tbtmo28 / Skylab Operations / Scarcelight Recordings > Released: 9.2003

ACCELERA DECK - Ipsissima Vox cd

8$ppd N.America, see katalogue for overseas ordering

First full-length release in years for Accelera deck, Ipsissima Vox, translated "the very voice", is a self-proclaimed sonic tapestry woven into flickering and contorted bursts of static, storming feedback, and irresistible blizzard drone ambience. Sparce fireside acoustic guitar segues get mixed into a deep open digital soundscape.

REVIEWS:

Absorb:
On 'ipsissima vox' ("the very voice"), accelera deck (chris jeely) uses guitar, feedback, loops, and treatments to create fifteen tracks recorded between 1993 to 2003. while the guitar is jeely's primary source, it's transformed so radically throughout that conceivably other instruments might be present too, so alien are the sounds he generates. a full lexicon of sonic vocabulary is on display with smears, scrapes, and splintering shards inhabiting the pieces, jeely fearlessly tearing the material apart and re-assembling it into compelling fragments that pierce, flicker, combust, and drone. raw electronic storms of high-pitched frequencies and abrasive feedback are leavened by fleeting oases of gentle calm. he conjures bucolic moods that recall greg davis's music on some tracks although jeely goes much further in deconstructing the source material into malleable fragments. a good illustration is the wistful opener 'parallel' whose glistening acoustic guitar shimmer is processed at times beyond recognition, with melancholy traces of untainted guitar surfacing through the static. elsewhere fennesz's style is evoked, by the machine-like grinding on 'rare,' for instance. even though jeely restlessly explores a full spectrum of electronic sound, the tracks group together to some degree. 'parallel' and 'reckoning' show their acoustic song-oriented origins most clearly, although both are overhauled by processing treatments. other tracks eschew song structure elements for textural abstractions that one might classify as microsound or microtonal. ambient drones are here too, although presented more concisely than is the usual custom. 'ghost photography,' in fact, builds from ambient drone to seething cacophony in a mere five minutes. 'ipsissima vox' is distinguished by its generous range of sonic explorations and styles; it would be more distinguished, however, by a greater preponderance of melody-based songs rather than the more abstract pieces that predominate. although interesting as explorative exercises, they're less emotionally engaging. notably, jeely ends the collection with memorable bluesy guitar on 'landslide blues,' perhaps implicitly acknowledging the greater impact of his more melodic pieces.

Boomkat:
Accelera deck returns with is second release in as many weeks, this time heading towards involving guitar synthesis and electronic variations a la Fennesz. Heartfelt guitar performances and luminous synthetic noises are fed through a digital kaleidescope of varied intensities and colors, creating a fearless exploration of frequency and nuance. With extreme attention to timing and detail, Ipsisima Vox finds beauty in the patient deconstruction of each sound and resonance; electronically processed beyond concrete recognition. Lovely.

Eld Rich Palmer:
It is Chris Jeely who hides behind the Accelera Deck, an American who has gained rich experience considering his other projects, too – Your Favorite Horse, or Plateau September . “Ipsissima Vox” , which translates as “the very voice”, is a package of excerpts from his works from summer 1993 to spring 2003. It suggests that we deal with a kind of ‘sum-up' record, but this opinion might be seen as somewhat misleading. In general, you listen to it without any discomfort so typical of jubilee records because the contents of “Ipsissima Vox” are concise, without severe diversities in styles and tonality. Should we presume then that Chris Jeely did not experience any turning points in his musical career? I guess he did, but the selection of his works for the record makes the gap between one period and another almost unnoticeable. The beginning is calm enough (generally "Ipsissima Vox" has a calm character) – a guitar twanging a la John Fahey, or Jim O'Rourke with the accompaniment of actively changing electronics. The second track is probably the richest in sound textures of all, where things change like in a melting-pot from one extreme to another. As the record progresses, it reflects the main trend of Accelera Deck works (when comparing the proportions of ‘quiet' works of the recording to other kinds) to calm and dark areas – a whole palette of micronoises, waves of sounds, barely audible hums, glitches, ambient landscape, it's enough to say that noise elements are generated even with a help of minimalist means (would you believe Morr Music used to have Accelera Deck in their roster?). Sometimes, we happen to find familiar guitar improvisation, but mere single islands they are. All in all, it's a record worth your attention, with attractive mood and many audio details for discovery. Good!!!

Fallt:
Opening with 'Parallel' a robust exercise in collapsing electronica underpinning a persistent guitar refrain, 'Ipsissima Vox' signals its intentions clearly.  His first release in two years, Chris Jeely "edits, compiles, re-edits and assembles" ten years of recordings to create a collage of fractured melodies. A sonic tapestry that weaves precise guitar fragments and discrete refrains within a blanket of razor-sharp splinters and electronic noise, 'Ipsissima Vox' probes and develops Jeely's passion for 'damaged audio'. Throughout a series of gestures - the equivalent of an audio sketchbook -  Jeely consistently delivers innovations. 'J-Stereo' a painstakingly built series of microrhythms which, .microsound tendencies notwithstanding, recall the sublime moments of Photek's precision electronics. 'Fireflies' an opaque guitar refrain masking a multi-layered pinpoint patina. Occasionally the storm of electronics subsides to reveal calmer moments and  welcome lulls: 'Gloss' - a three minute oasis of calm; and 'Landslide Blues' - a series of teased apart slide guitar phrases that close this release perfectly, mirroring its robust beginnings.

Furthernoise:
Parallel, the opening track on Ipsissima Vox by Accelera Deck, aka Chris Jeely, sounds like your mate tuning up his acoustic guitar whilst flicking through the effects programs. The album continues with well-controlled feedback, industrial drones and malfunctioning windscreen wipers, the guitar as input device occasionally discernable beneath the soup of a fractious, sometimes chaotic and digitally clipped mix. A headphone listen is recommended, though you’d be advised not to turn up the volume in the quiet bits, lest your eardrums be cut to ribbons later. There are less obtrusive tracks, which wander into ambient territory, and others to rival the sound of fingernails running down a blackboard during an alien invasion, which will have your amp handling frequencies rarely, encountered. The massive wash of ‘Ghost Photography’ pulses with a rare rhythmical suggestion, the album ending with a hint at Jeely’s native Alabama in the squelch and slide guitar of ‘Landslide Blues’. For an album written over a period of 10 years, this has great cohesion - possibly due to the fact that it was produced and mastered in a much shorter time, with heavy reliance on one rather effective bit of software.

Grooves:
Accelera deck is Alabama-based Chris Jeely, who has been making records by processing guitar sounds via computer since 1997. After hearing his 2000 album Addict, I considered him the American Four Tet, though he and Kieran Hebden have gone down different roads since. Ipsissima Vox is his first full-length in what seems like an eternity (well, two years), which is a shame, because his style- a blend of guitar, processed noise, and beats- has become quite prominent in the interim. According to the sleeve notes, Ipsissima Vox was culled from material recorded as far back as 1993. The tracks generally fall into a few different categories. "Parallel", "Fireflies", and "Reckoning" are gorgeous acoustic guitar songs composed straight and then heavily treated with electronics. Comparisons to the lyricism of Greg Davis are unavoidable, though Jeely goes further with his processing, injecting crackling static into the regions between the notes. "Ghost Photography" and "Gloss" are drone pieces, the latter being calm and placid while the former erupts into a fountain of noise. Roughly half the record's 15 tracks explore microsound abstraction, with a nearly 12-minute stretch between "White Out" and "Hail" consisting only of small glitches bumping randomly in space. The small, clicky tracks feel cold and distant, and ultimately become lost in the shuffle in light of how much of this sort of thing is out there. Unfortunately, this less interesting sound dominates. Jeely's greatest strength is his feel for infusing dramatic pop and rock gestures into the context of experimental sound, and Ipsissima Vox doesn't play to it.

Manifold:
Emotionally engaging tracks of treated guitar, acoustic, loops and daydream-evoking environmentals. Accelera Deck can sooth and gradually become difficult, cutting up the pretty melody into distorted chunks. Somewhere in there it evens out, the melody and light wins but the spector of oddity looms. Like FINAL if Justin were to use a heavy FX hand on all his pieces. But there are fifteen tracks here so without sundering the galaxy completely, the same world never stays for long, it changes...Ipsissima Vox wanders but isn't necessarily lost. I'm reminded of why I like things like Loren Mazzacane Conors and Crawl Unit, and can picture a hybrid of the two when Accelera Deck cut loose. The strange worlds, the multiple levels of sound, the dramatic charge of acoustic enviroments affected out of character. Fantastic material for any guitar-ambient listener.

Phosphor:
Ipsissima Vox is translated the very voice. A new output by Accelera Deck, also known as Chris Jeely, who releases music under the banner Exhalera Deck, Saint 13, September Plateau as well and is involved in Slinger (with Brad Davis) and Valence (with Aaron Tweedy aka M-Tec). Chris Jeely is quite productive, he has already released material on labels such as Rocket Racer, Morr Music, Endorphin Records, 555, Pitchcadet, Toast and Jam Recordings, English Muffin Records, Blackbean And Placenta Tape Club and Neo Ouija. Ipsissima Vox features 15 songs, which combine acoustic guitars with electronics. The atmosphere changes regularly, also within the songs themselves. The lovely introvert episodes characteristic for Chris Jeely's past interchange with feedback and organic noises. The music is raw in nature, but there is always some delicacy shining trough. Minimal crackling is followed by a prepared guitar sound, harmonic low-key bassscapes introduce instable sonic tapestries that turn into harsh guitar feedback and high-pitched frequencies. The music is on the move, surching it's way into experimental landscapes, constantly evolving into something new, exploring the depths and possibilities of electronic music.

Splendid:
Chris Jeely's long-running solo project centers around various abuses/treatments of his guitar, plus source sounds that run the gamut of feedback, loops and digital manipulations. Culled from a decade worth of home recording, these recycled bits are occasionally, but not often, pretty -- and neither would you be if you were subjected to scalpel, stitched together, sliced up and super-glued together again for a third, fourth or fifth time. It's this simultaneous disregard and worship of structure that gives Ipsissima Vox its vital thrust.
Jeely starts his fourth or (maybe?) fifth proper album with a plaintive little ditty wrought of five strummed notes peeking through a liquid morass of feedback and DSP. "Parallel" is breathtakingly gorgeous, initially conjuring the fragmented folk of Four Tet and later segueing into Fennesz-style harmonic ambience. At this point, it's appropriate to mention "Landslide Blues", which ends the album with a pensive whimper. It's a nice utilization of looped guitar processing, but most notable because it, along with the opener, bookends another thirteen somewhat difficult tracks. Jeely is obviously talented on the compositional end, and while it's unclear how he came to corrupt his own work in such a way, there's excellence within the grit as well as true emotions bubbling 'neath the surface. "Rare", with its magnificent, glitchy drone, is the first to snap you out of your comfort zone, like being bathed in dry ice by your grandmother. (Is that betrayal you feel?) "Fireflies" offers a quick return to heartstring-tugging acoustic guitars -- painted by zeros and ones and wet with Rothko's plucky scent -- then suddenly, a section of ornery, Mego-esque minimalism: the videogame spurts and frequencies of "While", the quiet, rippled clicks of "J-Stereo", the microscopic sub-bass rumbling of "Opprinnelig". "How is Jeely making these sounds, and what possessed him to?", you ask as "Gloss" offers respite with dew-strewn fields of chirping processors and scintillating, sun drenched circuit boards. There's little answer in Ipsissima Vox 's last few noticeably harsh, computer-enhanced soundtracks, which often resemble ham radios burned at the stake. The album's moods and dynamics shift back and forth in startling fashion, like a seesaw with a trusting three year-old sitting on one end and a fat twelve year-old sociopath on the other. Jeely is clearly capable of more cohesive outings, but it's contrast that he shoots for here. Ipsissima Vox may not be the most delightful album you'll hear this week, but it's one that earns your respect, even if it has to use a circular saw to do it.

Staticsignals:
Accelera Deck pulls heartfelt guitar performances and luminous synthetic noises through a digital kaleidescope of varied intensities and colors, creating a fearless exploration of frequency and nuance. With extreme attention to timing and detail, Ipsisima Vox finds an infinite beauty in the patient deconstruction of each sound and resonance; electronically processed beyond concrete recognition, these sounds take on a wondrous life of their own, and despite the digital effects and filters a surprisingly human feel has imprinted itself throughout. Nuance and tattered echoes of noise, resonance, silence so expertly crafted; this is the essence in which Ipsissima Vox creates it's sense of wonder, and enthralls the listener with thousands of delicate and deliberate gestures. Even through the digital layers and synthetic watercolors, you can vividly imagine this work being performed in real-time, so human is it's feel and sentimental it's voice. When the few, more recognizable guitar harmonies and fragments present themselves, you find them weathered and stumbling, day-dreaming, homeless . . . and you clutch to them, afraid to let those familiar moments of solace go . . . yet reveling in the effect even as they are absorbed in the digitized fabric of shimmering or quiet or staticky sound. An acoustic guitar wanders hopelessly, pulled and torn through a colorful vortex of digital effects (Parallel). A high frequency cluster gently crescendoes through a shimmering and burbling tunnel, illuminating a silent film splintered by age and memory (Rare). A pristine synth murmur is gently colored with soft noise and pulsating stereo resonances, finally dissolving into fragmented abstraction (Gloss). Crackling, searing high frequency feedback tones spatter and pierce, shift and oscillate, with relief found only in a few moments of distorted radio static chatter (Ipsissima Vox). Ipsissima Vox is chock full of poignant moments, as it scrapes and caresses and pushes against sensitive areas of the ear and mind in brilliant ways. An extraordinary and masterful work that continually inspires and captivates.

Stylus:
Who would have ever thought one of the more promising names in American electronic music would hail from Birmingham, Alabama? Then again, in the Internet age, where access to information (and access to the ability to disseminate information) is just a mouse click away, why not? Why does every respectable artist have to come from metropolitan centers like New York or Los Angeles or even hip college centers like Minneapolis, Athens or Austin? Why not Birmingham, Alabama? But I digress. Ipsissima Vox is Accelera Deck's (aka Chris Jeely's) first full-length release since 2001's Shadow Land . I've not heard that record, but I did hear and review his recent Lulluxa EP, which I really enjoyed. In fact, I concluded with this line: "it gets me excited for Jeely's next full length." Well, Ipsissima Vox IS the next full-length release. Was the excitement warranted? Well, it's a weird album—that's for sure. The liner notes mention that the songs were "recorded variously on cassette, 4-track, and computer from summer 1993 to spring 2003." They also note that the instruments used were "guitar, feedback, loops and treatment." I'm guessing the word "treatment" is probably an understatement. What we have here is a variation on a common theme in electronic music: the transformation of guitar-based sounds into electronic experimentation. Yes, guitar sounds are in evidence throughout, but usually only as a prelude to a weirder, Fennesz-like exploration of the nature of noise and repetition. The fact that the music was recorded over a ten-year span would suggest that the music here might be a bricolage: a combination of many styles and effects. Actually, I'm guessing that, while the sounds were recorded over a long span, their actual recreation into the songs on this album took place over a considerably shorter period. The music here is pretty consistent in tone and execution. There's a lot of noise and silence, a lot of squeaks and squeals, and a lot of rumbles and warbles. Plus, there's not a lot of what is usually called "rhythm" or "melody" here, save when guitar melodies creep in and around the noise. Beyond those instances, it's mostly just a lot of free-floating weirdness. Now, my calling this music "free-floating weirdness" should not be taken as an indication that this music is without structure—far from it. In fact, unlike some electronic experiments, these fifteen songs are actually songs—with beginnings, middles, and ends. So you'll get a song like the title track, which starts out as a series of crumbly noises, then progresses to more intense radio static-like effects before it concludes with about three minutes of ear-piercing noise. Slowly building sounds that bust into noise: that's structure, isn't it? There are other, less dissonant examples, like "Reckoning," which begins with some nice guitar melodies that are, slowly but surely, overwhelmed by blips and other noises (though the guitar remains in the background throughout). Then there's a song like "Hail," which follows the title track's rather evil noise with some Richard Chartier-like minimal blip-ism. In short, while the sounds used to create this music are rather unified (though varying in intensity), the individual songs are as distinct from one another as you're likely to find on an electronic work. So, let me return to my initial question: was this album worth the wait? I would say yes. Although it's not the greatest work of experimental electronics this year, and although I'm usually not a fan of "bleeding ear" noise music, I do find this work original and inventive, and I would certainly recommend it to anyone into the more experimental side of electronic music. 7.9

Tric:
Comprised of "guitar, feedback, loops, and treatments" as stated within the pea green minimalist cover and liner notes, the layout supplements this noisy, experimental electronic music well. The "loops" aren't some stolen 70's funk beats for some rapper to flap his gums over, but actually looped feedback frequencies that Chris manipulates in various fashions. Probably the only "music", as your average joe would put it, would be the plucked guitar chords that supplement the crazy buzzes, squelches, and crackles. There are a few segments that are just straight high frequency feedback for several minutes, which could be best compared to the ringing in your earsafter seeing an excessively loud show. I saw Accelera Deck play live once, and his set was only a short 20 minutes, but it was still good. Hopefully he'll play longer on his next time around.

Wavelength:
After hearing this album, fans of Accelera Deck will definitely add this release to their list of favourites. After hearing it only twice it made my Top Ten list even though I have heard thousands of good releases this year and it wasn't until late November that I heard this one. Ipisissima Vox is a collection of digital and analog recordings from the last ten years. Chris Jeely mixes broken bits of guitar with layers of feedback. At times his sounds are incredibly beautiful, but sometimes they are harsh and piercing. It presents all the sounds that Accelera Deck has previously offered, but this time it is more evolved and polished with an intriguingly noise-driven sharpness and strange melodic directness. The album starts off with crazy noise-drenched water pipes and pitters mixed with spacey guitar riffs, and it doesn’t exclusively stay there. These tracks boldly fade and cross in and out, from sounds that can at times be considered lullabies with pianos, to quiet robot glitch-love sounds heard in an underground sewer where construction people work and listen with smiles on their faces. The minimalist noise that is heard between the tracks is essential to this album, making the random clips mimic subtle heartbeat blips. This, in my opinion, keeps this very experimental album together. Highlights for me are “Gloss,” “Hail” and “Reckoning.” File next to Black Dice, Christian Fennesz, experimental works by Jim O’Rourke.