Customer Reviews

Bothy Culture

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

A great album for anyone with an interest in seeing a fusion of modern dance with traditional celtic sounds. Bennett is a remarkably gifted musician with a keen ear for mixing the essence of both club dance sounds with traditional bagpiping and celtic arrangements. I recently purchased his Grit CD which is a true masterpiece. It prompted me to reflect back on how good this original CD is. Sadly he passed away from cancer a few months ago but he has left an enduring legacy in the form of his music.

I've been listening to 'Bothy Culture' for several years now, and to be honest I've never grown tired of it. There are a whole host of Celtic-techno stuff that followed hot on the heels of this CD (you know the score: the Afro-Celts, Hyperborea, and so on), but Martyn's album has proven to be an endlessly inventive landmark. It's not just the beats that are terrific: there's a lot of layered sound here, cleanly done, and I still discover new moments on 'Bothy Culture' I missed the first 100 times around. For those who are fans of the Scottish new folk breed, by all means check out the Peatbog Fairies, especially their 'Fairy Stories' CD on the Greentrax label. Now get up and dance, ye lazy bag of bones.

No doubt due to his extensive training in classical music, Martyn Bennet produces something amazing. Many talented musicans have mixed techno beats and sounds with samples and chunks of other people's music, and it usually comes out sounding manufactured and layered - everything Bothy Culture is not. No small credit due to the fact that he plays most (if not all) the instruments himself, Martyn Bennet is able to design a song with a techno beat in mind from the start. How many of his peers could say the same?

I go for walks every day, and want to do them quickly. This cd in my ears is perfect. I fly. It drives me forward, it's fun to hear, it's rhythmic but not at all boring, it stands up to repeated listens, and it feels like I have a wonderful secret that the passing world is to be pitied for not sharing. (It helps to wear a plaid skirt during this indulgence, but I'm sure it's not necessary.) Yeah, amazing pipes, very well- considered and brave meldings from various genres. Just try to sit still.

Nothing if not unusual, this album is being touted as a ground-breaker in world music. It is certainly that! To say Martyn Bennett plays the bagpipes is probably to lead you in the wrong direction. Certainly he was one-time piper to the city of Edinburgh, and piped in such dignitaries as the Prime Minister of Tanzania. But he's is also an accomplished multi-instrumentalist, playing fiddle, keyboards, percussion and a variety of exotic blown and fretted instruments. He's a techno-freak as well, having recorded this whole effort at his home studio, with lots of recording trickery.

The result is difficult to describe, but terms like dance-beat and hip-hop blended with celtic traditional influences cover some of the territory. It is also witty, with musical and vocal jibes at a few sacred cows on tracks like "Tongues of Kali" and "Yer Man From Athlone". But just when you think he's being a bit too tricksy, Bennett pulls off a track like "Hallaig" - a tribute to the late Skye poet Sorley MacLean. The cut starts with a recording of the poet reading, with a percussive and semi-orchestral backing. It concludes with a quite beautiful tune written for the poet's wife Rennie.

When you give up trying to classify this album and let it tell its own complex tale of Scottish culture thriving in a new age, you'll find music that always stimulates, even if it isn't always accessible.

This album combined world music, techo pop, and celtic music to create an energetic melange. I bought the album particularly because of the piece called, "Hallaig", which features the voice of the esteemed gaelic poet Sorely McClean. This piece is haunting, beautiful, and inspirational. Overall, the album is original and interesting; it's too bad it's out of print.

Martyn was trained as a classical musician(his mother is a folk-singer from the island of Mull, Scotland)and he plays every instrument imaginable. His music is a mix of traditional styles from around the world (although with a heavy Scottish slant)melded with varied techno/trance rhythms. It's harder and more interesting than your run-of-the-mill celtic-with-a-beat. He somehow manages to be both mature and playful at the same time. It's the sort of album that you can listen to over and over again and keep hearing new things.

If you listen to this CD and you didn't start dancing around (or at least feel like it) you are either:1. Dead2. Totally boring3. Head of the TalibanSerioslly, this a great CD. It sounds like Martyn had a good time making it too.

When I first heard Swallowtail (from Bennett's 1st album) on NPR's Thistle & Shamrock in 1997 I was hooked. I had never heard the bagpipes played like this before. Fortunately we in the U.S. won't have to go to Canada to order his 2nd album like I had to for his 1st.

Although He doesn't use the pipes as extensively in Bothy Culture, his mastery of other instruments such as the violin, the flute and the others featured here more than carry the day rather nicely. I caught myself more than once tapping my toes through my first listening of this recording and this is not a bad thing. Bennett's energy as well as his humor lifts my spirits with such cuts as "Tongues of Kali" and "Yer Man from Athlone". "Hallaig" on the other hand is haunting and compelling as he provides accompaniment to a reading by the late Sorley MacLean of his poem of the same name. I enjoyed Bothy Culture very much and thought it to be a fine second effort by Martyn Bennett. I may not know much about music but I know what I like. I look forward to his next release with great anticipation.

With its driving electro rhythms and wailing traditional Irish folk instruments (played by Martyn Bennett), track 5, "Ud the Doudek," is a pretty fun listen. "Hallaig" is also worth hearing, for Irish poet Sorley MacLean's recitation of his own marvelous poem set to Bennett's effective backing music. All in all, however, with due respect to Martyn Bennett, his diverse musical background and tragic demise are more compelling than the music on this album.