Showing posts with label reviews. Show all posts
Showing posts with label reviews. Show all posts

19 August 2010

More reviews and my reviews of their pointless reviews

Actually, they're kind of pointless reviews. But this blog is like my scrapbook, so everything gets posted here. Et hop!

While the first reviewer claims he's a guitarist and decides to review the album based on what he thinks he knows about how I play with effects - not sure what he's trying to prove, really. I mean, what kind of reviewer write things like "Then some swooping flanger, etc. Blah."? Just for the record, no flanger was used on this album, ugh. But that's not the point. This statement is: "I fear that my familiarity with Quach’s technique prevents me from a more objective appraisal of this release". Brilliant.


The second reviewer decides to write some form of drifting prose poetry about the album, in polish. Evidently, I had to use google translate to get a feel of what was written --- unlike japanese, the polish-english translator is not bad at all. Check it out: here. Cute right? I appreciate the effort though, just writing whatever you're feeling as your own visual and emotional interpretation of the music while listening to it. But how does that justify anything about any given review score, good or bad... no idea.


And last but not least, this one is from S.S.G. The reviewer treats Meridians as a "post-rock" record, looking for "post-rock" within that record, writing this review from a "post-rock" point of view... I don't know. Essentially, the term "post-rock" is mentionned several times throughout this review and has funny statements such as: "But Meridians never claimed to go anywhere, post-rock was always more concerned about the journey itself."

... Post-rock? Seriously? Who said anything about post-rock. What the. Why. What. Why? Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought post-rock was about using the elements in rock music such as guitar, bass, drums and you know, push its boundaries out of the traditional conventional sounds and structures of rock songs. But here we have two guys making drones out of their guitars... Uhhh. I don't get it. Maybe thisquietarmy does have a little of post-rock type of guitar sound on some past tracks, but that's about it. Scott & I made a collaborative ambient/drone record, why don't you treat it as one?


I honestly don't get these reviews - but hey, thanks for writing about the records, I still appreciate them. After all, 6 + 6.8/10 + 6.9/10 aren't bad scores at all. In fact, they're actually quite reasonable - no bitterness at all here. But their content... wow, just wow.

7 August 2010

Montreal Mirror review of Meridians

Johnson Cummins reviews Meridians in his weekly column Punkusraucous:


"The real gleaming gem for me this week is the collaboration of ambient drone artist thisquietarmy (aka Eric Quach) with fellow dronester Scott Cortez (lovesliescrushing) under the moniker Meridians. On these two epic and minimalist tracks, released on a limited-edition 12-inch with a pressing of 500 on Three:four Records, the pair expertly explore the limits of space while inviting the listener into their dark and desolate soundscapes. Longtime readers of this column may notice that I’ve been fawning over thisquietarmy quite a bit lately, but with his amazingly prolific output and the results remaining this astonishing, it seems like Quach could soon become a major player in the overcrowded ambient underground."

4 August 2010

Tokafi reviews Aftermath & Meridians, Losing Today reviews Parallel Lines, Sonomu reviews Mains de Givre

Tobias Fisher of Tokafi intertwines his impressions of "Aftermath" & "Meridians" in a double-review:



Roberto Mandolini reviews Parallel Lines' 38:22 for Losing Today (in italian):


Sonomu reviews Mains de Givre:

12 July 2010

1 September 2008

Harvested and Brainwashed

Here's the lastest couple of reviews... Great musical essays by Simon Marshall-Jones for Brainwashed.com & Baruhlo for Heathenharvest.com; thanks guys!

* Brainwashed (USA):
http://brainwashed.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=7022&Itemid=1

Excerpt: 'This is a deeply meditative, holistic album, giving color, shape, and substance to a world caught in the margin between the light and the darkness. Ranging over a wide spectrum of sonic textures, from pure dronefields to acoustic strumming, and from fuzzed-out harmonic blankets to shimmering hazes augmented by the ethereal vocals of Meryem Yildiz, Unconquered represents a veritable cornucopia of riches. That it is the vision of one man heightens the experience all the more.' (by Simon Marshall-Jones)

* Heathen Harvest (USA):
http://www.heathenharvest.com/article.php?story=2008081111470346

Excerpt: 'All the album has an attention to detail and to its hidden dynamics, all tiny movement merging together in a suspension of long forgotten troops and all inner, mental, battles. Avoiding the more obvious post rock ups and downs, 'Unconquered' has a intrinsic domain, a territory of its own, where these movements tend to clarify as we forgot them and try to experience movement as a whole, traveling as a mystic somnolence.' (by Baruhlo)

17 June 2008

Autres Directions

Superbe critique de l'album 'Unconquered' sur l'excellent webzine français Autres Directions, merci Denis! À lire ici.

10 June 2008

Entry for no one

I'm obviously not updating. Mainly, because no one is reading because I haven't publicized this. So for those who are reading, well... this is a random entry. I can't be arsed to make the effort to make a nice layout. I did try at some point, but unfortunately between work and music, I don't have time.

What else. I'm recording an EP for Elevation Recordings. Although it's turning into an album because some songs are just too long, past the 40-minute mark. It's currently in the DIY mastering process... which drives me as insane as the mixing process.

I'm trying to book some U.S. dates for the end of august, but I'm starting to lose my motivation... All I really want to do is not do anything for a while. But maybe that's not true either. If anyone in NY, MA, RI, NH, CT, PA, etc. wants to book me from August 26th-31st, get in touch.

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I also got some more reviews for 'Unconquered':

* Imperiumi.net (Finland):
http://www.imperiumi.net/alb_2.php?id=7517

* Nothingatall.net (UK):
http://nothingatall.net/review.php?what=reviewView&item=234

* Vital Weekly (Holland):
http://vitalweekly.net/628.html

* Exclaim! (Canada):
http://www.exclaim.ca/musicreviews/generalreview.aspx?csid1=122&csid2=847&fid1=31443

* The Metal Observer (Canada/Germany):
http://www.metal-observer.com/articles.php?lid=1&sid=1&id=14351

* Music-Scan (Germany):
http://www.music-scan.de/Templates/reviews_team.php?id=9886

* noiZine (Greece):
http://noiz.wordpress.com/2008/06/04/thisquietarmy-%e2%80%93-unconquered/

* Built On A Weak Spot (USA):
http://www.builtonaweakspot.com/2008/06/thisquietarmy-unconquered.html

8 May 2008

Textura, Muzyka & Noise.fi

A few reviews added...

Textura (Canada):
http://www.textura.org/reviews/thisquietarmy.htm

"Unconquered is a more than solid debut album and the contrast between the hazy washes and scalpel-sharp leads Quach produces with the guitar makes for an arresting combination." (by textura.org)

Muzyka (Poland):
http://www.muzyka.pl/recenzje/pokaz/162/rss.html

Noise.fi (Finland):
http://www.noise.fi/levyarvostelut/?id=8805

23 April 2008

More blogging, an ontario recap & some heads-up


Hey hey - - -

I've decided that I should write more in this blog, and make it more personal instead of just using it to make announcements. So let's start. How about a recap of the last few shows? I drove to Toronto a couple of weeks ago, and bumped into Pas Chic Chic at a rest stop on the 401 as they were playing the same night at the Drake Hotel - chatted a bit with Roger, Radwan & Marie-Douce while in line to get a Tim Hortons' coffee.

The Toronto show was better than any other Toronto show I played before with Destroyalldreamers - mainly because well, people attended! The sound sucked but I made it work OK I think. Good to see Kevin from The Riderless & meet Dorian from Holoscene. Aidan Baker played with Naw & Jacob Thiesen as Whisper Room - I thought it was pretty cool.

I did some records store the next day, dropped CDs off at Soundscapes & left a promo at Rotate This, before heading to Hamilton - and then to Waterloo. By then, the fog had settled on the way there and it felt like we were driving inside the artwork cover of a Jesu record. We arrived at the Trepid House, where we got treated for some homemade food and the grand tour of the house: three-floors, theme-rooms (pirate room, arboretum, aquarium/studio, etc.), living room as the main space for music, attic, etc. Because Mahogany Frog had a 45 mins set-up & tear, Jeff proposed that I play in the attic, which is a gallery space. The house P.A. / soundsystem was wired throughout the whole house, so people were able to come up to sit & watch, or listen in one of the rooms - I thought that was such a fantastic concept, that I decided to play 2 sets (opening & closing) - it just felt warm & comfortable, it felt like home. The sound in the attic was also perfect.

The Hamilton show was a completely different beast. The vibe was completely off and at the other extreme. The venue was large and cold, depressing. The rain didn't help. It just felt dark. And I think people could feel it in my set, as it was a completely discharge of angst & rage, yet in an ambient context… there was piles of layers of confusion, very hazy but very present at the same time. That's how I felt anyway. Ryan (Electroluminescent) joined me on stage for the closing song (Warchitects), playing bass-synth. We also did some improv at the end. Also met Beta Cloud who came from Buffalo to see this.



All in all, a great mini-tour… There isn't many pictures to share, unfortunately. Here's Owen Cherry's shots from the attic show: http://trepid.org/events/houseshows/photos/2008-04-11%20-%20thisquietarmy/

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In other news, thisquietarmy's Unconquered debuted at 4 of Montreal's CKUT 90.3 MHz Top 30 charts, and is currently 23 on CIBL 101.5 MHz. That was quite surprising…

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Also some Unconquered reviews and heads-up:

The Silent Ballet:
http://www.thesilentballet.com/dnn/Home/tabid/36/ctl/Details/mid/384/ItemID/1322/Default.aspx

"Unconquered is a fitting name for the release – it presents unheard-of territory within the confines of the ambient-drone subgenre, and quickly thisquietarmy claims it as his own. The release is so fresh, so satisfying, that it makes you wonder why no one else has tried any of this (on this scale) before. I can't answer that question, but I do know this: there will be a lot of artists following in the footprints left by this album. It may not be a perfect album, but the most adventurous ones never are – perfection requires a commitment that musical explorers cannot make, and to fault them for pushing the boundaries of genre is to have gravely mistaken priorities." (by Zach Mills)

Montreal Mirror:
http://www.montrealmirror.com/2008/040308/rex.html
http://www.montrealmirror.com/2008/040308/disc.html

"While we're in review mode, there are a couple of other discs that you should bug out to, namely Unconquered, by Montreal solo ambient artist Eric Quach's new joint Thisquietarmy. This disc actually comes to us from Krakow, Poland's Foreshadow label, and if you are getting hip to the exploding drone scene, Thisquietarmy is guaranteed to turn you into a veritable pile of ooze. Instead of just relying on the same old dirt-box distortions and done-to-death loops, Thisquietarmy sounds light years ahead of the huge traffic of drone debuts being released right now." (by Jonathan Cummings)

"Light, glitter and gloom come together on this celestial instrumental LP by Montreal's Eric Quach." (by Lorraine Carpenter)