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Exquisite Lust CDr (2006)
Hitherto
Astrionics Pt. I
Motorik
Village Of Forst
Astrionics Pt.II
Witch Hunt Of The Sun People
Two Black Hearts
Exquisite Lust
Kill Shaman 650+ copies CDr |
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PRESS
AQUARIUS RECORDS
From List No. 248
EXPO '70 Exquisite Lust (Kill Shaman) cd-r
We were sent a whole batch of cd-r's from this mysterious group Expo '70, and all the various cd-r covers were designed to look like old seventies krautrock or free jazz records. Which definitely grabbed our attention. Plus they're called Expo '70, so while we weren't exactly sure what to expect, we were definitely thinking it was bound to be good. And boy were we right. This is good. Great in fact. But that wasn't all, the faux vintage covers and the band name ended up being seriously indicative of the sounds within. Gorgeous drifting ethereal krautrocky ambience is what Expo '70 is all about, and eyes closed, you'd be hard pressed to not think this was some Ash Ra Tempel disc or some long lost A.R. and The Machines lp. Crafted entirely from guitars, sitar and Moog, each track here is some sort of lengthy, mesmerizingingly blissed out minimal drone jam. Guitar figures are looped into hypnotic cycles, over shimmery whirls of fuzzy sound and distant drones, the looped riffs slowly shifting and gently changing shape. It's almost like some sort of new age space rock Steve Reich. Swirling FX surround warm deep guitar tones floating weightless in a glistening expanse of muted color and twinkling sonic sparkles. So completely blissful and dreamlike and captivating. One of our favorite new discoveries.
Fans of far out krautrock, deep dark drone, and outerspace guitar exploration will be in absolute heaven, or at the very least in some darkened room, in a trance, drifting off to some druggy dreamy other dimension...
THE WIRE Magazine Issue No. 276
"Center of the Earth"
"Exquisite Lust"
Expo '70 is the prolific side project of Justin Wright when he's not engaged in his day job with the Living Science Foundation (*they wrote Living Science Project, this band is now defunct!). Previous albums involved collaborations with Julian (*they wrote Justin) PK (Live July, 18 2004) and McKinley Jones (Surfaces). Wright considers his two recent albums, Exquisite Lust and Center of the Earth, to be the first mature work of Expo '70. The pieces are all composed from heavily effect-ladden guitar playing. Layers of delay build up into geometrically textured soundscapes while deep, rolling chords, cycle over themselves into low, ceaseless drones. There's a crossword puzzle cleverness to the weave of riffs on Exquisite Lust track "Hitherto" and a cynical buzzing splendour to "Motorik". Center of the Earth has more coherence as a suite of pieces. "Part I" pulses and swells with the elemental logic of lava flows. This builds into "Part II", which rumbles straight from the planet's magma soul before "Part III" and "Part IV" fall into the calm at the eye of the molten storm.
- By Nick Southgate
(*Just fixing two mistakes in this article - Justin/e70)
MY RECORD COLLECTION.ORG
Don't be fooled by the cover, this is far from being another Hotel Costes lounge/electronica compilation. In fact it's some of the most LSD-tinged music by Expo '70 (it's very close in spirit to his earlier Surfaces album) so far. The opening Hitherto sounds like something Kawabata Makoto might have composed for some of his solo ambient works with it's drifting, delayed guitar notes cascading all around you like rain. The two Astrionics are probably what the unlikely meeting of Loren Connors' "airs" with Fennesz (in a VERY aggressive mode) might sound like! The album eventually takes a sharp turn towards the dark side on my favorite Two Black Hearts. The heavy drone on this piece sometimes becomes ethereal as shimmering background noises slowly surface once in a while. The title track ends the album on a dreamy note. Turn the lights off, sit back and let it all seep in. Exquisite Lust is both available as part of the box or by itself.
PROG ARCHIVES
Expo 70 is a sensational minimal-neo krautrockin' project of the guitarist Justin Wright. Exquisite Lust figures among the first recordings but directly reveals Wright's unique musical signature. His sound universe is focused on dense-moving dronescapes mainly built on very low frequencies, electro-loops, guitar's echoing patterns and atonal vibes. This is really sonorous stuff with huge, massive spherical electric frequencies and deep resonances. All musical paintings are evocative and luminously cinematic. The moving drone textures play with extended, circular time and subtle micro-changes. These epic compositions are really immersive and hauntingly absorbing. Exquisite Lust is an astonishing cerebral and phenomenological trip which investigate the liminal (marginal) spaces of the sensorial / sensitive experience. it achieves a balance between lubugrious-desolate moods and eternal dreaminess (obtained by dynamic and buzzing guitar leads). The instrumentation expressively capture the essence of mystical-trance (like) communication. Exquisite Lust is an essential and playful adventurous drone rockin album. With albums as Mystical amplification or Animism, Justin Wright will carry on the exploration of singular micro-tonal genealogies. Highly recommended for fans of krautrock nihilism, early US minimalism and dark (industrial) ambient. 4/5 rating.
Review by philippe
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR Content Development & Krautrock Team
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TAROT READING / SOLAR DRIFTING 7"
SONIC MESSENGER CD
INFINATE MACROCOSM bonus CD
GALAXY OF MYSTICISM CDr
PSYCHOSIS LP
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