s w e e t b e a t s

september.25.2002 - #1043

artist      : Digitonal
album       : 23 Things Fall Apart
year        : 2002
label       : Toytronic Records
genre       : Lo-Fi
catalogue   : TOY13CD
url         : www.toytronic.com
quality     : CD 192k HQ True Stereo

01.Come and Play                                              05:45
02.Seraphim                                                   06:52
03.Over Line                                                  04:07
04.Black Box                                                  06:21
05.Break Beat Phase                                           04:34
06.Drencrom                                                   08:15
07.Carcause                                                   06:29

07  tracks | 42:23 mins | 58,3 MB

Inspired largely by minimialist pioneers and Artificial
Intelligence era electronica, Digitonal aims to bridge the gap
between the melodic and the abstract with emotion-laden strings and
angular beats. Having previously appeared on the Toytronic Records
compilation Neurokinetic (TOY5D), this is the first solo release
for the outfit. 7 tracks and over 40 minutes long, it's clear that
23:tfa has ambitions beyond a straightforward collection of
electronica. It is an acknowledgment that many people that have
Aphex Twin, Autechre and Plaid in their cd rack, also have Arvo
PΣrt, Steve Reich and Phillip Glass.

Lead artist Andrew Dobson says of the ep, "We wanted to create
something which reflected our process - traditional composition
meeting digital production, whilst also allowing a more organic
sound with acoustic instruments. As electronica has become
increasingly stark and abstract, we wanted to put some of the
emotion that the earlier works contained back in."

Digitonal is London based musician/programmer Andrew Dobson in
collaboration with violinist Samy Bishai who have worked together
on this project since Spring 2001. They have also performed live
frequently in London and Sheffield and have begun working with an
expanded line-up. Dobson says, "I've become pretty bored lately of
seeing electronica shows which consist of a guy hiding behind a
power book with a bunch of pretty visuals above his head. We want
to throw out the same energy and vibes live as a rock band or
hip-hop outfit. For me, the bottom line of music is to communicate
and I think it's really difficult to do that if you don't have a
large human aspect to your performance. Technology is the medium,
not the message in this case".

Track listing and description:

01 Come and Play - An evocative and melancholic track with 17
multitracked violin parts.
02 Seraphim - Ambient, yet defined melodic track with bubbly beats
and bass.
03 Over Line - The most classical piece in the collection - Debussy
written from a 90's perspective.
04 Black Box - Dark electro beats and an unsettling twist in this
soundtracky piece and live favourite.
05 Break Beat Phase - overlapping violin loops play tricks with
harmony to a clickn'cut rhythm.
06 Drencrom - Interlocking marimbas and split stereo effects lay
down the foundation of the Digitonal sound.
07 Carcause - A companion piece to Drencrom which slows the pace
and allows for more harmonic variation.

--www.digitonal.com

s w e e t b e a t s

greetings to kw, dps, sour, diss, dh, ms, tr & ube