{"id":539,"date":"2010-06-06T19:16:27","date_gmt":"2010-06-06T17:16:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.horus.cz\/WordPress\/?p=539"},"modified":"2011-04-15T06:00:18","modified_gmt":"2011-04-15T04:00:18","slug":"a-review-from-hard-wired-july-2003","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.horus.cz\/WordPress\/?p=539","title":{"rendered":"A review from Hard Wired (July 2003)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Although the HCD <\/strong>label is not prone to throwing out a new release \tevery other month, you can certainly be sure that when they eventually do it \twill involve something truly awe-inspiring for the listener.<\/p>\n

Formerly producing music under the guise of Tigress Lily<\/strong>, the Russian \tduo now behind Roricat <\/strong>comprises of Julica Rorica (Vocals and \tmagic) and Eugene T (guitar and machines) which leaves no surprise to \tthe imagination as to where this bands title derived from…<\/p>\n

So, on removing the disk from the jiffy bag the first thing to catch my \tattention was naturally the front cover, it’s nothing much to write home \tabout, boring I suppose would be right, but on opening out this limited \tedition (of 500) digipack you are greeted by some tasty snaps of cold \twintry scenes (Barren trees, snow covered rail lines and frosted plantation) \tit kind of sets an impression of the albums theme… so on that note, I was \tpretty much expecting to hear a relative degree of cold and bland \tatmospherical compositions… Fortunately I encountered so much more…<\/p>\n

So, with my headphones on, feet up on the couch, and eyes shut, my mind just \tbegan drifting away to the slow rhythmic harmony I was now experiencing with \tthe opener Blue 6<\/em> which though slightly minimal in instrumental content, \tit’s impossible to resist those gentle floating synthetics and calming \tguitar melody… The tranquil surroundings carry on through to the following \tpiece She Dives With Fireflies<\/em> amid an abundance of blips and beeps, and \tthis becomes a relevant feature pretty much throughout the whole album.<\/p>\n

Elsewhere, Luna<\/em> takes the form of a xylophone ditty, jollied along with \tsome clinky clanky metallic beats, and though vocals are very much a rarity \ton the album, we actually catch a few spoken samples on Hive<\/em> one of the \tparticularly obscurer pieces present. Perverted Magic User<\/em> is another track \twhich stands out to me purely for the strong bass lines which drive it along \tin parallel to a mystical 70’s influenced organ melody (the return of \tpsychedelia) and those ever present flickering scratchy sounds.<\/p>\n

To highlight how important the guitar has been to Roricat<\/strong>‚s music, I must \tmention their flexibility for change, whether it’s taking on a lead role \twith a host of heavier guitar effects such as on the splendid Ice Cold \tBlood<\/em> which again marvelously works in to compliment the prominent bass \tlines, or how on Mutio<\/em> the piercing drone of a single struck string is \tjust weaved between the slow beat, clattering cymbal and spangly \tatmospheres.<\/p>\n

Since working with Hard Wired<\/em>, I have never until now had the chance to \tsample any Russian acts, so as the alternative scene there is something new \tto me I can’t really compare Roricat <\/strong>against any other fellow acts from \ttheir country. On the other hand Roricat <\/strong>certainly appear to be on a steady \tform with their plesant and relaxing style of ambient music, and I \tespecially like how they have blended the guitar parts in with the synths \tand atmospherics, shall I say in a vaguely similar vein to the German act User’s Atmosphere<\/strong>. Though I find one or two of the tracks to be a little hit \tand miss in places, I genuinely believe it’s a promising and worthwhile \trelease and I don’t imagine there would be many ambient fans out there too \tdisappointed after purchasing a copy.<\/p>\n

For me, it was an interesting experience and I would like to see which \tdirection they decide to take their sound on future releases.<\/p>\n

Rich \tHobbs<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Although the HCD label is not prone to throwing out a new release every other month, you can certainly be sure that when they eventually do it will involve something truly awe-inspiring for the listener. Formerly producing music under the guise of Tigress Lily, the Russian duo now behind Roricat comprises of Julica Rorica (Vocals […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[127],"tags":[39,45],"class_list":["post-539","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews","tag-roricat","tag-uki-uki"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.horus.cz\/WordPress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/539","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.horus.cz\/WordPress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.horus.cz\/WordPress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.horus.cz\/WordPress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.horus.cz\/WordPress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=539"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.horus.cz\/WordPress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/539\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.horus.cz\/WordPress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=539"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.horus.cz\/WordPress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=539"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.horus.cz\/WordPress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=539"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}