 010): Als am 10.4.2010 das Flugzeug mit dem polnischen Staatspräsidenten Kaczynski abstürzte, wurde das CoCArt Music Festival in Torun abgesagt. Das aus Brooklyn eingeladene Quartett PAS reiste dennoch an und verband sich mit dem gastgebenden Perkussionsduo HATI für diese Studiosession. Rafal Iwanski & Rafal Kolacki spielen ein Sammelsurium an Gongs, Glocken, Rasseln, Cymbals, Bass- und Gewittertrommel, dazu Pfeifen und Flöten. Von den amerikanischen Gästen setzt Amber Brien Basseffekte ein und verstärkt zusammen mit Will Connor den perkussiven Akzent. Robert L. Pepper geistert mit Keyboards, Synthesizern und Samples umeinander, während Michael Durek ein altmodisches Casio SK-1, Theremin und, wie seine Freunde auch, noch diversen Krimskrams einsetzt. Damit wird spontan gejamt, Imaginäre Folklore von und für Turnschuhtribalisten. Der Geist der frühen Amon Düül mischt sich mit der Low Fidelity und Arte Povera der Freakfolk-Internationale. So könnte sie klingen, die postapokalyptische Musik künftiger Kleinhorden. Es wären Rituale, die das Verlorene beschwören, Treibstoff für Traumreisen weg von der globalen Katastrophe. Ein Neoprimitivismus, der die ältesten menschlichen Fähigkeiten einsetzt: Spielen mit dem, was da ist, einen Ausweg finden können in der zweiten Wirklichkeit des Traumes, der Imagination. Jeder sein eigener Schamane. Wobei die innere Reise ohne GPS auskommen muss, alle Erinnerung ist gelöscht, Schlafwandeln wird zum Drahtseilakt. Nur bei 'Dreaming', dem Traum selbst, erinnern sich die Finger daran, wie eine Melodie geht. Die Theremingeister heulen und Melancholie paart sich mit Verwunderung. Spieluhren plinken Reste einstiger Schönheit, eine Mundharmonika summt, die Flöte trillert Anfänge einer neuen. Für das 'Final Level' übernimmt der Autopilot das Steuer, unwillkürlich tröpfelt Regen, der Wind wischelt durch die Flöte und rasselt die Schlangenrassel. Das Herz diktiert den Gongs den Takt sanfter Tagträume. [BA 70 rbd]


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More Mars: 

P.H.A.S.T.I. – The Stages of Sleep - A Metaphor for Torun
(Alrealon Musique / cd, 2011)

P.H.A.S.T.I. is the outcome of the collaboration between P.A.S. and Hati. "Post Abortion Stress", also known as P.A.S., is an experimental improvise Audio/video project from Brooklyn. We have already introduced them through their previous release "Pure Energy Output Sessions",  http://www.moremars.org/random/random07/random07-pas_pure_energy_output_sessions.html 

 "Hati" is Rafal Iwanski's and Rafal Kolacki's audiovisual project from Poland. Their music "...is based on sound of ethnic instruments from all over the world as well as hand-made instruments or found objects". As they shelf titled their music this is "...a link between a personal interest in modern improvised and acoustic music with ritual and meditation". Their release "The Stages of Sleep - A Metaphor for Torun" includes 9 tracks with total time more than 50 min, nicely presented in a delux CD packaging. 

In this release P.H.A.S.T.I try to cooperate using the stages of sleep as inspiration. With such a concept in mind I would expect something close to hypnagogic and ambient music. What they propose through is an improvisation that incorporates the concept freely. Listening to it I understand the whole process as a structuralist event that is produced by merging well thought parts. The use of many and different percussion along with found objects creates a sonic pluralism that dominates the recording. The structure of the tracks is backed up by the use of the various synthesizers, the Theremins and the keyboards. This cd will not help you sleep; on the contrary the chemistry between the two bands will keep you alert. [m.marios]



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Babysue.com June 2011

P.H.A.S.T.I. - The Stages of Sleep: A Metaphor for Torun (CD,  HYPERLINK "http://www.myspace.com/pas-music" PAS, Experimental/sound)
P.H.A.S.T.I. is a collaborative project featuring the talents of Brooklyn, New York's PAS and Poland's HATI (the letters were combined to create the new name). All of the compositions on this CD were recorded live in the studio in Poland in 2010. The Stages of Sleep: A Metaphor for Torun features nine tracks of peculiar improvisation. Rather than focusing on melodies, the players focus more on creating sounds and moods with their instruments. These spontaneous pieces range from strange to slightly frightening. Hard to describe these songs...folks either dig experimental sounds or they don't. We're always up for people messing with our minds...and on this album, these folks do just that (!). Nine cuts here including "Preparation for the Internal Journey," "Stage 5 - Delta Sleep," and "Final Level."

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2011-05-30 - Monsieur Delire
François Couturehttp://blog.monsieurdelire.com/
HATI PRESENT P.H.A.S.T.I. / The Stages of Sleep: A Metaphor for Torun (ind.)
Splendide, mais vraiment splendide collaboration entre le quatuor électroacoustique américain PAS et HATI, un duo de percussionnistes polonais.The Stages of Sleep prend la forme d’une suite onirique de drones, de rythmes délicats et de constructions semi-mélodiques semi-texturales qui allient merveileusement abstraction et évocation. Charmant et titillant.  [Ci-dessous: "Stage 4 (Delta Sleep)".]
A splendid, truly splendid collaboration between US electroacoustic quartet PAS and Polish percussion duo HATI. The Stages of Sleep is a dream suite of drones, delicate rhythms and semi-melodic/semi-textural constructs that wonderfully blend abstraction and evocation. Charming and titillating.  [Below: "Stage 4 (Delta Sleep)."]

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Jan Willem Broek - Caleidoscoophttp://www.subjectivisten.nl/caleidoscoop/2011/05/pashati-present-phasti-the-stages-of-sleep-a-metaphor-for-torun.html PAS/HATI Present P.H.A.S.T.I. - The Stages Of Sleep: A Metaphor For Torun Een band, of beter gezegd collectief dan wel project, die ik al een jaar of 11 volg is http://www.myspace.com/pas-music newwin" PAS (Post Abortion Stress). Hun muziek valt nauwelijks te duiden maar weet altijd enorm te fascineren met bijzondere, ongrijpbare luisteravonturen. Het project start in 1995 en wordt aangevoerd door de New Yorkse muzikant en videokunstenaar Robert L. Pepper. Robert L. Pepper besluit dat het open collectief moet worden naast een paar vaste leden. Voor de rest zijn het steeds weer verschillende muzikanten vanuit de hele wereld en tevens met een wisselend instrumentarium die de koers en het geluid bepalen van de diverse releases. Dat kan dus betekenen dat ze de ene keer meer de ambient kant opgaan en een cd verder juist meer in de avant-gardistische hoek te vinden zijn. Maar meestal is het een combinatie van dingen en brengen ze intrigerende collages en soundscapes die in geen categorie onder te brengen zijn. In het verleden hebben Z’EV, Philippe Petit, Steve Beresford, Hati, Gay Tiger, The Vultures, Brandstifter, Magnetica Ars Lab, London Concrete en nog heel veel meer geparticipeerd. De groep muzikanten organiseert ook zogeheten Experi-MENTAL avonden en jaarlijks ook een festival met diezelfde naam. Ze hebben inmiddels zeven cd’s dan wel cd-r’s in eigen beheer uitgegeven. Daarnaast maakt Robert ook deel uit van het freejazz ensemble The Vultures. Op de samenwerking met het Poolse HATI zijn het naast Robert (keyboards, synthesizers, samples, gevonden geluiden), Amber Brien (bas, effecten, percussie), Will Connor (percussie, gevonden geluiden) en Michael Durek (casio, theremin, gevonden geluiden) die hier PAS vormen.
 HYPERLINK "http://www.myspace.com/hatitah" \t "newwin" HATI is het Poolse duo dat naast oprichter Rafał Iwański (aka X-NAVI:ET) sinds 2006 ook gevormd wordt door Rafał Kołacki. Vanaf de oprichting in 2001 zijn er nogal wat verschillende bandleden geweest. In de kern is de groep nooit veranderd, namelijk een audiovisueel project dat experimenteert met etnische instrumenten vanuit de hele wereld met gevonden geluiden. Ze hebben al diverse intrigerende albums uitgebracht en live dan wel in de studio samengewerkt met onder meer Z'EV, John Zorn, PURE, Mirt en Andrzej Wasilewski.
Samen met PAS vormt HATI nu het gelegenheidsproject P.H.A.S.T.I. (om nog maar eens wat hoofdletters er tegenaan te gooien). Samen improviseren ze op The Stages Of Sleep: A Metaphor For Torun er flink op los. De muziek, die zich als een patchwork van geluiden presenteert, is live in de studio in Torun (Polen) opgenomen. Je hoort de typische experimenten van PAS fraai verweven worden met de etnische instrumenten van HATI. De gevonden geluiden duiken willekeurig op in de composities. Ze lijken, mede gezien de titels, de verschillende stadia van de slaap van een soundtrack te willen voorzien. De composities hebben ook wel iets van een surrealistische droom, een koortsdroom wellicht, maar ik zou ze niet met de slaap associëren. Maar goed weet jij veel hoe een theta golf klinkt of zou kunnen klinken in je hoofd? Ze brengen een psychedelische mix van zowel serene en diepgravende muziek als kakofonisch, angstaanjagend of gewoonweg bloedstollend spannend. Je kunt niet spreken over muziek met kop en staart, maar wel over biologerende muziek die kop en staart roert en die op caleidoscopische wijze je steeds weet te verrassen. Om een idee te krijgen moet je het zoeken in de hoek van beide bands zelf en wellicht bij artiesten/bands als Crash Worship, Volcano The Bear, When, Zoviet*france, Amon Duul en Nurse With Wound in een productie van David Lynch. Als een langzaam voortbewegende massa lava sleurt de muziek allerlei geluiden met zich mee. Het is het komen en gaan van prachtig gevonden synchrone momenten, pure toevalstreffers en intrigerend vrij geluid. Niet de gemakkelijkste muziek om door te komen, maar wel een belevenis van jewelste als je er de tijd voor neemt. Experimenten van de bovenste plank!



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Frans de Ward
http://www.vitalweekly.net/ 5/9/2011


PAS & HATI – PHASTI (CD by PAS Records)Last years CoCart festival in Poland was canceled due to the plane crash which killed the president Kacynski and other officials. US based musicians PAS was supposed to play there, and traveled anyway. Instead of a live concert he spend his time with Hati, the Polish duo who make great use of percussion: gongs, cymbals, bells, rattles, spring drum, pipe, zanza, rattles, bass drum, ocean drum and flute. PAS is a four piece band who use bass (‘with effects’), percussion, found objects, keyboards, synthesizers, processed samples, fishing rod, vintage casio sk 1 and theremin. Whereas PAS is more of an improvised music ensemble, and Hati the masters of ritualistic percussion, it would be interesting to see in which direction this goes. No doubt Hati had a say, but they are a majority. The work, divided in nine parts, is highly rooted in the world of improvised music. That of course is not a bad thing, but I must say the result is a bit too haphazard for me. Lots of loose end sounds, being played together and against each other, but which fail to bring forward much musical coherence. I assume it is all related to ‘the stages of sleep – a metaphor of Torun’ as this album is subtitled, and occasionally they delve into atmospheric sparse percussion for that necessary quietness, but altogether the album evoked more unrest than pleasant quietness with me. Maybe its all just a bit too hardcore improvised for me, from a more regular end of the improvised music world. Or perhaps its just not my cup of tea. (FdW)



PAS Various Reviews

From the Howling Caliper Blog September 20th 2011
http://www.calipermusic.blogspot.com/

PAS
Post Abortion Stress is the angst and psychological trauma a women experiences after an aborted pregnancy. It is also a collective of abstract sound artists from Brooklyn. Started by Robert Pepper in 1995, the name is a metaphor for “those who have been aborted by society, because their point of view doesn’t fit in the constraints of ‘normal’ society,” and the music they create expresses this alienation, along with an affinity for pure sound. PAS’s music, it seems to me, is more akin to art than music. Although the music hints at patterns and rhythms, it’s more like a free form sound collage with no traditional musical foundation. It’s a combination of effected sounds, often made with found objects, that talk to and interact with each other in ways that only the individual listener can propose in his or her own mind. It is like music for a strange animation, with the listener’s own imagination, experiences, and memories left to draw the images. 

They have a pretty impressive catalog, which includes some interesting collaborations and side projects like the new york quartet Jazzfakers, and they’ve performed at countless music festivals around the world. Info on all of their concerts, collaborations, videos, as well as a complete discography for sale is on their homepage. This is from their 2010 collab with HATI, appropriately called: P.H.A.S.T.I.
PAS & HATI - Stage 4 (Delta Sleep) by Alrealon Musique



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"Pure Energy Output Sessions" review from the One True Dead Angel blog
http://theonetruedeadangel.blogspot.com/2011/09/who-stole-rain.html


PAS -- PURE ENERGY OUTPUT SESSIONS [PAS Records] 

This musical collective from Brooklyn, NY, spearheaded by one Robert L. Pepper, are an experimental audiovisual group with roots in dark ambient and processed sound who have collaborated in the past with the likes of Z'EV, Philippe Petit, Steve Bersford, Visitor Q, the Vultures, and a multitude of other like-minded artists across the experimental / industrial spectrum. They also curate events such as the annual Experi-MENTAL Festival and have performed not only in the US and the UK but in places as far away as the Netherlands, Greece, and Poland. They obviously have an impressive pedigree, and their experience in the gestation of weird sounds is reflected in the tracks on this disc. Their approach, while evidently informed by the early industrial sound of bands like Throbbing Gristle, Cabaret Voltaire, and Z'EV, is complex enough (and layered with the additional spicy bits of dark ambient and electronica) that it's largely impossible to even guess how the sounds in their exotic soundscapes were made. Is that a sampled and processed vocal chorus in "Travel Into"? What's the source of all that clanging that acts as a counterpoint to the heavy bass rhythm in "Explanation Without Words"? What's making all those high-pitched wailing sounds in "Faith," like an army of dying pipe organs? Such mysteries abound on just about every track. While it's true that these tracks are more accurately described as soundscapes than actual songs, they certainly aren't thrown together -- there's a cohesiveness to the way they collect and layer the elements in their sound collages, and their approach to tone is considerably different than that of their industrial forebears. Much of this, in fact, more closely resembles (at least in tonal quality) the early work of Tangerine Dream or Cluster, despite the fact that their approach and compositional aesthetics have more in common with the industrial movement that came a decade or so later (especially on tracks like "Piano Music For Volcano Eruption," "Joy," and "Sunrise of the Distorted Mind," where they briefly channel the spirit of Einsturzende Neubauten). Their background strongly suggests they are hardly novices at the art of constructing experimental soundscapes; the tracks on the disc easily confirm their talent for such, and this is definitely worth seeking out and hearing. 
Reconstruction:



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PAS - Reconstruction - 2011
www.absentamusical.com
Por Cristóbal Moya 

Cuando uno cierra los ojos escuchando un disco, siempre vienen miles de imágenes a la mente. Así, cada disco, cada banda y hasta cada canción tiene su imaginario diferente, muchas veces influenciado por la estética de la banda (fotos, videos, gráfica de discos, etc.) y otras, por la música en sí, como es el caso de los discos regrabados o bajados, y de bandas que escapan de la sobre exposición mediática que reina en estos tiempos. Como sea, la asociación música-imagen es prácticamente imposible de rehuir.
Las imágenes que ocurren al escuchar esta nueva entrega del cuarteto de Brooklyn, Post Abortion Stress, son casi tan curiosas y perturbantes como el nombre de la banda. Y no porque se trate de un disco en extremo estridente o demasiado inaccesible. Tampoco es un puñado de canciones para todo el mundo, claro está. Lo más extravagante del disco (y quizás una de sus mayores fortalezas) es que juega con la decepción y la sorpresa constante, en el buen sentido de la palabra. Los diferentes ritmos y sonidos espectrales que aparecen a lo largo de la escucha, logran que esta "reconstrucción" no caiga en la letanía y sopor en el que podría haber caído, gracias a un buen sentido del espéctaculo, es decir, en tener en cuenta al auditor, y tener las ganas de comunicar, más que de dárselas de superestrella de la oscuridad. Es que la invasión sonora va de lo abstracto a lo concreto de un track a otro (basta escuchar la transición de "Sound of thought in motion a here ing voices", excelente titulo por cierto, para notarlo), proyectando imágenes que remiten a los cuadros de la más oscura psicodelia, bueno, dependiendo del imaginario de cada auditor.
Sonidos y ruidos casi imperceptibles (a ratos creo que sólo mis perras podían escuchar lo que sonaba) oscilan entre lo actual y una actualización (o reconstrucción) de la imaginería que se tenía en los 90's de la Electrónica Dance (nombres como Eat Static o Sabres of Paradise me vienen a la cabeza) mezclada con el satanismo disco de Thrill Kill Kult y/o Sheep on Drugs. Y aunque estos nombres puedan aparecer a ratos, es sólo como referente. Otro punto a favor de la banda es su originalidad y personalidad propia e irrepetible, haciendo de los ocho temas del disco (sí, lamentablemente son sólo ocho) interpretables sólo por PAS y los diferentes artistas invitados para cada canción. Y es que en manos de otros, el descontrol estético, la falta de coherencia y consistencia y el sopor y letanía antes nombrados, hubiesen sido inminentes. El resultado, por el contrario, un producto que viene de la experimentación y el interés por crear nuevos espacios auditivos.
Así, entre temas que pueden dejarte clavado a la cama mirando al infinito y canciones que pueden hacerte desear que la pista de baile sea sólo tuya, se debate esta entrega, y lo que la hace más interesante, es que todo esto resulta bastante natural y poco forzado, casi como si no pudiese haber sido de otra forma, otorgándole frescura y originalidad al proyecto, el cual podría haberse ahogado en pretensión y sabihonderíade no ser por las inyecciones de destellos Pop que se dejan entrever a ratos y un norte claro respecto adonde se quiere llegar, cómo y por qué. 


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PAS (Post abortion stress)  "Pure Energy Output Sessions" CD
Pas records
 parašė Tobias Faar
            Garsas yra tam tikra terpė, kurioje reiškiasi instrumentai, daiktai bei žmonės. Vienas iš tokių muzikinių daiktų pakliuvo man į rankas, kuris kupinas įvairių garso fragmentų iš skirtingų daiktų, kurie gali ir sugeba skleisti triukšmą. Triukšmas šiuo atveju yra daugiau releatyvus.
            Taigi, PAS – ,,Pure Energy Output Sessions” albumas. Pirminis susidūrimas su albumu, jei tai yra fiziniame formate išleistas darbas, o taip ir yra, albumą pradedame tyrinėti jį čiupinėdami ir apžiūrėdami jo viršelio struktūrą. Šis mano akiai mielas reikaliukas yra gan svarbus. Kaip ir realybėje norėdami suvokti daiktus esančius aplink mus, mes juos uodžiame, liečiame, matome, girdime. PAS albumas patraukia akį savo popieriniu įpakavimu, kurį malonu liesti, smagu, kad vis daugiau ir įvairių atlikėjų kompaktinius diskus pateikia popierinėse pakuotėse, tai suteikia tam tikro šilto jausmo. Popierius kaip žmogaus oda. Sušlapęs priglunda, kietoje savo konsistencijoje jis plevena lyg vėjo apgaubiamas. Albumo viršelis padabintas atlikėjų asmeninėmis nuotraukomis, kas manau yra kaip savęs pateikimas klausytojams. Šiuo aspektu vengiama vaizdų, kurie sukeltų asociacijas siūlomai išgirsti muzikai. Albumas išties daugiau primena reprezentaciją, nors tai PAS kolektyvo aštuntasis albumas.
            Albume pateikiama 17 individualių kūrinių. Įdomu tai, jog klausant kiekvieną iš kūrinių, jais sukuriama bendra albumo visuma, ir nesvarbu ar klausai penktąjį kūrinį ar pirmąjį. Jie sudaro tą visumą ir sujungia 
skirtingus garsus į vieną, tačiau jei analizuotume albumą pagal jame pateiktus kūrinių pavadinimus, pastebėtume, jog iš tos bendros muzikinės visumos, per tris ar keturias minutes galime nukeliauti į savo vidinį pasaulį, kuriame atrastume tam tikrus reiškinius. Kolektyvo PAS kūrybos esmė tiek šiame albume, tiek kituose albumuose matoma lyg tradicija garsu sujungti du reiškinius: emocijas ir žmogų. Žmogaus vaidmuo šiuo atveju yra tarsi objekto, kuris skleidžia vieną ar kitą garsą, emocijos yra tarsi plotmė, kurioje garsas sugeba išsidėstyti. Kūrinyje ,,Travel Into” netgi aptinkami meditatyvūs garsai, kurie žmogų kaip objektą nukelia į emocinės plotmės gilumas tolesnėms paieškoms. Trumpiau tariant,  šis ,,grynos/gyvos energijos/jėgos” albumas yra lyg mediumas sėdintis prieš kiekvieną iš mūsų ir bandantis mums suteikti tam tikros trancendencijos.
            Bendrąją prasme kalbant apie garsines išraiškas, matomas itin ryškus abstraktaus garso naudojimo principas. Jei ambient ar eksperimentinėje elektronikoje naudojamas keturiomis struktūromis sukompiliuotas garsas, tai šiame albume girdimos dvejos struktūros - pagrindinis garsas, ir garsas palydintis klausytoją į kūrinio pabaigą. Albume sutinkama daug elektroakustinių, kurie albumui prideda gyvasties ir emocijos. Tai dvipusiškas albumas savo muzikine prasme – jį galima tiesiog klausyti, ir jį galima klausyti įdėmiau lyg medituojant. Tai yra garso darbas, kurį sudaro kūriniai turintys skirtingas abstrakčios muzikos asociacijas. Skirtumas toks, jog tose abstrakcijose veikia ne kompiuteriniai garsai, o instrumentiniai garsai.
            Reziumė – albumas “Pure Energy Output Sessions” kaip dvilypis objektas gali pateikti tam tikrų asociacijų su išgyvenamomis ir esamomis emocijomis, nes kolektyvo esmė būtent ir yra kurti ir parodyti žmogaus emocijas garse. Kitu kampu žvelgiant į šį albumą, galima pasakyti, kad tai albumas, kuris supažindina su abstrakčios elektronikos muzikos rūšimi. Vadinasi tai yra ir šviečiamojo pobūdžio garso darbas. 



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PAS “Pure Energy Output Sessions” (Album/PAS Records)
Review:

Artist: PAS (Post Abortion Stress)
Title: Pure Energy Output Sessions
Format: Album
Label: PAS Records
Genre: Dark Ambient, Experimental
Release date: 2010 

PAS (Post Abortion Stress) is the creation of US/Brooklyn-based artist Robert L. Pepper and several other members and was started back in 1995. Since then, several releases have been made their first releases have later been re-released through their own label PAS Records during 2009 followed with a couple of more during that year and even in 2010.

“Pure Energy Output Sessions” is the title of their latest CD and the music is very experimental and falls under the Dark Ambient style with lots of complex soundscapes. During it’s rather long playtime of 80 minutes I never get that interesting feeling. It’s like you are constant waiting for something to happen but it never does. My point is that I think the album is too long with too many meaningless tracks. Many of the tracks is not longer then a minute or so and that is a very short time to reflect before the next track begins.

When it comes to Dark Ambient music I would rather see an intense structure and shorter total playtime with not as many tracks like it is here. the atmosphere does at some points feels very intrigue-ish and good. Although, I think it’s a decent album but not more then that. However, if you are into Dark Ambient and experimental music I think this will suite you.

Tracklist:

01. Angels
02. Travel Into
03. Honour
04. Explanation Without Words
05. Hope
06. Melancholy Drink Coaster
07. Faith
08. Piano Music For Volcano Eruption
09. Sin
10. Production Of Souls
11. Meaning
12. Sadness Of Happiness
13. Love
14. Scratch Echo
15. Sunrise Of The Dormant
16. Joy
17. The Uprising Into Balance

January 3rd, 2011 | Reviews | By: Björn A. | 63 views | 




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Bats of Pure Energy
December 29, 2010
By  http://www.thesoundprojector.com/author/editor/   by  Ed Pinsent


PAS is the acronym for Post-Abortion Stress, not an especially savoury name for your band, but Robert L. Pepper and his constituents Amber Brien, Michael Durek and Jon “Vomit” Worthley make a very decent fist of producing collaborative electronic mélanges on Pure Energy Output Sessions (PAS RECORDS 6). They’re capable of a certain strain of low-down sulky monotone eruptive industrial-pulsage that puts the listener right inside a cramped and dank cellar with no lights or oxygen, but PAS can also do the outer-space spookoid thing very distinctively, with their theremin-like meanderings, treated voices, and keening bagpipe effects. Keyboards and instruments are approached as though they are potentially harmful objects, rather than useful tools. And once you see the colour photos of the foursome posing on the floor with fans, a telescope, and other props, you know you’re in the safe hands of some talented merry freaksters who bode no ill.

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Chain DLK

Title: Pure Energy Output Session 
Format: CD
Label: self-released
Rated: 
Hailing from Brooklyn, Post Abortion Stress are one of those bands not-so-easy-to-be-described cause despite their many references to music from the pas, they're not exactly old fashioned and at the same time they are reinterpreting influences quite personally and that's good. I've read sometimes they've been described as a "dark ambient" combo, but honestly I find they're thousand times more freaky then the average band playing this style of music, by some means they reminded me a lot Nurse With Wound and also Faust, but also Popol Vuh and Gong updated to the current millennium. Being from Brooklyn I happened to think even if considerably different they reminded me a lot of when I first listened to Aa from New York, they are equally as freaky even if more odd, with less vocal and above all without the drum, but the sound aesthetic is not so different. Synths, a massive use of echoes, loops and delays, sometimes the mixing of different sound-layers creates that trip through the canyon effect from the seventies, just think to Michelangelo Antonioni and you get the picture. As I've said I would speak more about new psychedelia rather than dark music, above all if you consider some of the melodies are not exactly obscure or heavy digestible (8, 11,15). I've seen they've collaborated and they keep collaborating with Philippe Petit and played at the Faust festival which itself says a lot to know more about their activities. Not all of the tracks are completely focused, but after all it's an interesting listening. 


Review by: Andrea Ferraris [ ics_ferraris {at} libero {dot} it ]


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Nov 28, 2010 

More Mars (Greece) review of "Pure Energy Output Sessions"

PAS (Post Abortion Stress) - Pure Energy Output Sessions(PAS Records / cd) 


When I was in Berlin, on May, I was lucky enough to see a live performance of PAS (Post Abortion Stress) in collaboration with some guests avant-garde musicians from the local scene. I remember myself waiting patiently to get inside to the small basement of “Madam Claude” that was full of people. Sonically the show was a textural sound experimentation, through the form of industrial music. I am very happy to say that PAS new release, called "Pure Energy Output Sessions", has a lot in common with this peculiar live performance. 

For the moment PAS have released some very interesting works, like the ghostly «time is a constant relapse" and the "such things … complete oneself", that includes collaborations of PAS with artists like Patrik Glassel, Anthony Donovan, London Concrete and more. I have to admit that "Pure Energy Output Sessions" seems to be a more complex and mature work. 
PAS compose music that is characterized by an electronic industrial atmosphere. Improvised sounds made by traditional and nontraditional instruments are creating a constructivist construction that is growing gradually. A big variety of musical instruments, theremin, percussions, bass, synths, melodica and mechanical sounds recorded with contact microphones etc, create some well-structured rhythmical parts (sometimes reminds me of “Video Adventures”) that are used as a backbone to non-rythmical sounds. PAS create compositions that really are not confined to demonstrate their technical characteristics, however they are more focused in the whole sound stucture of each track and to enrich them with the proper dosage of sonic textures. This is an interesting and very promising piece of music! [m.marios]  

 HYPERLINK "http://www.moremars.org/random/random07/random07-pas_pure_energy_output_sessions.html" http://www.moremars.org/random/random07/random07-pas_pure_energy_output_sessions.html


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Nov 24, 2010 
Japanese - Music Web Magazine NO! Review of "Pure Energy Output Sessions"

[PAS (POST ABORTION STRESS)]U.S.A.pure energy output sessionspas records releasereview by Koji Moromisato
 PAS began in 1995 in Brooklyn, N.Y., with many members centering ROBERT L. PEPPER. Although they perform mainly in N.Y., they have toured worldwide including Germany, Netherlands, U.K., Macedonia, and Poland to name a few.They are artists who create musical collages through abstract sounds.This release is a myriad of soundscapes and you can feel that they go beyond particular conventions to create music without any boundaries. You could say that this album is atmospherical, creating contemporary art which is unprecidented. Music is freedom and full of the love towards life and art. The soul of those who are out of the sphere of society can be felt through their expression using abstract sounds, welcoming images of endless soundscapes.As my personal impression, there is a Japanese artistic band, [KOWARETA OMOCHA GAKUDAN] , who are not well-known but it is a band that I recently discovered and am very interested in. The essence and emotion that the express has no restrictions and cannot be explained by genre. When I listened to PAS, I felt that there was a definite connection to what the two artist groups are expressing. My personal wish is to someday have these two groups share a stage in Japan and the U.S. I felt that both groups were free from convention and let those who listen feel whatever is inside them and discover something new.PAS are water, the sun and the atmosphere...things which are essential, yet have no shape.Definitely worth experiencing.



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 HYPERLINK "http://www.ravagedigitaal.org/2010/knars26/knars.php" Een eigen wereld

November 11, 2010

PAS staat voor Post Abortion Stress en is in 1995 gestart door de muzikant en videomaker Robert L. Pepper uit Brooklyn in New York. PAS staat voor alle mensen die uitgestoten worden door de samenleving vanwege hun afwijkende gedrag of gedachten. PAS staat in de Franse taal ook voor 'nee'. 

PAS schept met muziek een mooie wereld. De groep ziet zichzelf geluidssculpturen creëren in de zin van pure kunst. De cd-dvd Pure Energy Output Sessions is alweer hun zesde uitgave. De muzikanten zijn Amber Brien, Robert L. Pepper, Jon 'Vomit' Worthley en Michael Durek. Het kwartet, dat wereldwijd optreedt, speelde onder andere samen met Z'EV en Philippe Petit. 

Muzikaal bevat de cd verschillende  gemoedstoestanden. Het is als een kaleidoskoop die diverse dromen vertoont. De muziek neemt de luisteraar mee naar tal van kamers en ruimtes. Soms muzikaal minimalistisch, dan weer melancholisch, religieus, noisy, psychedelisch, ambient of industrieel. Veelal wordt er gebruikt gemaakt van een grondtoon of ritme die geloopt of gedelayed is en waar andere lagen zorgvuldig aan worden toegevoegd door middel van piano, stem, synthesizer, zelf gemaakte instrumenten en nog veel meer. 

Het lijkt alsof de muziek refereert aan old-school tape- en experimentele muziek uit de jaren '80. Dat zal hoogstwaarschijnlijk komen door het achterwege laten van een computer tijdens het musiceren. Pure Energy Output Sessions is een prachtige cd vanwege het op creatieve en intense wijze maken van muziek door mensen die goed op elkaar zijn ingespeeld. De cd is overigens verpakt in een prachtige kleurrijke cover.

De bijbehorende dvd Experimental Audio and Video Compositions Volume 1 bevat ruim tien korte experimentele films. De muziek van PAS ondersteunt de beelden. Ook hier is de muziek de moeite van het beluisteren waard. De dvd start met een korte zwart-wit film waarin een man in een surrealistische nachtelijke setting op straat allerlei gebeurtenissen meemaakt. 

Veel andere korte films op de dvd hebben een onduidelijk verhaal, maar dat kan binnen de experimentele film. Het veelvuldig gebruik van eenvoudige filters voegt naar mijn smaak niet veel toe aan het beeldverhaal. De kracht van de films zal toenemen wanneer de videomaker zich meer toelegt op een thema en dat nader uitwerkt, zoals met de eerste film is gedaan. Deze dvd bevat ook twee live-optredens van PAS, waarin mooi is gedocumenteerd hoe intens en geconcentreerd de muzikanten hun eigen wereld maken.

Jan Kees Helms




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Nov 9, 2010 

Vital Weekly review of "Pure Energy Output Sessions" 

November 8, 2010
 ============
VITAL WEEKLY
============

number 755

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week 45

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PAS - PURE ENERGY OUTPUT SESSIONS (CD by PAS Records)


 
PAS - EXPERIMENTAL AUDIO/VIDEO COMPOSITIONS VOLUME 1 (DVD by PAS Records)

PAS stands for Post Abortion Stress and started in 1995 in ....Brooklyn.., ..New York.... by the musician and videoartist Robert L. Pepper. PAS stands for all people how have been aborted by the society, because of that this people doesn't behave of think as is usual in the so called normal society. Pas does also mean No in French. The idea of PAS is create an own world of beauty and the group interpretate their music as sonic sculptures in the mode of pure art. Pure Energy Output Sessions is the sixth release of PAS. The musicians are Amber Brien, Robert L. Pepper, Jon "Vomit" Worthley and Michael Durek. They cooperated with musicians like ZEV, Philippe Petit and more and did concerts all over the world.  The music has a wide swing of moods, it is like a kaleidoscope of all kinds of dreams which takes the listener to all kinds of rooms and spaces. Sometimes the music is minimalistic, melancholic, religious, noisy, psychedelic or ambient. Mostly there is a layer of a loop or delayed sounds and the musicians add other musical patterns on it with piano, synthesizer, voice, self-built instruments and i do not know what. Sometimes the music refers to oldschool tape- and experimental music like in the eighties, but I guess it has to do with the use of loops and delayed sounds and no use of computer. I really like this album with the open creative mind with the aim to create a good piece of music. Lovely album presented in a beautiful colorful cover.

Robert L. Pepper is also a videoartist and the DVD consists a lot of short movies with a highly experimental character. The music is of PAS and more drony than the music in Pure Energy Output Sessions. I cannot say nothing about the music, it is great and I love it a lot. But the video's are more experiments with all kinds of filters. The DVD starts really well with a black and white movie in a surrealistic setting on the street. I like the repetition of the walking actor and the use of strange objects. But after this movie lots of different kinds of filters are passing by. Of course filters can make the image and (non)story stronger, but with a lot of movies the filter doesn't make it stronger. When Pepper focusses himself to one subject in combination with some objects the movie is much more interesting to watch. The DVD has also two live recordings of PAS. I liked to watch this very basic documentation of these concerts. Nothing really is happening, the musicians are concentrated making music and they do it in a good way. (JKH) 
 

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Bad Alchemy/Rigobert Dittmann review of "Pure Energy Output Sessions" (In German) 
Current mood:  artistic 
November 6th, 2010

PAS „Pure Energy Output Sessions“ 

(PAS Records, PAS06): PAS steht für Post Abortion Stress. Unter diesem Namen bereichert seit 15 Jahren Robert L. Pepper, der auch reichlich seltsame Amateurvideos dreht, in einem Kollektiv mit Amber Brien, Jon Worthley & Michael Durek die Noise Culture mit DIY-und Outsider-Kunst. Zudem organisiert PAS auch die Brooklyner Experi-MENTAL Nights und das gleichnamige Festival. Als musikalische Anreger werden Zoviet France, Coil und TG, Faust, Can und Gong, T Rex und Legendary Pink Dots genannt, als geistige Kubin, Meyrink, Dali, Jodorowsky, Tarr. Diese unamerikanischen Bezüge erklären kaum, warum sich am ehesten noch eine vage Verwandtschaft zu Smegma und To Live and Shave in L.A. oder Volcano The Bear feststellen lässt. Die Klangquellen scheinen beliebig, bleiben von Korg über Moog bis Mundharmonika, Selbstbaurasseln und Singender Säge Mittel zum Zweck. Diffuse Sound- und amorphe Dreamscapes, ungeniert lo-fi und brut, erhalten durch Vokalisationen besonderen Reiz. Gewollt ist jeweils ein bewusstseinserweiterndes Vordringen in die Hic-Sunt-Leones-Zonen der Klangwelt. Selbst so Zivilisiertes wie ‚Piano Music for Volcano Eruption‘ wird durch Kettengerassel unterhöhlt. Dabei geht es durchaus um Wesentliches: ‚Honour‘, ‚Hope‘, ‚Faith‘, ‚Sin‘, ‚Meaning‘, ‚Love‘, ‚Joy‘. Aber das muss erst aus dem Nigredo geläutert, aus dem Schlaf geweckt werden (‚Sunrise of Dormant Mind‘). Ohne dass es dafür einen sicheren Weg gibt. Der Prozess ist immer eine Improvisation, ein theatralisches kleines Ritual, zu dem Pepper etwa eine Freund-Hein-Maske aufsetzt. Der Beat ist so fragwürdig wie der Noise, der Weg in 17 ungleiche Schritte geteilt und mit Oxymora gepflastert (‚Sadness of Happiness‘).



http://www.badalchemy.de/

[BA 68 rbd]

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Mudkiss Review, November 4th, 2010

PAS - Pure Energy Output Sessions (PAS Records): More change & diversity now with PAS. They're a collective of New York artists in various media. PAS stands for "Post Abortion Stress" & the French word for "Not" - the idea being to start afresh , negating anything established in the search for new sonic/visual beginnings. In the same way, they're totally independent of any labels  or other commercial influences.The new cd is about as far as one can get from Suede, but its a fascinating trip into ambient & experimental soundscape territory. Think Eno for a starting point, or the laptop-improv sounds you'll hear on shows like resonance's "Exotic Pylon" or read about in "The Wire". Add some visual accompaniment & it all makes perfect sense. Although "Pure Energy Output Sessions"  is the new album, I'm tempted to recommend the dvd compilation "Experimental Audio/Video Compositions" as a starting point to get on the PAS vibe. I love the NYC street scenes, shot in slightly mutated colour, giving a dislocated, trippy feel to the images, like stepping outside after you haven't slept for a couple of days. Sometimes the focus switches to outdoor Mediterranean scenes, & there's a nice line in recurring images of decorated skulls, masks & weird papier-mache figures. 

Reviews by Den Browne

http://www.mudkiss.com/coloursofautumn.htm

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Nov 3, 2010 
Current mood:blissful

Chain D.L.K. review of "Pure Energy Output Sessions"
November 3rd, 2010

PAS stands for Post Abortion Stress. As the four people collective states, the "name refers metaphorically" to those who have been aborted by society". An interesting starting point that doesn't lead to any form of really "disruptive" music anyway as someone might expect indeed. On the other hand is hard to talk about music also, PAS don't follow any convention about structure or harmony as conventionally defined, it's more about creating rarefied soundscapes. In this sense they fulfill the task enlightened by their name. Sound sources vary, vocals as well as synths some kind of field recordings. Their nature is not harsh or particularly gloomy, they reflect various states of mind. Creativity flows freely, but I would call it mostly a "peaceful" kind of ambient, relaxing rather than ominous. The record is selfreleased but has the barcode on. 

id#6082

http://www.chaindlk.com/reviews/?id=6082

Review by: Borys Catelani
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Nov 2, 2010 

Babysue.com Review of "Pure Energy Output Sessions"


November 2, 2010.  www.babysue.com


PAS - Pure Energy Output Sessions (CD, Experimental) 

PAS stands for Post Abortion Stress...which is an experimental noise band based in Brooklyn, New York. The folks in this band compose and record music that fits somewhere in between the worlds of experimental music and modern classical. Instead of composing music based upon melodies, these folks' recordings are sound collages in which anything and everything is allowed to happen. Pure Energy Output Sessions will appeal to an esoteric, select listening audience...mainly those individuals who consider sound and noise to be music (we definitely feel that anything that can be recorded can be considered music). Odd soundscapes include "Angels," "Explanation Without Words," "Sadness of Happiness," and "Sunrise of the Dormant Mind."
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Nov 1, 2010 

Monsieur Délire Review of "Pure Energy Output Sessions"


Monsieur Délire Review of "Pure Energy Output Sessions"
http://blog.monsieurdelire.com/2010_10_31_archive.html


Journal d'écoute / Listening Diary ....
2010-10-29....


PAS / Pure Energy Output Sessions (ind.)....
PAS = Post Abortion Stress, un groupe de Brooklyn qui fait dans l’électronique expérimentale ambiante, avec une composante vidéo absente de ce CD (mais ils ont aussi un DVD - pas encore regardé). Je suis impressionné  par la qualité, l’élégance et la variété des courtes pièces qui composent ce disque. Ce quatuor sait ce qu’il fait, sans s’enfoncer dans une recette limitative. Une écoute agréable et stimulante.  [Ci-dessous: Le trio en concert.]....
PAS = Post Abortion Stress, a Brooklyn collective playing ambient experimental music with a video component missing from this CD (though they do have a DVD out). I am impressed by the quality, elegance, and diversity of the short pieces comprising this record. This quartet know what they are doing, without sinking into an oft-repeated recipe. A enjoyable and stimulating listen.


François Couture

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Oct 31, 2010 

Pure Energy Output Sessions review by Hypnagogue
October 30, 2010


by Hypnagogue


Call me shallow, but first impressions count with me. (I know I’ve mentioned this in past reviews.)  So when I open a disc from an experimental collective called PAS and it turns out that PAS stands for “Post-Abortion Stress”… I think I can be somewhat forgiven if I burned the disc into iTunes with more than a touch of trepidation. Despite reading in the press release that the term refers to those who “have been aborted by society,” the material on the disc (I refrain from the word “music” here for reasons noted below) reinforced the idea that trepidation was warranted. Pure Energy Output Sessions is, as noted in the release, “music from the fringes of perception . . . [not] defined by any particular conventions or viewpoints.” Which is to say, anything goes once PAS gets started, guided by their mission of free self-expression. The work here is more sound sculpture than music per se, and it is, by and large, aggressive sound sculpture, dynamic and tending toward assault. As such, it will challenge the taste and, perhaps, tolerance of most listeners. Pure Energy, by design, is a disc solely for the unbiased, wide-open, art-focused mind that can embrace a very abstract, unfettered approach–and I’m honestly not sure, having listened, if that’s me. Sample PAS and decide if it’s you.

Available from CD Baby.
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Oct 21, 2010 

Caleidoscoop, PAS "Pure Energy Out put Sessions" Review in Dutch
Here is a very nice review from Jan Willem Broek from Caleidoscoop in The Netherlands 

Please paste in a translator to get the general idea. 

http://subjectivisten.typepad.com/caleidoscoop/



PAS - Pure Energy Output Sessions / Experimental Audio/Video Compositions Volume 1 
[cd + dvd, PAS Records]

Zo nu en dan kom je in contact met projecten die compleet van de buitencategorie zijn, maar waarvan release na release zorgen voor een waar luisteravontuur. Zo’n bijzonder project, band mag je het eigenlijk niet noemen, is PAS (Post Abortion Stress), die ik al sinds het begin van deze eeuw volg. Het project start in 1995 door de New Yorkse muzikant en videokunstenaar Robert L. Pepper. Pepper besluit dat het open collectief moet worden naast de vaste leden Amber Brien, Jon “Vomit”Worthley, Michael Durek en Will Seesar. Voor de rest zijn het steeds weer verschillende muzikanten vanuit de hele wereld en tevens met een wisselend instrumentarium die de koers en het geluid bepalen van de diverse releases. Dat kan dus betekenen dat ze de ene keer meer de ambient kant opgaan en een cd verder juist meer in de avant-gardistische hoek te vinden zijn. Maar meestal is het een combinatie van dingen en brengen ze intrigerende collages en soundscapes die in geen categorie onder te brengen zijn. In het verleden hebben Z’EV, Philippe Petit, Steve Beresford, Hati, Gay Tiger, The Vultures, Brandstifter, Magnetica Ars Lab, London Concrete en nog heel veel meer geparticipeerd. De groep muzikanten organiseert ook zogeheten Experi-MENTAL avonden en jaarlijks ook een festival met diezelfde naam. Ze hebben inmiddels zes cd’s dan wel cd-r’s in eigen beheer uitgegeven. Gezien het hoge niveau is dat een behoorlijke prestatie en evengoed merkwaardig dat niemand ze ooit opgepikt heeft. Inmiddels zijn ze toe aan hun zevende cd Pure Energy Output Sessions. Voor de verandering hebben ze die enkel gemaakt met de harde kern. Het is één van hun meer experimentele cd’s geworden. Ze brengen een mengelmoes aan traditionele instrumenten om niet-traditionele muziek mee te maken en doen omgekeerd iets dergelijks met elektronica. Dat mengen ze vrolijk door elkaar waardoor er een soort surreële wereld ontstaat, mede ondersteund door de dronken fluiten en delirante vocalen die zo nu en dan opdoemen. Als een ingewikkeld patchwork wisselen muziek en non-muziek elkaar af. De ene keer is het sereen en diepgravend, op andere momenten kakofonisch, psychedelisch, angstaanjagend of gewoonweg spannend. Een track zoals “Piano Music For Volcano Eruption” heeft wat dat betreft een heel veelzeggende titel. Het is een performance of beter een belevenis maar dan op cd. Geen kop of staart, maar (bij voorkeur) onder de koptelefoon achterover zittend en je op prettige en verrassende wijze laten overrompelen door caleidoscopische klanken. Fans van Faust, Coil, When, Zoviet*france, Amon Duul, Nurse With Wound, The Legendary Pink Dots, Human Greed en Volcano The Bear komen hier absoluut aan hun trekken. Het is compleet uniek, biologerend en weergaloos wat PAS hier ten gehore brengt.
Om hun live karakter kracht bij te zetten en over te brengen, hebben ze ook de dvd Experimental Audio/Video Compositions Volume 1 uitgebracht. Hierop staat ouder materiaal voorzien van beelden, iets dat ze live ook altijd doen. Een David Lynch film verbleekt er bijna bij, zo surreëel en abstract zijn de beelden. De muziek erbij is van hetzelfde hoogwaardige niveau van hun cd’s. Daarnaast staan er twee live optredens waarbij ze ook diepe indruk weten te maken. Meer dan een uur weten ze je compleet te overdonderen en in hun greep te houden met hun oude materiaal dan wel optredens. Hopelijk krijgt deze fenomenale groep eens de aandacht die het verdient.

Luister Online:
Pure Energy Output Sessions (album)


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Oct 7, 2010 

Manchester Music Review for "Pure Energy Output Sessions"
http://www.music-dash.co.uk/releases/release.asp?item=6799

30 September 2010 / White Label / 17 trk CD
By JA 
This album came all the way from Brooklyn New York – PAS (or Post Abortion Stress) are a collective based around core founder Robert. L Pepper. 

The loosely looped concepts here, are delivered by as much wiring as they are instruments and much of the noise here is incidental, but strangely addictive. It’s an avant-garde re-imagining of the kind of material executed by This Mortal Coil and Modern English, but without song structures or vocals. The tracks burble along as though attempting to re-channel the audio soundtrack of Esraserhead into something more uplifting. 

It’s fair to say that this is pretty experimental stuff – “Faith” is composed of ground up guitars and echoes as well as 1970’s Dr Who sound effects. There’s also a video to accompany this, based around the theme of the bands name – it also includes tracks entitled “Circumsize Your Mind” and “ The Egg of Flute” and I’ll certainly be checking that out. 

PAS aren’t for the faint hearted, but their music is surprisingly engaging given that they never wander anywhere near a drum beat – for the curious and those seeking out innovation on the fringes of the established and understood music scene.


MMM
 

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PAS - NITETROTTER Session

Illustration Jorge Tapia / Sound Engineering Lawrence Romani / Text Lawrence Romani - Sept 8, 2010 


I was really excited to have PAS record at Apparition Sound. They are a 4 piece most of the time but they have a long list of collaborators working with them in a live set so that number can swell to 10 just as it did recently when Vultures Quartet joined them for Avante Garde Festival in Germany opening for Faust and Lydia Lunch. The core members are Robert Pepper, Amber Brien, Jon Worthly and Mike Durek. The PAS sound is very organic and ethereal; a composed dissonance that creates an atmosphere around the listener. By fusing eclectic instrumentation with electronics they have created a sound that’s as original as it is timeless and haunting. Give them a listen. Enjoy ! 


PAS - "Untitled"

Recorded at Apparition Sound Brooklyn

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Sep 13, 2010 

Sound Projector Podcast & "The Lyre Speaketh" review from 12-23-2009
We are very happy to be noted on The Sound Projector's podcast "A good-looking Audio Pan." The podcast has many great musicians and comes from a wonderful experimental music website run by Ed Pinsent. Check it out:

http://www.thesoundprojector.com/2010/09/03/a-good-looking-audio-pan/

Here is also an old review of "The Lyre Speaketh" by Ed Pinsent of The Sound Projector:

"From Brooklyn in New York, we have a release made by PAS last year. Led by Robert Pepper, this is a quartet of experimenters making rather quirky and quite dark electronic music with heavily treated vocals set to clonking rhythms, resembling in places a rather more sinister version of The Residents. I think it’s fair to say The Lyre Speaketh (NO NUMBER) is an idiosyncratic record and will not be to the taste of all listeners, but PAS (whose name unpacks into a rather unpleasant sentence of visceral horror) do have some distinctive moments of bizarre invention leaking out from this sprawling mass of analogue electronics, exotic effects, and incomprehensible jazz-poetry recits. I think they work best when they manage to shroud themselves inside an introverted, voodoo-fog of their own making, not raising their heads once as they weave their eerie spells. Apparently they make videos too, which if seen in conjunction with the music might have serious consequences for the audience’s overall grip on reality."

Ed Pinsent

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Aug 11, 2010 

Wire Magazine Avant Garde Festival Review
"An Anglo-American collaboration between Brooklyn's Post Abortion Stress and London based quartet Vultures builds a theatrical ritual, combining a grinding Industrial sound collage of electronics and percussion with an unsettling film projection of a naked, supine woman undergoing a full-body plastercast. With the doors of the main venue pulled shut against the afternoon sun, they succeed in involking an episode of gloomy, creeping menace." 


Dan Spicer (Wire Magazine September 2010)


Film by PAS.

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Aug 18, 2010 

Shinto Records "Torture Garden" com Review by Fearnet.com
Shinto Records 'Torture Garden' CompilationMon., Aug. 9, 2010 11:30 AM PDT , by Gregory Burkart
Last summer I profiled Sin-Tech, a dark and disturbing compilation of experimental music from indie label Shinto Records that really opened my eyes to some envelope-busting artists from many different genres – including gothic, industrial, EBM, dark ambient, neo-folk, abstract noise, and a few categories that probably don't have names yet. The macabre landscape explored in that collection was only the first step, as the creators have gathered yet another amazing group of artists for this summer's new collection Torture Garden. Mainly an electro-industrial label with a lot of club-friendly content, Shinto has been bringing aboard a lot more sinister experimental acts lately, and it's these horror mini-soundtracks that make up the bulk of this particular release, resulting in aHellraiser-type puzzle box of chilling and challenging sounds. Read on for a closer examination and the album's most definitely NSFW cover art...

Like the 1967 Amicus horror anthology and the world-famous British S&M club, Torture Gardentakes its title from the controversial novel by avant-garde writer Octave Mirbeau – and each of the 22 artists collected here might very well be exploring that book's nightmare world of sadistic sexuality and violent death through their own unique musical language. Like last year's Sin-Techcomp, many of these artists defy categorization – like post-punk unit Strange Walls, who combine grotesque sample loops and acoustic guitar in Black Mold, or Italy's D.B.P.I.T., blending FX-treated brass instruments with bubbling electronic atmospheres in Homesick, calling to mind a Sergio Leone flick from hell. But all of these bizarre wonders manage to work together to create a sense of lurking, unknown fear and dark, seductive forces prying their way into your brain.

While most of these tracks could be loosely placed in the dark ambient genre, the differences come in their level of nightmarish intensity. The middle-range of subtle, drone-filled walls of sounds and nondescript voices include the down-tempo darkwave of Phantoms Of The SS –  the only carryover from the first Shinto compilation – with Everything That Rises Must Converge; that band's side project 1 Phantom also contributes the somber We Are The Sound Of Falling Angels. Black Grassby Pennsylvania act e.g. creates a hypnotic swirl of analog synths, death-machine rhythms and dark piano chords, while guttural groans and cosmic drones saturate Attainment Of The Death Posture by Scapegoat. Portuguese artist Z.O.T.E. fabricates a fuzzy alien transmission inParasitar; Justin Tharpe's Implication creates a strange, disembodied feel with its murky, echoing vocals and troubling beat loops, and the epic scope of Wolfen by France's Barbarossa Umtrunk emerges from a vast, arena-like ambiance into military drumbeats and ominous, distant chanting.

Among the few cuts falling within a more conventional sound, French band Life's Decay offers one of the best lyric-driven offerings here with Swanics – a hauntingly effective, sinister and sexy piece – and Glasgow goth-folk group Psychogeographical Commission create a subtle, floating guitar atmosphere beneath the spoken lyrics of Have You Ever? The dry, brittle piano patterns of Broken Fingers (Interlude) by Greek band iN[s]CissorS provide an ice-cold gothic touch, and [de]Solo by Italian neo-classical group Trama afonA evolves into a sublime dark symphony complete with strings, ethereal choirs and the occasional sound of breaking glass.
More exotic world-music flavors occasionally join the party: the album itself opens on a cyber-tribal note with Outside The Void by NY group Post Abortion Stress (PAS), a throbbing echo chamber of exotic percussion and electronic drones; Mau Bast from San Francisco artist Protea depicts a futuristic pagan ceremony, paying lyrical homage to the Egyptian cat-goddess, and sampled dulcimer meets ominous beat patterns as the hypnotic backdrop for Soul's Rattle by LA ambient artist Sadore.

Creating an effective balance between the beautiful and the dangerous are some interesting swatches of down-tempo terror industrial, like 1984 by from Spain's Maldito Mutante (featuring unidentifiable voice samples that call to mind some of The Residents' more unsettling works), and San Francisco act 15 Degrees Below Zero conjure up electronic beat textures that steadily creep up behind you in the tense track Ticking Down The Moments.
But it's not all formless atmosphere and fuzzy beats... some of these tracks are clearly designed to rip your face off. The overdriven sample loops and buzzing pulse rhythms of Today by French industrial noise unit Schultz is a sharp jab to the cerebral cortex; Buhloon by New Jersey ambient act Mutcer creates a cavernous slaughterhouse feeling through echoing high-pitched squeals and coarse growls, and an unbearable tension infuses Settle Down by Australia's Twisted Subterranean Death Trap. On the furthest end of the spectrum, Eigenstate completely blow your head off with an extreme noise track bearing the equally extreme title Blood And Semen.
You can probably tell by now that this music is not for rocking out with your car windows rolled down... unless maybe you want to convince your fellow commuters that you've got at least three bodies in the trunk... come to think of it, that actually sounds like a groovy idea. But seriously, these sounds are mostly intended to challenge your ears, jostle your brain and send shivers up your spine. Just keep that in mind as you start laying out your Halloween party plans this fall. If you're still too afraid to dive in all the way, check out some song samples from Torture Garden and other collections at the Shinto Records website.

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Visual
ARTS
Music & media mavens mix a marathon mash-up 
Sebouh Gemdjian 
Tuesday, February 2, 2010 
Alfa Art Gallery kicked off its second year anniversary on January 29 with “The Caged Bird Sings,” a jam session featuring six musicians in a cage – for 24 hours with only meal and bathroom breaks.
 
'But even within this false cage, we can communicate with each other, give and receive love, and experience joy.'
Dancers added a visual aspect to the music at the opening, and juxtaposed it to the works of the rest of the artists, which they used as props in their routines. 
The unifying idea was Albert Einstein's claim that "everything in life is a vibration," as interpreted by local experimental musician Michael Durek.
"The idea that we communicate vibrationally has always interested me,” Durek said. “Someone can be smiling at you and saying all kinds of happy things, but you can just feel the unease beneath what they're saying. Also some people can walk into the room, and not say a word, and put you at ease. You can't explain it, but they just emit this sense of calm, and it's contagious."
An hour before the opening the gallery was an empty room, except for a white cage and a few people, stretching. There was a globe hanging from a rope. Across from it, a cardboard spiral hung in a corner. Sound check followed. Some sounds were soft; some, not so much. Guitarist Tsubasa Berg sat next to a duct-taped guitar in the corner of the cage as the lights went down and a projection became visible.
Curators Michiko Mull and Natalie Trainor gave an overview of Alfa Art Gallery's first two years, followed by an introduction of the Cook Campus Weather Watchers (a living community of Rutgers Environmental Studies students). Co-proprietor Galina Kourteva gave a statement calling for controversial programs in both science and the arts to receive the support to make them accessible to a broader audience.
The Aquatic Ape theory, which proposes that man evolved from an ape that lived in the water, was the theme of "It Came from Beneath the Sea," Eric Clausen's series of collages and sculptures. "The scientific community does not support the theory at this time," he said, "but it's such a wonderful theory. Believing it is an act of faith for me." One of his installations was a blue globe hanging from a rope, with the words "Six Monkey Powder" cut out in wooden blocks radiating out of it. The statement, Clausen said, is a word play of "Sex, Money, Power."
Sustained feedback started a dancer's interaction with Clausen's pieces. Her foot held the "Six Monkey Powder" globe. Fingers from the audience tickled the guitar which was laying on top of the cage. Berg, Rutgers student and cage-resident guitarist, manipulated the home-made fuzz box.
"My piece is activated by the dancers," said painter Sarah Garnett of her tie-dyed fabric with sleeves on a double frame. "The dancers and the piece become one unit. It is a merging of human and object. The fabric is a limiting and an expressive factor." Her performance piece was accompanied by the synthetic, ambient sounds of a vocoder played by Robert L. Pepper, member of the Brooklyn-based group, PAS.
Artist Michelle Provenzano, instead of interacting with her shadow, detached herself from it. "I painted an ink shadow on satin and mailed it to the gallery as an act of surrender," she said. As part of the performance, a dancer danced with Provenzano's satin silhouette. Shadows were also predominant in her "Slips" watercolor series. Anne Percoco, a 2008 MFA graduate from Rutgers who spent some time in India setting up art projects through the Asian Cultural Council, also expressed vibration through shadow play. She installed a time-delayed shadow generator on her laptop and had a dancer interact with her past movements. The shadow of the dancer was delayed 30 seconds, so was the shadow of the shadow, and so on, generating an infinitely recursive pattern of shadows on the wall. The accompaniment was purely percussive, from the hand drum of Amber Brien, another PAS member.
"You deal with thoughts about past and future in the past," Percoco said when asked what inspired the piece, "but what are the boundaries of your self?” She added that when speaking and gestures are seen as one complete interaction, the boundaries of the self disappear.
Ian Trask's spirals made of industrial cardboard were also incorporated into a dance improvisation. It began with a dancer hidden behind one of his pieces, using her posture to blend in. She was joined by another, and their fluid motions responded to a saxophone played by Dave Tamura of The Jazz Fakers.
"The artists involved are all known for breaking boundaries with their work," said Durek. "Jim Tuite, Anne Percoco, and Mercedes Bradley all helped me design and build the cage itself. We wanted the aesthetics of the cage to stem from its functionality, rather than being about craft-making."
Participating choreographers and dancers included Laura McComb and Jilliana Richcrick of And Dancers, Nicole Mahncke and Michelle Puskas of The Nikki Manx Dance Project, Carla Menchinella, Emily Pope-Blackman of HoverBound, and Ann Peters.
"We tend to see ourselves as isolated fragments in a hostile universe, separated from the rest of nature," Durek said. "This is akin to putting oneself in a cage. But even within this false cage, we can communicate with each other, give and receive love, and experience joy. So I might have called it 'Even the Caged Bird Sings' . . . . It's both a drag to think you're separate and cause yourself undue misery - but through our false separation we can and do make connections."
12:15 AM0 Comments(Add Comment)2 KudosTranslateEdit Remove Feb 2, 2010 

Daily Targum, 24 Hour "Caged Bird" Articule
Daily Targum > Metro 

Musicians ‘caged’ in 24-hour art
By Dennis Comella

Contributing Writer 

| Published: Sunday, January 31, 2010

Updated: Sunday, January 31, 2010

New Brunswick’s Alfa Art Gallery celebrated its second anniversary Friday with a 24-hour-long event featuring artists, musicians and dancers.
The performance, entitled “The Caged Bird Sings,” continued into Saturday, where five musicians played improvised music through the night and day while sitting in cages. 
Michael Durek, a musician inspired by Albert Einstein’s claim that everything in life is a vibration, created the event.
“For each performance, we had a dancer collaborate with an artist and a musician, and the three of them are responding together,” said Durek, who also was one of the night’s performers.
Each musician sat in a separate cell of the cage, interacting only with the music they produced. 
Durek said according to Einstein’s theory, everything in the universe emits a unique frequency, but those frequencies, or vibrations, do not exist in isolation. Each vibration affects and is affected by every other vibration, even across great distances. 

“It just came to me, to have to build a cage and to improvise in it,” Durek said.
The event, located at 108 Church St., began with dancers responding to the artists’ works while a musician played a composition written for the art. 
There were six performances, each with a dancer interacting with a different artist’s work. Following the performances, the improvisational marathon began. 
“It’s not something composed and rounded. The music to my ears seems very incoherent, but it’s interesting to see how it’s being produced … I’m interested in how they respond to each other and the flow,” said Leon Laureij, a Highland Park resident.
Michiko Mull, the museum’s curator, said the museum had an experimental, interdisciplinary approach to art, therefore Durek’s concept for the event was perfect.
One of the artists was Michelle Provenzano, whose shadow art was used in one of the dances, performed by Carla Menchinella. 
“I made my shadow on this piece of satin and I gave it to Carla, hoping she would do something with care, but I didn’t have any idea what she was going to do,” Provenzano said. “It was interesting that she chose to wrap herself up in it and really related to it as a floor shadow, when, in fact, when I made it, I projected myself against a wall.”
Provenzano is also interested in thinking of shadows as physical objects as opposed to a light phenomenon. 
“It’s kind of like she’s picking up my body,” she said. 
Eric Clausen, another artist at the event, presented interactive art and sculptures that reflected the “aquatic ape hypothesis,” an alternate theory of evolution that proposes early primates developed in an aquatic environment. 
“There’s no scientific evidence for it whatsoever, but it’s a nice theory. I kind of want to believe in it,” Clausen said. 
Clausen said one could interpret his art as being about certainty, faith or the difference between belief and rationality. 
Neither Clausen nor Provenzano had participated in an interdisciplinary event like this before, but both said they were excited to do so. 
“What’s really exciting is the collaborative improvisational aspects of musicians, dancers and artists working together. It’s inspiring and makes me want to do more collaborative works,” Provenzano said. 
The organization of the event, from the musical interactions to the minimalist cage for the musicians, was a new experience, she said. 
“Coming from a visual arts background, to participate in a show that was organized by a musician has been a really interesting experience because he’s coming at it from a musician’s point of view,” Provenzano said. 
Other featured artists in the exhibition include Sarah Granett, who created a spandex fabric sculpture, and Ian Trask, whose recycled cardboard sculptures are on display.
Provenzano also has three drawings and a watercolor painting displayed. 
“I like that it’s a series of installations,” said Mike Dunican, a School of Arts and Sciences junior. “I like that there are a lot of people here, and a lot of people from town, not just college students — that’s awesome.” 
All of the art in the exhibition will be on display until Feb. 17. 

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Thursday, July 23, 2009  
 Review by Paul Paradis from All Music Blog 
Category: Music 
From Paul Paradis of All Music Blog.  http://www.mymindisamuffler.blogspot.com/ 

Broadcasting from Brooklyn, NY, to all the known points in the universe, is PAS. Originally a solo project begun by Robert Pepper in 1995, the project remained a one man band until 2004, when Robert met Jon "Vomit" Worthley at a Genesis P. Orridge lecture. In 2007, Robert met and subsequently started dating Amber Brien; together these two people have helped Robert to fill out and stabilize the group. The current line-up is divided this way: Robert Pepper - Keyboards, percussion, loops, various analog Amber Brien - Drums, Percussion, Bass, Electronics Jon "Vomit" Worthley - Guitar, Effects, Electronics, various analog Amber is also trained in Taiko, the Japanese drum art. Taking their name from a religious pamphlet, PAS (post abortion stress) is a group out to create music according to their particular artistic vision, which is one of aberrant beauty and abstraction; their name refers metaphorically to those who have been aborted by society, those whose point of view doesn't fit in the constraints of "normal" society. This viewpoint fuels their creativity. Since their inception the band has been interested in making music from the fringes of perception, creating soundscapes that aren't defined by any particular conventions or viewpoints; the aesthetic underpinnings are defined by the notion that music can be whatever is perceived by the ear. It's a conception fueled by a love of life and art and a desire for honest artistic self-expression. The compositions themselves are more akin to soundscapes than "songs" in the traditional sense. There are no clearly defined melodies, no structural landmarks that give you any sense of traditional anchor. This is not music making with any sense of or desire for commercial viability, but sonic sculptures in the mode of pure art. During my usual round of questions that always forms a necessary part of the act of creation for me in this medium, I was given to understand that painters and writers are a huge influence on the band. This bit of information was highly revelatory for me, as the music this band makes has a very visual quality to it. Terms like "sound collage" spring to mind almost effortlessly. I would go so far as to say that this love of visual media is the main thing informing this particular musical experience. Listening to these ethereal, shifting compositions leaves me feeling like I was journeying through an alien landscape, taking in the shape of the land, the types of flora and fauna; at the same time searching for the inhabitants, but never finding another person, only knowing of their existence through bits of information, voices carried on the wind, and sounds of "civilized" existence. The sense of being alone imparted by the music is not a criticism. On the contrary, as mentioned above, it is an essential element in the overall design. "Old Mirrors New," the tenth track from the album "The Lyre Speaketh," is a perfect example of this. The track doesn't begin in the traditional sense so much as cohere from nothing, the sounds of the piece gradually building until we find ourselves immersed in an ethereal soundworld. As the piece unfolds, we hear some type of intoning counterpointed against wooden flutes, as if we are listening to the enactment of some solemn mystic rite. The accompaniment for this track has the quality of a hammer or a shovel, digging at very hard ground. This has the tendency of heightening the sense of ritual engagement that the intoning voices seems to impress on our consciousness. The space in between these two elements is filled in with a very atmospheric type of sound, high pitched and quiet, more an intimation of atmosphere than anything else. This element has the effect of heightening the hallucinatory element of the piece, as if we are experiencing this scene under the influence of something intoxicating, or perceiving in a trancelike state. For another example of the bands approach to music, let us turn to the title track on the album. The effect of this piece has a more unsettling quality to it. Part of it has to do with the bassline, a ponderous, low-brass timbred affair that sounds like a whole tone scale, or at the least part of one, re-iterated at intervals with a quiet relentlessness. This is played against a repetitive figure on what sounds like a Koto, which in turn is played against a vague screaming sound. The overall effect is stunning in itself, evoking some alien landscape of foreign dimensions. All this from a three piece. The amount of layered sound they manage to produce gives the impression of a much larger ensemble, but this is just indicative of their talent, and the focus they bring to bear on their vision. They are one of the most engaging groups I have encountered in some time, due to the idiosyncratic nature of their philosophical view of music and the way in which they realize this philosophy by their output. In keeping with their deep interest in visual media, there are several videos available on their MySpace page. As of this writing the band has four albums available. They are “Intro to Jesus”, “The Lyre Speaketh”, “Antarctic Tribe”, and “We Have Discovered Your Mother’s Body.” All of these are available at www.cdbaby.com or iTunes and various internet dealers. 


Check out more here: 


http://www.mymindisamuffler.blogspot.com/ 

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Tuesday, July 14, 2009  
 PAN.O.RA.MA REVIEW OF ”Experimental Audio/Video Compositions Volume 1" 
P.A.S (POST ABORTION STRESS) (USA) ”Experimental Audio/Video Compositions Volume 1" DVD 2008 (Self Released) Robert l. Pepper, the mastermind behind PAS,sent us another exploration of his creative work in the fields of experimental ambient, but this time through visual expressions which are revealing the most hidden aspects of nature in which inhabits PAS.the whole DVD includes 11 expressive compositions with high context of visual elements from a man walking in the street through black and white images and sad melodies in “Talking About Violins” or the dense percussive soundscapes and middle east images in “outside The Void”. In the track “Circumsize Your Mind”, PAS walks into an inner reality through masks, street walkings and suggestive, percussive elements, voices and guitar parts. Each one of the compositions has a very surrealistic nature which must be explored by listeners in order to get an exact idea of the whole expressionism handled here. In “Remember: It’s Only A Dream” the dark, experimental journey continues, this time under made home elements and great musicalisationship built by percussive elements and soundscapes complementing perfectly with the visual side. “The Egg Of Flute” is the best video including here.Egiptian Icons, paintings and a suggestive visual atmospheres mutating all the time. Besides 11 video clicks,you shall find two live shows “Live At Goodbye Blue Monday” and “Live At Europa”,both of them with highest context due the eclectic nature of PAS at stage. So the whole DVD contains enough elements which will give you a clue of what POST ABORTION STRESS is all about!!! 


For more great reviews from Edgar Kerval go here:

http://www.panoramajournal.blogspot.com/ 

Review For "Antactic Tribe" by Edgar Kerval at PAN.O.RA.MA AUDIAL/VISUAL/MAGICKAL JOURNAL 
PAN.O.RA.MA audial/visual/Magickal Journal

by Edgar Kerval


http://www.panoramajournal.blogspot.com/




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PAS (Usa)
”Antarctic Tribe” Cdr 2008
(Self Released)....

Robert L Pepper, the mastermind of POST ABORTION STRESS, continues with this experimental transmisión keeping the dimensions of creativity and deconstructive expressionism generated through “Antarctic Tribe”. So this time through 12 compositions representing the atavistic exploration of primitive cultures. PAS has developed an album with so many eclectic elements and such sensorial experiences which keeps your subconscious altered into an strange meditative state, where mind, body and spirit, became one abstract form to be evoked by each one of the 12 compositions generated here. “Antarctic Tribe”,” Electric Carving”,”Mechana Drip” are the first 3 compositions here. The first one is an ambient track full of dynamism and eerie atmospheres. The second is more focused into dense reverberations and atmospheres collapsing themselves to create a very strong piece here. The other track is a defragmentation of sounds with such noisy industrial elements which suits perfectly the whole structure of the track. Another great track is “The Shinning Pyramid, a impressive ritualistic track with excellent percussive elements and primitive flute atmospheres which reminds me to Zero Kama at some passages. This track is the best one included here, although the whole ones have such interesting elements worth to explore. “Field Of Sea” emerges as another strong reality with such hard atmospheres and eclectic structures mutating all the time. “Kalanda” floats into cosmic atmospheres dressed by experimental soundscapes surrounded by such elements which keep your senses awaken from start to finish. So a very recommended release to those into experimental ambient material with such ritualistic touch. For more info just visit POST ABORTION STRESS page.....

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Thursday, July 02, 2009  
 Review For "We Have Discovered Your Mother's Body" by Edgar 
PAN.O.RA.MA audial/visual/Magickal Journal

by Edgar Kerval

http://www.panoramajournal.blogspot.com/

PAS (....Usa....)....
“We Have Discovered Your Mother’s Body” Cdr 2007....
(Self Released)....

POST ABORTION STREES is the representative driving force generated by Robert L. Pepper and Jon Worthley, having in mind to explore the diverse structures into experimental / ambient spaces, but at the same time working with visual and other devises which increases more our interest when hearing the music. This album includes a total of 7 compositions in which you can transport yourself to the ancient regions of Egyptian culture, due the enigmatic mysticism and atmospheres created through the whole album. Opening this release is “Circumsize Your Mind”, a composition focusing into percussive elements and a very in deep atmosphere and dismal arrangements which are really amazing. Through “....Night.. ..Island....” things goes more dense and spectral at the beginning of the track, with perfect work of vocals and some ghastly structures rising to complements perfectly with the general concept of the track. “We Are Boo Da La” is an evocative track full of obscure realities and abstract forms, based in dynamic elements and melodies which together create a very interesting musical piece. Voices and the always interesting percussive elements keep your attention all the time. With “Outside The Void”, AS marked a high point due how the tracks evolves from time to time. A ritualistic expression, focusing so many interesting elements, for example the dark soundscapes embracing such percussive sounds and atmospheres gathering through the whole track. Another interesting composition is “Electric Bliss”, a psychotic structure with the dynamism and identity which characterize each one of PAS releases. “Failure To Perform” emerges through thin percussive beat and spoken voices which suddenly mutates into more rhythmic atmospheres. Closing the album is “Particles I” another track floating into the experimental ambient sounds which PAS has adopted since the very beginning. An interesting purpose by this act coming from Brooklyn ....Usa.....
 
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Sunday, May 31, 2009  
 "The Lyre Speaketh " review by Radio Indy 
"The Lyre Speaketh," is a new experimental album by PAS (Post Abortion Stress) that's doused with sounds both familiar and bizarre. The track, "Otherworldly Magic in County Kirkahan" is driven by a fast paced sub-bass and hand percussion while metallic sheets are scratched as an ambient layering. "Chorus of Cats" is another song where you can feel its pulse, but the emphasis is on the soundscape of distorted elements reflecting in a cave or dungeon (as one may imagine). The appeal to this CD is not a hook or killer beat, but rather exposing yourself to unique sounds that create a new musical palette. There are moments of dissonance but before long, a shimmering light seeps through, revealing a charm behind the shadows. Expand your horizons by hearing "The Lyre Speaketh," where there are endless possibilities to the depths of music.
-Max B. and the RadioIndy.com Reviewer Team  

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Thursday, May 28, 2009  
PAS REVIEW: Korova (Spain) 
KOROVA CULJANTIN P.A.S. (POST ABORTION STRESS) RUIDO Y TRAUMAS http://www.korova.es/muzak.php?pag=2&id=624 PAS es uno de esos grupos para los que da gusto tener una sección habilitada...De lo contrario, jamás nadie en este mundo llegaría a saber que existen, a menos que acudiera a publicaciones o webs superespecializadas de esas que no visitarías ni fumao. Nosotros tampoco lo hacemos, y es el azar el que ha puestoa PAS en nuestro camino. Ni nos lo pensamos: estos tíos son tan extremos que supimos que tenían que llenar nuestra portada. PAS son un proyecto experimental de Brooklyn técnicamente compuesto por 5 músicos/creadores que acometen a partes iguales la creación musical y la visual, disponiendo filmaciones y proyecciones como complemento de todas sus actuaciones. PAS crean sonidos, los improvisan, los deforman, los descomponen y los reconstruyen en vivo como si estuvieran tratándolos sobre una mesa de operaciones. PAS combinan los sonidos abstractos que almacenan en un disco duro con la creación musical analógica a través de instrumentos convencionales (guitarras, percusiones...), embarcándose en formidables jam sessions de pura exploración experimental. Como grupo, PAS ha editado 4 discos. Como proyecto, puedes añadir varias horas de material fílmico. Y como experiencia, ninguna comparable a visitar su myspace y entrar en su universo:  

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Tuesday, March 24, 2009  
 Dark Grave Review 
Category: Art and Photography 
http://www.darkgrave.com/

http://www.darkgrave.com/reviews/index.php?id=66

This is a very unusual DVD from posT-abortioN-stresS - froM thE viewpoinT oF thE fetuS.

Experimental Audio/Video Composition Volume 1

Contained on this DVD are 10 presentations and 2 live videos. 

The video and audio is very experimental. The audio sounds in the style of Robert Rich. The video appears partly home video, and partly editied video with lots of blurr and color. It is a very slow watch. The most interesting video is The Bedtime Story Came True. It plays like a silent movie with a story to follow. Best to watch when you are not in total control of your senses - such as lack of sleep.

Copyright 2008 by Robert L. Pepper.

More info: www.youtube.com/zorillo23
and myspace.com/postabortionstress  

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Saturday, November 15, 2008  
 PAS DVD Review by Dan Drogynous 
Current mood:  adored
Category: Music 
PAS (Post Abortion Stress) --- Experimental Video Compilation -- Review 8-8-08 

Altogether, I was enraptured by the pieces of art flowing together throughout the individual videos, which kept me hanging on for an enchanting hour or so of a netherworldly experience peopled with bittersweet creatures in a timeless city. The clouds, Manhattan shots and other fascinating images flowed throughout with the music like a projector projecting pure extravagance with no real space in time. The scene with the plastic bird was a really terrific section that I loved. There were so many surreal effects which completely seduced me into the screen, and took me into far-off realms of my imagination. The music is also timeless, as well as quite calming, leading from one magical place to another. A sense of fun as well as deeper, more complex emotions were explored through the use and photography of odd totemic symbols and whimsical attempts at interpersonal connection, which intertwined and all brought with them a touch of magic, but in an interesting way completely more eccentric than most video work of today that i have seen. It strikes one's curiosity as well as mystery; video pieces of power expressed through delicate, driving and otherworldly beauty in sound and vision alike. It is a free-form of reckless artistic abandon as well as dead-on spiraling sounds that leave you wanting more and wondering what will come next from this group of musical artists.

Dan Drogynous 8-8-08