Becoming A Bed

Alter present the debut vinyl release from Melbourne's Trevor, aka graphic artist and Total Control drummer James Vinciguerra. Becoming A Bed gathers seven tracks that run the gamut between battered drum-machine beats, minimal-wave, scratchy noise, and spoken word. "Romp With Monty" is the album's least demented moment and delightfully evocative of it's title with simple melodies and rigid drum machine patterns. A sharp contrast to the flailing gabber and breaks combination on "Cabbage Land", resembling something akin to Jamal Moss or Beau Wanzer experiencing a severe breakdown of both mind and hardware. These hybrids of erratic, free percussion and wild synth blurts (see also "Midi 2") lend the album a charming edge, favoring a playful kind of experimentation which extends to the album's calmer moments too. "Bedtime Story" provides one such bit of respite and the only appearance of Vinciguerra's voice, processed here in a cold, curious monolog that ruminates on lethargy and illness, atop looping dark ambient textures. It's position in the album providing a centerpiece of cavernous and confounding simplicity. Elsewhere, tongue-in-cheek end skits sound as if they were heckled at the end of a gig and then decidedly left on the tape. The reckless rave of closing cut "Speed Ave" reflects this in-the-moment sensibility, the machines being close to escaping their captain. It may provide the most didactic dancing effort on the record, but neatly aligns with a loose and uninhibited mindset that skirts around the same warped techno vision as label affiliates Cru Servers or Acolytes. This is music for the most fun of dancefloors.