dw048 - Geronymakis - Baked Eggs IkEcht - Songsoverruins (c) 2008 Baked Eggs is the debut album of the Dutch project Geronymakis on the .net label Dark Winter. Who is behind this name is unknown as there is absolutely nothing to be found on this project online. Well, let's skip the introduction then. What does the music have on offer? Broadly speaking Geronymakis' music can be described as minimalist ambient and drones. Yes, even a term like musique concrète comes to mind. The first track is very tranquil and starts with a high-pitched tone that is joined by another after a while. Midway a radio interview that is looping back and forth is mixed in in the background. All this lasts about ten minutes and, frankly, I find it little exciting. Still minimalist, but more interesting, is the second track that with half an hour forms the majority of this album's playing time. Soft drones, almost a static hum, and something that sounds a lot like the slowed-down sound of a pigeon calling slowly rise in volume and are joined by some other sounds. It all remains quiet but it does work well. The last and shortest track harks back to the first one in that it used a high-pitched tone, but here it is joined by a rhythmical drone that suddenly stops after which the tone drops off prematurely. For a moment this track promises something, but it doesn't quite deliver. Hmmm, I'm not a big fan of track-by-track reviews, but sometimes it's unavoidable. I'm wondering by the way if the artist really meant to say what he or she is saying with the album's title now. As a Dutchie I know that you English have this monstrous vocabulary, whereas in Dutch there are plenty of examples where we have no distinctive words for something, such as with baking and frying. Apart from that grammatical quibble... my impression of this album then. Hmmmm. The tonal experimentation of the first and third track are so minimalist they fail to grab my attention. I reckon Geronymakis has the best chance on public attention if he or she continues to develop on the sound displayed by the second track. Mind you, it still won't be widespread attention cause this music is just like baked eggs; it's an acquired taste. Those who have become curious, the album is freely downloadable from Dark Winter's website. Originally written in Dutch for the IkEcht weblog, English translation by the author. Back To Reviews Dark Winter releases are free to download under a Creative Commons License. |
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