Customer Reviews

The Ghost of Each Room

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Cevin Key's newest offering, The Ghost of Each Room is not easy listening. If you like to listen strictly to 4/4 time music, this album will most likely appall you. There are some tunes that leave me with a sour feeling in my head. "Horopter" is one of these, with its repetitious sick-making basslines. However, if you like to hear what deconstructed electronica mixed with a bit of jazz sounds like, this is the album for you. Despite its experimental nature, or maybe even because of it, Cevin Key retains a bit of the old Skinny Puppy sound. Some of those synth sounds seem familiar. The opening track, "Bob's Shadow," mixes theremin (courtesy of Frank Verschuuren) with a more modern sound. There's just something about the theremin that makes me think creepy black-and-white movie, and its juxtaposition with trippy drums makes me think something bizarre is about to happen to me any time now.

Cevin plays with sounds in a disconcerting manner. In "Sklang," he incorporates sounds that, if I didn't know better, would make me think I was listening to a slightly corrupted mp3 file. The vox of Edward Ka-Spel and Nivek Ogre are welcome additions to other tracks. Ka-Spel appears on "15th Shade," making it sound for all the world like a new Tear Garden track. "Frozen Sky," featuring Nivek Ogre, will mostly likely receive the most airplay on alternative radio stations. After all, this song is basically a new Skinny Puppy release.

i was seeing skinny puppy shows when they were still in seedy abandoned warehouses (if it rained we all feared electroshock, and not from the music). this cd doesn't bring all that back, but made me realize just how important cEvin Key is as a musician. So many industrialists are dismissed as "noisemakers", but this cd blends jazz, symphonic melodies, and a mixture of sounds that are the architecture of the overall song. there is no "noise" here, but instead a sensation of water slowing draining down the sink backwards. you just have to go with the flow.

I have always liked Skinny Puppy but I never knew Cevin was capable of something this good. I would imagine that whether someone would enjoy this album or not depends completely on what they look for in the music they enjoy. It's the difference between people who enjoy hearing things sounds they havent heard before and enjoy the atmosphere of music above all else vs people who pass it off as noisy garbage. the album almost sounds like a skinny puppy and autechre doing a collab. Lots of very intricate layering of drum patterns and sounds mixed with a very eerie atmosphere.

Key's lastest release proves to be better a much better effort than anything Cevin did with "Download", or "Tear Garden" for that matter. It feels good to hear other listners share the same thoughts on "FROZEN SKY", an awsome track that has full 'Skinny Puppy' flavor. And I hope it is a portent of things to come. God be with Dwayne, but his death should not mark the perminent end to the band. Key n Ogre reviving "Puppy" would simply make life better. Other tracks on Key's album are good too, 'Bob's Shadow' is haunting and kinetic. Some tracks seem a bit to similar to "Download" (a project i did not much care for), but most are really good...haunting, dreamy pieces..the rhythm work is excellent! The cover art is very ominous indeed, well reflective of the music within. Still, I'll repeat that FROZEN SKY really stands out and makes me hope that we will see PUPPY back with another classic.

i adore almost anything cEvin does... he is one of the most if not the most brilliant musicians of this genre in my opinion... i just got this CD and have only listened to it a couple of times, but i must say, i love it already... i love music for cats... this isn't sp, this isn't download, this isn't any other sp related project already established... it's its own thing as was music for cats and i think it's brilliant... the added bonuses of phil western, ryan moore, edward kaspel and others just make it that much better...and i absolutely cannot see where anyone would get that this is just a bunch of noise... does anyone know anything about music??? somehow, cEvin has this miraculous way of intertwining impossible time changes, sometimes abrasive beats with beautiful melodies and ambience... i couldn't ask for more... if you like the more abrasive stuff and are looking for a good listen, try music for cats (though there is quite a bit of space out melodic ambience in that as well)... if you want the ethereal feeling, i say, go buy effector... BUT... if you want a great combination of everything, BUY this album!!! support our little keefycub!!!

I won't describe this, it's Mr. Key / Crompton, and as usual, it is something new, though I'd say this reminds me a LOT of the Tear Garden project at times...

...most likely because it is the same line up!?!? :)

Ogre is on this one too, which is a good thing, and make for one VERY good (if not a bit too short) track. Too bad Dwayne had to die though, after seeing Puppy Live and hearing the new album, I can definatly say that they lost a LOT when he passed...

...it's almost like we had two cEvin Keys and now we have one.

This is great electronic music, very experimental. An overwhelming amount of studio wizadry and technical know-how is clearly evident. Pure ear candy. However, a certain reviewer said that this is the work of someone who is talentless. Well guess what, Motley Crue just got back together, so why don't you go get their new "masterpeice" and stop reviewing music you know nothing about. Thank you cEvin, for NOT making music that any average ...rocker would appreciate. :)

I wish all the songs on this cd were like Frozen Sky. Key and oHgr back together again in true Skinny Puppy form only on one track in just plain torture. Anyways, This album is actually listenable and enjoyable. I liked Effector, but many songs on it were a little too abstract. This album has many creepy atmospheric moods and the slick digi-pack just adds to the ghostly feel. Key is the master of persussion and beats, and I even think that this album would make Autechre proud.

With "The Ghost of Each Room", one can hear both where Cevin Key has been in the past and where he intends to go. Classic Skinny Puppy-esque rhythms and synths are present, but the mixing is modern, layered and masterful. There's a lot more influence from glitch and various other modern subgenres. The arrangements are lush and constantly shifting, making the fact that a majority of the album lacks vocals ultimately unimportant.

Cevin's music may have mellowed out since the chaotic, noisy days of Last Rights, but it's still adventurous and fresh. This album makes a great chill out record and is full of beautiful, liquid, flowing synth sound and thick bass, and has a generally upbeat, positive vibe (think of some of the instrumental tracks from Bites like "Centre Bullet"). It feels very tropical, sunny and humid and reminds me of casually strolling through a coastal town in Hawaii or some other exotic island. However, it's also incredibly dense with sound and rhythmically odd, rewarding focused listening to a large extent. I find it to be the perfect balance.

There are three vocal tracks on here, and all three are gems. "15th Shade", featuring Edward Ka-Spel of Legendary Pink Dots, is a busy, bustling piece evoking summertime in an urban metropolis. Ka-Spel tells a tension-laden story about some anonymous approaching danger, and the girl who turns to him for help, which he is ultimately unable to give... Great stuff.

"Frozen Sky" was the first time since Skinny Puppy broke up that Cevin Key reunited with Nivek Ogre, and it shows within 4 minutes why Cevin should be doing the production / effects on Ogre's vocals, and not Mark Walk. Here, Ogre's melodic vocals (which sound muffled and irritating on Skinny Puppy's two more recent reunion albums) sound absolutely gorgeous. This song is much closer to modern electronic pop / EBM but it is never-the-less great.

"A Certain Stuuckey" is a classic 9 minute tirade against typical American / English by Genesis P-Orridge, backed by what is probably the most chaotic, off-kilter arrangement on the album. P-Orridge's sarcastic quip "Imagine... no possessions! That's what John Lennon said, and you know how much you always liked John Lennon!" is a stroke of genius and never fails to make me smile.

The instrumental tracks are harder to describe, but I find "Bob's Shadow" with its expert use of theramin and "Horopter", which includes Cevin's groovy drumset playing, to be the most obvious highlights. Every track is great, though.

In conclusion, I never thought I'd say this, but "The Ghost of Each Room" is not only as good as the incredible late 80's / early 90's Skinny Puppy albums, it's also completely it's own thing. Cevin Key may have been making music for 20 years now, but his music sounds and current as anything made by younger musicians, and continues to break ground. This is a modern electronic masterpiece if I've ever heard one.

I can honestly say that I'm thoroughly enjoying cEvin Key's current musical direction. The Ghost of Each Room is more sonically varied than his debut solo, Music for Cats. We're given an array of jazzy numbers, synth-pop, industrial grunge, electronic chaos, drum and bass, and atmospheric soundscapes. It's all here.

My personal hightlights off the album include:

15th Shade: a comedic light jazzy number with Edward KaSpel (of Legendary Pink Dots fame) on vocals. Edward's mysterious Euro-accented voice recites a little story over a funky jam session. It's quite unlike anything else on the album.

Frozen Sky: a psychodramatic, dark, and haunting melody with the infamous Ogre on vocals - distorted of course. Much in the fashion of Skinny Puppy's final release "The Process", we hear chilling distorted electric guitars chords throughout the song. If Skinny Puppy still existed, this would have probably been a typical sound we'd expect to hear. I'm just relieved to know they've rekinded their friendship and are working together again.

Aphasia: to be blunt, this might as well be an instrumental remix of Depeche Mode's "But Not Tonight". The synth-bass mimics DM's mode hit completely! This is possibly my favourite track off the album with a pure 80's synth-pop sound. The sound is refreshing and uplifting.

There are many more tracks of course, but these are the few which have perked my interest. If you're tired of the same old stuff and are looking for something new and daring, give cEvin Key's The Ghost of Each Room a listen. You won't be disappointed!