Thighpaulsandra — The Lepore Extrusion

Thighpaulsandra's latest release following on from Chamber Music is the soundtrack to an art installation by visual artist Daniel McKernan which featured "The world's number one transsexual, Amanda Lepore". The piece is divided into three parts but is mixed together as one long uninterrupted piece.

It is throughout a sedate work far removed from the complex hyperactive genre shifting work that Thighpaulsandra has produced before. The first part is very reminiscent of late nineties Coil or perhaps some of their ANS material. Slowly evolving harmonious drones with distant sounding effects and undulating waves of electronic synth. It’s a meditative opening that has an eerie atmosphere of dread and the unknown. A sound like a tolling bell sounds throughout the piece.

It’s difficult to determine where the second part of the piece come in but I think it’s around twenty minutes. The mood shifts down a gear and the sparseness of the music is increased. High-pitched tones and revolving patterns of sound emerge from the fog of drone tempting the ear with the purest of sounds. Fans of Asmus Tietchens Menge series will find much to appreciate here. A few vaguely organic sounding concrete elements are added to the mix but generally the mood remains very alien and detached.

The final part of three album adds sounds that could be derived from metal pipes or an organ. Tinkling metal sounds build and a few times a slight melody is detected. Here there is more that resembles Thighpaulsandras previous work. Off kilter sampled sounds and bizarre tonal soundscapes. It’s involving but seems more suitable to the gallery setting than the personal stereo.