Cut Iowa Network — Projector Gunship Held {Ø}

On two 180 grams slabs of vinyl, in a limited edition of 250, comes the first part of a trilogy. The bandname doesn't give away much about the sound of this British threepiece. With the album's title your thoughts tend to go in the direction of something sci-fi.

Not entirely off the mark, as the rhythm-oriented kraut-rock does have ties with the outer space obsessions of long ago, especially in the seventies and perhaps the Star Wars ideas from Reaganite times. That said, it's not necessarily all that fixed. Although tapping from the more repetitive aspects of Kraut-rock the sound can't be described as being 'retro'. Most pieces build on a single rhythm, with only very minor other events to dress it up. Even though this may seem a bit uninteresting in text or even on first listen, after a couple of spins pieces grow on you. The subtle drones and loops that are often underneath the steady drums set an interesting mood in which you it's easy drift away in as a listener. Within the pieces there's little activity, sometimes shifting or building up so slow you'd hardly notice.

Between the several sides (except for side two all sides hold one piece of music) there's quite a bit of variation. The Sun Was Gone But Our Faces Shone is slow and moody, while the flipside with The Signals Of Your Radar Are Closing In On Me has a beat that reminds of Clyde Stubblefield's infamous Funky Drummer made famous by James Brown. Blacking Out Your Chinese Walls has a shifting layer of a backwards guitar, looping against the 3/4 rhythm. These polyrhythmic shifts are also found in the driving Super Futures Axis Neo Tokyo. The final side/track is Kill Commmand (Arc Light Operations) which is also the most aggressive track, both in playing as well as the distorted sounds.

Generally you could compare it to Circle, but with less testosterone, aiming for a more cinematic sound. This being the start of a trilogy, Projector Gunship Held {Ø} makes you curious to hear where this is going to lead to, but for now there's an interesting start.