Craig Murphy is a musician, composer and producer of experimental music and a multimedia artist working with abstract music videos. Having established the rising Herb Recordings imprint in his native Scotland, Murphy's own output resembles that of a musical odyssey. An obsession with Frank Zappa has seen to a fascination with experimentation and Murphy's many projects span several genres. From the mechanistic, yet poignant electronica of Solipsism, his electro-psychedelic band shoosh with Neil Carlill and multi-instrumentalist Ed Drury, to his recent ambient outlet ch.pm. Murphy's distinctive sound is often abstract, yet retains a rich, melodic and emotional edge.
Shoosh (Band) - Psychedelic Folk & Ambient (Herb, Awkward Silence)
The album consists of drones, cosmic synth chords, and disembodied, distorted vocal samples. It has echoes of Kosmische Musik acts like (early) Tangerine Dream and Klaus Schultze as well as their spiritual descendants such as Pete Namlook. But there are equally nods to Stars of the Lid, Eno’s Apollo and Murcof’s Cosmos projects. The eight tracks unfold slowly. Some are short and fragile; others, like the title track, have a suitably cosmic grandeur. “Hybrid”, the closing section, has a slowed down echoing voice that has the rhythm of whale song, and sounds like the last, fading sounds of a dying civilization. It’s quite a spooky end to a seriously trippy suite of music. Music Miscellany
ch.pm is the solo project of Craig Murphy, perhaps better known as one half of electro-psychedelic outfit Shoosh. ‘Alien Genome Project’, however, is like listening to an old-school ambient record, where melodies shift extremely slowly. Indeed, Tangerine Dream and Brian Eno would certainly approve of Murphy’s work. Leonard's Lair
Weird Fields is a busy boy - it feels almost like he creates videos on weekly basis, judging from the amount of clips he's dished up in the last few months (last time it was a promo for Pestilence by Shoosh).
This time Herb Recordings' Kingbastard is the subject: the track used is '[ d o w n u p ]' and the video has a series of flashing pictures, cryptic symbols and phrases. Weird Fields has probably filled the whole thing with subliminal messages too, so who knows what he's brainwashed us into...
Angry Ape
I remember the good old minimalist days of electronic music videos where all you'd see was an amorphous digital blob spinning across a swiftly tilting background. Kingbastard's latest video seems to recall those abstract times, even though there's something much more complex with what Chris Weeks and Weird Fields are doing with [ downup ]. The flashing, subtle cues have a message tied somehow to the words explore, exploit, explode, before somewhere along the way you find yourself saying, "I love Big Brother." Ogbetty
consuming collages depicting in the minds eye intergalactic voyages
to far flung milky ways, gloriously wide screen in stature and vividly
fulsome in texture. And while the obvious winner hand down here is
’bastardism’ - a lushly envisaged cosmic pit stop where shuffling statue-esque
beats orbit amorously across swirling passages of soft psych ambient
blissfulness - think Biosphere trading dialects more appreciable to the
polar climes of Amon Duul and Jean Michel Jarre - a magnificent
dreamscaping delight. Though that said our money is squarely on the
monumental ’this is our tree and were not getting out of it’ - a desirable
and engaging slice of achingly lonesome spectral beauty
Losing Today
“Crystalism” is the most direct track, coming across like an
aggressive, no nonsense Boards of Canada. Those distant synths that
hallmark previous releases are intact here, layering themselves almost out
of sync with the programmed beats, yet remaining cohesive. “Exit Strategy”
is different again, employing thick mid-90’s beats over dripping melodies
that slightly recall Wendy Carlos’ “Clockwork Orange” phase.
Angry Ape
this five track EP is Solipsism’s most unified effort thus far. The
album pivots with the beautifully arranged epilogue “Sun Up”, an ambient
and emotional sprawl that leaves you with a warm sense of tranquility and
profound motivation to hit the Solarism replay button.
Sonic Frontiers
Solipsism again seamlessly blends ethereal synth swells with mechanical
beat programming, to create a colliding electronic sound. The contrast
between the wistfully melodic synths and the precise, robotic beats are a
key component in this release’s sound. "At The Beach" is, by far and away,
the best track on offer here. The beatwork seems off the pace from the
gorgeous toybox chimes that plays an integral role on this track. Almost
as if it is playing catch-up, the off-kilter pattern offers a timeless
sound that induces the mood of an Ibizan sunset.
Angry Ape
"Electricity Flows In Squares" has an nostaligic feel to it, advancing
on the themes explored by artists such as Bola, Autechre and Bochum Welt.
The pristine melodies posses a real other-worldly quality and are
perfectly contrasted by the accomplished, mechanistic programming. It is
an engaging listen that begs for an emotional response.
Boring Machines Disturbs Sleep
Shoosh, the trio of Ed Drury, Neil Carlill and Craig Murphy, have a different approach to their music. More guitar-based than Cheju, Shoosh features a love-it-or-hate-it vocal style. Their track “Elastic Soil” is predominantly guitar-based but also features some soaring electronic textures underneath it all. Their second track, “Come in from the Cold,” is weirder still vocally and features shimmering electronic swirls and acoustic guitar. The first of their tracks sounds like Bowie meets Genesis P Orridge while the second is more like Dylan; both sound like drug-addled psychedelic folk - uniquely blissed out weird psychedelic folk excursions. Igloomag
Shoosh are a different proposition altogether, combining the talents of Craig Murphy (synths, programming), multi-instrumentalist Ed Drury and former Delicatessen frontman Neil Carlill, who provides rather unique vocals. A starlit chime introduces “Elastic Soil” but will not prepare the listener for the intergalactic journey they are about to embark on. Murphy’s spectral drones provide the template for Drury to weave a beautiful Spanish guitar arrangement atop, while Carlill delivers his indecipherable yet strangely alluring vocals. Spell-bindingly inventive, shoosh construct an exclusive brand of ambient, space-folk. Reverb Mag
Shoosh’s ghostly alluring ‘elastic soil’ is an off centred though numbingly beautiful work of ethereal psych-ambi-folk, pining celestial sheens, crooked and dust ridden stumbling acoustic flamenco strums serve as deliciously spectral montages underpinning the ether driven wandering vocal mantras - all at once hazy and disquieting though magically omnipresent the individual parts coalesce and caress like heavenly apparitions weaving in and out of view imagining Animal Collective centre stage in a celestial gunfight setting amid supernatural serenades sourced from Neil Young’s ‘eldorado’. Losing Today
While other shoosh compositions come across like a space-age version of Pink Floyd, “Elastic Soil” finds them exploring a different plain altogether.
Carlill’s vocals immediately pique the interest with its multi-tracked and warped out of shape tone. These are cushioned by a galaxy of spectral drones and superb Spanish guitar work to create this highly inventive piece of music.
Angry Ape
Shoosh's Elastic Soil features flamenco guitar and woozy, processed vocals stumbling around in a sweetly acrid haze. The Wire
Of more interest, I thought, was the music of Shoosh, a three piece group of Ed Drury (guitars), Neil Carlill (vocals and lyrics) and Craig Murphy (synth, programming). In 'Elastic Soil' they sound like an electronic version of Current 93, with a strong similarity in the vocal region. In 'Come In From The Cold' things turn even more down and moody, with sparse electronics, ending in total ambiance. Vital Weekly
Shoosh is definitely more leftfield. Their two tracks explore a psychedelic world. ‘Elastic Soil’ begins with Spanish guitar before some warped vocals convey an evening of stoned abandon in Madrid. Leonard's Lair
The guitars are Iberian and the wooze is warm and writhes like animated spaghetti. It's quite a nifty little late night stoner track, phased vox n all, would be very much at home on any number of old Tyrannosaurus Rex albums.
IS IT ANY GOOD? Yeah, it wont be featured on a chart show near you, but that's not the point, is it? Unpeeled
Delicate, lonesome and hitherto monolithic these somnambulant drone-scapes swirl in frosted pirouette formations applying a stately courtship (none more so than ‘distant star‘).....Amid the showcase of glacial tides and sparsely drawn and effecting minimalist washes of lilting electronic symphonies we suggest you stop by at your first opportunity to sample the warming radiance of the playfully orbiting oscillations of the melting ’so long good friend’ - bit of a peach by our reckoning appealing to ’magnetic fields’ era Jarre and Vangelis fans alike. Losing Today
Check out some music videos by Craig Murphy under his Weird Fields moniker below, or visit the youtube channel.
DIGITAL ONLY - TMRD004 005 006 - Featuring tracks and remixes from Vortechtral, Wyrus & Dastin, K.e.n.y.u., Alexy Gordiyenko, Deeroy & Gabriel Miller, Alex Dias, Roman Zawodny & Lilonee, SveTec, Kali, Mash...
7pm - 1am Friday, 3pm - 1am Saturday, 3pm - 12pm Sunday // £5 per day // NO advance tickets
After a veriable famine in the North East music 'scene' where the musically adventurous and artistically driven have been forsaken in favour of the safe, the tame and the bland, Distraction present three days of aural innovation, future players, and diverse sonic excursions that right those very wrongs.
The Distraction Weekender returns. Accept no imitations.
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