Jon Sheffield: Calves Valves

she-cv.jpg (16k) Jon Sheffield: Calves Valves
(Sparkling Beatnik - 1998)

Jon Sheffield may be a new name to you, but it's one you ought to learn if you're in the market for some dreamily arranged ambient/electronic experimentalism backed by gentle percussive effects and a tasteful application of digital grunge here and there. Calves Valves represents all of that and more, proving again that the presence of drumbeats does not necessarily un-ambient-ize the music, and can indeed enhance the overall effect.

Warbly notes and counternotes cycle round and round in onets, backed by an understated, ruffly e-rhythm and organ-like drone. The brief proceedings of red chambird (1:32) are even denser; the beats are more aggressive, though still somewhat muted, amidst spacey electronics. A smooth, urban swagger propels crowdy - the second down some brightly-lit avenue of dreams. Ethereally swishing cymbals and cool bass enhance this very sweet little number, which seques into the calmer nocturnal atmospheres of sleepytown, a place where light percussion pitter-pats magically and synthwaves dance like vapors in a breeze. Cool stuff!

the sweece report exists in a short-lived zone of symphonic string sounds, radiowave oscillations and a thumpily looping bloop. A happy-go-lucky tune is peppered with assorted electronic echoes and ripples in the buoyant roysong, resulting in a very pleasant little sonic mish mash. Two worlds collide, for a couple of minutes anyway, when idly strummed guitar and superspacey warbles occupy soundwaves of ihambhioomt; the spacey warbles win... continuing into the next track. silver or cloud evolves into something more, a beat-driven space-o-rama, resonant with the call of celestial voids, ringing frequencies and much more. Froggy vocal distortions invade the backdrop as the drum cycle percolates the electronic stew within, to finally recede.

Spookier, the wavering soundwaves and ghost-piano of "45" are riddled with a distortive e-texture, all to a coldy haunting effect. With a more-rhythmic pattern stirring the mix, the tasty limexicant marathine is equal parts muffled xylo-tones and electronic haze, blended into a rising and falling, intriguingly blurred concoction. Notes (sounding almost medieval) seem to slip past each other in without a head; more modern accompaniment soon arrives in the form of bass and a spry electronic riffle, and then yet another layer of synth notes which delicately adorn the lovely piece. A magical, musical fairy dances within a shimmering aura to the tune of trickling dewdroplet notes, distantly swirling arpeggios and tippy-tap beats.

Another overtly pretty track (and this is not a bad thing), lovesong is empowered by simple, yet effective, beats and wafting sheets of electrons which float like airborne gauze. The somehow accordian-like wheeze of notes (9:06) simply and quietly swelters in its own cumulous cloudform, fading into nothingness some time before the track ends and leaving a lull before the untitled "hidden" track appears with its final wave of alien pulses, whistles and grunties.

Beauty and slight beats with a bit of a rough edge, Calves Valves is an entrancing convergence of "traditional" ambient/space music aesthetics with an artistic amount of electronics and resultant noise effects. Garnering an appreciative 9.2, Jon Sheffield's release on the Sparkling Beatnik label is, much to my pleasure, not his only. Next month we'll be looking at his other, Shore Hoses, so come back for more. 9-2.gif
This review posted July 25, 1999

AmbiEntrance © 1999-97 by David J Opdyke (except CD cover art, rights retained by original owners).