Drone Records

PICK-UP - Mouthless

Format: LP

Label & Cat.Number: Important Records IMPREC 243LP

Release Year: 2009

Note: second (?) LP by the duo of FRANS DE WAARD & MARTIN LUITEN; part of the "Arts & Craft"-series w. handmade artwork, lim. 300

Price (incl. 19% VAT): €15.00

More Info

"... So hat FdW neuerdings mit Martin Luiten, der vorher mit Girlfriends aktiv war, einen neuen Partner für ein weiteres Projekt namens PICK-UP, von dem nun gleich zwei Tonträger Kunde geben. Das Debut Mouthless (imprec 123, LP) erschien bei Important Records in
Newburyport, MA, einem Label, das mit seinem Faible für Psychedelic, Noise, Avantness und Orginalität Daniel Johnston, Jad Fair, Kimya Dawson, Diane Cluck, Merzbow, Acid Mothers Temple, Fe-Mail, Larsen, Angels Of Light, Kluster, Pauline Oliveros, Grails und Conrad Schnitzler zu Bettgenossen machte und auch schon einiges von Beequeen herausgebracht hat. Luiten spielt Gitarre & Electronics, so dass FdW, der diese Klänge, ein Fahey‘eskes Twanging und Picking, an seinen Laptop verfüttert, um gitarristische Loops und elektronische Drones mit zusätzlicher Modulation und Ornamentierung aufzumischen, quasi an sein Gitarrenprojekt Shifts anknüpft. Bei ‚Klemmend‘ vibrieren Stimmengewirr und Beifallklatschen als klickernder Rauschvorhang hinter Luitens countrybluesigem Strumming." [Bad Alchemy]

"Pick-up is a new duo of Frans de Waard (Beequeen) on laptop and Martin Luiten (Girlfriends, Uw Hypotheek Advies) on guitar. Limited edition of 300. Hand made cover artwork. This is the 9th release in our Arts & Crafts series which pairs music with handmade artwork by the artists responsible for the recordings." [label info]

"Hot on the heels of their first album comes this bright orange-colored vinyl follow up. 'Mouthless' however was recorded prior to their first release, so this is really - with some delay - Pick Up's debut. The concept of Pick Up is simple; the music is based upon the (resonator) guitar playing by Martin Luijten, which is reworked via Frans de Waard's laptop. At times field recordings are added. 'Mouthless' contains 4 long tracks. The title tracks opens the proceedings with gentle John Fahey-ish picking. Luiten uses a resonator guitar (also known as a Dobro) on this album. The body of this guitar contains one or more metal cones, instead of wood, which makes the sound louder and gives the guitar a distinctive blues-grass sound. The style of Luiten's fingerpicking is friendly and traditional, using the occasional slide. After a while looping and gentle feedback sets in, which makes 'Mouthless' a wonderful, restrained track. In contrast, the second track 'Klemmend' is far more chaotic with dominant field recordings of what sounds like a kindergarten. In the background the guitar is fighting to be heard. Side two opens with 'Magnifying Glasses', which features reflective guitar playing by Luiten only, showing his versatile skills. Very nice. If you like this sort of guitar picking I can highly recommend any of the early Takoma LP's by John Fahey. On the second track, 'Tracing', the electronics set in again with looping. A mirror image of side two, here too the sound is less structured. As a whole, this is a very fine album (with an original combination of electronics and resonator guitar), even though you could argue that it would have been an idea to put the two more quiet tracks on one side and the more chaotic tracks on the other. But that is just a thought. Packed in two heavy cardboard sheets (like the previous Pick Up album) with a hand-colored paste-on sheet, this looks very sturdy indeed. And, if you're lucky, you will find the album in luminous orange vinyl (the first 100 of a total of 300 copies) inside." [FK, Vital Weekly]