27 апр. 2013 г.

Birchville Cat Motel


Birchville Cat Motel is a one-man experimental music project formed by Campbell Kneale from Wellington, New Zealand. Although largely unknown in his home country, Kneale has toured throughout Japan, America, Europe, and Australia. His first vinyl release was Jewelled Wings on the Freedom From label. Many of Kneale's rare and out of print recordings have been reissued recently on a 6cdr collection entitled Chaos Steel Skeletons.

Kneale operates the labels Celebrate Psi Phenomenon and Battlecruiser which have issued CDs by artists from New Zealand and overseas, including Matthew Bower (under the name Mirag) and Simon Wickham-Smith with recent releases by Richard Youngs and Alex Neilson and one involving Tony Conrad. Kneale has used Birchville Cat Motel as a vehicle for many collaborations with other musicians, including Lee Ranaldo, Neil Campbell, and Bruce Russell. He also records under the names Black Boned Angel and Ming and compiled the Prince tribute album Shut Up Already Damn!. After being active as Birchville Cat Motel for 10 years, Campbell has recently disbanded this project to focus on his new project Our Love Will Destroy The World.

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Birchville Cat Motel is the artist name for which noise monger Campbell Kneale first garnered some critical acclaim. His own blend of out-of-this-world noises and layers and layers of resonant drones were something quite unheard of before. To think he comes from a country renowned for it's peculiar underground noise bands (Dead C, Gate to name but two), it is surprising it took so long for Kneale to emerge and get some recognition. His earlier efforts were much louder and harsher than his later works; but as his career progressed, so did his sound. From a cold and uninviting blizzard of thick noise, it matured drastically and with time, a sense of dramatics has established itself within the thick layered drones. New, strange and exciting sounds surfaced and gave the noise an exotic touch which kept it from becoming tedious. Kneale has always been extremely prolific releasing album after album under the Birchville Cat Motel moniker; usually in very small editions (not unlike Acid Mothers Temple) on his own Celebrate/Psi/Phenomenon label (which is also responsible for releasing albums by Kemialliset Ystävät and Simon Wickham-Smith). But he is also known for his works under his own name, his collaborations and various other artist names he has used through the years on both his and other labels. No need to say his body of work is huge, just like his sound. Elements of doom metal have recently surfaced in his work and he's even put together a new label, Battlecruiser, dedicated to these metal tendencies.




See also Invisible Pyramid compilation with  Campbell's participation


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