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[from Vital Weekly]
Quite a surprise to see this in the mailbox. It's a split CD with two bands. Magwheels, of whom I never heard, and Stone Glass Steel, which sounds like a cry from far far away. Their 1993 CD 'Industrial Icon' was indeed an industrial icon, at least in the areas where I was hoovering about, back then. It seems that Stone Glass Steel, aka Phil Easter, isn't y'r Merzbow releasing type and that he is rather involved in mastering music, rather then producing it. So, this thing has seven original Magwheels tracks and two remixes of the whole Magwheels discography by Stone Glass Steel.
Magwheels is David Sullivan from Portland, Oregon and he plays guitar, pedals and samplers. One could easily classify this as another example of ambient music played with guitars, but the seven tracks are quite nice for a start, and they are also quite short - ranging from forty-three seconds to eight minutes. Each of the tracks tells its own story and there is a lot variety amongst these small, almost sketch like pieces. It's where post rock and ambient industrial meet indeed, but the coloring is enough of it's own.
Stone Glass Steel goes through the entire discography of Magwheels, but I only know these twenty or so minutes I just heard. In 'The Last Rays Of Sunlight', Philip opens up the whole black box of studio tricks and comes with a pretty strong, heavily layered ambient industrial sound piece that is quite close to the work of Lustmord. In exactely the same length comes 'Paint Fire On The Window', which moves along similar lines, however the sound is at times more fragmented and at others more rhythmical. Less industrial than I had in mind, this Stone Glass Steel, but for the lovers of this genre, this is a must have. Excelentely executed dark atmospheric music.
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[from Malignant Mailorder]
One full album from Magwheels, then 40 minutes of re-construction courtesy of the re-construction master Stone Glass Steel. Seven tracks of shimmering guitar based drones from Magwheels, with grimier, coarse noise intrusions and moody, pensive melodies added as the proceedings move along. SGS take's what they're given, and pushes them into more stratospheric realms, expanding on the drones, and adding dynamics and thick textures, until the whole thing is 'swelling' and alive with cinematic / orchestral tension. Absorbing, hypnotic material that leans more towards Bad Sector than the dirgier, churning aspects of classic SGS (of course, either way, you can't go wrong).
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[from twilight zone: webzine ]
"After "Evebuildingbomb" David Sullivan (Magwheels) amazes us again with this new sonic mosaic consists of 9 tracks. In the last two compositions of "Pane" Phil Easter (Stone Glass Steel) rearranges and remixes (just like a fast retrospective) Magwheels' discography with interesting and long darkambient textures. David's dense abstractions draw glacial noise ascensions that devour the light of blasted micro-structures, sidereal infiltrations that are melted together with sharp cells and blinding spaces.
In Magwheels sectors (entitled "The Only Window Is So High Up"), a contemplative stupor of innovative escaping atmospheres capture the listening. Solitary liturgies with chemical guitars, grinding feedbacks, cinematic dews and synthetic tensions characterize Magwheels tracks, reflections in constant mutation and in search of truth. Uncontrollable and unexpected harsh-ambient alterations endowed with trascendent experimental lansdcapes.
Straospheric optical illusions in the two "The Last Rays Of Sunlight" and Paint Fire on The Window " Phil Easter suites, exhausting puzzle of multi-layered drones and leaden aural fertilizations. A brilliant course of stratifications that joins several stylistic solutions, reaching an only and harmonious monolith. Breathing the stigma of urban unconscious."
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[From the Ad Noiseam Press Release]
For his second album on Ad Noiseam, Portland, OR based prodigy David Sullivan (Magwheels) teams up with industrial icon Phil Easter (Stone Glass Steel) and presents a musical dialogue for guitars, noise pedals and samplers.
A year has past since the release of Magwheels's "Evebuildingbomb" album (adn17), which received the praise of both fans of subtle and moving sound and of musicians. Sullivan's new work, 7 track gathered under the title "The only window is so high up", shows his skill at mixing post rock guitars and dense, dusty noise take yet even a step further. Drawing the best elements from his past rock and electronic projects, Sullivan brings together here again a delicate, yet lush work made to summon emotion and beauty.
But “Pane” is not over yet. Closing the CD are 40 minutes of reconstruction of the whole Magwheels discography by Stone Glass Steel. This pieces, "The last rays of sunlight paint fire on the window" is the first Stone Glass Steel material to be released on CD since the 1993 cult album "Industrial Icon". Impressed by "Evebuildingbomb", Phil Easter (also known for his mastering work) dived into every piece of music recorded by Magwheels in order to conjugate Sullivan's work with his own ideas. Easter describes the result as the soundtrack to the sunset coming over the beach at Cardiff. A subdued, minimal first track conveys the sunset, while a noisier one represents the coming of night.
The meeting point between Magwheels's fresh blood and compositions and Stone Glass Steel's experience and talent, "Pane" intends to show that industrial music is not to be confined to a specific audience of specialists, but is to appeal to anybody in search of an moving and refreshing sound.
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