Studio wizard Chop pulls out all of the analogue stops on the
Motorik highway to Cybotron by way of a Tangerine Dream on his debut
album for Now-Again. Album out NOW; download a free track below!
Mr. Chop’s debut EP for Now-Again in 2009,
Lightworlds, drew
together anthemic synth-rock, the jagged sound of Italian prog monsters
Goblin, and musique concrète, with surprisingly accessible results.
Since then, the artist known to friends as Coz Littler has rid himself
of the Mister and returns with renewed focus for his debut album
Illuminate known simply as Chop.
The path that took him here was winding indeed. Isolating himself in
his Cheshire, UK studio in late 2009, Chop decided to try his hand at
the nearly fifty year old – and rarely successful – quest to musically
merge the organic and the electronic. Three years later, surrounded by a
host of musical material and reeling from the passing of his father,
his music started falling into itself and Chop found himself in the
center of the spiral.
Enter his friend Joe Fearon, A&R for the likes of Liverpool bands
The Coral and The Zutons. With Fearon’s help, Chop whittled down hours
of recordings to a selection of the most inspired moments. It became
clear that while each stood up on its own, they lacked a unifying theme.
Chop discovered a solution in the mutated sound of his own voice – at
times processed through a WWII-era bomber pilot’s reconditioned
microphone, at others deconstructed via an early Texas Instruments
computer. And then everything fell into place: Heliocentrics drummer
Malcolm Catto’s rhythm tracks were edited off-the-grid until they became
more Neu than James Brown, more driving than syncopated; Bill Ryder
Jones from The Coral stepped in for the lead guitar parts, which lent a
powerful psychedelic 60s rock sound to the proceedings; Chop repurposed a
range of obsolete musical gear to renewed ends, in line with his desire
to search for a future imbued with the innocence of the past.
The result is
Illuminate, an album equally inspired by the
retro-futurism of the still-sputtering 19th century power station in
Northern Wales, across the estuary from Chop’s studio, the events of his
life, and Chop’s collection of hip-hop, disco, new wave and minimal
synth records. A record of extreme personal significance to Chop, the
creation of its music conversely helped him to silence the chaos of an
increasingly neurotic world and soothe the pain of his loss of his
father.
Unsurprisingly,
Illuminate traverses a number of moods. The
jackhammer pounding of ‘Building Blocks’ segues into the moody but
serene ‘Picture Box’. The futuristic soundscape ‘Arcane Future’ takes an
uplifting melodic turn, revealing Chop’s hopes for a more perfect
tomorrow. Tape loops and effects, field recordings and drum programming
all play a role in
Illuminate, and as the majority of the
tracks were assembled far away from a detailed Pro-Tools grid, in what
Chop calls a “mutant modern way of editing things,” This approach gives
the songs a life of their own – equally electronic and human. Though
it’s the most intellectual approach Chop has taken with his music to
date, it retains a spontaneous feel throughout, and despite its
technical accomplishments,
Illuminate is Chop’s most intimate and personal album yet.
Buy:
Chop Illuminate on Itunes
Download:
Chop “Building Blocks”
