Labels: Bugbrand
Review by: Kunal Nandi
KoB is a one-man Bristol-based outfit manned by a bespectacled chap named Tom, and he is very odd indeed. There seems to be a proliferation of these solitary experimental musicians down here, skulking behind their laptops and banks of archaic equipment. Something in the water maybe…
I’m not complaining however, as the noises Tom Bugs produces (some out of his own home-made gadgets) are not wilfully obscure just for the sake of it. In fact, I would hesitate classifying this as simple noise per se, as the general effect is wonderfully calming as opposed to clammy terror-inducement. Having had the pleasure of seeing him play live a few times, I’m a bit more clued in as to how he achieves what he does. It seems that on this track, he’s got his guitar and strummed it gently, and then looped bits and bobs over and over again, followed by what must be bouts of computer treatment that gently flips it into repetitive, pulsating ambience to quite beautiful effect. A genuinely lovely 17-minute guitar-based pastoral soundscape, if that’s even a word.
Out in Japan as a perhaps too-limited 3″ CD release on Duotone Records, Tom Bugs has kindly helped put this out for the locals as a conventional CDR, complete with snazzy personalised covers, in case the current Yen exchange rate isn’t too hot. Check out some of Tom’s aforementioned homemade sound gadgets at http://www.knowledgeofbugs.co.uk/bugbrand also.