Bowery Electric - Beat (1996)

It’s Ambient Sunday again! Beat by Bowery Electric, my pick for today, is something again quite different from what I shared so far, perhaps not really describable with the term ambient, I would trust discogs in calling it shoegaze, although I only have a vague idea of what that genre actually entails, some kind of post-rock, abstract rock genre. It does have trip hop cues, as discogs also points it out.

I stumbled upon this album by going through Kranky’s humongous back catalog back in 2018. The album was originally released on punk / indie rock label Beggars Banquet in 1996, but repressed and re-released in 2016 by Kranky, giving it a second chance to see glory. As this YouTube comment points out, “[…] there is music that can only be discovered twenty years later … for many reasons”.

The entire album is filled with drowsy, unfocused layers of guitars, with compressed drums in the background and Martha Schwendener’s beautiful voice occasionally singing repetitive, borderline depressive lyrics (like the “words are just noise” of the first track). It works surprisingly well, usually puts my mind in a very weird, sleepy state. When this album comes up in autoplay while working, I instantly press next as I know my mind will get sucked into it and come out with thoughts haphazardly scattered all around… I would call this meditative if it was not so damn foggy.

Finally, I cannot close this article without mentioning the brilliant artwork for the album cover, a whole mood. Makes me wish I had this record to have it nicely decorating my living room, but damn 70 euros for the record (whether from the repress or the original)… Should not have slept on it for so long I guess! You were looking to offer me a gift? Now you know! Ahah jk (unless..??)