Thomas Watkiss
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Thomas Watkiss

New York City, New York, United States | SELF

New York City, New York, United States | SELF
Band Metal Avant-garde

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"Press reviews"

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http://thomaswatkiss.net/media.html
- 2007 - 2005


"Stigmata and the Hunter"

Ethereal soundwaves and delay guitars and basses penetrate us, build themselves and are about to be discovered again and again thannks to this remarkable album from Stigmata And The Hunter; and one has to say, writing and composing here are more than brilliant.Far from simply being a new experimental project created for a kind of special musical elite, this piece of art is perfectly distructure, and appears like an essay composed with two acts and five scenes which are as tense as emotionally captivating.and moving. First separate in their musical approach, even if a tense and atmospherical basis is quite at first place, they perfectly stand for the inner division contained in this troubing and hypnotizing work of art. Guitars become stronger and heavier while music is in contant evolution, sometimes sounds are rougher and sharper, few rhythms stand for a heartbeat, while vocals and sound effects are straight and higher,then get the main place in the musical structure. Industrial and revolting lands appear to the listener's eyes, while voice of the unheard first whisper, then rise and denounce a need for explosion and inner menace. Waves also rise and then become captivating and intriguing while getting one anxious and tense, obsessive and omnious; and more than only being a motionless listening of the music, this instrumental piece of art fascinates and gets a mysterious but hypnotizing way of existing. Sound is as dirty as fluid, tortured and pure, rough and delicate. One thinks of Set Fire To Flames and the band's long and slow musical exhibitions of a disappearing world, but music here are shorter and straight-to-the-bone, and echo with each other, as answers to suggested and unasked questions. Stigmata And The Hunter perfectly understand what suggesting trully means, as grey and dirty tunes penetrate our souls and alert then rocking brains. This masterpiece is as moving as strange and genuine, and it has to be discovered again and again, during long and hard moments of questioning about oneself, and being a prey for our deepest obsessions.. - Review 79; "Past All Concerns", France, 19 nov 2007


"Thomas Watkiss Ancestor 7”"

- Still Single: Vol. 4, No. 11
Thomas Watkiss
Ancestor 7”
(The Seventh Media)

"Pieces of expansive, frigid death ambient from experimental composer and musician Watkiss, recorded in Sweden and the U.S. “Ancestor” plays as a theme to score underwater salvage, exposing listeners to the untold dangers of the deep using feedback, tape collage, and what sounds like bowed metal. Similar themes play out on the B-side, where clinical performance aligns with a sense of darkness and mystery. 500 copies, black vinyl, full color sleeve."
- Still Single: Vol. 4, No. 11, Doug Mousrock
- Dusted Magazine, Doug Mosurock


"Thomas Watkiss - Ancestor - Phase 1: Silence [8/10]"

A visual artist and experimental composer, Thomas Watkiss brings a distinct iconographic perspective to his sound projects. The layered, fluctuating and circular drones that compose "Ancestor: Phase 1 - Silence" often form oppressive patterns, the compositions themselves giving an undersea sense, or perhaps even more claustrophobically, under ice. The repetitive subsiding and resurging droning tones comprise the strongest thematic element of the album, not unlike the heavy atmospherics and corresponding crackling noise one might associate with glacial movements. Watkiss owes his experimental sound bent and gradual song structure not only to dark ambient orchestrations, but also to extremely decelerated grind-cum-shoegazing density and minimalism.
According to Watkiss' website, "Silence" commences a "three-part series of albums combining ambient synthesis with drone-riffing and textural sonic landscapes over photographic themes." It merges ambient passages with drone constructions and found sounds, adding a self-described "aftertaste of slow heavy metal" (an infusion more in line with doom and post-metal) to the snail's-paced mix. "Extinct" is the most obvious example of this claim, its plodding advance and retreat of drone layers cut through with fine drilling tones that, in the final minutes, transform into a dominant, heavily distorted guitar. Other instances are subtler, and this is where Watkiss succeeds. "Two Stone Circles" features a stifling pulse that builds in intensity, joined by a stygian bass drone and later followed by a buzzing treble layer, just before everything drops away. "Harvest" spins extended orchestral tones above deep, unsettling chimes, and "Silence/Fall" makes slow thrusts in differing chords, tones reminiscent of wind instruments, while a horde of metallic insects scuttles underneath.
What is exceptional about "Silence" is its undeniable delicacy of movement. As with many of its peers, this is music of meditation and patience, funereal reverb and thick layers of emptiness. But its power lies in the understated and tentative, the barely audible oscillations, passionate organic textures and rumbling arrays. "Locust," with its deep-throated drone and twinkling particle cascade is a favored instance, as is "When Slaves Rest," its aspect adhering to sharp tendrils of noise while breathy tones sigh from the shadows. Quintessential to the album's theme of visible ebb and flow is "Silence Rise," where, like a pulsar, the drone rotates in empty space, accompanied only by occasional washes of indistinct, high-pitched sounds. Finally, with tracks ranging from seven or eight minutes to between three and four, Watkiss has also made "Silence" more accessible for those who pale at the thought of expansive tundras of droning pulses and hellish winds.

-- Dutton Hauhart [8/10] - Connexion Bizarre


"ANCESTOR – PHASE I: SILENCE"

ANCESTOR is the project of Bostonian THOMAS WATKISS; if I’m interpreting the credits correctly, he uses basses and guitars, pedals, turntables, and computers. He also – which is a regular thing with him – photographed the images in the packaging and has more connected with this album on his website.
Part of a trilogy, this is darkwave ambient music, quiet but with serrated edges on its drones. There’s nothing new agey about this ambient, which makes for uneasy listening with its buzzing and clanking amid the drones and a glacial pace of movement that oozes foreboding.
Projecting an icy grandeur without even an iota of histrionics, this is dramatic without overt action or beats, sort of like if Ingram Marshall and Brian Eno constructed an alternative soundtrack to 2001 using samples of the eeriest moments of Lycia, Tod Dockstader, and Krzysztof Penderecki. Until “Extinct,” that is, which adds to the mix avant-garde metal textures a la Justin Broadrick’s more atmospheric work.
Filed under music avant-garde - The Big Takeover (Steve Holtje)


"Ancestor - Phase 1-Silence (7/10)"

High up on the list of "bands that really don't fit on this site but sent promos so we have to review them", ANCESTOR traffic in a kind of super minimalist drone that 99% of those who use this site will dislike with a passion.

Yeah, no SUNN O))) or BORIS comparisons here. ANCESTOR's combination of found sounds, long, glitchy drones and occasional bouts of fuzzy guitar bring to mind JONATHAN COLECLOUGH getting a delay pedal, a large church organ (particularly on the luscious drone that is "Harvest") and a huge amp, and then hitting them with a baseball bat now and again. If that sounds appealing to you then read on, otherwise you might as well stop now.

Anyway, glitchy drone type stuff is pretty much a recipe for success to me. I've had a boner for this kind of stuff for a while now, but even this record caught me by surprise with it's sheer minimalism. Not a great deal happens in the first few songs, and while the record gets a fair bit noisier and epic-er in the last couple of tunes it's probably not a good idea to make the audience eat their vegetables before they get any dessert in albums like this, by the time the somewhat dramatic pulse and sweep of "Two Stone Circles" comes in everyone's either completely droned out or asleep (or is using the CD as a frisbee) and it's rather a shame, the alternatively queasy and blissed out dronescape that is "They, Of The Sea" deserves to be heard by as many people as possible, while "Extinct" is an excellent collection of deep, droney pulses before some super distorted guitar comes in at the end with the only recognisable guitar riffs in the whole album- it's quite harsh and quite enjoyable all round, certainly a nice change from the usual clean, stately tones that permeate through the rest of this release.

Overall, the album is quite an excellent collection of steady, slowly unfolding drones. The photography helps a fair bit; being a bit of an idiot I don't want to say for sure that the theme of the album is slavery but all the pictures of cotton and some old wooden hut suggest something along those lines, the song titles help too. It's kind of an odd theme, really, and I'm probably wrong about it- the song titles sugget it but the general hypnotic-ness of the album and the lovely, meditative pictures suggest that it may be something else then slavery as the main theme.

Seriously, though, who cares about themes? Fact of the matter is that this is some pretty nice ambient/drone, not on the same level of ELUVIUM and TIM HECKER and what not but still solid as, although only dedicated drone fans need apply. - The Metal Observer (Caspain Yursich)


Discography

- LIFE. TIME. (W/ OYSTEIN AASAAN) 2012
- WHOTE - ALIGN LP (2010)
- ANCESTOR . Phase II : Machine CD (2009)
- LIVE AT LYDGALLERIET, (Bergen, Norway) CD 2009
- WHITE HOUR OF THE END "Hymn" Demo (2009)
- ANCESTOR . Phase I : Silence CD/2xLP (2008)
- ANCESTOR - 7" e.p. (2007)
- Of Victory and Victim CD (2007)
- Stigmata and the Hunter CD (2006)
- Audio V (2006)
- Audio IV(2006)
- Audio III (2005/2006)
- Audio II (2005)
- October Recordings (Audio I) (2005)

Photos

Bio

“pieces of expansive, frigid death ambient” as described by Dusted Magazine, the work of thomas watkiss fuses the most careful mix of sound art and ambient music. The experience is that of a sonic
meltdown; where notation, structure and harmony dissipate to make way for a new listening environment. His newest release, Phase I : Silence is a twelve track voyage in plains of sonic residue -- and the journey has just begun.

He has written and produced seven portfolio albums since 2005 including the production STIGMATA AND THE HUNTER featuring Mathias Josefson, Per Åhlund, Jon Egan, Magnus Andersson, Amit Sen and Colin Greig. He has co-founded the Swedish ambient trio JÅW and the American THOEL:EME. His solo performances (sometimes booked as “live installations”) are intimate experiences that capture both the untrained listener and the tenured specialist.

ANCESTOR- Silence. Machine. Memory is a three part work that yields minimal synthesis, field recordings and drone rhythms framed by his own photographic illustrations. The first installment Phase I : Silence has recieved international recognition and can be found in independent outlets worldwide. Taking no time off, he began recording for Phase II : Machine from a late Summer 08 residency in Bergen, Norway. 'Machine' achieved top 20 status for "Best Electronic and Rock albums of 2009" while 'Silence' achieved top 40 for the same category by Culture catch.com.

He is currently planning a series of live shows and studio releases for 2010. Details can be found at www.thomaswatkiss.net