Silent Land Time Machine
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Silent Land Time Machine

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"Almostcool Review of "&hope still""

Co-released on Time Lag and Indian Queen Records, & Hope Still is the debut album from one Silent Land Time Machine, a one-man recording project of a fellow from Texas who has managed to teach himself how to play a lot of different instruments and build up a beguiling little album with some crafty layering and subtle shifts in sound that call to mind a ton of different artists but doesn't really sound like any one of them in particular.

There's acoustic guitar, viola and violin, accordion, piano, some hand-percussion, piano, and some other random noise makers (and some occasional wordless vocals), and the result is seven warm tracks that never get too dense and manage to unfold gracefully while revealing new layers at regular intervals. Because of the instrumentation involved, there's a palatable connection to a variety of Constellation Records artists. One can hear a bit of the quiet moments of Do Make Say Think, a tinge of the more organic Polmo Polpo, and maybe a little bit of Silver Mt. Zion if they weren't so damn serious.

"Everything Goes To Shit" kicks things off and is easily among the best tracks on the release as see-sawing violins weave back and forth with some stomping percussion and wheezy accordion as background vocals kick in and make the whole thing rise into a frenzy over the course of eight minutes that sounds like a true community back-porch hoe-down blowout. "The Thing This Doesn't Mean Is Nothing" takes many of the same elements and splays out over more than ten minutes, with some beautiful trilled guitar parts that fade into a string-driven bridge and finally some slightly-filtered percussive breakdown that again adds a delightful rhythmic element to the mix.

Even though it's very organic in feel, most of the tracks on & Hope Still develop in very loop-based ways. Pieces like "Down The Hill" work in additive and subtractive ways, bringing in layers slowly then taking away things to leave the listener in a slightly different place than where they started. It's at its best when it incorporates all angles, as it does on album-closer "Copperpot Topography," as harsh feedback swells mingle with delicate vocals, acoustic guitars, muffled rhythms, a rough string quartet and some minor processing. A very solid debut, this one is worth seeking out if any of the above tickles your fancy.

rating: 7.75 - Almostcool


"Foxy Digitalis Review of "&hope still""

“&Hope Still” by Silent Land Time Machine is an excellent effort from Texan one-man band. The liner notes indicate, “SLTM is me…and many other inadvertent contributions from the Pearl St Co-op”. For an album recorded in a bedroom in the autumn of 2006 and winter of 2007-08, its production values and high level of musicianship and professionalism actually make it rather difficult to critique, except only to endorse it with high praise. First off, this record is very nicely presented and well-conceived in terms of the personalised packaging – a purplish-monochrome hued watercolour or damaged photography reel of a waterfall or an ice shelf, somehow reflecting a natural, beautiful vastness, like some of the music contained within. The insert postcard is a nice ‘souvenir’ touch, adding to the overall air of mystery surrounding this bedroom-recording Texan. The packaging and album form one impressive piece of artwork.

SLTM is a little in the vein of Four Tet, The Books and Iron and Wine – coincidently another folkrock band who now reside in Austin, Texas. It is, however, pretty hard to locate this music in terms of direct influences. The guitar and violin are certainly mainstays throughout and gel cohesively together, alongside other elements such as accordion, viola and electric slide. These are also all measured in delivery and work extremely well together. While the man behind SLTM is apparently not technically trained, he skilfully brings the best out of his instruments through simple patterns, thoughtfully adding layer upon layer. This serves in bringing slightly-muted orchestral folkrock warmth to each track. Elements of gentle electronic experimentation, sampling, buried vocals and percussion also provide real moments of joy.

Opening track, “Everything Goes to Shit”, features distant bass drum thumping as SLTM’s beautiful signature slide takes over, almost instantly breaking into one of the many enjoyable grooves on the album. “The Thing This Doesn’t Mean is Nothing” is the highlight of the album, moving seamlessly through different terrain, exploring all the while, with subtle experimentation such as the sound of children’s voices and the crumpling of paper. After building with violin and accordion, it pulls back into a really nice soft hammering-on-boards percussive groove, later featuring garbled voices from the Pearl St Co-op and rendering a semblance of community and place.

There is so much to find scattered throughout this album’s looping and layers that I have probably failed to mention some of the real highlights. It’s fairly subtle music and it’s worth mentioning that you may have to be in a “patient” mood for it. If you’re feeling kind of irritated with life in general, this music may exacerbate that tension, especially given some of the extended track times (end track, “Copperpot Topography”, at 13 minutes long, feels a little as if the album has run its course but in all fairness, redeems itself seven minutes in as it launches into more muted pounding kick drum, beautiful violin, slide, looped radio tuner samples and background vocal harmonisation). If you’re feeling properly relaxed, you can let this one in – probably best not to focus too hard on the many nuances and simply let it infuse into the background.

SLTM is (presumably) quite different from what others are doing right now, making it refreshing, exciting work. 8/10 - Foxy Digitalis Industries


"Austinist Review of "&hope still" & Homecoming Show Preview"

Though the man behind Silent Land Time Machine keeps the project slightly mysterious, the music he produces lands squarely in the familiar. Eerie synths, weeping viola, violin, guitar, accordion, piano (and dozens of other instruments) fit neatly together creating tightly wound but ethereal compositions. &Hop Still earns references to A Silver Mt. Zion and Do Make Say Think -- fairly -- but for us its most reminiscent of Scenic's Aquatica. From track one, "Everything Goes to Shit", the earthy viola and warm guitars bring an organic but delicate vibe to the table. Throughout the record, this relationship between pure composition and modern noise matures, eventually giving rise to a greater notion of harmony. Since the project is the work of one man, many instruments and home recording devices, the modern is ultimately at the forefront. Found noise, static and loops punctuate traditional piano, guitar and wordless choruses, making each song a unique testament to the modern songwriter's devotion to the real. We hear it's called chamber folk, and we're hooked.


The album is released between two labels, Time-Lag and Indian Queen, and the packaging is gorgeous. The CDs are tri-fold, double sided, offset printed cover with woven Japanese inner sleeves. Vinyl comes 180 gram, limited, numbered edition of 300 copies (sold out last we checked). You never know what you might find at the show tonight, though, as we expect the quiet genius behind this project will have materials for sale. Head down to Club 1808 tonight to catch Silent Land Time Machine's homecoming show after a short tour and stay to check out Prince Rama of Ayodhya, Silver Pines, Roman Candle and Spiked Punch. - The Austinist


"Silent Ballet Review of "&hope still""

Silent Land Time Machine have entered the music scene, in an almost silent fashion, with their first album &hope still. The one man band from Austin, Texas, who recorded this release over a period of three years, has done something really special with the three-quarters of an hour he has our attention. Earthy, realistic optimism seeps out of &hope still with every passing second.

“Everything Goes to Shit” opens the album with an organic sound comprised of a strong, persistent beat surrounded by instruments, such as a guitar, violin and accordion, that can’t help but make the ears happy. This song also introduces the listener to one aspect of Silent Land Time Machine that is so very special. About halfway through the track, the instruments...well...go to shit, and begin to play in a pseudo-chaotic fashion. The emphasis on pseudo, while these instruments may for a second sound chaotic they are actually all controlled and very well at that, an effect that lends itself very well to the “hope” found in this music.

A little more than halfway through the album the listener is introduced to “Electronic Transmissions”, a track showing just how well this band can handle layering their music to create an interesting mixture of aural sensations. The song is one of only a few on the album that uses field recordings and vocals to get its message across. From chanting near the opening to the omnipresent guitar to the use of the accordion, everything makes progress, and does a wonderful job of taking the listener along with it on a journey that lasts less than four minutes.

Wrapping up the release is “Copper Pot Topography”, the longest track on the effort, but also the most disorganized and intriguing piece. This is one of those songs that changes each time you hear it, but still manages to retain its hopefulness and wonder. The track covers so much ground in over ten minutes of playing time that one can’t possibly do it justice with words.

What really separates this release from others of its kind is not the instrumentation, which is done beautifully throughout, nor is it the catchy vocals strategically added to keep things interesting. Rather, it is the organization; from the opening guitar strum to the very last moment of this release everything is laid out in a smart, controlled and inviting fashion. Music that deals with optimism is a difficult thing to do well, because it requires such control over every aspect of the sound. While Silent Land Time Machine have control over their sound in &hope still, one can’t help but wonder if this was beginner's luck, or if the one man show simply is just that good. Only time will show what the case may be, but for now we should be lucky to have such a beautiful release. - The Silent Ballet


"Headphone Commute Review of "&hope still""

At times mysterious, at times complex, but always relaxing, even during its climaxing moments, Silent Land Time Machine is an instrumental rock project that reminds me a lot of A Silver Mt Zion. Except that... Jon is just one man... But upon your first listen you wouldn't know it... Hailing out of Austin, Texas, Jon is a multi-instrumentalist, and is equally comfortable behind the guitar, piano, accordion, and a wide range of stringed instruments. His motivation to master the musical medium and inspirations are credited to Anni Rossi (recently signed to 4AD) and Sophie Trudeau (member of Godspeed You! Black Emperor, and a co-founder of Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band), as well as much other output from Constellation and FatCat labels. Jon mangles instrumentals, DSP filtering, and field recordings which create a feeling of a small folksy community gathering, improvising over familiar melodies. The mood of &hope still, is less apocalyptic and political then the above mentioned influences, leaving a lot more room for imagination of the listener. Although some of the sounds appear to be looped, the patterns are not obsessively repetitive and are very organic. Jon takes great care in overdubbing layers and layers of live instrumentation to create his unique blend of post-americana-psyminimal-desktop-folktronica. Yes. I like that for a genre. The debut album has been released this past October, 2008, as a collaborative effort between Time-Lag Records and Jon's very own Indian Queen Records. Recommended if you like experimental pieces from M83, Mogwai, Benoît Pioulard, and Múm. - Headphone Commute


"Forest Gospel Review of "&hope still""

Attention artists: packaging is important. The visual images and materials you choose to associate with your music can be paramount to the attitude of your listeners when deciding whether to buy or even listen to what you have created. Sure, the internet has provided a powerful argument suggesting the downfall of physical packaging. To me it is just wake up call to artists and labels alike: step it up! (but not like the movie of the same name.) I would like to provide you with two contrasting examples. First, Kurt Weisman. Weisman’s debut solo album, Spiritual Sci-Fi, is without a doubt my favourite singer-songwriter album of the year and will most certainly be on my top ten list next week when we post our year ends for 2008. The cover of Spiritual Sci-Fi; however, is terrible. Like, laughably terrible. I apologize to Weisman if there is some personal resonance associated with the illustration that dawns the cover of his record, but seriously, it is humorous at the most. So terrible is this album art that, despite my consistent and unequivocal ravings concerning the genius of the record, Sassigrass (my FG cohort/spouse) will not touch the thing with a twelve foot poll. I’m not sure if she listened to it that she would like it as much as me, but now she will never even have the chance because she can’t get over that ridiculous cover. Now for my second example and true subject of this review, Silent Land Time Machine’s &Hope Still. This album was sent to me by the wonderful folks at Indian Queen who co-opted with Time-Lag on the packaging and it is stunning. Here at FG we receive a fair amount of promos. Some more visually attractive than others, but none that have held my attention so singularly as &Hope Still. I simply had to hear what kind of music could be associated with the luxurious cotton sleeve folded inside a sepia-toned outer cardstock fold filled with various abstracted images. I could go into more detail, but I don’t have the packaging on hand as I’m writing this (at my other job that actually pays real money). Suffice it to say that it was the quickest that I have ever desired to listen to a promo and the most excited as well. I guess the second thing to announce to artists is this: make good music. Novel, huh? Well, fortunately for me, the packaging of &Hope Still was an absolute spot on visual/physical introduction to the music of Silent Land Time Machine. &Hope Still is all shades sepia via sound. Built on layers of acoustic instrumentation combined with various audio ghosts and samples, Silent Land Time Machine is a chamber folk orchestra of beautiful construction. Similarly wonderful, is the fact that this “orchestra” has been constructed with only two hands. It is another nod to an era filled with individual artists achieving wonderful ends by their own unique vision. &Hope Still is a vigorous, winding adventure, a ghostly post-rock mystery and a wonderful summer day wrapped into one beautiful package; one most definitely worth obtaining a physical copy of! - Forest Gospel


"Aquarius Records' Review of "&hope still""

Imagine Penguin Cafe Orchestra at a krautrock bluegrass hoedown, and that's close to approximating the sonic mind trip of this one man band (but it sounds like ten!) from Austin, Texas. Built on uplifting repetitive grooves, there's a little bit of everything here thrown on top: acoustic guitar, accordion, ramshackle percussion, bits of studio banter and electronic noises. But the signature instrumentation is violin and viola played in an intense minimalist bluegrass style (yet not trying to be like Henry Flynt) that keeps the proceedings electric and nervously frenetic. It almost sounds like too much to take, but the underlying songforms are highly engaging and the hodgepodge collection of sounds work in such an alchemical way that it all just inexplicably comes together perfectly. Even the recording style seems like Anthem Of The Sun era Grateful Dead, where they took multiple takes of the same piece recorded in a range of fidelities (many of them low) and magically filtered them together. This is a collaborative release from Time-Lag and the band's own label Indian Queen, and we must say it's one of the most refreshing and unique records we've heard in awhile! - Aquarius Records


Discography

&hope still LP - Indian Queen and TIME-LAG Records (TLR-045 / IQR-001)

Photos

Bio

"...a rather mysterious one man band solo outing from texas, who builds up layer upon layer of violin, viola, acoustic guitar, slippery electric slide, percussion, electronics, accordion, buried vocals, and found sounds into haunted, rollicking, thick sonic blankets of sound. many simple parts entwined, looped, and orchestrated into an undulating whole, like naive bedroom folkrock filtered through some blissed out minimalist phase experiment. ecstatic, post-psychedelic chamber rock maybe? really doesn't sound like much else out there, but its instantly enjoyable, energized, and grooves freely in its own uplifting way." - from TIME-LAG Records catalog description of Silent Land Time Machine's debut record, "&hope still"

SLTM is captured improvisations of SLTM with himself fused with an accumulation of samples, items, and acoustic spaces that he has interacted with during "life". SLTM has no formal musical or recording training, but likes to do both anyway. SLTM is layers of things laying around; viola, violin, guitar, drums, drum machines, vox, loops, tapes, found sound and field recordings, electronics and keys, piano, accordion, vinyl pops, foot shuffles; all recorded in small bits and then allowed to accumulate into layered, undulating, ambivalent micro-phrases of said-sound-makers that amount into lucid, moving, human-saturated "pop" songs.

His record, "&hope still" was co-released by his own Indian Queen Records and TIME-LAG Records (Six Organs of Admittance, Espers, Ilyas Ahmed, Charalambides) and is an aural crystallization of focusing on positivity and the power of self-motivation to achieve desired ends (be the change you wish to see); for SLTM, it's making noise. &hope still has been described as "post-psychedelic chamber-folk" and "naive bedroom folkrock filtered through some blissed out minimalist phase experiment..."; SLTM recorded &hope still in his bedroom from 2006-2008 at the Pearl St. Co-op in Austin, TX (which colored the recording heavily).

"The one man band from Austin, Texas, who recorded this release over a period of three years, has done something really special with the three-quarters of an hour he has our attention. Earthy, realistic optimism seeps out of &hope still with every passing second." - excerpt from The Silent Ballet's review of &hope still

Newer sounds (including remixes I perform live of some songs off &hope still) are more beat-heavy and dance based. It's like Kemialliset Ystävät + Final Fantasy (more Nobuo Uematsu than Owen Pallett) + Dan Deacon maybe? The "synaptic dances..." track in the audio player is an example of my newer, and unreleased (for now), sounds...they are more focused on isolation and the ways in which media effect the human-condition; they are being constructed in a remote former-convent in the hill country of TX which was built in the 1930's.

These new songs took shape mostly during a tour SLTM did with Silver Pines during June of 09; an international tour into the US's North East and into Canada. Shared the stage with; HRSTA, Good Stuff House, Lesser Gonzalez Alvarez, Russian Tsarlag, The White Lodge, and many others.

Heavily influenced by: Nobuo Uematsu & Yasunori Mitsuda, Godspeed You! Black Emperor and Mt. Zion, Do Make Say Think, Polmo Polpo, The Books, Mum, Paavoharju, Kemialliset Ystävät, Aphex Twin, The Field, Ilyas Ahmed, O.Lamm, Le Fly Pan Am, Panda Bear, Burial, M83, and Constellation / FatCat / Fonal / TIME-LAG Records' collective output in general. It should also be noted that SLTM has particularly fallen in love with the experimental scenes both in Montreal, specifically, and most of what Finland has been doing since the turn of the millennium.