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A review of this album I just posted at The Watchful Ear:

Originally intended for release as a CD on the Confront label, Ben Drew has instead chosen to make this album available as a free download from his website as he works on alternative material for the Confront release. The music that makes up the three tracks of A Folding Table was meticulously put together over a period of about a year, and it is admirable to say the least that after such considerable efforts a musician should be honest enough to feel that the final product does not merit a CD release simply because it does not reflect their current musical direction. The thing is, this suite of pieces would have made an excellent CD. We listeners, who worry not whether a piece of music is a good portrayal of a musician’s current work would have lapped it up with glee. Not that this matters in this age of zeroes and ones however as a few moments downloading and CD burning presents us with a disc as good as any we might have bought in a shop. Sort of.

The obvious question that strikes me about this release is the relevance of the title. I suspect (and I really have no idea having not discussed this with Ben) that the sounds used here might have been sourced from a simple folding table. The titles of the three tracks, A table top, A hinge and Some legs back up this theory, and although all of the sounds here are quite heavily processed and probably changed beyond recognition there does appear the odd moment here and there when something vaguely table-like sneaks through. I may or may not be right in this suspicion, and where the sounds originate is probably not that important when all is said and done, but if I am correct then I am all the more impressed that this set of works sounds the way it does given such a limitation as a starting point.

The music itself is wonderfully intricate, tense, dramatic, patient and urgent all at once. Although the last piece builds steadily to a bustling climax it is generally quieter music, with carefully chosen clicks, rattles and shudders ricocheting about in plenty of space. I should get out of the way the obvious comparisons to be made with the music of John Wall here. Indeed in places, and particularly on the first couple of tracks some of the sounds are reminiscent of Wall’s work, but coming from someone that places the music of John Wall up there at the highest level this is high praise rather than any hint of criticism.

The music has a lovely sense of pacing, slow passages luring the listener in, only to be hit by flurries of activity that pass by just as quickly and leave the music changed in some small way, a gentle drone left behind for a moment or a metallic flutter echoing a moment from earlier in the music. There is also a fantastic spatial arrangement to the music. The two channels are used to great effect, and the listener sat squarely between the two speakers is really presented with two sets of sounds that come and go, as if two sides of Drew’s musical character were duelling with one another. Eight minutes into the first piece after a low-key opening made up of desolate spaces interrupted by digital crashes a new sound suddenly rips out of the left speaker, and even after listening to the album three or four times over this moment still made me jump, as if it belonged to a different album suddenly switched on on the other side of the room.

The real gem of this album is the third track, the unceremoniously titled Some legs. After a luxurious bath of mulled samples that twists and turns through itself for ten minutes the music takes an upward turn and a series of overlaid digital shrieks swarm together to bring the music up to a peak before it falls apart again a few minutes later and creaks and groans its way to a conclusion.

In essence there is little original about the music on A Folding Table. The use of collaged samples and Max generated digital detritus to construct intricate music like this is not uncommon. The way the third piece builds to its fragile climax before coming down again has been heard a thousand times before. It is rarely (in fact very rarely) done this well this consistently though. Along with Wall’s Cphon and Hylic I am reminded of Helena Gough’s With what remains but really not much else is this successful in this area. Its possibly just a shame that while we have a CD from Drew to look forward to in the future it may sound quite different to this.

Really interesting thoughts on these pieces, Richard. AFT is certainly worthy of a proper review — and it’s among the best releases I’ve heard in the last year — so I’m glad to see it written up in such detail. Like Seymour Wright’s …DERBY, Drew has raised the bar on the viability of web-based releases. There’s no sign as yet to what it means for “industry”, but with statements as unique as AFT being made, it’s most important that the music is available to hear. I’ve listened to this several times in the last couple of days and it continues to grow on me. Interesting you should mention HYLIC, because it’s one of the first recordings that sprang to mind, though I can’t pinpoint any direct relationship to Drew’s piece. The intrigue for me is in the sequential arrangement of the material coupled with the layers of tron-based sound and mechanical sources. I found this to be very accurate:

The music itself is wonderfully intricate, tense, dramatic, patient and urgent all at once.

I heartily second Richard’s appreciation of Ben Drew’s A Folding Table. The point of comparison with John Wall’s more recent albums is apt, especially in the way the music is allowed to drift and then, when you’re lulled and least expecting it, dramatic changes occur. Or, when you’ve been led to expect a change to occur, the change is delayed or fails to materialise, generating tension. The thwarting of expectation is one of Wall’s key compositional strategies, deriving principally from Morton Feldman 1980s works, and I wouldn’t be at all surprised to learn that Drew is a Feldmanite. The depth of focus of the sound and the way stereo is used throughout A Folding Table is particularly impressive. Absolutely splendid!

Turns out my suspicion that the music was made up of sounds taken from a folding table were unfounded and the samples come from all over. The title refers to the way such a table can be folded in on itself, as does the music in places, and also links to the fact Ben uses a table to play, and in his role as a festival organiser spent more time seeking out tables than he did musicians!

Anyway really pleased to hear others appreciating this one as well. Ben told me that he’d had around 200 downloads of the piece now in under a week. Not sure how long it would have taken to sell that many CDs.

201 now.

Well I for one couldn’t get into this release at all. Upon listening to it, I found it completely understandable why it was pulled from release. I thought the tracks (especially the opening one) were meandering and rather tedious, the overuse of digital tropes tiresome. I’ll give it, one more spin but so for I’m not very compelled to.

…found it completely understandable why it was pulled from release.

Dayum! I wouldn’t begin to speculate why it wasn’t released on disc, but my reaction has been exactly opposite to yours, Robert. It’s quite the listen for me, but then again I appear to be alone in wondering why so many are falling all over themselves in response to Rowe’s EL007.

He goes into it a bit on his thread on IHM:

i think we decided to “junk” it cause i felt differently about the music. and things for mark had changed a little.

for me a a solo cd is quite a big thing, maybe for other musicians who release a lot of music its not such a big thing.

as they will release something else quickly. After spending so much time working on this material, ( although it might not sound like it ) i felt differently towards it. my practice has changed quite a bit in terms of not wanting to make constructions of sound in this way. not wanting to spend hours in logic and max/msp manipulating sounds. i am not dismissing this way of working but personally feel i have come to some sort plateaux with it or maybe even more excitingly a full stop.

i want to crawl down the wires and through the speaker cone and breath some air. ( sorry )

To each their own, but I for one didn’t find much in the empty digitalisms of this piece. Like I said I’ll give it another shot, but I got a bunch of new cds over the weekend that are a lot more intriguing.

“I appear to be alone in wondering why so many are falling all over themselves in response to Rowe’s EL007.”
Really? You surprise me there, Al. The big mystery is why people are falling over themselves in response to the Rowe / Unami duo, which is a pretty inconsequential release that pales into comparison. I prefer this (the Drew) to that.

“Pales in comparison” that should read. One advantage IHM has is that “edit yr post” button :)

One advantage IHM has is that “edit yr post” button

You can delete them there, too. Zing!

The big mystery is why people are falling over themselves in response to the Rowe / Unami duo, which is a pretty inconsequential release that pales into comparison.

I haven’t read/heard that anywhere. Inconsequential with regard to what? I much prefer the duo disc to EL007, particularly the final 1/4 of the proceedings, a fine culmination and resolution to what I interpret to be a particularly challenging collaboration or setting or whatnot. Regarding EL007, there’s simply other solo Rowe I’d rather hear. The Sound323 3″… I’m still waiting for him to top that one, for instance. I do understand EL007 to be very personal, and it is unique, but I have my own issues with it and won’t go much into that here. I’ll return to it — always do — with some fresh ears at some point, but multiple listens haven’t done much to get me on board. Drew’s recording, on the other hand, and not that they’re in any way related aside from being solo efforts, I’ve been very excited about, plain and simple.

I really enjoyed the Unami Rowe first time round, but it doesn’t sustain repeated listening for me.
I much prefer Taku’s other work elsewhere. Agree with you about the Drew though. So how do I edit posts here? (Deleting my own posts is something I tried before elsewhere, with disastrous results!)

Uhh, what’s that P doing on the first line? Dagnabbit..