Nurudin was previously the keyboardist for the unique and fascinating Peatbog
Faeries out of the Isle of Skye. Aside from the hiccupy bagpipe samples on the
seventh track "Antipypr's Biscuit", though, there's nothing about
this album that would lead me to identify it with the Peatbog Faeries or the
Celtic tradition.
According to Nurudin's Web site , "Nurudin slaved away for many many hours/days/weeks/months....composing and recording an album which reflects a contemporary view of the Isle of Skye (mostly) with emotional responses to an eventfull year that has taken him and his family to a new home in Spain, and then back again to the security and peace of the Isle of Skye." Evaluating emotional response to this CD is really the only way to review it, as musically it's...well, let's just say it's complex. Composed of, as the Web site says, "synthesizers and weird noises", Beard & Sandals is an...interesting experience.
The first and second tracks "Hello, It's Yourself" and "Where's the knife gone" are both recorded at 128 BPM and instantly brought to mind a rave. The music has an unpleasant hallucinogenic quality complete with creepy background noises and irritating digitally sampled voices repeating lyrics that frequently disappear beneath the synthesizer. In fact, the most cringe-inducing voice on this CD appears to belong to the artist's young daughter. The chirping toddler appears on about half the tracks, and the combination of the pounding digital sounds and noises with the high childish voice is discordant and disturbing.
There are some pieces on Beard & Sandals that I did enjoy, or at least find tolerable. The segue between the second and third tracks, enticingly titled "Splatterbrain", is a recording of a pounding thunderstorm, and the sounds of the storm continue into the third track to become the background sounds. My husband quite fittingly summed up my feelings about "Splatterbrain" when he commented "Well, I'm not totally opposed to this song."
"Your Magic Spell" is fairly mild, and the keyboard intro to "Angus the Rave" is extremely pleasant though the piece deteriorates from there. "The Valley" would be a striking and actually enjoyable tune even with the sampled vocals, if the vocals at one point had not been so distorted that the buzzing voices made me wonder if my speakers had blown.
Nurudin has a nice sense of humor, judging from the liner notes and his Web site. The art on the CD liner is creepy in the extreme and it gave me the willies. I love the artwork on his site, though.
To be honest, I don't know what the artist was trying to convey with this CD, but I certainly believe that he succeeded in capturing the discord and upheaval of his "eventfull year" and his several moves. Beard & Sandals will undoubtedly never be played in this household again, but I'm sure that there are ravers and fans of bizarre electronica who will truly like this CD, and I encourage you to give it a try if this is your cup of absinthe.
