Marilyn Roxie & Friends - Collaborative EP 02 'Water'

I think I already mentioned that this second instalment trumps the first free-P 'Earth' in several ways that are entirely accountable to my personal taste. Each track still reverberates with creative energy, and with the smorgasboard of sound flavours on offer (everything from classic synth sci-fi zaps to feedback and ethereal drone loops) you really wish it had some kind of visual accompaniment. Actually, I recommend switching on your media player visualizations while listening if you really want to be absorbed in the experience.
Now for my customary game of spot-the-genre. On this release the brief is much longer. The Nick Silva collaboration '00000003' in particular is a fluid Dalek-like synthesis of hip-hop and MBV noise drones, the 'Ice Water Girl' remix is a totally unexpected funky d'n'b track and 'Sleep Wheels' is almost a return to Roxie's videogame soundtracks of old but doused with Sonic Boom's influence on her music since, with haunted castle apeggios. An awful lot to get your teeth into for a 15, maybe 20 minute-long download.

Without traipsing over all the benefits of the medium again, and how tantalizing five tracks of highly-focused artistic collisions can be, I will say that the elements theme continues to be integral to the feel of these projects. Whereas tracks like 'Aum' from the previous offering recall ancient stone monoliths roused from a thousand-year slumber, 'Water EP' retains the timeless feeling but debunks to Atlantis. In fact it brings to mind that HP Lovecraft story (remember the title? Fat chance) about a lost and damaged German U-Boat in it's death throes, the last surviving crew member stumbles upon an ancient city in the forgotten recesses of the deep, with the battery that powers the submarine's torches running out... and some crazy shit goes down. At least I think it was a U-boat. Any takers on this?

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Marilyn Roxie '& Friends' - Collaborative EP 01 'Earth' (2009)

So as not to be accused of contributor bias (you'd have to comment to do that anyway, ha!), I'll do the preamble. I wouldn't have taken the trouble to become acquainted with the Roxbot if it wasn't for coming across her Uematsu-like synth compositions, quirky BBC Radiophonic Workshop mini-suites and sometimes ambient, sometimes jarring dronescapes plucked straight out of REM sleep... in that order. Actually I think it started after finding some rare Cornershop albums posted on her blog... but I digress. Aside from the instrumental music I've got a great deal of respect for anyone who exploits the potential of the internet as a free artistic platform, and I don't just mean self-promotion. Rather than reading me list Marilyn's myriad gifts to an ungrateful web-o-sphere, just follow the links below and see for yourself. It's just nice to know that floating on a sea of opportunists and disposable dross (a bit like this overdressed mp3 blog) there are actually some innovators.

The latest Marilyn Roxie project is a planned series of freely downloadable, themed EPs, each release being produced in collaboration with a different cross-section of bedroom musicians over the internet. The remit is as broad as the international palette, although 'Earth' remains vaguely rooted in Roxie's current ambient/shoegaze-inspired style. There's nothing negative (--=+?) I am dying to impart about it either, except that maybe I'm perched uncomfortably on the fence about the track 'Plain Little Game'...
But even had the EP's title been 'Beach Party Campfire Ballads in E Minor To Matt Your Dreads To', I'd still be overwhelmed by the ambition behind this project and would still put it to the reader: 'what have you got to lose?'. This is the genius of the (sadly dwindling) EP format - it's not disposable, but neither will it take a chunk out of your afternoon.

Some tracks are more idiosyncratic, exhibiting Roxie's characteristic semi-improvisation, others feel like they have been daubed, mangled or blended by a stranger. It's impossible to guess who is responsible for what most of the time, but that's part of the fun; and the making of this collaborative experiment will no doubt have inspired all the participants and opened up their creative process in some way or other. So everyone's a winner, and nobody had to die.
I've heard the follow-up instalment already, due next week, and I'll be posting a link to that because it's actually even better.

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Lives of Angels - Elevator to Eden (1986)

Though Lives of Angels are were associated more with minimal synth/coldwave (I did discover them when I was on my coldwave quest, after all), there are readily apparent psychedelic elements as well, which makes for an unusual, unique sound. Their only LP was 1986 release Elevator to Eden, which appears to be hopelessly out-of-print, and all current linkage is corrupt or dead...until now! (recommended if you like Joy Division / New Order, Siglo XX, the So Young But So Cold compilation, Blank Dogs, and so forth):

Elevator to Eden (obscurity level: super-high - just around 200 listeners on Last.fm!)

They also appeared on 1988 compilation Colour Supplement (which you can grab at MUTANT SOUNDS) with three tracks that are absent from their one album, along with songs from Modern Art, Mystery Plane, and WeR7, and their MySpace Music page contains some more recent recordings.