Faces – Stendeck (2007)
GENRES – Electronic, Power Noise
Tracks
The Day I Saw You Cry For The First Time - 5:15
Beneath Wonderland's Decay - 4:24
Like Falling Crystals - 3:33
Anywhere Out Of This World - 4:50
A Perfect Place To Say Good-Bye - 1:42
Acting Like You Are Not Bleeding - 4:07
Behind Waterfalls - 4:46
The Woman Who Burnt On Her Bed - 5:53
She Watched The Corners Of The Roof And Then She Left - 1:35
Steal Flowers To Make Drugs - 5:25
Nocturnal Manoeuvres Before Dawn - 4:36
The Massacre Of The Black Flying Horses - 3:08
The Porcelain And The Girl I Dreamt About - 1:21
Aura Borealis, The Extraordinary Adventure Of A Boy Against The Infinite Darkness - 3:26
All The Things I Wanted To Tell You But I Didn't - 4:35
Frames And Teardrops - 2:13
Faces (Where Are You Now?) - 4:19
I don’t understand the notion of making song titles ridiculously long. I mean, is your song really special enough to piss me off THAT much? Also, I bloody hate the term ‘IDM’. It’s just a stupid description that doesn’t help identify the music to any degree beyond sounding like dance music for stuck up people. But for lack of better term, Stendeck is my favourite ‘IDM artist’. With his most recent release finding its way into my collection, I thought I may as well go back to this 07 album, which is always ready for a go around in my stereo. The album manages to beautifully encapsulate ambiance with an intense power noise and electronic sound, which is no mean feat. (BTW I will try to move off electronic stuff for the next batch). It is also pretty good due to the fact that from a personal perspective, nothing feels laboured or too long. The songs know there limit (Though 17 tracks may be a bit much). Trust me, everything is better loud.
‘The Day…’ starts from a lull, flat note emerging from the horizon, slight disturbances breaking the clean beat occasionally. The type of power noise the listener will experience is introduced fairly quickly into the album, as the speed of the song slowly increases. It carries a distinct space-y sound, an atmosphere of unknowing and exploration. The beats get whipped out at a nice pace, offset partially by a constant and long drone in the background, and quickly the song has ended, almost feeling as if it had never gotten into its true rhythm. ‘Beneath Wonderland’s Decay’ is a bit more paced in its attack, calmed and collective, a guitar riff creating the basic undertone of the song. The song has a nice dirty/eerie quality to it, representing the ambiance I suggested was present in the introduction. The beats pulsate from the depths, the the intense frequency he chucks on every now and then and be a bitch on the ears.
‘Like Falling Crystals’ picks up the pace a bit, offering a robotic sound to the canvas, before having a cliché ‘ethereal’ break mid song. It’s a nice touch, but it’s done so often. ‘Anywhere Out…’ begins with a downtrodden, almost hip hop beat. It was during this song where I initially truly marveled at the balance Stendeck created. Most would hardly connect something even associated with Power Noise with a solid ambient texture, but on Faces, he really does pull it off greatly. One minute you can be lulled into a dream like state, in the next you can have your foot tapping energetically, without too much changing music-wise. ‘A Perfect…’ is lead by a clean piano solo, with haunting textures floating around the track, in a simple elegant touch, the variation in style is quite different to what else had been offered, but still feels like it slots in perfectly.
‘Acting Like…’ has an interesting transition of beat style. The basic beat doesn’t change much over the course of the early parts of the track, but the synths used elicit various sounds that mix things up a bit, from one extreme to another, before lightening up in a sparse (For this album) solo section. ‘Behind Waterfalls’ has some of the more interesting mixes behind the face of the track, a luminous veil. ‘The Woman…’ follows vein of most of the longer songs, giving a bit of leeway before the base of the song kicks in, in another trip hoppy sound, with a dirty, glitchy sound dominating. The song manages to have the most single layered sections out of all the songs so far, though I do find the ‘punch’ beat to be a bit annoying, the floating pings are pretty solid before it once again kicks into a trip hop groove. The pace and beats entering the second half of the track are marvelous. ‘She Watched…’ is a nice, short, pulsating interlude. ‘Steal Flowers…’ is full of grit and unattached sounds and styles. Nothing quite sounds like its in the right spot, but at the same time, it all works, before having a psychedelic guitar provide the baseline. The song keeps you waiting to take off, never quite reaching its bombastic possibilities, but this doesn’t mean it isn’t a nice track.
‘Nocturnal Manoeuvres…’ reminds me of the dark and mournful songs that are popular in war movies when a protagonist is lying in the middle of the battlefield, dying, with the sounds of war reverberating around him, before it breaks into its key beat. It has some really interesting tones and pitches mixed throughout, and the variation and distortion used is pretty solid throughout. ‘The Massacre…’ uses a whole lot of hollow/echo sounds to kick things out, which get an appealing beat going to create an oppressed atmosphere. It’s almost perfect ‘dark alleyway’ music in its initial stages, and the danger is upon you far too quickly for you to react. ‘The Porcelain…’ is another, almost classical track similar to ‘A Perfect…’. ‘Aura Borealis…’ is another fascinating track, the pulsating sounds a particular highlight early on.
‘All The Things…’ is probably the hardest hitting track from the outset, in regards to both noise and pace, probably making its way into my favourites for that reason (Let alone the awesome beats) before it half lightens to let some instrumentation through. It’s got a pretty different construct to it compared to most of the other tracks on the album, with the violent and coarse beats at their best. ‘Frames And Teardrops’ is another fast paced track with some less harsh beats, using a lot of intense wave sounds. At only roughly 2 minutes, it’s a perfect treat. The album is sent off with the title track, ‘Faces’, offering a reflective and calm look on the last hour, a great send off.
Though the individual songs don’t offer the same feeling, the album in it’s entirety can sometimes feel labouring, reaching over an hour, but it is never a bad feeling when a new song comes up. Again, I don’t like the term IDM, and Stendeck can go f
uck himself for making such ridiculously long song titles, but the journey is purely awesome. Best ‘IDM’ artist IMO, and one of the better electronic albums released in the last few years.
8.6/10
– The Day I Saw You blah blah blah…
– Behind Waterfalls