Monolith Cocktail Blog

Words: Dominic Valvona

Ancient Plastix  ‘Late Summer Low’
Taken from the self-titled new album released via Maple Death Records on December 11^th 2020

From the forthcoming self-titled debut album by the Liverpool producer and composer of labyrinth puzzled ambient soundscapes, Ancient Plastix, the scene-setting ‘Late Summer Low’.  We’re proud to be premiering this crispy static and fizzing fissures simulation suite of contemplated cosmic neoclassical note droplets and shooting star communications ahead of the album’s official release on the 11^th December.

Under the Ancient Plastix alter ego, Paul Rafferty has set out to capture the feelings of discovery and adventure he first had as a teenager experimenting with a rudimental Tascam 414 four-track in the 90s. Using that bit of recording kit once again, Rafferty recorded his album of graceful imagined spaces and emotional pulls using a cheap Yamaha synth and small collection of guitar pedals; leaving in all the atmospheric grainy hiss and fuzz of a lo fi process. And so more analog than digital, without the interference and the “burden of screen squashed waveforms” these spontaneous and linear constructed tracks evoke the early synth work of Sky Records, Tangerine Dream and on the thoughtful but also playful, starry bass bending meander ‘The Yellowed Grass’, a hint of Roedelius.

Yet the delicate majestic and sophisticated work of more contemporary figures such as Marc Barreca, Yasuaki Shimizu and Hiroshi Yoshimura can also be heard permeating the descriptively entitled compositions, which glide and refract between space and inner cerebral explorations. There’s quite a variation too, with the heart beat pulsing synthesized bass drum Kosmische ‘Dead Body Drawing’ unfurling a helicopter rotor chopping vision of a supernatural Vietnam War soundtrack produced by John Carpenter, and the proto-Kraftwerk race and train track chuffing, bottle tapping and woody percussive ‘Endurance Dream’ imagining a peculiar upbeat dream state workout.

The Monolith Cocktail invites our followers to now experience the stirring, opening suite from Rafferty’s upcoming debut album for Maple Death Records, ‘Late Summer Low’, below.

Hi, my name is Dominic Valvona and I’m the Founder of the music/culture blog monolithcocktail.com For the last ten years I’ve featured and supported music, musicians and labels we love across genres from around the world that we think you’ll want to know about. No content on the site is paid for or sponsored and we only feature artists we have genuine respect for /love. If you enjoy our reviews (and we often write long, thoughtful ones), found a new artist you admire or if we have featured you or artists you represent and would like to buy us a coffee at https://ko-fi.com/monolithcocktail to say cheers for spreading the word, then that would be much appreciated.