Clock DVA Music Reviews


Industrial Nation #6 - Clock DVA - Bitstream - Contempo

The CD single of Bitstream contains six versions of Bitstream with all but two of them being mixed at the Anterior Digital Research station in Sheffield, England. This CD starts off with a Kraftwerk kind of bleepy beginning but soon bring an Ambient Techno atmosphere with a Sleep Chamberish voice in the background asking you to "Feel The Energy". This release also contains a catchy new track, Virtual Flesh, which is an Electro move song. There are many different versions of Bitstream but there are only so many times you can listen to one song in a row. I'm getting that same feeling I got when I had to go through the CD single for James Brown is Dead by LA Style, with nine different remixes (Mercy)

Industrial Nation #7 - Clock DVA - Digital Soundtracks - Contempo

In an ever increasing void of pattern sample Electro-Techno bands, Clock DVA once again transcends banality with its latest album Digital Soundtracks. Always hypnotic, their latest contribution weaves a rich and delicate web of sound. This offering presents an airy set of soundscapes which relies much less on samples as previous releases. While so often music of this type comes off with a frazzled factory feel, this album delivers its product as precise and crisp as Swiss clockwork. This metronomic music may not be for everyone; yet it is a testament to the oncoming cyber age. This is music to program your laptop by! Though strongly repetitive, Digital Soundtracks does present a compelling array of pieces which can be plugged into the mind's eye. More interesting that Orb and certainly more upbeat than Doubting Thomas. If you were ever a fan of early electronic music like Kraftwerk and wanted to hear its maturity, beyond the mutation of Techno House, then this is your album. While I didn't find it as stimulating as Man-Amplified, Digital Soundtracks is an amazing Ambient experience and should not be overlooked (Bast Heird)

Industrial Nation #7 - Clock DVA - Man-Amplified - Contempo

For anyone who is really into technology, this CD is for you. The music drones on endlessly and never changes. All of the songs pertain to mathematics, programs, and computer lifeforms. The six page booklet, which comes with the CD, goes into detail about every song's background. It is also very hard to understand if you are not a nerd. There are a few interesting concepts; Transitional Voices is about using tape recorders to record and decode voices from extra dimensional realms, Memories of Sound is a very scary and excellent Ambient song which focuses on the ability of the brain to accumulate sounds even before birth. This is a case where a band was actually better on their former label. WaxTrax should resign them. (Marcy G)

Industrial Nation #10 - Clock DVA - Collective - Cleopatra

Perhaps no other contemporary bads, save for Lassigue Bendhaus, have embraced the Kraftwerkian fascination with technology as Clock DVA. This Cleopatra compilation collect rarities and remixes of recent work to server as an excellent introduction for the uninitiated, as well as a gem for the collector seeking rare singles and compilation material. Clock DVA's more recent material is a lot tighter and more dancy than the type of dark electrodirges on their Buried Dreams album, but it still has a sound uniquely its own, and in a weird way, it works really well. Whereas many electronic bands use endlessly repeating four bar sequences out of laziness and lack of talent, Clock DVA knows how to balance safely on the thin line between minimalism and the realm of the numbing repetitive. Tons of tight sequencer patterns interact and evolve on endless repeat as the kick drum thumps away and Adi Newton mutters lyrics about all things digital. I was really enjoying this disc until I opened the case and read the liner notes, penned by Mr. Newton himself, which reveal him to be an egomaniac of the most nauseating kind, shamelessly self promoting and ego masturbating in a manner that would make even Bono blush. My recommendation is to buy this disc and throw away the liner notes lest you should become similarly dischanted. Sometimes we just shouldn't meet our heroes. (Tom Shear)

ARC #2 - Clock DVA - Sign - Contempo

Clock DVA prove that arresting, involving and outright original music can be both engaging on the dance floor and in your mind. They don't sound like anyone or anything else and on top of their distinct sound, you can add the intelligence of their subject matter. Sign touches upon unexplained transmissions resembling a complex, yet undeciphered language, detected on several NASA missions and more over, the overall implications of these signals and NASA's true mission. Carrying on the tradition of previous releases like The Hacker and Man-Amplified, Clock DVA continue their research of the relations between man, technology, and beyond.

Adi Newton's and Robert E Baker's use of almost all analog type sounds draws you into a machine based world, and in fact this is my attraction to their music. Syncopated, multi-layered sequences phase shift through many of the cuts that rely on underplayed percussion to drive them along. But you feel the richness of their work when all of those elements mix with piano and strings, accenting the relation of man and the digital, computer dominated world in which we live.

The opening cut, Signal, has a beautiful, floating quality accented by clips of actual NASA soundbytes. The effect of the spoken dialogue is as chilling as it is revealing about the astronauts perception of space. While not moving at the Technobeat currently burning on the floors, Voice Recognition Test is an excellent dance floor cut, as not everything danceable needs to move at 132BPM+. Other tracks move at yet a much slower pace, but still capture your attention with their sound quality and voicing.

The fact that serious scientific research is being carried on by some of the most stimulating electronics is an interesting way to educate an audience may passes over the minds of many, but I don't think Clock DVA fans would listen to anything less. (Ken Holewczynski)

Music From The Empty Quarter #10 - Clock DVA - Collective 1+2 - Hyperium

You have got to see this to believe it. Clock DVA have collected together their singles from 1988's The Hacker to Eternity from 1993. Wherever possible new and unreleased mixes have been used. In total there are versions of The Hacker, The Act, Soundmirror, Final Program, Bitstream, Voice Recognition Test, and Eternity. Additionally there is a new mix of Cypher and three rare versions of H.I.T., Solaris, and Cybertone. All are what you would expect. That's only disc one. Collective 2 has thirteen mixes and B-Sides from Clock DVA's singles, including their latest Eternity, which was released on Contempo just before it collapsed. This limited edition box set also comes with Collective 3, a three track, three inch CD with two tracks from a November 1993 concert in Amsterdam. Soundmirror features Pankow type dub beats of Maurizo Fasolo and works well. Pool of Shades from the Sign album is the other live track, a slow atmospheric piece. The third track is Endless Phase, from the Eternity single, one which has not been heard in the UK yet, this is a deep rumbling, echoing of a sinister experiment. There is also a 24 page booklet with graphics from the singles and intriguing texts by Adi Newton. The whole package is a multi-colored wonder of design and sound that must be obtained. Collective is a first class summation of the UK's premire electronic experimentalists. It will also be available in a more traditional CD format through the Italian Sub/Mission label. (Matthew F Riley)

Music From The Empty Quarter #10 - Clock DVA - Kinetic Engineering - Studio K7

The much vaunted Clock DVA video release surfaces at last! This runs at 52 minutes and features two tracks from Buried Dreams; The Hacker and Soundmirror, seven tracks from Man-Amplified, and Voice Recognition Test from Sign. Clock Dva's audible paintings reflect their subject matter accurately and convincingly which makes a nice change from so many other band's attempts to use this medium. Despite their introduction, To try to describe in any detail these visualizations would be a restriction of their form. I will say that Clock DVA's vissual efforts are essential. A combination of computer animations and graphics, morphing faces and forms, fractals, binary digits, technological cityscapes, waveforms, and diagrams. Kinetic Engineering is a wonderful, sensational stimulant for both eye and ear. (Matthew F Riley)

Sonic-Boom - Clock DVA - Collective

If you already own all of Clock DVA's previous singles, you won't find anything new on this CD. This CD while a collection of Englands technological band, features various versions of items all previously released. All of the singles since "Buried Dreams", and all previously multi-artists compilation tracks appear on this CD up to the most recent Eternity single. There are enough versions of the 'Hacker' to make even the most diehard DVA fanatic keel over dead after the first listen. A big disappointment was Cleopatra's decision to leave off any work prior to "Buried Dreams", such as "Thirst", or "Black Souls in White Suits", which is some of Adi Newton best work to date. The liner notes didn't help much showboating Newton's ego either. Unless your looking for a sampler of what Clock DVA has put out in the last five years, I'd save your money on this one.


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