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| TRACKLIST |
| 1. Low Moral Fiber. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4:00 2. To Live, Love, Die... Or Kill! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4:40 3. Nag Champa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3:03 4. The Witching Hour. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4:06 5. Squirm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4:18 6. Nightbeast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3:33 7. He Could Destroy The Earth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5:19 8. Warriors In God’s Army . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3:59 9. Men Of Low Moral Fiber (Displacer Vs. Diff_Cult) . . . . . . . . . . .4:14 10. Nag Champa (L’ombre Remix) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4:36 11. Warriors In Dub’s Army (Larvae Remix). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4:11 12. The Witching Hour (Until The Clock Strikes One: Autoclav1.1 Remix) . .5:14 13. Cage Fighters Lullaby (Guided By Gentle Persuasion: ESA Remix) . . . .6:11 |
With three ground-breaking albums in 3 years for the revered French label M-Tronic , Michael Morton, Toronto-based electronic music composer and visual artist, has established himself as a driving force in the world of modern dark electronica.
Performing live with such legendary acts as Xingu Hill, S:cage, Terrorfakt, Converter, Manufactura, Haujobb, and Legendary Pink Dots, a multitude of remix credits and compilation appearances, and sharp imaginative digital artwork under the alias Anti/Matter, Morton has more than earned his place among the ranks of the greatest electronic musicians of all time.
Now, Michael brings his next masterpiece to Tympanik Audio titled ‘The Witching Hour‘ in August 2008. Working from old horror movie samples, crackling analog records, chilling atmospheres, and addictive trip-hop beats, ‘The Witching Hour‘ introduces a new chapter in the Displacer legacy with style.
The previous album of Displacer, Cage Fighter’s Lullaby, showed an intelligent electronic sound with influences taken from drum ‘n bass, breakbeat, idm and downtempo electronic music. The bass plays a major part in this sound and the presence of this instrument has been enhanced further on this new recording. The sound is more organic and acoustic, but also contains the atmospheric electronic layers and drum patterns. The production has been made a bit lo-fi in character on purpose, but it does not affect the sound or effect of the rhythms at all. The new album is in musical respect less varied compared to the previous album though. The tone often is a bit moody and melancholic, yet the rhythms and great melodies keep it all very lively. Another striking thing is that the hiphop influence is more present on this recording. Combined with the orchestral layers, drums and violin sounds it comes it more than once resembles the work of DJ Shadow. Thematically Displacer utilises old horror movies on The Witching Hour and this atmosphere is translated well.
If you are in search of the sphere of 90's trip-hop towards Portishead, yet without the sentiment and with some more musical experiment, you’ll be satisfied with Displacer. Also fans of Scorn will know what to do with this album. Personal favourites are the tracks ‘He Could Destroy the Earth’, which sounds hypnotising, and contains heavy industrial sounds as well, and shows how Displacer introduces a really thick groove, and next to that the track ‘Warriors in Gods Army’ which contains beautiful melodies. Remixes are present from artists such as Diff_Cult, L’Ombre, Larvae, Autoclav 1.1 and ESA. Especially the remix from Larvae is impressive. What is also impressive and is often forgotten in reviews, is the artwork of a release. In this case it however deserves extra attention since The Witching Hour has stunning artwork with the picture at the front cover of the new Displacer cd. Although it is not as varied, original and ingenious as the previous recording, it is still a great accomplishment. ~ by TekNoir
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