U.Review
C.K. U.Review
C.K.
The following are reviews, side effects, and comments we have received in regards to our own line of prescriptions.
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hop-frog's fatwa: the Silk Road
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review by website Sublevel203 (www.sublevel203.com)
"Hop-Frog is a rather strange new group to enter the world of experimental music. Their goal, it seems, is to take the listener through very tense and dark places in the world - to times of bad politics, war, starvation, famine of the mind.
There seems to be within the music a struggle between the natural and the mechanical. Beats range from the natural to the synthetic and on to the metallic. Ominous loops of sound seem nightmarish, echoing and drowning and carrying on with dreadful insistence. Warped Middle-eastern flavors peek in on occasion, bringing to mind the war-torn struggles of the area, and carries the imagery even further. The twisted scenery laid out is then visited by snippets of man. The voices speak, and should be clear, but are just barely inaudible.
Hop-frog succeeds in laying out a grim scenery that somehow remains serene despite its intensity. The music plucks at the imagination and sets the mind to feed upon torn soundscapes and roots itself in the dusty plains of imagination."
review by Ectonaut on the website Ortus Obscurum
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I
didn't
really know what to expect when I one day discovered this disc in a
package which had been sent to me all the way from the states. I had never
heard anything of these guys before and I also found the rather unordinary
band-name to be just a bit intriguing. After a
couple of listens, The Silk Road left me with both positive and
negative impressions. First I'd like to congratulate Hop-frog
for succeeding in creating an original sound. The band jokingly called the
music "midi-eastern" referring to the sometimes Middle Eastern
sound, and this is a quite good description. It is like a blend between
Arabic elements and traditional electronic music. This may lead you to
think that this sounds like Muslimgauze but I don't think it does. I
cannot honestly say that I have heard everything of the Bryn Jones
repertoire but what I have heard does not sound very much like this. This
is more mediative and drifting and it is also quite unorthodox. The
Silk Road is
an album full of events. There's always something happening in the
foreground as well as in the background. The tracks are very long, and as
I said earlier, this is just one long track that is divided into
different tracks. To me it seems that these tracks form two different
parts. The first parts span from the beginning of the album to the middle
of the fourth track. It's composed of a quite relaxed rhytmn accompanied
by some middle eastern sounding instruments, weird samples as well as
playful electronic sound textures. The tracks experience a successive
evolution throughout the 20 minutes and in some ways, the track grows more
and more electronic and psychedelic. In a way, it can be called monotonous
but at the same time, I find the term drifting more appropriate, very
relaxing. Towards
the end of the fourth track, the nature of the music suddenly changes, and
the gentle rhytmn which has allowed us to drift easily through this music
suddenly abandons us and leaves us to our agonies. The following tune is a
quite solemn one but at the same time, samples and electronic disruptions
creates quite a weird and sick atmosphere. The fifth
track is some kind of middle intermezzo composed of a turmoil created by a
multitude of samples. It kind of creates a "rainforest" effect
meaning that many of the samples resemble animal cries and bird chirping.
Yet it sounds quite unnatural but rest assure, it's not in a negative way
but rather in an extra-terrestial sort of way. After the
end of this nice little intermezzo, the track picks up again but this time
it's not in the same relaxing and meditative manner as before. This time
the music resembles more a chaotic sonic decay which is far more
electronically synthetic than the first part. The tunes seem to have grown
deformed and sick but still with the same playful fashion as before. This
continues till the end and it ends with a small revisit to the more
uplifting parts in the beginning, yet now they feel more like sad memories
of happier days before everything got totally screwed up (note that I'm
not referring to the quality of the music which is still as good as
before). As I've
said earlier, this record is quite psychedelic at times and it is one
of these records which has a certain effect upon the human psyche. I'm
normally not into experimental noise as much as I'm into Neoclassical and
Dark Ambient music but I found this album to be an interesting and
relaxing piece of plastic. My girlfriend however kind of freaked out and
adapted a rather strange behavior when she first heard this CD; it was a
rather interesting experience indeed. The only
negative thing I can think of concerning the The Silk Road is
that since it's based on a continuous track which spans for 70 minutes,
there are of course good parts and more boring parts. The problem is that
one can't just skip these parts without losing some of the atmosphere this
CD creates when heard to its full extent and this is one of these albums that
ought to be heard from the beginning till the end. One can of course skip
tracks, but for me, it feels wrong. The
average impression of these 70 minutes that I was left with was positive
though. I find this CD to be an interesting release by a new band which
seems to have much left to give. --www.dj-media.com/ortus |
blurb by Tony Dickie - Compulsion, the Alternative Culture Magazine
At the moment The Silk Road remains a
CD-R released in a raw and unpolished format to stir up some interest in the
American experimental outfit Hop Frog. The eastern beats and ethnic
rhythms of the Silk Road catch the vibe of Muslimgauze - unintentionally as it
appears Hop Frog members were unaware of the work of the late Bryn Jones.
The Silk Road is constructed from soft keyboard flourishes and crude
rhythms. Sounds are echoed, stretched and layered and given direction by the
constant rhythm and melody. At some points I'm reminded of those oddball
electronic pioneers the Residents, and the more recent skewed sounds of
England's Volcano the Bear. Perhaps that's not too surprising as Hop Frog cite
their musical influences as electronic, experimental, world music, Krautrock and
Space rock. At the moment it remains an under produced CD-R but serious editing,
a clean production and repackaged then this debut CD could be something else
again. www.compulsiononline.com
The very first review by Patick Ewering and featured in Black
Magazin:
HOP-FROG'S FATWA - "The Silk Road" (CD)
- URCKarm Recordings (www.hop-frog.com)Mit "The Silk Road" liegt mir eine Vorab-CD-R der demnächst erscheinenden Debut-CD des in San Franzisco beheimateten und (gemessenan der Website) offensichtlich etwas wunderlichen Experimental-Musiker-Kollektives HOP-FROG vor. "The Silk Road" wurde unter dem programmatischen Namen HOP-FROG'S FATWA eingespielt und sieht sich sich als "Guerilla-Aktion gegen die positive und überproduzierte 'World-Music' der letzten Zeit", soll aber dennoch das Interesse der beteiligten Musiker "an den musikalischen Traditionen verschiedenster Kulturen" wiederspiegeln. Imhaltlich sollen die Hörer auf eine Reise entlang einer imaginären Seidenroute in einer alternativen Zukunft versetzt werden, in deren Verlauf viele Hindernisse zu bewältigen sind. Musikalisch bietet "The Silk Road" eine Mischung aus ruhigem, repetitivem, mit merkwürdigen Sounds durchsetztem Ambient, welcher zum Teil mit einigen nah- oder fernöstlichen Samples (Drumsounds, orientalischen Gesängen etc.), Quietsch- und Fiep-Sounds und anderen grösstenteils stark prozessierten Klängen angereichert ist. Insgesamt Musik, die bestimmt einige Freunde unter Konsumenten von Hanftörtchen oder anderen psychotropen Leckereien finden könnte... Während die Tracks 1-3 für mich nur sehr schwer bis gar nicht unterscheidbar sind, wird es dann ab Track 4 viel interessanter und es quietscht, fiept und zwitschert mit merkwürdigen futuristischen und bisweilen recht düsteren Sounds und prozessierten Stimmen, dass es schon wesentlich mehr Spass macht. Insgesamt könnte man die Musik vielleicht als eine weniger jazzige Version des Sounds von SMEGMA auf Valium beschreiben...naja vielleicht.... Die Soundqualität dieser CD-R ist leider eher bescheiden und ziemlich dumpf, dies soll aber bei der endgültigen Version behoben sein. Fazit: Auf dem experimentellen Sektor nach einer anfänglichen Durststrecke ein interessantes Projekt, welches für Freunde des Genres durchaus lohnenswert sein könnte. Einfach mal unter www.hop-frog.com reinsurfen... (P.E.)
translation by e.loi
With “The Silk Road” I have been presented with an advance cd-r of the debut release of the San Francisco-based and (by the looks of their website) obviously oddball experimental music collective HOP-FROG. “The Silk Road”, recorded under the name HOP-FROG’S FATWA, sees itself as a “guerilla-action against the positive and overproduced ‘World-Music’ of late,” but nevertheless is an attempt by the members to reflect “on the musical traditions of various cultures.” As regards the content, the listener is transplanted to a long journey on an imaginary Silk Road in an alternative future, in which many difficulties are dealt with. Musically “The Silk Road” offers a mixture of calm and repetitiveness, with strange sounds interspersed with ambient, which is enriched with several Near- and Far-Eastern samples (drum sounds, Middle Eastern singing, etc.), squeaking and chirping sounds, and other mostly heavily processed sounds. On the whole the music will definitely find friends with consumers of pot brownies and other psychotropic candies…while tracks1-3 are a little too hard for me to differentiate, it then becomes much more interesting at track 4, and it squeaks, chirps, and warbles with strange futuristic and from time to time quite dark sounds and processed voices, that is essentially more fun. All in all one could describe the music as a less jazzy version of SMEGMA on Valium…yeah, maybe. The sound quality of this cd-r is unfortunately somewhat muffled, but this should be fixed by the time of the final release version. Result: on the experimental section , after a barren beginning part, an interesting project, which could be definitely worthwhile for friends of the genre. Simply go to www.hop-frog.com.
We
love technology! Translation from freetranslation.com.
With "The Silk Road" lies a beforehand-CD-R of the soon appearing Debut-CD the in San Franzisco introduced me and (gemessenan of the websites) obviously something remarkable experimental-musician-collective HOP-FROG before. "The Silk Road" be balanced out under the programmatic name HOP-FROG' S FATWA and sees itself itself as "guerilla-action against the positive and überproduzierte 'world-Music' the last time", should however nevertheless the interest of the involved musicians cultivations" most deceased "at the musical traditions wiederspiegeln. The listeners are supposed to be transferred Imhaltlich on a trip along an imaginary silk route in an alternative future, in whose progress many hindrances are to be mastered. Musically "The Silk Road" offers chiefly strongly litigated is a mixture out of quiet, repetitivem, with remarkable Sounds put through Ambient, which in part with some closely or fernöstlichen Samples (Drumsounds, oriental songs etc.), Quietsch- and Fiep-Sounds and other angereichert to sounds. Altogether music, that determines some friends under consumer of Hanftörtchen or other psychotropen delicious eggs find could.. While the Tracks 1-3 are quite not distinguishable for me only very heavy until, it will bruise then from Track 4 much more interesting and it, fiept and twitters with remarkable futuristic and at times quite gloomy Sounds and litigated voices that it makes already substantially more joke. Altogether one could the music perhaps as one less jazzige version of the Sounds of SMEGMA on Valium beschreiben...naja vielleicht... The Soundqualität of this CD-R is be supposed to be removed unfortunately sooner modest and rather dull, this however in the final version. Result: on the experimental sector after an initial thirst stretch an interesting project which could be for friends of the genre thoroughly profitable value. Simply once under www. hop-frog. com reinsurfen.. (P. E.)
2nd Review from Hannu Karjalainen
"This is the first release from the group, but you wouldn't believe it: they already have their own distinct sound and an original sense of form. It is sometimes hard to tell the source of the sounds (and it doesn't really make a difference because they all flow beautifully together) but it seems the mix consists of samples, digital glitches, and some acoustic ethnic instruments (i think), all carefully balanced but adventurous. The standout track IMO is Underevolution with an ominous melody and a subtly constructed structure. Bakshish wouldn't feel too much out of place on any Coil record. My only complaint is that being 70 minutes long, the album is slightly monotonic when listened uninterrupted. It takes some time to get under the surface but it is well worth the effort. I wish all the best to these really promising new artists and am looking forward to hearing more material from them." -Hannu Karjalainen
Feature on The Silk Road on website "Loopzine"
click here.
bad review in Side-Line music magazine
[HOP FROG (‘s FATWA)]
The silk road (9-track cd URCKram Recordings)
-Origin: USA –Style/influences: Experimental. –Comment: Strange, this
collective says to be intended as a guerilla action against the upbeat, positive
and highly overproduced world music! Their work dives into minimalist
experimental compositions with a few “world-music”-elements. It starts to
bore after a while for stagnating in long during and monotonous soundfields.
–Rate: (DP:3)DP. (this is a 3 rating out of a possible 10!!) this
has to be taken in context, though. here's an example of something that
got a 7/8 rating:
EXHIBITION]
Obscene dream (7-track cd Oracular Music)
-Origin: USA –Style/Influences: A mixture between good-old synth-pop and
modern ideas. –Comment: This is meant to be a single containing 6 different
versions of the title-song and a kind of bonus track. “Obscene dream” is an
amazing piece of danceable electro-pop. I’m totally addicted to the carrying
chorus line and the easy reminding lyrics. A great piece of music with excellent
remixes like the “Decoding Jesus remix” built up with cool acid bleeps.
They’ll for sure find a label! –Rate: (DP:7/8)DP.
[KONTINUUM]
Demos (3-track cd)
-Origin: German-American trio based in Philadelphia PA –Style/Influences: A
mixture between synth-pop, EBM and techno or the techno meeting between Depeche
Mode and Apoptygma Berzerk. –Comment: An excellent debut that starts
in a rather poppy way to evolve in harder an EBM style (cf. “I believe”) to
finally end in the great club-track “In my dreams”, which is more into
house! I just regret the length of the songs that is maybe a little bit to
long! –Rate: (DP:7/8)DP.
yes, Deutschland indeed has dark side. what the hell does EBM mean? don't think it applies to the hop-froggian worldview.
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-- The following were in response to the free cdrs sent out by "the pharm"--
"i got your hop frog CD like 3 days ago...sorry i didn't get back to you sooner but i wanted to let you know i found the music and tones very very interesting. the tracks definitely elicited a certain kind of mood or as the review you sent stated, "takes you on a journey". at times it reminded me of dark loneliness and other times i pictured some kind of desolate futuristic land like the movie terminator. yes, it is truly dark music that seems to represent pain, and suffering, and loneliness, as well as new worlds not of this earth. the music is pretty deep and you really have to listen to it more than once to appreciate the kind of atmosphere it wants to project. thanks so much for sending me something fresh and new and not the usual brittney spears crap you hear on the radio all the time. when you listen to hop frog, you certainly get the feeling for the time being that you are not mainstream and it takes you to someplace somewhere different...i played the CD again in my car this morning. each time you hear it, you can detect and discover newer sounds and tones. the background beat that repeats in some of the tracks is truly unique, particularly the heavy slow beat that, in my opinion, represents either fatigue or sadness or perhaps even a creature trodding along on his/her/its journey on the silk road. i recall in high school history class that explorers journeyed on a silk trade route in the eastern portion of the world, bartering and interacting with natives. hop frog combines history with futuristic mad-maxian themes. there is also definitely an element of intended chaos portrayed by the off-key notes of the synthesizer, such notes not wanting to harmonize with the rest of the instruments in line with the heavy slow background beat. perhaps symbolizing rebelliousness and/or being an outcast -- whether by choice or involuntarily cast out of society -- or simply perhaps being all alone, constantly traveling on no set time frame, seeking companionship, seeking harmony, seeking peace of mind, peace of soul.... a parallel story of my life, doobie. i can definitely relate to what your band represents!" -- Judge Cheryl Moss
"Thank you very much for the cdr, I received it today. listened to it while relaxing and puffing on my tobacco pipe. I love the way it flows so nicely. The theme is great as well and fits perfectly. I'm currently reading 'city of the red nights', made me think of bits from this. I particularly enjoyed tracks 3 and 6. out of curiousity what types of equipment did you use in making it? thanks again" - Tim Finnell
"I can't say anything really constructive other than I loved the cd and it's permanently in my truck's cd player. When the higher quality version comes out, I'll buy it. I keep checking back to the site. Thanks again for the free music" - bertwood
"This is an ambitioned work. I heard the CD 3 times and at the third time I begun to like it. But it is heavy. The sound from the complete CD is dark and drowning. This is music for a movie in my head. A dark movie. In my opinion, it is to dark. The tabla intro on track one is an exception. The title from track two ( You can't do that, I'm an American ) is funny (is that "Satire"?). The sounds from "Persian Multiplication Perfume" is like the soundtrack from a Fritz Murnau movie. And on "Sweet Child ov Mine" I see a Suicide movie in my Head. This all is not negative but the listener had a hard job to hear the cd to the end. This trip is too long. You write : you don't like overproduced world music. That's right. But the Production from the Fatwa CD is under-produced. The Sound is spongy and not clear. My Opinion: I mean, give a little more groove, a better production and make the complete CD 20 minutes shorter. Than it is a better trip. Sorry, but this is my opinion. I am only a consumer not a musician. I look at your web-side and is interesting side but i don't understand all the themes." - from our Krautrock fiend, Roland Mommer
"It's beautiful music. I like it very much. Thank You." - Boris Frenkel
"It's a lovely experience and it's in my cd player quite often the last couple of weeks. It reminds me of Foetus' Manorexia sometimes.But that's a good thing!" - housequake@home.nl
"I listened to HOP FROG FATWA's "silkroad" and like it much ! The oriental sounds with loops and far voice are really nice , echoing beats and drones are wonderful .... My first impression was "nice" then after listening to it again and again I appreciate it more and more ... Sometimes dark , sometimes shinny it's a good CD and the sound isn't bad at all . Hope it'll be a regular CD with different artwork soon ! Thank you for this "present" - Philippe
"I got my Hop Frog CD. Thank you so much. I LOVED the insert and the sonogram print (PS what the hell is that anyway). And the CD is tremendous. I love to give movies a 1 to 10 score, and since I don't really do that with music I can only rank it by saying... Best electronic effort by Americans so far this year. Now I'm not sure if there are many other Americans making electronic/dark ambient stuff to compete with you, but I'd buy this faster than I would the new NIN thingy. Which I've heard, and proudly do not own. Sorry I didn't get back to you guys after I got it and listened to it, been busy. Thanks again and let me know what is in works for the future of Hop Frog." - Charles Dotson
"It's brilliant, especially the first 3 tracks which I couldn't believe on first hearing. Certainly in my estimation it ranks alongside many better known artist's work. The artwork is also intriguing. I have trouble describing why I like some music and not like other music, so all I can say is I like the music you've produced on Fatwah, and look forward to hearing more of your stuff. " "- Pete Greening
"I received my copy today, I was pleasantly surprised. On first 2 plays I find it uplifting with similarities in sound to Material and Thessalonians. Thanks I look forward to the next release." - Mick Wilcox
