"Where did he go sometimes in the night? And what was that faint suggestion of sound which seemed to trickle through the maddening confusion of identifiable sounds even in broad daylight and full wakefulness?"
released September 7, 2015
Xu (Nicola Fornasari) - radio, distortion, fuzz & ringmod pedals, line6 pod, korg monotron, double bass, drum programming.
Xue (Andrea Poli) - audio bulb ambient software module, samples.
recorded & written by Xu(e) between December '14 and January '15.
mixed & mastered by Andrea Poli between February and March '15.
artwork designed by Nicola Fornasari.
handmade packaging designed by Pat Kiout Productions:
patkiout.co
published by Thirsty Leaves Music.
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“Space-Time Continuum” kicks things off with layers of resonating frequencies, fragments of voices, fluctuating static, shimmering currents moving together for the short intro.
“Fever” has an almost funky groove buried in the noise, a hypnotic acoustic bass line at the center of flames dancing. I dig the way there is a simple groove at the center with several layers of electronic weirdness bubbling or erupting on top.
“A Queer Thrill” is pretty intense, reminding me of an ancient (early 80’s) electronic/noise duo from central Jersey called Smersh. What is interesting is that the duo never layer anything to densely so it is easier to hear what they are doing.
Some electronic music tends to be too harsh or dense and unsettling. Not this music, it gets close to being ominous but never goes too far. At around 44 minutes, this disc didn’t seem long enough yet I was often mesmerized nonetheless.
I had to listen very closely to hear the textures were surgically manipulated. Time to listen again and again.
Bruce Lee Gallanter
Downtown Music Gallery (NY) - DMG/ARC label
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"The vitality of this new release resides in the unusual combination of collages, brooding instrumental sections (in a deliberately avant jazz style), meticulously articulated micro-tonal fragments, manipulated voices and various concrete noises. This EP almost generates a tripped out sonic impact on the listener’s mind. Those experimental acid-jazzy electronic paintings are beautifully strange and continuously intricate. Brown Jenkin offers a challenging sense of compositional avant-gardism in an original stylistic genre which melts electro-acoustic attempts with free-form instrumental abstracts".
Philippe Blache on Igloomag
igloomag.com/reviews/xue-brown-jenkin-ep-thirsty-leaves
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"This album walks nicely a thin line between the super layered, super heavy drone/noise sound and all things more quiet and atmospheric. A bit of doom jazz is never far away. Xu(e) produced their music with quite some eye for sonic detail and it offers quite some variation in these pieces and that's what makes this album a most enjoyable one. Excellent album!"
Frans de Waard on Vital Weekly
www.vitalweekly.net/999.html
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"Conjured drones, repetition and the stale air of ill deeds. [...] Just how particular beams of light can illuminate the dust that otherwise drifts unseen, Xu(e) seem to observe drones rather than generate them. [...] Internally, I raise the question of whether Brown Jenkin means me harm. For every beautiful wave of melody that causes me to cast such thoughts aside, there is a crooked or serrated edge that resurrects my concern once again."
Jack Chuter on ATTN:Magazine
www.attnmagazine.co.uk/music/9231
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"Quella condensata nelle dieci tracce del lavoro è una ricerca che procede per antinomie: rumore e decompressione ambientale, destrutturazioni jazz e frequenze statiche si succedono in una dimensione atemporale. [...] Sequenza surreale e magmatica."
Raffaello Russo on Rockerilla #422 Ottobre 2015
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"Brown Jenkin creeps out of one’s speakers -or headphones if you’re really adventurous- like a malignant fog, within these banks of feedback and devious engineering you will hear more than enough to convince you that this band have been plotting to record these events.
[...] Delicately, xu(e) move us through the different phases of what some would term madness with a lithe and commanding dexterity."
Peter Marks on Santa Sangre
santasangremagazine.wordpress.com/2015/10/06/xue-brown-jenkin/
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