: info@dual.co.uk

Dual - Keimar Sty (CD)

Supremely confident follow up to the excellent Caste CD. This takes a trip into the darker realms of ambient electronics, bringing to mind some of Pete Namlooks early experiments in sound manipulation. At other times you could quite easily be floating underwater with the beautifully reduced sounds and textures. Brilliant material.

Dual - Keimar Sty (CD)

More drone induced music, this time from UK's Dual. The curiously titled CD ' Keimar Sty' is the follow up to 2000's 'Caste'. Dual plays ambient music on guitars. That's it. They bow the instrument, put stuff on the strings and use other odd methods to get those strings vibrating. It sounds all so relatively simple, guitar, bow, strings, but Dual produces five lengthy pieces of weightless space. Pieces evolve slowly, majestically, sometimes with a dash of rhythm (in the form of a continuos stream of sampled sounds - not in the form of a rhythm machine). Nothing new under the sun, where we find Main, Stars Of The Lid or Troum, but these are not the least to be compared with and Dual certainly add, especially in the side of rhythms, a thing of their own.

Dual - Caste (CD)

An interesting new project we just discovered, masterminded by the UKs Colin Bradley. Dual has a minimalist front, with white and only tiny coloured artwork marring the pristine CD case. But the music is a multi-depth, tapestries of quiet and interruptions. Deep, sorrowful textures move just as the waterline is slowly droning and fading string-whispers. The hum of open space and fading activity you'll never understand. Beneath the surface is the aquatic thumping of intentional physics, object against object in an echoing waterspace. Further down are the clicking sounds, quiet and occasional. The gurgles, there once or twice but not in a cycle, never repeated. Then over it all are the tracks of pure, high-minded drones and power, textural ambient spawned from the same wind-tunnels as Maeror Tri. Great stuff.

Dual - Caste (CD)

Spinning crackling noise compostions from this English duo... relatively unknown but who cares when you've been compared to Thomas Koner et-al... not to be missed !!!

Dual - Caste (CD)

 

Add Dual to the list of ambient guitar explorationists... and put the name high upon that list, particularly if you're into a dark vision of what six-string transmutations should be. Colin Bradley (with some help from Julian Coope) belongs to a caste of sonic-creators that forge irresistibly bleak soundworlds. Warmly buzzing guitar-spawned fluids swirl around blicks, spiked with gritty occurrences and semi-rhythmic pulsation's, some of which growl like a distantly raging locomotive. Those enigmatic atmospheres flow into the quieter regions of chpst:k (4:30); an isolationist's dream, these faint waves of feedback billow and sometimes squawl obliquely across a panoramic-though-sparsely-populated soundscene of indefinable activities. Those hushed sonic molecules become spydel (10:39), a mutedly thrumming zone which abruptly cuts off, leaving only the most minute traces. Eventually a cyclic pattern emerges, like a tiny metallic jackhammer, which is swept into the ringing gasclouds of wirm, which rises, falls, expands and contracts, combining roughness and smoothness like a sand-carrying wind. Seemingly alive with organic lifeforms of alien nature, crain develops a bit of bass and beat to propel its amorphous evolution. Screeching gleams fade into isochemic, though this closing piece shifts to a flat expanse of foggy resonance, which dissolves, slowly into nothingness. The ambient soundscapes of Dual hover in a slightly rough neverworld awash in the grey movements of vast guitarnoisedrones and decorated with other unexpectations. I found the desolate realms of caste to be a most enjoyable visitation... An 8.7 for unguitarlike abstractions of sombre beauty.

Dual - Caste (CD)

Debut album, following a couple of singles, respectively, Dirter Promotions and Germany's Drone Records, collecting six works recorded & primed during the past few years when Dual were

actually a duo rather than a chiefly solo enterprise helmed by Colin Bradley. Here, kaleidoscopic digital plates slip 'n' slide against fractal crackles & scratches, making for the kinda full bodied adventure in weightlessness so many others promise but never actually realise. Considering all the sounds are generated by guitar(s) alone as well, Caste is a bona-fide accomplishment for the entire goddam medium.

Dual - Caste (CD)

Dual is Colin Bradley and Julian Coope. The music they create is one of droning guitarscapes with a percussive edge. But that is only the tip of the sonic iceberg, as much invention is filtered throughout this astonishing disc. "Blicks" molds gentle drones along steel-wool scrubbed train tracks, before the shifting, swirling drones make a crackling connection to staggered, looped percussive textures that sound both mechanical and of a soft, wooden origin. Feedback twitches during the introductory stages of "Chpst:k," sporadic tones ringing vibrantly and calmly simmering, before slinking through the jungle of drones at night, elastic plops peering through the sonic foliage; this leads into "Spydel," and an oscillating drone so thick it stifles; just when it seems it will grow unbearable, the song cuts off into dead silence…and continues around the bend, amidst strange metallic ticking and the pulse of a heart, and insects murmuring underneath. Wild stuff! The sun-bathed landscape of the Arctic shimmers during "Wirm," slowly melting attrition of self as one fuses with the glare and the snow and the intermingled combination of both. An icy, foreboding death awaits, as everything disintegrates into separate particles of deterioration. This extends to "Crain," the death a genesis of new existence, a metamorphosis forged in the resilient textures of drone and distant screech. "Isochemic" vibrates like a cracked window, before succumbing to the sludgy embrace of the heavy, darkened drones. Dual is on par with Maeror Tri / Troum, though distinctive enough to captivate on their own. More than recommended!

2nd Gen; Dual; OO [infinity]; Bajina;

Red Rose Club-London.

 

A night of drones on Seven Sisters Road, strangely light on traffic in the aftermath of petrol protests, but still teeming with North London's variegated Saturday night fun seekers and the requisite fully made-up goths on the 253 bus. The Red Rose is no stranger to the extremes of music, and the venue's home as a noted comedy club is somehow appropriate to the on-stage antics of Bajina. Two geezers in various stages of hand splatter-painted scruffiness, face paint and a "Police Line - Do Not Cross" headband (the fashion item de jour for the less publicly-supported kind of road protesters) behind a bunch of electronic kipple, making an unholy racket with all the glee of children set loose to their own anarchic devices. It's an enjoyable blend of guitar feedback, radio noise, snatches of charity shop recordings of the likes of Thunderbirds and Wout Steijnhuis' sonorous Hawaiian guitar, all mashed into a bundle of fun from the tapes slapped from Walkman to Walkman. Best of all is when the bandana man sits feet up in a leather-bound formal chair while the deck abuser does his worst to sundry vinyl, leering into the audience and stabbing his teeth with a live jack plug in painfully faithful imitation of a dentist drill. Still, they took it just too far in time terms, but how exactly does this kind of noise assault end gracefully anyhow? OO have a similar problem knowing how long to make a set of drones extracted by E-bow from their acoustic and electric guitar. They sit at their mixers, making the drones rise from a low hum to an all-enveloping swarm of electricity around the hall over what seems like an hour but may have been substantially less. This is one of the appealing facets of the drone: the distancing of time from the listener as the subtle shifts in tone and frequency make the transition from one second to another liquid variables. But the problem with this set is not of OO's making; it comes instead from the too-good acoustics of the Red Rose in picking up every last inane comment of certain sections of the audience, some of whose every last impolite natter ("Has it started yet?") somehow makes it through the moments of maximum volume, even in the front rows a few metres from the PA, to mood-deadening effect. There is less of this problem for Dual, fortunately. The trio make their beginning on three bowed guitars and a few flight boxes of effects, accompanied by slithering red and white abstract projections. Another long piece, but with simple, slow percussion backing which adds a new dimension to the Dual sound, one which once again is reminiscent of the shifting drones of Main. The night becomes alive with the rise and fall of bows on coiled steel, and even with the distractions which are still there to spoil it all at times, Dual largely break through to the core of the audience's attention. A mixture of the meditative and the abstract, the music makes itself felt. Last up are 2nd Gen, tonight being main man Wajid Yaseen behind a black box or two (even if one is a yellow Sherman box after all) and accomplice Paul of the charmingly-named Dachau. Paul looks like a demented, fresh-faced Sixth Former in his untucked grey shirt and tie, and his performance is in suitably Punkish style. While Yaseen wrenches a series of squalls and spaceless distortion from the electronic kit, Mr Dachau sticks a mike between his teeth and spends much of the set screeching his accompaniment to Wajid's occasional microphone shouts. Then the blasted beats kick in, and a mashed-up bash of recycled metallic riffs and loops for what passes for the evening's closest resemblance to individually identifiable tracks. 2nd Gen's set is short but noisy, and wraps everything up before the DJs and excellent cut-up films finish off the night in a welter of neglected sounds from Coil, Loop and beyond. What is refreshing about this night was the concentration of some wilfully-extended drone music and avant-stupid sonic exploration under one trembling roof; if only some of the punters would show more respect.

 

Dual - Caste (CD)

 

Caste collects together five years' worth of guitar-based noise sculpture from Colin Bradley and Julian Coope, both once involved of the intriguingly angular Spleen. Their work as Dual is densely textured, layering spluttering gushes of string-wrenched gasps into feedback drones the like of which haven't been properly explored in this guise since Main went further into the digital realms of CDR mixing and live laptop processing. That Isolationist sense of marking the outer reaches of possibility for extracting noise from the guitar is here fully intact, with the pervading sense of dread cold and existential wonder which the genre invoked inherent to the core Caste's six tracks - arranged into one long piece over the CD to suit the miasmic mood. The organic feel to the sounds is amplified by the progressive dissolution of a note into a warm drone, or a sub-bass undertow melted beneath a frisson of volume-controlled feedback - with percussive interjections making a large space for the whole to reverberate, reaching cruise-speed during the peaking pulsebeat of "Crain". When a plucked string or brushed metallic strike crops up, its intentions can only be ominous, though a headlong dive into the mix reveals depths of Modernist machinations at the music's heart. Caste requires attention for a proper experience of its overtones and harmonics to get the most from the rise and collapse of each segment of granularity; the darkroom ambience could easily be terrifying, in the way that natural phenomena can be, as levels are increased and polyrhythms (percussive or textural) interlocked to panic-button stages of near-oppressive intensity. Sometimes it even becomes hard to breathe. With titles to match the abstraction or laterally referred implications of their music - "Chpst:k", "Wirm", "Blicks" - each piece edges from the dust of its predecessor, and more conventionally descriptive names would perhaps lessened the impact of the whole. "Isochemic" is the most evocative of certain brain-states, closing the album in a drifting iceberg rumble and the hum of electric's left out to weather in acoustic residue. Not one for the impatient listener, Caste makes for some challenging listening, and deserves playing at the loudest volumes for the fullest stretching of any nearby double-glazing too.

Dual - Caste (CD)

 

This is a very interesting disc that I received from the English guitar synthesis project, Dual. Dual is the collaboration between Colin Bradley and Julian Coope. Caste is a captivating recording that's strikingly reminiscent of John Cage's Imaginary Landscapes and early electronic sound artist Pierre Schaeffer's 1948 composition Etude aux Chemins de fer. Dual's exciting blend of Musique Concrete and production laden guitar synthesis takes the listener on a round-trip through dark sonorous caverns and ubiquitous sonic dreamscapes. A fantastic recording, with solid production, great sound quality, and a heaping helping of imagination, Caste takes the listener places rarely visited, even in the finest experimental/ avant-garde music. Great record you guys, keep up the stellar work! The Organization of Sound will be looking for future releases.

Dual - Caste (CD)

 

Dual have been around for some time now, but so far they released only some limited 7"s and cassettes. "Caste" is also limited, but 500 copies may reach a few more people then 100 7" copies. Dual-Colin Bradley and Julian Coope-play both guitar in the usual isolationist vein...that sounds more negative then it is meant. Over a period of 5 years, they worked on six ambient guitarscapes, but Dual use a much more rhythmic approach. Of course there is the violin bow on the snares, but underneath small, repeated ants life and once they come out, it's a crowded house. Since the ambience inhabited by Dual is much more raw and unpolished (resembling more an empty factory building then a clean room in your house), it reminded me of Maeror Tri, who bared the same roughness, paired with ambience and dark spaces. When Dual gets a bit more bumpy I was thinking of zoviet*france, the old loop stuff. In effect Dual combines two of my favourite bands and still have something unique of their own. Their experimentation never goes out of control or over the top. They keep their pieces within reasonable length and there is lots of variety to be noted. Hopefully Dual will be around a little bit more.

: staalplaat july 2000

Dual Klanik/ 4tH (7" Single)

 

When guitar layers are presented as treated drones I could not be happier, with Dual making me quite ecstatic! 'Klanik' contains sounds of both low and mid ranged frequency sitting alongside slow percussive beats, creating atmospheres that surge off on multiple tangents. The texture and volume remove this from simple derivative drones, likewise when infused with sparse melodious sounds creates an engaging slow morphing song. '4tH' embodies a sparser experimental guise with solid crumbling and fractured textures, deep feedback, sporadic clatter etc., all underpinned by elements of drawn out guitar drones. The level of volume and intensity of feedback again ensures that the track transcends any simplistic drone categorisation. There could be a broad compassion to Contrastate indicating the sheer brilliance of this, definitely worthwhile.

Dual-Caste (CD)

 

Sparse, hovering, electronic tinkering ranging from the cyclic dissonance of Oval to eerie washes, punctuated by accelerating rhythms.

Dual-Klanik/4tH (7" single)

 

Dual hail from Doncaster, now based in London, England and have so far released two cassettes and a 7" on Dirter Promotions. Their music is a mixture of mighty guitar-drones with massive sub bass undertones & slight rhythmic structures that evoke feelings of total transcendence and grandeur.
On side A (Klanik) there seem to be cascades of tuneful layered guitars that speak a special language of their own, on side B (4tH) more concrete elements (rumbling and squealing) and unpleasant feedback arising, added by strange backwards sounds creating a rather eerie and challenging feel to it. This is highly demanding incremental experimental guitar-music with a very individual style!

 

Dual-Drimon/Coil (7" single)

 

Debut release (beyond a couple of cassettes and compilation appearances), combining tones, tempered textures, pulses and a late night/early morning comedown aura. Alongside contemporaries Stars of the Lid, Main & Thomas Köner, Dual's world of processed haze inhabits those fringes where the sinister bubbles beneath the iridescence.

Dual-Drimon/Coil 7" single

 

Dual continue to sculpt their ethereal, post industrial landscapes with near religious vigour. Simple motifs drifting around, melodic languor and a metronomic pulse all characterise their effective sound, occasionally punctuated by harsh atmospherics and bursts of brutal noise. 'Drimon' floats on a bed of subtle eastern flavoured percussion and electrostatic wisps of noise. 'Coil' works on a darker premise, regimented feedback and monotone bass creating a deliciously claustrophobic atmosphere. Understated and uncompromising, a quite wonderful release...

Dual-Drylite (cassette)

 

A wonderful immersion in processed guitar mulch, subtle patterns of sound and shimmering beauty. The format doesn't do it justice, really, but while we await the arrival of something more formidable, I guess it will have to do.

Dual-Drylite (cassette)

 

What exists, I guess, as a demo to demonstrate a new rather talented duo from Sheffield, though veterans of the UK noise scene being previous members of Spleen and Splintered. Dual are basically a darkly-rich ambient unit, utilising guitars and effects to create nice tapestries over feedback layers and loops, not unlike KK Null's recent outings, or the US-side Stars of the Lid. There's been some live work recently, which, if the cassette is anything to go by, probably equals a decent night out.

Dual

Dual are a delightful enigma, built around the guitars of ex-Spleen members Colin Bradley and Julian Coope. The music they make is simple, subtle and special. Continuing the tradition of prime experimentalists like KK Null, it is highly textural and organic yet contains rigidly defined and desolate atmospherics.
Primarily a studio band, Dual are constantly expanding their sonic horizons, their effective use of space and ambient dynamics, align them as much with avant garde composers like John Cage, Steve Reich and La Monte Young as the post rock contingent.
Working through the World Feedback label, Dual have already produced two excellent album length cassettes 'Influx' and 'Drylite' which form part of a special trilogy of releases to be completed by the end of the year.
'Influx' contains 40 minutes of excellent guitar based minimalism. From the opening drone discordance's of 'Further Closer', Dual's musical ethic is clearly stated. 'Shooting Glass' exists in a more disturbing universe, a dark collage of sustained guitar sliding over you in modulated pulses of sound.
'Rime' adds a more percussive element to the music, while the epic sprawl of the title track is unsettling but richly evocative and rewarding.
'Drylite' expands further on Dual's unique sound. 'Pyrrhic' has a starkly beautiful melody, that subtly weaves it's way around and through the washes of feedback. 'Hex.B' is pure experimentation in texture, merging into more delicate layers of noise. Radial (Balance) is intense and forbidding, a deep sub-aqua journey to the end of the bottomless ocean. 'Time (Polar)' has a heavy, subterranean rhythmic quality, dissected by razor sharp, slivers of guitar and underpinned by mournful atmospherics. 'Neopia' is a short but effective exercise in desolate tonal repetition, while 'Hyaline' evokes the idea of real industrial music, the listless hum of generators, the constant automated pulsation, and electric crackle... the closing 'Eyedog (Sular)' accentuates gradually intensified dynamics to create an opulently menacing finale...
Both releases are highly recommended, if you are a bit of an isolationist on the side and appreciate bands like Main, Techno Animal and Labradford you'll find a lot to enjoy in Dual...
Also available from Dual is the extremely limited edition Drimon/Coil 7" single on the respected Dirter Promotions label and the Network Volume II compilation which includes an exclusive Dual track 'Myopia' alongside contributions from other experimental acts such as 7Hz, Yasuhiro Ohtanu and Transient v Resident.

Dual-Influx (cassette)

 

Debut cassette EP, featuring four pieces of guitar generated soundscaping from Colin Bradley (ex-Spleen & Splintered collaborator) and Julian Coope (ex-Spleen). Treated drones, shifting textural minimalism and abstract sounds that are allowed to develop natural rhythms and sequential enharmonic structures. Released on their Sheffield based World Feedback label.

: fourth dimension may 1996

Dual

 

Think of La Monte Young, think of early Velvet Underground experiments, think of Tony Conrad's infixity, think of Glenn Branca's symphonic sonicity, think of Thomas Köner and his multi-timbral acoustic, treated gong recordings and you might be on the way to understanding just where Dual are at. Their latest vinyl offering 'Drimon' characterises these qualities in an idiosyncratic way that is Dual's make-up, even furtherdown the line of the contradistinctive field that is left of centre.
Dual bring together a variety of tonal textures and a minimal percussive 'sound' that neither soothes nor screams or tears at your inner ears with distorted guitar resonance. The guitar is unrecognisable and virtually synthetic in creating an uneven corpus of organised, punctuated noise, manifesting the mantras of electronic spitting utterances into song-like structures.
Dual, predominantly studio based, utilising guitars, signal processing and analogue tape facilities, occasionally extend and expand around the nucleus of Julian Coope and Colin Bradley. Both prominent in the experimental/noise ensemble Spleen, the latter also being a live collaborator with Sheffield based noise pulse sculptors 7Hz, and a connoisseur of dense but subtle guitar treatments and shifting fields of six-string activity that has augmented the layered aural attack of Splintered.
Colin suggests that although Dual may go into the recording studio to work in an empirical way, generally ideas for projects take shape over long periods of time. "We don't always set off down a formalised path with a goal in mind. But when listening back to the piece in different environments, a certain fervour is achieved, it seems like we are constantly toying with a multitude of ideas, and with numerous projects in the pipeline, we still complete the 'jigsaw' and have many pieces left over". Upon asking Dual if they see a future in the live environment as a further adventure into sound exploration, Julian comments that "we have always wanted to and often think about playing live but the idea of performing in 'rock' venues and pubs with people talking, shouting and generally paying zero attention, has always been our main objection.