Review: DiNDDL12 - Strange Attractors - Ian Boddy
Review in Igloo Magazine
How much further can sound really go? Is it even feasible to continually propel audio experiments into new terrain? Where might these modulated strings of life head if it weren’t for artists like Ian Boddy carving them from analog machines? If Michelangelo prescribed to Neo-Platonism in which the idea of a sculpture is already present within a rock formation simply waiting for an artist to uncover, then so too does Ian Boddy as he sculpts new lifeforms extracted from an impressive collection of modular synthesizers. Strange Attractors is composed of ambient darkness and thought-provoking intensity that is filled with contemplation, reflection and animated around a suspenseful exterior. Emanating from colorful wires loosely dangling from dark-wood boxes, knobs spin in both directions to unveil a wide-ranging scope of work celebrating DiN’s 50th album release. Seamlessly connecting escapist drone via analogous air-pressure, Strange Attractors delves straight into the obscure and expels for its listeners an unusually attractive sonic engine featuring six elongated pieces of stimulating experimental strains. Listen in one take to experience this soaring, strangely attractive piece of sound art.
Review by Pietro Da Sacco
Review on Starsend.org
Some musical careers are noted for their velocity - a quick rise, and then? Ian Boddy's career is noted for its longevity - as, after a few decades, he remains a creative constant on the world-wide Electronic Music scene. For many years now Boddy has been making significant music both in concert and in the studio. His DiN record label continues to release albums by Boddy solo, in collaboration and by other emerging and deserving artists - and all of this activity sees no sign of wear or slowing down. His solo live album Strange Attractors (75'28") is yet another excellent realization in the evolution of a distinctive musical language. With an inclination toward linear narrative structures Boddy avoids the standard tropes of Spacemusic. His mechanized sound realms offer cyclical phasing sequencer patterns that expand, contract and shift in most interesting and imaginative ways. Lead melodies wind their way confidently in the midst of a tumultuous struggle between musical keys. Lush synthesizer fills follow intricately rendered grooves and rhythms, dramatically modulating high and low. There is also present an amazing range of interludes made up of meticulously constructed abstract sounds and designs. An ominous electricity charges the opening moments of Strange Attractors. For those waiting for something to happen, please listen - something wonderful is happening. Sounds from an otherworldly plane move the mood to a darker realm on what seems like a tour through the musician's subconscious. Thick drones seethe in sonic motion while reverberant flute tones connect us to an earlier era. The energy level rises and falls as Boddy's compositions blend one into the next, moving the listener from floating atonal zones into more detailed and energized arrangements. The main body of Strange Attractors resolves in a building ethereal choir - the moment of understanding. The shared reaction of the live performance brings out much in a musician - and has over the years lead Ian Boddy to develop an indelible musical voice that is unmistakably his own. So let us not take for granted a musician who has been so good for so long. One of the most creative spirits of his generation Ian Boddy is definitely going someplace, and this music is the only way he knows of to get there.
Chuck van Zyl/STAR'S END 26 January 2012
