MYPD - Basssik
Basssik is the third work from ambient soundscape duo MYPD (British bass player and ambient/ field recording composer Paul Mallatratt and American modular ambient soundscape artist David York).
Cathexis, a six track album built around two near half-hour, deeply atmospheric pieces, was a synth heavy, mood-setting debut.
The two part Tempestuous, released earlier this year, was no less than a real, field recorded, storm (that battered the Charlotte area of North Carolina) set to equally atmospheric, and understandably more ominous, music.
The 6-part Basssik differs by having a specific lead instrument accompanying, playing through, or leading the soundscapes created; specifically the bass guitars of Paul Mallatratt.
The added twist and sonic texture here is that Mallatratt’s bass instrumentation and playing has been heavily treated or manipulated in many areas, which creates, to use Mallatratt's own term, the "bassbient" feel & style of the album (that the bass guitars used include a 1966 Fender Jazz and a 1968 Fender Precision will, no doubt, have many a four-string purist tearing their hair out, but this is the ambient art of creativity and adventurism).
'Pt 1' sets the atmospheric meets rhythmic bass lines tone, a sweeping eight-minute piece that feels and sounds like a meeting between Jean-Michel Jarre and Meddle era Pink Floyd (no bad thing).
'Pt 2,' the first of two longform tracks, is a darker, fifteen-minute piece that would sit comfortably as the foreboding music in a horror/ suspense movie; the heavily treated (and genuinely unsettling) bass parts add to the horror noire setting. Not one you want to be playing late at night with the lights off.
Whether by accident or design, 'Pt 3' comes across like a slower, ambient-atmospheric nod to the Chris Squire led YES classic 'The Fish,' albeit here Paul Mallatratt’s bass lines are more about playing in rhythmic sympathy to the electro percussion. An album highlight.
'Pt 4' has a deep space ambience to it, with synth washes taking centre stage (if space dust was set to music).
Similarly, the shorter, rhythmic, and slightly hypnotic 'Pt 5' wouldn’t be out of place set within a sci-fi series. Another highlight.
The twenty-three minute atmospheric-ambient opus that is 'Pt 6,' which blends eeriness with, again, a sense of deep space, closes out the album, although it’s not quite the end of the Basssik story – in fact it’s only half of it, time-wise…
As a bonus, there is a different mix of a track from each of the artists (Paul Mallatratt’s NTB Mix of 'Pt 4;' David Young’s DUB Mix of 'Pt 3') and a mix of the six tracks as a continuous, one hour piece.
The results are close to two-and-a-half hours of "bassbient" for your buck.
Individually, there are a plethora of excellent, atmospherically led ambient/ field recording albums to choose from within the solo collections of Paul Mallatratt and David York, but MYPD is an ambient-simpatico dovetailing.
There might be some 4000 miles between Messrs Mallatratt and York geographically, but musically they stand soundscape shoulder to shoulder.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
Listen to/ purchase David Young’s solo albums at: dyork.bandcamp.com
Listen to/ purchase Paul Mallatratt’s solo albums at: paulmallatratt.bandcamp.com
Basssik/ MYPD Bandcamp page: https://mypd1.bandcamp.com/album/basssik
Cathexis, a six track album built around two near half-hour, deeply atmospheric pieces, was a synth heavy, mood-setting debut.
The two part Tempestuous, released earlier this year, was no less than a real, field recorded, storm (that battered the Charlotte area of North Carolina) set to equally atmospheric, and understandably more ominous, music.
The 6-part Basssik differs by having a specific lead instrument accompanying, playing through, or leading the soundscapes created; specifically the bass guitars of Paul Mallatratt.
The added twist and sonic texture here is that Mallatratt’s bass instrumentation and playing has been heavily treated or manipulated in many areas, which creates, to use Mallatratt's own term, the "bassbient" feel & style of the album (that the bass guitars used include a 1966 Fender Jazz and a 1968 Fender Precision will, no doubt, have many a four-string purist tearing their hair out, but this is the ambient art of creativity and adventurism).
'Pt 1' sets the atmospheric meets rhythmic bass lines tone, a sweeping eight-minute piece that feels and sounds like a meeting between Jean-Michel Jarre and Meddle era Pink Floyd (no bad thing).
'Pt 2,' the first of two longform tracks, is a darker, fifteen-minute piece that would sit comfortably as the foreboding music in a horror/ suspense movie; the heavily treated (and genuinely unsettling) bass parts add to the horror noire setting. Not one you want to be playing late at night with the lights off.
Whether by accident or design, 'Pt 3' comes across like a slower, ambient-atmospheric nod to the Chris Squire led YES classic 'The Fish,' albeit here Paul Mallatratt’s bass lines are more about playing in rhythmic sympathy to the electro percussion. An album highlight.
'Pt 4' has a deep space ambience to it, with synth washes taking centre stage (if space dust was set to music).
Similarly, the shorter, rhythmic, and slightly hypnotic 'Pt 5' wouldn’t be out of place set within a sci-fi series. Another highlight.
The twenty-three minute atmospheric-ambient opus that is 'Pt 6,' which blends eeriness with, again, a sense of deep space, closes out the album, although it’s not quite the end of the Basssik story – in fact it’s only half of it, time-wise…
As a bonus, there is a different mix of a track from each of the artists (Paul Mallatratt’s NTB Mix of 'Pt 4;' David Young’s DUB Mix of 'Pt 3') and a mix of the six tracks as a continuous, one hour piece.
The results are close to two-and-a-half hours of "bassbient" for your buck.
Individually, there are a plethora of excellent, atmospherically led ambient/ field recording albums to choose from within the solo collections of Paul Mallatratt and David York, but MYPD is an ambient-simpatico dovetailing.
There might be some 4000 miles between Messrs Mallatratt and York geographically, but musically they stand soundscape shoulder to shoulder.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
Listen to/ purchase David Young’s solo albums at: dyork.bandcamp.com
Listen to/ purchase Paul Mallatratt’s solo albums at: paulmallatratt.bandcamp.com
Basssik/ MYPD Bandcamp page: https://mypd1.bandcamp.com/album/basssik