Under construction;;::;;;:;:


October 1, 2011

By Ed Pinsent

http://www.thesoundprojector.com/2011/10/01/cinema-solubile/

Little Nemos in Slumberland

The band P.H.A.S.T.I. is a collaboration, perhaps a one-time only affair, between the American group PAS and the Polish duo HATI. In April 2010 the Americans flew over there to participate in a festival which was cancelled, but still managed to hook up with the percussionists Rafal Iwanski and Rafal Kolacki to record The Stages Of Sleep: A Metaphor for Torun (PAS RECORDS 010) in the studio. The work has been edited and given a naming schema that proposes an oneiric odyssey, setting out to depict the mysteries of the sleep state in an intuitive and empirical manner. For the most part I sense the American half of the act are restraining themselves somewhat (some of their other releases show a predilection for abrasive and very strange-sounding impro-gloop) but perhaps they are more versatile than I realise. Not all of the suite works for me, and I tend to lose interest when the players wander off into a diffuse haze of percussive resonances and vague synth tones, but at other times (‘Sleep Spindles’ or ‘Delta Waves’) the music has a heft and substance that sits on the chest like two pounds of undigested cheese and betokens the nightmare to come. There’s also a video of the work and the release is available digitally from Alrealon Musique.






As P.H.A.S.T.I: 

P.H.A.S.T.I., The Stages of Sleep: A Metaphor for Toruń
NOVEMBER 10, 2011
by Hypnagogue

It seems that when you bring two experimental music collectives together, it’s not just a matter of doubling the amount of experimental. Rather, it’s an exponential growth with endless possible outcomes. Brooklyn-based sound and video aritsts PAS traveled to Toruń, Poland for a music festival and there hooked up with two members of Poland’s HATI. When the festival was canceled due to a national tragedy, the teams took the studio, christened themselves P.H.A.S.T.I., and churned out The Stages of Sleep.

First things first: this is quite decidedly not for everyone. When a gear list includes found objects, a Casio sampling keyboard, a theremin and a fishing rod, it’s even money that we’re going unusual places, musically. There is a great deal of clatter, clamor and noise. HATI is, if their own gear lists are any sign, a percussion-based act, loaded up with drums, gongs, rattles, bells and cymbals, along with the occasional flute. Given all that, I went into listening to this disc already tucked into a protective fetal position. But what’s here, while firmly in the anti-music/improvised music zone, is no less accessible than, say, your average dark ambient CD. Sounds come at you from all sides in a disconcerting blitz and force you to defend your personal concept of music, but digging through the mire reveals hints of a rhythmic base that gives the brain something to latch onto. (You’ll need a lifeline back to normalcy when you’re in the thick of “Theta Waves.” It’s just that odd and mind-bending.) In places there’s even more solidity. Amber Brien’s bass walks confidently through the middle of “Sleep Spindle” and provides a point of familiar focus while the rest of the team just lob feedback bombs and assorted sonic assaults. Things take an interesting turn beginning with “Delta Waves” and ending in “Sleepwalkers” as the group move into a trance-like steadiness of tone and then shift it, largely without disturbing the mental haze they’ve induced, through percussion. In “Delta Sleep” HATI’s gongs come into play, ringing out and clashing against the hypnotic flow. They pull the listener back to semi-reality with the jazz-infused tones of “Dreaming,” which enters quietly and builds in smooth succession. Percussion is again a strong focal point, along with hesitant piano. P.H.A.S.T.I. then melt these elements down back into the experimental space and ride that to the end of the disc–passing through, let it be noted, a section with harmonica and what sound like party horns.

Stages of Sleep is not a disc I’ll return to often, but I’m glad to have taken this collaborative journey. My expectations of this round of experimental/improv music were shown to be unjustified while at the same time I felt I was opened to the kind of possibility and scope of thought that drive a project like this. Again, this is not a disc that most people will be able to just dive into and dig; it takes effort to work through it. But the music, and your response to it, just might surprise you.



WEDNESDAY, 21 SEPTEMBER 2011
PAN.O.RA.MA
http://panoramajournal.blogspot.com/2011/09/reviews-98-pashatipas.html

PAS/HATI 
(Usa/Pol)
"P.H.A.S.T.I." cd 2011
(Pas Music)
Without a doubt one of the best collaboration releases this year in the field of experimental musik! Pas,the amnerican project traveled Poland,in order to participate in the 3Rd CoCArt festival,with Hati,and from such amazing performing we have the plesure to present you "P.H.A.S.T.I",a cooperation album with interesting and dark pieces from strt to finish!! The creation of diverse atmospheres and impressive osunds,effects by PAS,and the suggestive ritual percussive osunds by HATI,were compenetrated through 9 compositions,in which you shall experience this unique magickal piece! for example tracks such as "Theta Waves" with strange subliminal voice effects,and atmospheres,emerging from the void,and going around with cymbals and diverse percussive sounds.or just "Sleep Spindles",with rythmic patterns and perfect work of bass lines and effects,complmenting perfect with the track in general."Delta Waves" emerges under percussive sounds crawling through ritualistic atmopsheres and ancestral touch. one of the best tracks here without a doubt!! A perfect mixture of dnese atmospheres,eclectic experimental soundscapes,and percussive elements to create a vast scenario full of dynamism and power!!!! "Delta Sleep","Sleepwalking" are just as shamanic trip to a new dawn full of diverse pieces,sounds and such ritualistic percussive sounds,flutes and atmopsheres. "Dreaming","Transportation(The Lost Step)" and "Final Level" closes this brillant cooperation between two exponents of experiemental music,with all splendour and dynamism only able when joining two projects such as PAS and HATI. The album comes in a beautiful 3 fold digicd including pictures and info of CoCArt performance.


Bad Alchemy Review 6-2011  (google translation)

PAS / HATI present P.H.A.S.T.I. The Stages of Sleep - A Metaphor for Torun (PAS Records 010): As at 04.10.2010 the aircraft crashed with the Polish President Kaczynski, which was canceled CoCArt Music Festival in Torun. The invitees from Brooklyn quartet traveled to PAS and yet allied himself with the host Perkussionsduo HATI for this studio session. Rafal Rafal Iwanski & Kolacki play a smorgasbord of gongs, bells, rattles, cymbals, bass drum and thunder, to whistles and flutes. Of the American guests Amber Brien is a bass effects and amplified along with the Will Connor percussive accent. Robert L. Pepper thrilled with keyboards, synths and samples around each other, while Michael Durek a vintage Casio SK-1, and Theremin, as his friends also have using various odds and ends. This will jam for spontaneous, and folklore of imaginary Turnschuhtribalisten. The spirit of the early Amon Düül mixes with the low fidelity and Arte Povera, the freak folk-International. They could to sound, the music post-apocalyptic future small hordes. There were rituals that invoke the Lost, global fuel for dream trips away from disaster. A Neo-Primitivism, which uses the most ancient human skills: playing with what's there, can find a way out in the second reality of the dream, the imagination. Everyone his own Shaman. With the inner journey must make do without a GPS, all memory is erased, sleepwalking is the tightrope. Only with 'Dreaming', the dream itself, to remember the finger of how a tune goes. The Theremingeister howl and melancholy is paired with amazement. Music boxes plink remains of former beauty, a harmonica hums, warbles the beginnings of a new flute. For the 'Final Level', the autopilot takes over the control, involuntary dripping rain, the wind wischelt by the flute and the rattle snake rattle.The heart dictates the clock chimes the gentle daydream. [BA 70 rbd]

Original: 

PAS/HATI present P.H.A.S.T.I. The Stages of Sleep – A Metaphor for Torun (PAS Records 010): Als am 10.4.2010 das Flugzeug mit dem polnischen Staatspräsidenten Kaczynski abstürzte, wurde das CoCArt Music Festival in Torun abgesagt. Das aus Brooklyn eingeladene Quartett PAS reiste dennoch an und verband sich mit dem gastgebenden Perkussionsduo HATI für diese Studiosession. Rafal Iwanski & Rafal Kolacki spielen ein Sammelsurium an Gongs, Glocken, Rasseln, Cymbals, Bass- und Gewittertrommel, dazu Pfeifen und Flöten. Von den amerikanischen Gästen setzt Amber Brien Basseffekte ein und verstärkt zusammen mit Will Connor den perkussiven Akzent. Robert L. Pepper geistert mit Keyboards, Synthesizern und Samples umeinander, während Michael Durek ein altmodisches Casio SK-1, Theremin und, wie seine Freunde auch, noch diversen Krimskrams einsetzt. Damit wird spontan gejamt, Imaginäre Folklore von und für Turnschuhtribalisten. Der Geist der frühen Amon Düül mischt sich mit der Low Fidelity und Arte Povera der Freakfolk-Internationale. So könnte sie klingen, die postapokalyptische Musik künftiger Kleinhorden. Es wären Rituale, die das Verlorene beschwören, Treibstoff für Traumreisen weg von der globalen Katastrophe. Ein Neoprimitivismus, der die ältesten menschlichen Fähigkeiten einsetzt: Spielen mit dem, was da ist, einen Ausweg finden können in der zweiten Wirklichkeit des Traumes, der Imagination. Jeder sein eigener Schamane. Wobei die innere Reise ohne GPS auskommen muss, alle Erinnerung ist gelöscht, Schlafwandeln wird zum Drahtseilakt. Nur bei 'Dreaming', dem Traum selbst, erinnern sich die Finger daran, wie eine Melodie geht. Die Theremingeister heulen und Melancholie paart sich mit Verwunderung. Spieluhren plinken Reste einstiger Schönheit, eine Mundharmonika summt, die Flöte trillert Anfänge einer neuen. Für das 'Final Level' übernimmt der Autopilot das Steuer, unwillkürlich tröpfelt Regen, der Wind wischelt durch die Flöte und rasselt die Schlangenrassel. Das Herz diktiert den Gongs den Takt sanfter Tagträume. [BA 70 rbd]



More Mars: 

P.H.A.S.T.I. – The Stages of Sleep - A Metaphor for Torun
(Alrealon Musique / cd, 2011)

P.H.A.S.T.I. is the outcome of the collaboration between P.A.S. and Hati. "Post Abortion Stress", also known as P.A.S., is an experimental improvise Audio/video project from Brooklyn. We have already introduced them through their previous release "Pure Energy Output Sessions",  http://www.moremars.org/random/random07/random07-pas_pure_energy_output_sessions.html 

 "Hati" is Rafal Iwanski's and Rafal Kolacki's audiovisual project from Poland. Their music "...is based on sound of ethnic instruments from all over the world as well as hand-made instruments or found objects". As they shelf titled their music this is "...a link between a personal interest in modern improvised and acoustic music with ritual and meditation". Their release "The Stages of Sleep - A Metaphor for Torun" includes 9 tracks with total time more than 50 min, nicely presented in a delux CD packaging. 

In this release P.H.A.S.T.I try to cooperate using the stages of sleep as inspiration. With such a concept in mind I would expect something close to hypnagogic and ambient music. What they propose through is an improvisation that incorporates the concept freely. Listening to it I understand the whole process as a structuralist event that is produced by merging well thought parts. The use of many and different percussion along with found objects creates a sonic pluralism that dominates the recording. The structure of the tracks is backed up by the use of the various synthesizers, the Theremins and the keyboards. This cd will not help you sleep; on the contrary the chemistry between the two bands will keep you alert. [m.marios]




Babysue.com June 2011

P.H.A.S.T.I. - The Stages of Sleep: A Metaphor for Torun (CD,  HYPERLINK "http://www.myspace.com/pas-music" PAS, Experimental/sound)
P.H.A.S.T.I. is a collaborative project featuring the talents of Brooklyn, New York's PAS and Poland's HATI (the letters were combined to create the new name). All of the compositions on this CD were recorded live in the studio in Poland in 2010. The Stages of Sleep: A Metaphor for Torun features nine tracks of peculiar improvisation. Rather than focusing on melodies, the players focus more on creating sounds and moods with their instruments. These spontaneous pieces range from strange to slightly frightening. Hard to describe these songs...folks either dig experimental sounds or they don't. We're always up for people messing with our minds...and on this album, these folks do just that (!). Nine cuts here including "Preparation for the Internal Journey," "Stage 5 - Delta Sleep," and "Final Level."


2011-05-30 - Monsieur Delire
François Couturehttp://blog.monsieurdelire.com/
HATI PRESENT P.H.A.S.T.I. / The Stages of Sleep: A Metaphor for Torun (ind.)
Splendide, mais vraiment splendide collaboration entre le quatuor électroacoustique américain PAS et HATI, un duo de percussionnistes polonais.The Stages of Sleep prend la forme d’une suite onirique de drones, de rythmes délicats et de constructions semi-mélodiques semi-texturales qui allient merveileusement abstraction et évocation. Charmant et titillant.  [Ci-dessous: "Stage 4 (Delta Sleep)".]
A splendid, truly splendid collaboration between US electroacoustic quartet PAS and Polish percussion duo HATI. The Stages of Sleep is a dream suite of drones, delicate rhythms and semi-melodic/semi-textural constructs that wonderfully blend abstraction and evocation. Charming and titillating.  [Below: "Stage 4 (Delta Sleep)."]


Jan Willem Broek - Caleidoscoophttp://www.subjectivisten.nl/caleidoscoop/2011/05/pashati-present-phasti-the-stages-of-sleep-a-metaphor-for-torun.html PAS/HATI Present P.H.A.S.T.I. - The Stages Of Sleep: A Metaphor For Torun Een band, of beter gezegd collectief dan wel project, die ik al een jaar of 11 volg is http://www.myspace.com/pas-music newwin" PAS (Post Abortion Stress). Hun muziek valt nauwelijks te duiden maar weet altijd enorm te fascineren met bijzondere, ongrijpbare luisteravonturen. Het project start in 1995 en wordt aangevoerd door de New Yorkse muzikant en videokunstenaar Robert L. Pepper. Robert L. Pepper besluit dat het open collectief moet worden naast een paar vaste leden. Voor de rest zijn het steeds weer verschillende muzikanten vanuit de hele wereld en tevens met een wisselend instrumentarium die de koers en het geluid bepalen van de diverse releases. Dat kan dus betekenen dat ze de ene keer meer de ambient kant opgaan en een cd verder juist meer in de avant-gardistische hoek te vinden zijn. Maar meestal is het een combinatie van dingen en brengen ze intrigerende collages en soundscapes die in geen categorie onder te brengen zijn. In het verleden hebben Z’EV, Philippe Petit, Steve Beresford, Hati, Gay Tiger, The Vultures, Brandstifter, Magnetica Ars Lab, London Concrete en nog heel veel meer geparticipeerd. De groep muzikanten organiseert ook zogeheten Experi-MENTAL avonden en jaarlijks ook een festival met diezelfde naam. Ze hebben inmiddels zeven cd’s dan wel cd-r’s in eigen beheer uitgegeven. Daarnaast maakt Robert ook deel uit van het freejazz ensemble The Vultures. Op de samenwerking met het Poolse HATI zijn het naast Robert (keyboards, synthesizers, samples, gevonden geluiden), Amber Brien (bas, effecten, percussie), Will Connor (percussie, gevonden geluiden) en Michael Durek (casio, theremin, gevonden geluiden) die hier PAS vormen.
 HYPERLINK "http://www.myspace.com/hatitah" \t "newwin" HATI is het Poolse duo dat naast oprichter Rafał Iwański (aka X-NAVI:ET) sinds 2006 ook gevormd wordt door Rafał Kołacki. Vanaf de oprichting in 2001 zijn er nogal wat verschillende bandleden geweest. In de kern is de groep nooit veranderd, namelijk een audiovisueel project dat experimenteert met etnische instrumenten vanuit de hele wereld met gevonden geluiden. Ze hebben al diverse intrigerende albums uitgebracht en live dan wel in de studio samengewerkt met onder meer Z'EV, John Zorn, PURE, Mirt en Andrzej Wasilewski.
Samen met PAS vormt HATI nu het gelegenheidsproject P.H.A.S.T.I. (om nog maar eens wat hoofdletters er tegenaan te gooien). Samen improviseren ze op The Stages Of Sleep: A Metaphor For Torun er flink op los. De muziek, die zich als een patchwork van geluiden presenteert, is live in de studio in Torun (Polen) opgenomen. Je hoort de typische experimenten van PAS fraai verweven worden met de etnische instrumenten van HATI. De gevonden geluiden duiken willekeurig op in de composities. Ze lijken, mede gezien de titels, de verschillende stadia van de slaap van een soundtrack te willen voorzien. De composities hebben ook wel iets van een surrealistische droom, een koortsdroom wellicht, maar ik zou ze niet met de slaap associëren. Maar goed weet jij veel hoe een theta golf klinkt of zou kunnen klinken in je hoofd? Ze brengen een psychedelische mix van zowel serene en diepgravende muziek als kakofonisch, angstaanjagend of gewoonweg bloedstollend spannend. Je kunt niet spreken over muziek met kop en staart, maar wel over biologerende muziek die kop en staart roert en die op caleidoscopische wijze je steeds weet te verrassen. Om een idee te krijgen moet je het zoeken in de hoek van beide bands zelf en wellicht bij artiesten/bands als Crash Worship, Volcano The Bear, When, Zoviet*france, Amon Duul en Nurse With Wound in een productie van David Lynch. Als een langzaam voortbewegende massa lava sleurt de muziek allerlei geluiden met zich mee. Het is het komen en gaan van prachtig gevonden synchrone momenten, pure toevalstreffers en intrigerend vrij geluid. Niet de gemakkelijkste muziek om door te komen, maar wel een belevenis van jewelste als je er de tijd voor neemt. Experimenten van de bovenste plank!




Frans de Ward
http://www.vitalweekly.net/ 5/9/2011


PAS & HATI – PHASTI (CD by PAS Records)Last years CoCart festival in Poland was canceled due to the plane crash which killed the president Kacynski and other officials. US based musicians PAS was supposed to play there, and traveled anyway. Instead of a live concert he spend his time with Hati, the Polish duo who make great use of percussion: gongs, cymbals, bells, rattles, spring drum, pipe, zanza, rattles, bass drum, ocean drum and flute. PAS is a four piece band who use bass (‘with effects’), percussion, found objects, keyboards, synthesizers, processed samples, fishing rod, vintage casio sk 1 and theremin. Whereas PAS is more of an improvised music ensemble, and Hati the masters of ritualistic percussion, it would be interesting to see in which direction this goes. No doubt Hati had a say, but they are a majority. The work, divided in nine parts, is highly rooted in the world of improvised music. That of course is not a bad thing, but I must say the result is a bit too haphazard for me. Lots of loose end sounds, being played together and against each other, but which fail to bring forward much musical coherence. I assume it is all related to ‘the stages of sleep – a metaphor of Torun’ as this album is subtitled, and occasionally they delve into atmospheric sparse percussion for that necessary quietness, but altogether the album evoked more unrest than pleasant quietness with me. Maybe its all just a bit too hardcore improvised for me, from a more regular end of the improvised music world. Or perhaps its just not my cup of tea. (FdW)



PAS

From the Howling Caliper Blog September 20th 2011
http://www.calipermusic.blogspot.com/

PAS
Post Abortion Stress is the angst and psychological trauma a women experiences after an aborted pregnancy. It is also a collective of abstract sound artists from Brooklyn. Started by Robert Pepper in 1995, the name is a metaphor for “those who have been aborted by society, because their point of view doesn’t fit in the constraints of ‘normal’ society,” and the music they create expresses this alienation, along with an affinity for pure sound. PAS’s music, it seems to me, is more akin to art than music. Although the music hints at patterns and rhythms, it’s more like a free form sound collage with no traditional musical foundation. It’s a combination of effected sounds, often made with found objects, that talk to and interact with each other in ways that only the individual listener can propose in his or her own mind. It is like music for a strange animation, with the listener’s own imagination, experiences, and memories left to draw the images. 

They have a pretty impressive catalog, which includes some interesting collaborations and side projects like the new york quartet Jazzfakers, and they’ve performed at countless music festivals around the world. Info on all of their concerts, collaborations, videos, as well as a complete discography for sale is on their homepage. This is from their 2010 collab with HATI, appropriately called: P.H.A.S.T.I.
PAS & HATI - Stage 4 (Delta Sleep) by Alrealon Musique




"Pure Energy Output Sessions" review from the One True Dead Angel blog
http://theonetruedeadangel.blogspot.com/2011/09/who-stole-rain.html


PAS -- PURE ENERGY OUTPUT SESSIONS [PAS Records] 

This musical collective from Brooklyn, NY, spearheaded by one Robert L. Pepper, are an experimental audiovisual group with roots in dark ambient and processed sound who have collaborated in the past with the likes of Z'EV, Philippe Petit, Steve Bersford, Visitor Q, the Vultures, and a multitude of other like-minded artists across the experimental / industrial spectrum. They also curate events such as the annual Experi-MENTAL Festival and have performed not only in the US and the UK but in places as far away as the Netherlands, Greece, and Poland. They obviously have an impressive pedigree, and their experience in the gestation of weird sounds is reflected in the tracks on this disc. Their approach, while evidently informed by the early industrial sound of bands like Throbbing Gristle, Cabaret Voltaire, and Z'EV, is complex enough (and layered with the additional spicy bits of dark ambient and electronica) that it's largely impossible to even guess how the sounds in their exotic soundscapes were made. Is that a sampled and processed vocal chorus in "Travel Into"? What's the source of all that clanging that acts as a counterpoint to the heavy bass rhythm in "Explanation Without Words"? What's making all those high-pitched wailing sounds in "Faith," like an army of dying pipe organs? Such mysteries abound on just about every track. While it's true that these tracks are more accurately described as soundscapes than actual songs, they certainly aren't thrown together -- there's a cohesiveness to the way they collect and layer the elements in their sound collages, and their approach to tone is considerably different than that of their industrial forebears. Much of this, in fact, more closely resembles (at least in tonal quality) the early work of Tangerine Dream or Cluster, despite the fact that their approach and compositional aesthetics have more in common with the industrial movement that came a decade or so later (especially on tracks like "Piano Music For Volcano Eruption," "Joy," and "Sunrise of the Distorted Mind," where they briefly channel the spirit of Einsturzende Neubauten). Their background strongly suggests they are hardly novices at the art of constructing experimental soundscapes; the tracks on the disc easily confirm their talent for such, and this is definitely worth seeking out and hearing. 
Reconstruction:




PAS - Reconstruction - 2011
www.absentamusical.com
Por Cristóbal Moya 

Cuando uno cierra los ojos escuchando un disco, siempre vienen miles de imágenes a la mente. Así, cada disco, cada banda y hasta cada canción tiene su imaginario diferente, muchas veces influenciado por la estética de la banda (fotos, videos, gráfica de discos, etc.) y otras, por la música en sí, como es el caso de los discos regrabados o bajados, y de bandas que escapan de la sobre exposición mediática que reina en estos tiempos. Como sea, la asociación música-imagen es prácticamente imposible de rehuir.
Las imágenes que ocurren al escuchar esta nueva entrega del cuarteto de Brooklyn, Post Abortion Stress, son casi tan curiosas y perturbantes como el nombre de la banda. Y no porque se trate de un disco en extremo estridente o demasiado inaccesible. Tampoco es un puñado de canciones para todo el mundo, claro está. Lo más extravagante del disco (y quizás una de sus mayores fortalezas) es que juega con la decepción y la sorpresa constante, en el buen sentido de la palabra. Los diferentes ritmos y sonidos espectrales que aparecen a lo largo de la escucha, logran que esta "reconstrucción" no caiga en la letanía y sopor en el que podría haber caído, gracias a un buen sentido del espéctaculo, es decir, en tener en cuenta al auditor, y tener las ganas de comunicar, más que de dárselas de superestrella de la oscuridad. Es que la invasión sonora va de lo abstracto a lo concreto de un track a otro (basta escuchar la transición de "Sound of thought in motion a here ing voices", excelente titulo por cierto, para notarlo), proyectando imágenes que remiten a los cuadros de la más oscura psicodelia, bueno, dependiendo del imaginario de cada auditor.
Sonidos y ruidos casi imperceptibles (a ratos creo que sólo mis perras podían escuchar lo que sonaba) oscilan entre lo actual y una actualización (o reconstrucción) de la imaginería que se tenía en los 90's de la Electrónica Dance (nombres como Eat Static o Sabres of Paradise me vienen a la cabeza) mezclada con el satanismo disco de Thrill Kill Kult y/o Sheep on Drugs. Y aunque estos nombres puedan aparecer a ratos, es sólo como referente. Otro punto a favor de la banda es su originalidad y personalidad propia e irrepetible, haciendo de los ocho temas del disco (sí, lamentablemente son sólo ocho) interpretables sólo por PAS y los diferentes artistas invitados para cada canción. Y es que en manos de otros, el descontrol estético, la falta de coherencia y consistencia y el sopor y letanía antes nombrados, hubiesen sido inminentes. El resultado, por el contrario, un producto que viene de la experimentación y el interés por crear nuevos espacios auditivos.
Así, entre temas que pueden dejarte clavado a la cama mirando al infinito y canciones que pueden hacerte desear que la pista de baile sea sólo tuya, se debate esta entrega, y lo que la hace más interesante, es que todo esto resulta bastante natural y poco forzado, casi como si no pudiese haber sido de otra forma, otorgándole frescura y originalidad al proyecto, el cual podría haberse ahogado en pretensión y sabihonderíade no ser por las inyecciones de destellos Pop que se dejan entrever a ratos y un norte claro respecto adonde se quiere llegar, cómo y por qué. 



PAS (Post abortion stress)  "Pure Energy Output Sessions" CD
Pas records
 parašė Tobias Faar
            Garsas yra tam tikra terpė, kurioje reiškiasi instrumentai, daiktai bei žmonės. Vienas iš tokių muzikinių daiktų pakliuvo man į rankas, kuris kupinas įvairių garso fragmentų iš skirtingų daiktų, kurie gali ir sugeba skleisti triukšmą. Triukšmas šiuo atveju yra daugiau releatyvus.
            Taigi, PAS – ,,Pure Energy Output Sessions” albumas. Pirminis susidūrimas su albumu, jei tai yra fiziniame formate išleistas darbas, o taip ir yra, albumą pradedame tyrinėti jį čiupinėdami ir apžiūrėdami jo viršelio struktūrą. Šis mano akiai mielas reikaliukas yra gan svarbus. Kaip ir realybėje norėdami suvokti daiktus esančius aplink mus, mes juos uodžiame, liečiame, matome, girdime. PAS albumas patraukia akį savo popieriniu įpakavimu, kurį malonu liesti, smagu, kad vis daugiau ir įvairių atlikėjų kompaktinius diskus pateikia popierinėse pakuotėse, tai suteikia tam tikro šilto jausmo. Popierius kaip žmogaus oda. Sušlapęs priglunda, kietoje savo konsistencijoje jis plevena lyg vėjo apgaubiamas. Albumo viršelis padabintas atlikėjų asmeninėmis nuotraukomis, kas manau yra kaip savęs pateikimas klausytojams. Šiuo aspektu vengiama vaizdų, kurie sukeltų asociacijas siūlomai išgirsti muzikai. Albumas išties daugiau primena reprezentaciją, nors tai PAS kolektyvo aštuntasis albumas.
            Albume pateikiama 17 individualių kūrinių. Įdomu tai, jog klausant kiekvieną iš kūrinių, jais sukuriama bendra albumo visuma, ir nesvarbu ar klausai penktąjį kūrinį ar pirmąjį. Jie sudaro tą visumą ir sujungia 
skirtingus garsus į vieną, tačiau jei analizuotume albumą pagal jame pateiktus kūrinių pavadinimus, pastebėtume, jog iš tos bendros muzikinės visumos, per tris ar keturias minutes galime nukeliauti į savo vidinį pasaulį, kuriame atrastume tam tikrus reiškinius. Kolektyvo PAS kūrybos esmė tiek šiame albume, tiek kituose albumuose matoma lyg tradicija garsu sujungti du reiškinius: emocijas ir žmogų. Žmogaus vaidmuo šiuo atveju yra tarsi objekto, kuris skleidžia vieną ar kitą garsą, emocijos yra tarsi plotmė, kurioje garsas sugeba išsidėstyti. Kūrinyje ,,Travel Into” netgi aptinkami meditatyvūs garsai, kurie žmogų kaip objektą nukelia į emocinės plotmės gilumas tolesnėms paieškoms. Trumpiau tariant,  šis ,,grynos/gyvos energijos/jėgos” albumas yra lyg mediumas sėdintis prieš kiekvieną iš mūsų ir bandantis mums suteikti tam tikros trancendencijos.
            Bendrąją prasme kalbant apie garsines išraiškas, matomas itin ryškus abstraktaus garso naudojimo principas. Jei ambient ar eksperimentinėje elektronikoje naudojamas keturiomis struktūromis sukompiliuotas garsas, tai šiame albume girdimos dvejos struktūros - pagrindinis garsas, ir garsas palydintis klausytoją į kūrinio pabaigą. Albume sutinkama daug elektroakustinių, kurie albumui prideda gyvasties ir emocijos. Tai dvipusiškas albumas savo muzikine prasme – jį galima tiesiog klausyti, ir jį galima klausyti įdėmiau lyg medituojant. Tai yra garso darbas, kurį sudaro kūriniai turintys skirtingas abstrakčios muzikos asociacijas. Skirtumas toks, jog tose abstrakcijose veikia ne kompiuteriniai garsai, o instrumentiniai garsai.
            Reziumė – albumas “Pure Energy Output Sessions” kaip dvilypis objektas gali pateikti tam tikrų asociacijų su išgyvenamomis ir esamomis emocijomis, nes kolektyvo esmė būtent ir yra kurti ir parodyti žmogaus emocijas garse. Kitu kampu žvelgiant į šį albumą, galima pasakyti, kad tai albumas, kuris supažindina su abstrakčios elektronikos muzikos rūšimi. Vadinasi tai yra ir šviečiamojo pobūdžio garso darbas. 




PAS “Pure Energy Output Sessions” (Album/PAS Records)
Review:

 5/10 
Artist: PAS (Post Abortion Stress)
Title: Pure Energy Output Sessions
Format: Album
Label: PAS Records
Genre: Dark Ambient, Experimental
Release date: 2010 

PAS (Post Abortion Stress) is the creation of US/Brooklyn-based artist Robert L. Pepper and several other members and was started back in 1995. Since then, several releases have been made their first releases have later been re-released through their own label PAS Records during 2009 followed with a couple of more during that year and even in 2010.

“Pure Energy Output Sessions” is the title of their latest CD and the music is very experimental and falls under the Dark Ambient style with lots of complex soundscapes. During it’s rather long playtime of 80 minutes I never get that interesting feeling. It’s like you are constant waiting for something to happen but it never does. My point is that I think the album is too long with too many meaningless tracks. Many of the tracks is not longer then a minute or so and that is a very short time to reflect before the next track begins.

When it comes to Dark Ambient music I would rather see an intense structure and shorter total playtime with not as many tracks like it is here. the atmosphere does at some points feels very intrigue-ish and good. Although, I think it’s a decent album but not more then that. However, if you are into Dark Ambient and experimental music I think this will suite you.

Tracklist:

01. Angels
02. Travel Into
03. Honour
04. Explanation Without Words
05. Hope
06. Melancholy Drink Coaster
07. Faith
08. Piano Music For Volcano Eruption
09. Sin
10. Production Of Souls
11. Meaning
12. Sadness Of Happiness
13. Love
14. Scratch Echo
15. Sunrise Of The Dormant
16. Joy
17. The Uprising Into Balance

January 3rd, 2011 | Reviews | By: Björn A. | 63 views | 





Bats of Pure Energy
December 29, 2010
By  http://www.thesoundprojector.com/author/editor/   by  Ed Pinsent


PAS is the acronym for Post-Abortion Stress, not an especially savoury name for your band, but Robert L. Pepper and his constituents Amber Brien, Michael Durek and Jon “Vomit” Worthley make a very decent fist of producing collaborative electronic mélanges on Pure Energy Output Sessions (PAS RECORDS 6). They’re capable of a certain strain of low-down sulky monotone eruptive industrial-pulsage that puts the listener right inside a cramped and dank cellar with no lights or oxygen, but PAS can also do the outer-space spookoid thing very distinctively, with their theremin-like meanderings, treated voices, and keening bagpipe effects. Keyboards and instruments are approached as though they are potentially harmful objects, rather than useful tools. And once you see the colour photos of the foursome posing on the floor with fans, a telescope, and other props, you know you’re in the safe hands of some talented merry freaksters who bode no ill.


Chain DLK

Title: Pure Energy Output Session 
Format: CD
Label: self-released
Rated: 
Hailing from Brooklyn, Post Abortion Stress are one of those bands not-so-easy-to-be-described cause despite their many references to music from the pas, they're not exactly old fashioned and at the same time they are reinterpreting influences quite personally and that's good. I've read sometimes they've been described as a "dark ambient" combo, but honestly I find they're thousand times more freaky then the average band playing this style of music, by some means they reminded me a lot Nurse With Wound and also Faust, but also Popol Vuh and Gong updated to the current millennium. Being from Brooklyn I happened to think even if considerably different they reminded me a lot of when I first listened to Aa from New York, they are equally as freaky even if more odd, with less vocal and above all without the drum, but the sound aesthetic is not so different. Synths, a massive use of echoes, loops and delays, sometimes the mixing of different sound-layers creates that trip through the canyon effect from the seventies, just think to Michelangelo Antonioni and you get the picture. As I've said I would speak more about new psychedelia rather than dark music, above all if you consider some of the melodies are not exactly obscure or heavy digestible (8, 11,15). I've seen they've collaborated and they keep collaborating with Philippe Petit and played at the Faust festival which itself says a lot to know more about their activities. Not all of the tracks are completely focused, but after all it's an interesting listening. 


Review by: Andrea Ferraris [ ics_ferraris {at} libero {dot} it ]





Nov 28, 2010 

More Mars (Greece) review of "Pure Energy Output Sessions"

PAS (Post Abortion Stress) - Pure Energy Output Sessions(PAS Records / cd) 


When I was in Berlin, on May, I was lucky enough to see a live performance of PAS (Post Abortion Stress) in collaboration with some guests avant-garde musicians from the local scene. I remember myself waiting patiently to get inside to the small basement of “Madam Claude” that was full of people. Sonically the show was a textural sound experimentation, through the form of industrial music. I am very happy to say that PAS new release, called "Pure Energy Output Sessions", has a lot in common with this peculiar live performance. 

For the moment PAS have released some very interesting works, like the ghostly «time is a constant relapse" and the "such things … complete oneself", that includes collaborations of PAS with artists like Patrik Glassel, Anthony Donovan, London Concrete and more. I have to admit that "Pure Energy Output Sessions" seems to be a more complex and mature work. 
PAS compose music that is characterized by an electronic industrial atmosphere. Improvised sounds made by traditional and nontraditional instruments are creating a constructivist construction that is growing gradually. A big variety of musical instruments, theremin, percussions, bass, synths, melodica and mechanical sounds recorded with contact microphones etc, create some well-structured rhythmical parts (sometimes reminds me of “Video Adventures”) that are used as a backbone to non-rythmical sounds. PAS create compositions that really are not confined to demonstrate their technical characteristics, however they are more focused in the whole sound stucture of each track and to enrich them with the proper dosage of sonic textures. This is an interesting and very promising piece of music! [m.marios]  

 HYPERLINK "http://www.moremars.org/random/random07/random07-pas_pure_energy_output_sessions.html" http://www.moremars.org/random/random07/random07-pas_pure_energy_output_sessions.html



Nov 24, 2010 
Japanese - Music Web Magazine NO! Review of "Pure Energy Output Sessions"

[PAS (POST ABORTION STRESS)]U.S.A.pure energy output sessionspas records releasereview by Koji Moromisato
 PAS began in 1995 in Brooklyn, N.Y., with many members centering ROBERT L. PEPPER. Although they perform mainly in N.Y., they have toured worldwide including Germany, Netherlands, U.K., Macedonia, and Poland to name a few.They are artists who create musical collages through abstract sounds.This release is a myriad of soundscapes and you can feel that they go beyond particular conventions to create music without any boundaries. You could say that this album is atmospherical, creating contemporary art which is unprecidented. Music is freedom and full of the love towards life and art. The soul of those who are out of the sphere of society can be felt through their expression using abstract sounds, welcoming images of endless soundscapes.As my personal impression, there is a Japanese artistic band, [KOWARETA OMOCHA GAKUDAN] , who are not well-known but it is a band that I recently discovered and am very interested in. The essence and emotion that the express has no restrictions and cannot be explained by genre. When I listened to PAS, I felt that there was a definite connection to what the two artist groups are expressing. My personal wish is to someday have these two groups share a stage in Japan and the U.S. I felt that both groups were free from convention and let those who listen feel whatever is inside them and discover something new.PAS are water, the sun and the atmosphere...things which are essential, yet have no shape.Definitely worth experiencing.




 HYPERLINK "http://www.ravagedigitaal.org/2010/knars26/knars.php" Een eigen wereld

November 11, 2010

PAS staat voor Post Abortion Stress en is in 1995 gestart door de muzikant en videomaker Robert L. Pepper uit Brooklyn in New York. PAS staat voor alle mensen die uitgestoten worden door de samenleving vanwege hun afwijkende gedrag of gedachten. PAS staat in de Franse taal ook voor 'nee'. 

PAS schept met muziek een mooie wereld. De groep ziet zichzelf geluidssculpturen creëren in de zin van pure kunst. De cd-dvd Pure Energy Output Sessions is alweer hun zesde uitgave. De muzikanten zijn Amber Brien, Robert L. Pepper, Jon 'Vomit' Worthley en Michael Durek. Het kwartet, dat wereldwijd optreedt, speelde onder andere samen met Z'EV en Philippe Petit. 

Muzikaal bevat de cd verschillende  gemoedstoestanden. Het is als een kaleidoskoop die diverse dromen vertoont. De muziek neemt de luisteraar mee naar tal van kamers en ruimtes. Soms muzikaal minimalistisch, dan weer melancholisch, religieus, noisy, psychedelisch, ambient of industrieel. Veelal wordt er gebruikt gemaakt van een grondtoon of ritme die geloopt of gedelayed is en waar andere lagen zorgvuldig aan worden toegevoegd door middel van piano, stem, synthesizer, zelf gemaakte instrumenten en nog veel meer. 

Het lijkt alsof de muziek refereert aan old-school tape- en experimentele muziek uit de jaren '80. Dat zal hoogstwaarschijnlijk komen door het achterwege laten van een computer tijdens het musiceren. Pure Energy Output Sessions is een prachtige cd vanwege het op creatieve en intense wijze maken van muziek door mensen die goed op elkaar zijn ingespeeld. De cd is overigens verpakt in een prachtige kleurrijke cover.

De bijbehorende dvd Experimental Audio and Video Compositions Volume 1 bevat ruim tien korte experimentele films. De muziek van PAS ondersteunt de beelden. Ook hier is de muziek de moeite van het beluisteren waard. De dvd start met een korte zwart-wit film waarin een man in een surrealistische nachtelijke setting op straat allerlei gebeurtenissen meemaakt. 

Veel andere korte films op de dvd hebben een onduidelijk verhaal, maar dat kan binnen de experimentele film. Het veelvuldig gebruik van eenvoudige filters voegt naar mijn smaak niet veel toe aan het beeldverhaal. De kracht van de films zal toenemen wanneer de videomaker zich meer toelegt op een thema en dat nader uitwerkt, zoals met de eerste film is gedaan. Deze dvd bevat ook twee live-optredens van PAS, waarin mooi is gedocumenteerd hoe intens en geconcentreerd de muzikanten hun eigen wereld maken.

Jan Kees Helms





Nov 9, 2010 

Vital Weekly review of "Pure Energy Output Sessions" 

November 8, 2010
 ============
VITAL WEEKLY
============

number 755

---------------------

week 45

---------------------


 
PAS - PURE ENERGY OUTPUT SESSIONS (CD by PAS Records)


 
PAS - EXPERIMENTAL AUDIO/VIDEO COMPOSITIONS VOLUME 1 (DVD by PAS Records)

PAS stands for Post Abortion Stress and started in 1995 in ....Brooklyn.., ..New York.... by the musician and videoartist Robert L. Pepper. PAS stands for all people how have been aborted by the society, because of that this people doesn't behave of think as is usual in the so called normal society. Pas does also mean No in French. The idea of PAS is create an own world of beauty and the group interpretate their music as sonic sculptures in the mode of pure art. Pure Energy Output Sessions is the sixth release of PAS. The musicians are Amber Brien, Robert L. Pepper, Jon "Vomit" Worthley and Michael Durek. They cooperated with musicians like ZEV, Philippe Petit and more and did concerts all over the world.  The music has a wide swing of moods, it is like a kaleidoscope of all kinds of dreams which takes the listener to all kinds of rooms and spaces. Sometimes the music is minimalistic, melancholic, religious, noisy, psychedelic or ambient. Mostly there is a layer of a loop or delayed sounds and the musicians add other musical patterns on it with piano, synthesizer, voice, self-built instruments and i do not know what. Sometimes the music refers to oldschool tape- and experimental music like in the eighties, but I guess it has to do with the use of loops and delayed sounds and no use of computer. I really like this album with the open creative mind with the aim to create a good piece of music. Lovely album presented in a beautiful colorful cover.

Robert L. Pepper is also a videoartist and the DVD consists a lot of short movies with a highly experimental character. The music is of PAS and more drony than the music in Pure Energy Output Sessions. I cannot say nothing about the music, it is great and I love it a lot. But the video's are more experiments with all kinds of filters. The DVD starts really well with a black and white movie in a surrealistic setting on the street. I like the repetition of the walking actor and the use of strange objects. But after this movie lots of different kinds of filters are passing by. Of course filters can make the image and (non)story stronger, but with a lot of movies the filter doesn't make it stronger. When Pepper focusses himself to one subject in combination with some objects the movie is much more interesting to watch. The DVD has also two live recordings of PAS. I liked to watch this very basic documentation of these concerts. Nothing really is happening, the musicians are concentrated making music and they do it in a good way. (JKH) 
 


Bad Alchemy/Rigobert Dittmann review of "Pure Energy Output Sessions" (In German) 
Current mood:  artistic 
November 6th, 2010

PAS „Pure Energy Output Sessions“ 

(PAS Records, PAS06): PAS steht für Post Abortion Stress. Unter diesem Namen bereichert seit 15 Jahren Robert L. Pepper, der auch reichlich seltsame Amateurvideos dreht, in einem Kollektiv mit Amber Brien, Jon Worthley & Michael Durek die Noise Culture mit DIY-und Outsider-Kunst. Zudem organisiert PAS auch die Brooklyner Experi-MENTAL Nights und das gleichnamige Festival. Als musikalische Anreger werden Zoviet France, Coil und TG, Faust, Can und Gong, T Rex und Legendary Pink Dots genannt, als geistige Kubin, Meyrink, Dali, Jodorowsky, Tarr. Diese unamerikanischen Bezüge erklären kaum, warum sich am ehesten noch eine vage Verwandtschaft zu Smegma und To Live and Shave in L.A. oder Volcano The Bear feststellen lässt. Die Klangquellen scheinen beliebig, bleiben von Korg über Moog bis Mundharmonika, Selbstbaurasseln und Singender Säge Mittel zum Zweck. Diffuse Sound- und amorphe Dreamscapes, ungeniert lo-fi und brut, erhalten durch Vokalisationen besonderen Reiz. Gewollt ist jeweils ein bewusstseinserweiterndes Vordringen in die Hic-Sunt-Leones-Zonen der Klangwelt. Selbst so Zivilisiertes wie ‚Piano Music for Volcano Eruption‘ wird durch Kettengerassel unterhöhlt. Dabei geht es durchaus um Wesentliches: ‚Honour‘, ‚Hope‘, ‚Faith‘, ‚Sin‘, ‚Meaning‘, ‚Love‘, ‚Joy‘. Aber das muss erst aus dem Nigredo geläutert, aus dem Schlaf geweckt werden (‚Sunrise of Dormant Mind‘). Ohne dass es dafür einen sicheren Weg gibt. Der Prozess ist immer eine Improvisation, ein theatralisches kleines Ritual, zu dem Pepper etwa eine Freund-Hein-Maske aufsetzt. Der Beat ist so fragwürdig wie der Noise, der Weg in 17 ungleiche Schritte geteilt und mit Oxymora gepflastert (‚Sadness of Happiness‘).



http://www.badalchemy.de/

[BA 68 rbd]


Read more: http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=80524374&blogId=540430759#ixzz14WQQddJQ

Mudkiss Review, November 4th, 2010

PAS - Pure Energy Output Sessions (PAS Records): More change & diversity now with PAS. They're a collective of New York artists in various media. PAS stands for "Post Abortion Stress" & the French word for "Not" - the idea being to start afresh , negating anything established in the search for new sonic/visual beginnings. In the same way, they're totally independent of any labels  or other commercial influences.The new cd is about as far as one can get from Suede, but its a fascinating trip into ambient & experimental soundscape territory. Think Eno for a starting point, or the laptop-improv sounds you'll hear on shows like resonance's "Exotic Pylon" or read about in "The Wire". Add some visual accompaniment & it all makes perfect sense. Although "Pure Energy Output Sessions"  is the new album, I'm tempted to recommend the dvd compilation "Experimental Audio/Video Compositions" as a starting point to get on the PAS vibe. I love the NYC street scenes, shot in slightly mutated colour, giving a dislocated, trippy feel to the images, like stepping outside after you haven't slept for a couple of days. Sometimes the focus switches to outdoor Mediterranean scenes, & there's a nice line in recurring images of decorated skulls, masks & weird papier-mache figures. 

Reviews by Den Browne

http://www.mudkiss.com/coloursofautumn.htm


Nov 3, 2010 
Current mood:blissful

Chain D.L.K. review of "Pure Energy Output Sessions"
November 3rd, 2010

PAS stands for Post Abortion Stress. As the four people collective states, the "name refers metaphorically" to those who have been aborted by society". An interesting starting point that doesn't lead to any form of really "disruptive" music anyway as someone might expect indeed. On the other hand is hard to talk about music also, PAS don't follow any convention about structure or harmony as conventionally defined, it's more about creating rarefied soundscapes. In this sense they fulfill the task enlightened by their name. Sound sources vary, vocals as well as synths some kind of field recordings. Their nature is not harsh or particularly gloomy, they reflect various states of mind. Creativity flows freely, but I would call it mostly a "peaceful" kind of ambient, relaxing rather than ominous. The record is selfreleased but has the barcode on. 

id#6082

http://www.chaindlk.com/reviews/?id=6082

Review by: Borys Catelani
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Nov 2, 2010 

Babysue.com Review of "Pure Energy Output Sessions"


November 2, 2010.  www.babysue.com


PAS - Pure Energy Output Sessions (CD, Experimental) 

PAS stands for Post Abortion Stress...which is an experimental noise band based in Brooklyn, New York. The folks in this band compose and record music that fits somewhere in between the worlds of experimental music and modern classical. Instead of composing music based upon melodies, these folks' recordings are sound collages in which anything and everything is allowed to happen. Pure Energy Output Sessions will appeal to an esoteric, select listening audience...mainly those individuals who consider sound and noise to be music (we definitely feel that anything that can be recorded can be considered music). Odd soundscapes include "Angels," "Explanation Without Words," "Sadness of Happiness," and "Sunrise of the Dormant Mind."
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Nov 1, 2010 

Monsieur Délire Review of "Pure Energy Output Sessions"


Monsieur Délire Review of "Pure Energy Output Sessions"
http://blog.monsieurdelire.com/2010_10_31_archive.html


Journal d'écoute / Listening Diary ....
2010-10-29....


PAS / Pure Energy Output Sessions (ind.)....
PAS = Post Abortion Stress, un groupe de Brooklyn qui fait dans l’électronique expérimentale ambiante, avec une composante vidéo absente de ce CD (mais ils ont aussi un DVD - pas encore regardé). Je suis impressionné  par la qualité, l’élégance et la variété des courtes pièces qui composent ce disque. Ce quatuor sait ce qu’il fait, sans s’enfoncer dans une recette limitative. Une écoute agréable et stimulante.  [Ci-dessous: Le trio en concert.]....
PAS = Post Abortion Stress, a Brooklyn collective playing ambient experimental music with a video component missing from this CD (though they do have a DVD out). I am impressed by the quality, elegance, and diversity of the short pieces comprising this record. This quartet know what they are doing, without sinking into an oft-repeated recipe. A enjoyable and stimulating listen.


François Couture


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Oct 31, 2010 

Pure Energy Output Sessions review by Hypnagogue
October 30, 2010


by Hypnagogue


Call me shallow, but first impressions count with me. (I know I’ve mentioned this in past reviews.)  So when I open a disc from an experimental collective called PAS and it turns out that PAS stands for “Post-Abortion Stress”… I think I can be somewhat forgiven if I burned the disc into iTunes with more than a touch of trepidation. Despite reading in the press release that the term refers to those who “have been aborted by society,” the material on the disc (I refrain from the word “music” here for reasons noted below) reinforced the idea that trepidation was warranted. Pure Energy Output Sessions is, as noted in the release, “music from the fringes of perception . . . [not] defined by any particular conventions or viewpoints.” Which is to say, anything goes once PAS gets started, guided by their mission of free self-expression. The work here is more sound sculpture than music per se, and it is, by and large, aggressive sound sculpture, dynamic and tending toward assault. As such, it will challenge the taste and, perhaps, tolerance of most listeners. Pure Energy, by design, is a disc solely for the unbiased, wide-open, art-focused mind that can embrace a very abstract, unfettered approach–and I’m honestly not sure, having listened, if that’s me. Sample PAS and decide if it’s you.

Available from CD Baby.
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Oct 21, 2010 

Caleidoscoop, PAS "Pure Energy Out put Sessions" Review in Dutch
Here is a very nice review from Jan Willem Broek from Caleidoscoop in The Netherlands 


Please paste in a translator to get the general idea. 



http://subjectivisten.typepad.com/caleidoscoop/






PAS - Pure Energy Output Sessions / Experimental Audio/Video Compositions Volume 1 
[cd + dvd, PAS Records]

Zo nu en dan kom je in contact met projecten die compleet van de buitencategorie zijn, maar waarvan release na release zorgen voor een waar luisteravontuur. Zo’n bijzonder project, band mag je het eigenlijk niet noemen, is PAS (Post Abortion Stress), die ik al sinds het begin van deze eeuw volg. Het project start in 1995 door de New Yorkse muzikant en videokunstenaar Robert L. Pepper. Pepper besluit dat het open collectief moet worden naast de vaste leden Amber Brien, Jon “Vomit”Worthley, Michael Durek en Will Seesar. Voor de rest zijn het steeds weer verschillende muzikanten vanuit de hele wereld en tevens met een wisselend instrumentarium die de koers en het geluid bepalen van de diverse releases. Dat kan dus betekenen dat ze de ene keer meer de ambient kant opgaan en een cd verder juist meer in de avant-gardistische hoek te vinden zijn. Maar meestal is het een combinatie van dingen en brengen ze intrigerende collages en soundscapes die in geen categorie onder te brengen zijn. In het verleden hebben Z’EV, Philippe Petit, Steve Beresford, Hati, Gay Tiger, The Vultures, Brandstifter, Magnetica Ars Lab, London Concrete en nog heel veel meer geparticipeerd. De groep muzikanten organiseert ook zogeheten Experi-MENTAL avonden en jaarlijks ook een festival met diezelfde naam. Ze hebben inmiddels zes cd’s dan wel cd-r’s in eigen beheer uitgegeven. Gezien het hoge niveau is dat een behoorlijke prestatie en evengoed merkwaardig dat niemand ze ooit opgepikt heeft. Inmiddels zijn ze toe aan hun zevende cd Pure Energy Output Sessions. Voor de verandering hebben ze die enkel gemaakt met de harde kern. Het is één van hun meer experimentele cd’s geworden. Ze brengen een mengelmoes aan traditionele instrumenten om niet-traditionele muziek mee te maken en doen omgekeerd iets dergelijks met elektronica. Dat mengen ze vrolijk door elkaar waardoor er een soort surreële wereld ontstaat, mede ondersteund door de dronken fluiten en delirante vocalen die zo nu en dan opdoemen. Als een ingewikkeld patchwork wisselen muziek en non-muziek elkaar af. De ene keer is het sereen en diepgravend, op andere momenten kakofonisch, psychedelisch, angstaanjagend of gewoonweg spannend. Een track zoals “Piano Music For Volcano Eruption” heeft wat dat betreft een heel veelzeggende titel. Het is een performance of beter een belevenis maar dan op cd. Geen kop of staart, maar (bij voorkeur) onder de koptelefoon achterover zittend en je op prettige en verrassende wijze laten overrompelen door caleidoscopische klanken. Fans van Faust, Coil, When, Zoviet*france, Amon Duul, Nurse With Wound, The Legendary Pink Dots, Human Greed en Volcano The Bear komen hier absoluut aan hun trekken. Het is compleet uniek, biologerend en weergaloos wat PAS hier ten gehore brengt.
Om hun live karakter kracht bij te zetten en over te brengen, hebben ze ook de dvd Experimental Audio/Video Compositions Volume 1 uitgebracht. Hierop staat ouder materiaal voorzien van beelden, iets dat ze live ook altijd doen. Een David Lynch film verbleekt er bijna bij, zo surreëel en abstract zijn de beelden. De muziek erbij is van hetzelfde hoogwaardige niveau van hun cd’s. Daarnaast staan er twee live optredens waarbij ze ook diepe indruk weten te maken. Meer dan een uur weten ze je compleet te overdonderen en in hun greep te houden met hun oude materiaal dan wel optredens. Hopelijk krijgt deze fenomenale groep eens de aandacht die het verdient.

Luister Online:
Pure Energy Output Sessions (album)



Oct 7, 2010 

Manchester Music Review for "Pure Energy Output Sessions"
http://www.music-dash.co.uk/releases/release.asp?item=6799

30 September 2010 / White Label / 17 trk CD
By JA 
This album came all the way from Brooklyn New York – PAS (or Post Abortion Stress) are a collective based around core founder Robert. L Pepper. 

The loosely looped concepts here, are delivered by as much wiring as they are instruments and much of the noise here is incidental, but strangely addictive. It’s an avant-garde re-imagining of the kind of material executed by This Mortal Coil and Modern English, but without song structures or vocals. The tracks burble along as though attempting to re-channel the audio soundtrack of Esraserhead into something more uplifting. 

It’s fair to say that this is pretty experimental stuff – “Faith” is composed of ground up guitars and echoes as well as 1970’s Dr Who sound effects. There’s also a video to accompany this, based around the theme of the bands name – it also includes tracks entitled “Circumsize Your Mind” and “ The Egg of Flute” and I’ll certainly be checking that out. 

PAS aren’t for the faint hearted, but their music is surprisingly engaging given that they never wander anywhere near a drum beat – for the curious and those seeking out innovation on the fringes of the established and understood music scene.


MMM
 


PAS - NITETROTTER Session

Illustration Jorge Tapia / Sound Engineering Lawrence Romani / Text Lawrence Romani - Sept 8, 2010 


I was really excited to have PAS record at Apparition Sound. They are a 4 piece most of the time but they have a long list of collaborators working with them in a live set so that number can swell to 10 just as it did recently when Vultures Quartet joined them for Avante Garde Festival in Germany opening for Faust and Lydia Lunch. The core members are Robert Pepper, Amber Brien, Jon Worthly and Mike Durek. The PAS sound is very organic and ethereal; a composed dissonance that creates an atmosphere around the listener. By fusing eclectic instrumentation with electronics they have created a sound that’s as original as it is timeless and haunting. Give them a listen. Enjoy ! 


PAS - "Untitled"

Recorded at Apparition Sound Brooklyn

Sep 13, 2010 

Sound Projector Podcast & "The Lyre Speaketh" review from 12-23-2009
We are very happy to be noted on The Sound Projector's podcast "A good-looking Audio Pan." The podcast has many great musicians and comes from a wonderful experimental music website run by Ed Pinsent. Check it out:

http://www.thesoundprojector.com/2010/09/03/a-good-looking-audio-pan/

Here is also an old review of "The Lyre Speaketh" by Ed Pinsent of The Sound Projector:

"From Brooklyn in New York, we have a release made by PAS last year. Led by Robert Pepper, this is a quartet of experimenters making rather quirky and quite dark electronic music with heavily treated vocals set to clonking rhythms, resembling in places a rather more sinister version of The Residents. I think it’s fair to say The Lyre Speaketh (NO NUMBER) is an idiosyncratic record and will not be to the taste of all listeners, but PAS (whose name unpacks into a rather unpleasant sentence of visceral horror) do have some distinctive moments of bizarre invention leaking out from this sprawling mass of analogue electronics, exotic effects, and incomprehensible jazz-poetry recits. I think they work best when they manage to shroud themselves inside an introverted, voodoo-fog of their own making, not raising their heads once as they weave their eerie spells. Apparently they make videos too, which if seen in conjunction with the music might have serious consequences for the audience’s overall grip on reality."

Ed Pinsent


Aug 11, 2010 

Wire Magazine Avant Garde Festival Review
"An Anglo-American collaboration between Brooklyn's Post Abortion Stress and London based quartet Vultures builds a theatrical ritual, combining a grinding Industrial sound collage of electronics and percussion with an unsettling film projection of a naked, supine woman undergoing a full-body plastercast. With the doors of the main venue pulled shut against the afternoon sun, they succeed in involking an episode of gloomy, creeping menace." 


Dan Spicer (Wire Magazine September 2010)


Film by PAS.


Aug 18, 2010 

Shinto Records "Torture Garden" com Review by Fearnet.com
Shinto Records 'Torture Garden' CompilationMon., Aug. 9, 2010 11:30 AM PDT , by Gregory Burkart
Last summer I profiled Sin-Tech, a dark and disturbing compilation of experimental music from indie label Shinto Records that really opened my eyes to some envelope-busting artists from many different genres – including gothic, industrial, EBM, dark ambient, neo-folk, abstract noise, and a few categories that probably don't have names yet. The macabre landscape explored in that collection was only the first step, as the creators have gathered yet another amazing group of artists for this summer's new collection Torture Garden. Mainly an electro-industrial label with a lot of club-friendly content, Shinto has been bringing aboard a lot more sinister experimental acts lately, and it's these horror mini-soundtracks that make up the bulk of this particular release, resulting in aHellraiser-type puzzle box of chilling and challenging sounds. Read on for a closer examination and the album's most definitely NSFW cover art...

Like the 1967 Amicus horror anthology and the world-famous British S&M club, Torture Gardentakes its title from the controversial novel by avant-garde writer Octave Mirbeau – and each of the 22 artists collected here might very well be exploring that book's nightmare world of sadistic sexuality and violent death through their own unique musical language. Like last year's Sin-Techcomp, many of these artists defy categorization – like post-punk unit Strange Walls, who combine grotesque sample loops and acoustic guitar in Black Mold, or Italy's D.B.P.I.T., blending FX-treated brass instruments with bubbling electronic atmospheres in Homesick, calling to mind a Sergio Leone flick from hell. But all of these bizarre wonders manage to work together to create a sense of lurking, unknown fear and dark, seductive forces prying their way into your brain.

While most of these tracks could be loosely placed in the dark ambient genre, the differences come in their level of nightmarish intensity. The middle-range of subtle, drone-filled walls of sounds and nondescript voices include the down-tempo darkwave of Phantoms Of The SS –  the only carryover from the first Shinto compilation – with Everything That Rises Must Converge; that band's side project 1 Phantom also contributes the somber We Are The Sound Of Falling Angels. Black Grassby Pennsylvania act e.g. creates a hypnotic swirl of analog synths, death-machine rhythms and dark piano chords, while guttural groans and cosmic drones saturate Attainment Of The Death Posture by Scapegoat. Portuguese artist Z.O.T.E. fabricates a fuzzy alien transmission inParasitar; Justin Tharpe's Implication creates a strange, disembodied feel with its murky, echoing vocals and troubling beat loops, and the epic scope of Wolfen by France's Barbarossa Umtrunk emerges from a vast, arena-like ambiance into military drumbeats and ominous, distant chanting.

Among the few cuts falling within a more conventional sound, French band Life's Decay offers one of the best lyric-driven offerings here with Swanics – a hauntingly effective, sinister and sexy piece – and Glasgow goth-folk group Psychogeographical Commission create a subtle, floating guitar atmosphere beneath the spoken lyrics of Have You Ever? The dry, brittle piano patterns of Broken Fingers (Interlude) by Greek band iN[s]CissorS provide an ice-cold gothic touch, and [de]Solo by Italian neo-classical group Trama afonA evolves into a sublime dark symphony complete with strings, ethereal choirs and the occasional sound of breaking glass.
More exotic world-music flavors occasionally join the party: the album itself opens on a cyber-tribal note with Outside The Void by NY group Post Abortion Stress (PAS), a throbbing echo chamber of exotic percussion and electronic drones; Mau Bast from San Francisco artist Protea depicts a futuristic pagan ceremony, paying lyrical homage to the Egyptian cat-goddess, and sampled dulcimer meets ominous beat patterns as the hypnotic backdrop for Soul's Rattle by LA ambient artist Sadore.

Creating an effective balance between the beautiful and the dangerous are some interesting swatches of down-tempo terror industrial, like 1984 by from Spain's Maldito Mutante (featuring unidentifiable voice samples that call to mind some of The Residents' more unsettling works), and San Francisco act 15 Degrees Below Zero conjure up electronic beat textures that steadily creep up behind you in the tense track Ticking Down The Moments.
But it's not all formless atmosphere and fuzzy beats... some of these tracks are clearly designed to rip your face off. The overdriven sample loops and buzzing pulse rhythms of Today by French industrial noise unit Schultz is a sharp jab to the cerebral cortex; Buhloon by New Jersey ambient act Mutcer creates a cavernous slaughterhouse feeling through echoing high-pitched squeals and coarse growls, and an unbearable tension infuses Settle Down by Australia's Twisted Subterranean Death Trap. On the furthest end of the spectrum, Eigenstate completely blow your head off with an extreme noise track bearing the equally extreme title Blood And Semen.
You can probably tell by now that this music is not for rocking out with your car windows rolled down... unless maybe you want to convince your fellow commuters that you've got at least three bodies in the trunk... come to think of it, that actually sounds like a groovy idea. But seriously, these sounds are mostly intended to challenge your ears, jostle your brain and send shivers up your spine. Just keep that in mind as you start laying out your Halloween party plans this fall. If you're still too afraid to dive in all the way, check out some song samples from Torture Garden and other collections at the Shinto Records website.

Visual
ARTS
Music & media mavens mix a marathon mash-up 
Sebouh Gemdjian 
Tuesday, February 2, 2010 
Alfa Art Gallery kicked off its second year anniversary on January 29 with “The Caged Bird Sings,” a jam session featuring six musicians in a cage – for 24 hours with only meal and bathroom breaks.
 
'But even within this false cage, we can communicate with each other, give and receive love, and experience joy.'
Dancers added a visual aspect to the music at the opening, and juxtaposed it to the works of the rest of the artists, which they used as props in their routines. 
The unifying idea was Albert Einstein's claim that "everything in life is a vibration," as interpreted by local experimental musician Michael Durek.
"The idea that we communicate vibrationally has always interested me,” Durek said. “Someone can be smiling at you and saying all kinds of happy things, but you can just feel the unease beneath what they're saying. Also some people can walk into the room, and not say a word, and put you at ease. You can't explain it, but they just emit this sense of calm, and it's contagious."
An hour before the opening the gallery was an empty room, except for a white cage and a few people, stretching. There was a globe hanging from a rope. Across from it, a cardboard spiral hung in a corner. Sound check followed. Some sounds were soft; some, not so much. Guitarist Tsubasa Berg sat next to a duct-taped guitar in the corner of the cage as the lights went down and a projection became visible.
Curators Michiko Mull and Natalie Trainor gave an overview of Alfa Art Gallery's first two years, followed by an introduction of the Cook Campus Weather Watchers (a living community of Rutgers Environmental Studies students). Co-proprietor Galina Kourteva gave a statement calling for controversial programs in both science and the arts to receive the support to make them accessible to a broader audience.
The Aquatic Ape theory, which proposes that man evolved from an ape that lived in the water, was the theme of "It Came from Beneath the Sea," Eric Clausen's series of collages and sculptures. "The scientific community does not support the theory at this time," he said, "but it's such a wonderful theory. Believing it is an act of faith for me." One of his installations was a blue globe hanging from a rope, with the words "Six Monkey Powder" cut out in wooden blocks radiating out of it. The statement, Clausen said, is a word play of "Sex, Money, Power."
Sustained feedback started a dancer's interaction with Clausen's pieces. Her foot held the "Six Monkey Powder" globe. Fingers from the audience tickled the guitar which was laying on top of the cage. Berg, Rutgers student and cage-resident guitarist, manipulated the home-made fuzz box.
"My piece is activated by the dancers," said painter Sarah Garnett of her tie-dyed fabric with sleeves on a double frame. "The dancers and the piece become one unit. It is a merging of human and object. The fabric is a limiting and an expressive factor." Her performance piece was accompanied by the synthetic, ambient sounds of a vocoder played by Robert L. Pepper, member of the Brooklyn-based group, PAS.
Artist Michelle Provenzano, instead of interacting with her shadow, detached herself from it. "I painted an ink shadow on satin and mailed it to the gallery as an act of surrender," she said. As part of the performance, a dancer danced with Provenzano's satin silhouette. Shadows were also predominant in her "Slips" watercolor series. Anne Percoco, a 2008 MFA graduate from Rutgers who spent some time in India setting up art projects through the Asian Cultural Council, also expressed vibration through shadow play. She installed a time-delayed shadow generator on her laptop and had a dancer interact with her past movements. The shadow of the dancer was delayed 30 seconds, so was the shadow of the shadow, and so on, generating an infinitely recursive pattern of shadows on the wall. The accompaniment was purely percussive, from the hand drum of Amber Brien, another PAS member.
"You deal with thoughts about past and future in the past," Percoco said when asked what inspired the piece, "but what are the boundaries of your self?” She added that when speaking and gestures are seen as one complete interaction, the boundaries of the self disappear.
Ian Trask's spirals made of industrial cardboard were also incorporated into a dance improvisation. It began with a dancer hidden behind one of his pieces, using her posture to blend in. She was joined by another, and their fluid motions responded to a saxophone played by Dave Tamura of The Jazz Fakers.
"The artists involved are all known for breaking boundaries with their work," said Durek. "Jim Tuite, Anne Percoco, and Mercedes Bradley all helped me design and build the cage itself. We wanted the aesthetics of the cage to stem from its functionality, rather than being about craft-making."
Participating choreographers and dancers included Laura McComb and Jilliana Richcrick of And Dancers, Nicole Mahncke and Michelle Puskas of The Nikki Manx Dance Project, Carla Menchinella, Emily Pope-Blackman of HoverBound, and Ann Peters.
"We tend to see ourselves as isolated fragments in a hostile universe, separated from the rest of nature," Durek said. "This is akin to putting oneself in a cage. But even within this false cage, we can communicate with each other, give and receive love, and experience joy. So I might have called it 'Even the Caged Bird Sings' . . . . It's both a drag to think you're separate and cause yourself undue misery - but through our false separation we can and do make connections."
12:15 AM0 Comments(Add Comment)2 KudosTranslateEdit Remove Feb 2, 2010 

Daily Targum, 24 Hour "Caged Bird" Articule
Daily Targum > Metro 

Musicians ‘caged’ in 24-hour art
By Dennis Comella

Contributing Writer 

| Published: Sunday, January 31, 2010

Updated: Sunday, January 31, 2010

New Brunswick’s Alfa Art Gallery celebrated its second anniversary Friday with a 24-hour-long event featuring artists, musicians and dancers.
The performance, entitled “The Caged Bird Sings,” continued into Saturday, where five musicians played improvised music through the night and day while sitting in cages. 
Michael Durek, a musician inspired by Albert Einstein’s claim that everything in life is a vibration, created the event.
“For each performance, we had a dancer collaborate with an artist and a musician, and the three of them are responding together,” said Durek, who also was one of the night’s performers.
Each musician sat in a separate cell of the cage, interacting only with the music they produced. 
Durek said according to Einstein’s theory, everything in the universe emits a unique frequency, but those frequencies, or vibrations, do not exist in isolation. Each vibration affects and is affected by every other vibration, even across great distances. 

“It just came to me, to have to build a cage and to improvise in it,” Durek said.
The event, located at 108 Church St., began with dancers responding to the artists’ works while a musician played a composition written for the art. 
There were six performances, each with a dancer interacting with a different artist’s work. Following the performances, the improvisational marathon began. 
“It’s not something composed and rounded. The music to my ears seems very incoherent, but it’s interesting to see how it’s being produced … I’m interested in how they respond to each other and the flow,” said Leon Laureij, a Highland Park resident.
Michiko Mull, the museum’s curator, said the museum had an experimental, interdisciplinary approach to art, therefore Durek’s concept for the event was perfect.
One of the artists was Michelle Provenzano, whose shadow art was used in one of the dances, performed by Carla Menchinella. 
“I made my shadow on this piece of satin and I gave it to Carla, hoping she would do something with care, but I didn’t have any idea what she was going to do,” Provenzano said. “It was interesting that she chose to wrap herself up in it and really related to it as a floor shadow, when, in fact, when I made it, I projected myself against a wall.”
Provenzano is also interested in thinking of shadows as physical objects as opposed to a light phenomenon. 
“It’s kind of like she’s picking up my body,” she said. 
Eric Clausen, another artist at the event, presented interactive art and sculptures that reflected the “aquatic ape hypothesis,” an alternate theory of evolution that proposes early primates developed in an aquatic environment. 
“There’s no scientific evidence for it whatsoever, but it’s a nice theory. I kind of want to believe in it,” Clausen said. 
Clausen said one could interpret his art as being about certainty, faith or the difference between belief and rationality. 
Neither Clausen nor Provenzano had participated in an interdisciplinary event like this before, but both said they were excited to do so. 
“What’s really exciting is the collaborative improvisational aspects of musicians, dancers and artists working together. It’s inspiring and makes me want to do more collaborative works,” Provenzano said. 
The organization of the event, from the musical interactions to the minimalist cage for the musicians, was a new experience, she said. 
“Coming from a visual arts background, to participate in a show that was organized by a musician has been a really interesting experience because he’s coming at it from a musician’s point of view,” Provenzano said. 
Other featured artists in the exhibition include Sarah Granett, who created a spandex fabric sculpture, and Ian Trask, whose recycled cardboard sculptures are on display.
Provenzano also has three drawings and a watercolor painting displayed. 
“I like that it’s a series of installations,” said Mike Dunican, a School of Arts and Sciences junior. “I like that there are a lot of people here, and a lot of people from town, not just college students — that’s awesome.” 
All of the art in the exhibition will be on display until Feb. 17. 


Thursday, July 23, 2009  
 Review by Paul Paradis from All Music Blog 
Category: Music 
From Paul Paradis of All Music Blog.  http://www.mymindisamuffler.blogspot.com/ 




Broadcasting from Brooklyn, NY, to all the known points in the universe, is PAS. Originally a solo project begun by Robert Pepper in 1995, the project remained a one man band until 2004, when Robert met Jon "Vomit" Worthley at a Genesis P. Orridge lecture. In 2007, Robert met and subsequently started dating Amber Brien; together these two people have helped Robert to fill out and stabilize the group. The current line-up is divided this way: Robert Pepper - Keyboards, percussion, loops, various analog Amber Brien - Drums, Percussion, Bass, Electronics Jon "Vomit" Worthley - Guitar, Effects, Electronics, various analog Amber is also trained in Taiko, the Japanese drum art. Taking their name from a religious pamphlet, PAS (post abortion stress) is a group out to create music according to their particular artistic vision, which is one of aberrant beauty and abstraction; their name refers metaphorically to those who have been aborted by society, those whose point of view doesn't fit in the constraints of "normal" society. This viewpoint fuels their creativity. Since their inception the band has been interested in making music from the fringes of perception, creating soundscapes that aren't defined by any particular conventions or viewpoints; the aesthetic underpinnings are defined by the notion that music can be whatever is perceived by the ear. It's a conception fueled by a love of life and art and a desire for honest artistic self-expression. The compositions themselves are more akin to soundscapes than "songs" in the traditional sense. There are no clearly defined melodies, no structural landmarks that give you any sense of traditional anchor. This is not music making with any sense of or desire for commercial viability, but sonic sculptures in the mode of pure art. During my usual round of questions that always forms a necessary part of the act of creation for me in this medium, I was given to understand that painters and writers are a huge influence on the band. This bit of information was highly revelatory for me, as the music this band makes has a very visual quality to it. Terms like "sound collage" spring to mind almost effortlessly. I would go so far as to say that this love of visual media is the main thing informing this particular musical experience. Listening to these ethereal, shifting compositions leaves me feeling like I was journeying through an alien landscape, taking in the shape of the land, the types of flora and fauna; at the same time searching for the inhabitants, but never finding another person, only knowing of their existence through bits of information, voices carried on the wind, and sounds of "civilized" existence. The sense of being alone imparted by the music is not a criticism. On the contrary, as mentioned above, it is an essential element in the overall design. "Old Mirrors New," the tenth track from the album "The Lyre Speaketh," is a perfect example of this. The track doesn't begin in the traditional sense so much as cohere from nothing, the sounds of the piece gradually building until we find ourselves immersed in an ethereal soundworld. As the piece unfolds, we hear some type of intoning counterpointed against wooden flutes, as if we are listening to the enactment of some solemn mystic rite. The accompaniment for this track has the quality of a hammer or a shovel, digging at very hard ground. This has the tendency of heightening the sense of ritual engagement that the intoning voices seems to impress on our consciousness. The space in between these two elements is filled in with a very atmospheric type of sound, high pitched and quiet, more an intimation of atmosphere than anything else. This element has the effect of heightening the hallucinatory element of the piece, as if we are experiencing this scene under the influence of something intoxicating, or perceiving in a trancelike state. For another example of the bands approach to music, let us turn to the title track on the album. The effect of this piece has a more unsettling quality to it. Part of it has to do with the bassline, a ponderous, low-brass timbred affair that sounds like a whole tone scale, or at the least part of one, re-iterated at intervals with a quiet relentlessness. This is played against a repetitive figure on what sounds like a Koto, which in turn is played against a vague screaming sound. The overall effect is stunning in itself, evoking some alien landscape of foreign dimensions. All this from a three piece. The amount of layered sound they manage to produce gives the impression of a much larger ensemble, but this is just indicative of their talent, and the focus they bring to bear on their vision. They are one of the most engaging groups I have encountered in some time, due to the idiosyncratic nature of their philosophical view of music and the way in which they realize this philosophy by their output. In keeping with their deep interest in visual media, there are several videos available on their MySpace page. As of this writing the band has four albums available. They are “Intro to Jesus”, “The Lyre Speaketh”, “Antarctic Tribe”, and “We Have Discovered Your Mother’s Body.” All of these are available at www.cdbaby.com or iTunes and various internet dealers. 


Check out more here: 


http://www.mymindisamuffler.blogspot.com/ 
Tuesday, July 14, 2009  
 PAN.O.RA.MA REVIEW OF ”Experimental Audio/Video Compositions Volume 1" 
P.A.S (POST ABORTION STRESS) (USA) ”Experimental Audio/Video Compositions Volume 1" DVD 2008 (Self Released) Robert l. Pepper, the mastermind behind PAS,sent us another exploration of his creative work in the fields of experimental ambient, but this time through visual expressions which are revealing the most hidden aspects of nature in which inhabits PAS.the whole DVD includes 11 expressive compositions with high context of visual elements from a man walking in the street through black and white images and sad melodies in “Talking About Violins” or the dense percussive soundscapes and middle east images in “outside The Void”. In the track “Circumsize Your Mind”, PAS walks into an inner reality through masks, street walkings and suggestive, percussive elements, voices and guitar parts. Each one of the compositions has a very surrealistic nature which must be explored by listeners in order to get an exact idea of the whole expressionism handled here. In “Remember: It’s Only A Dream” the dark, experimental journey continues, this time under made home elements and great musicalisationship built by percussive elements and soundscapes complementing perfectly with the visual side. “The Egg Of Flute” is the best video including here.Egiptian Icons, paintings and a suggestive visual atmospheres mutating all the time. Besides 11 video clicks,you shall find two live shows “Live At Goodbye Blue Monday” and “Live At Europa”,both of them with highest context due the eclectic nature of PAS at stage. So the whole DVD contains enough elements which will give you a clue of what POST ABORTION STRESS is all about!!! 


For more great reviews from Edgar Kerval go here:


http://www.panoramajournal.blogspot.com/ 


Review For "Antactic Tribe" by Edgar Kerval at PAN.O.RA.MA AUDIAL/VISUAL/MAGICKAL JOURNAL 
PAN.O.RA.MA audial/visual/Magickal Journal

by Edgar Kerval




http://www.panoramajournal.blogspot.com/





PAS (Usa)
”Antarctic Tribe” Cdr 2008
(Self Released)....




Robert L Pepper, the mastermind of POST ABORTION STRESS, continues with this experimental transmisión keeping the dimensions of creativity and deconstructive expressionism generated through “Antarctic Tribe”. So this time through 12 compositions representing the atavistic exploration of primitive cultures. PAS has developed an album with so many eclectic elements and such sensorial experiences which keeps your subconscious altered into an strange meditative state, where mind, body and spirit, became one abstract form to be evoked by each one of the 12 compositions generated here. “Antarctic Tribe”,” Electric Carving”,”Mechana Drip” are the first 3 compositions here. The first one is an ambient track full of dynamism and eerie atmospheres. The second is more focused into dense reverberations and atmospheres collapsing themselves to create a very strong piece here. The other track is a defragmentation of sounds with such noisy industrial elements which suits perfectly the whole structure of the track. Another great track is “The Shinning Pyramid, a impressive ritualistic track with excellent percussive elements and primitive flute atmospheres which reminds me to Zero Kama at some passages. This track is the best one included here, although the whole ones have such interesting elements worth to explore. “Field Of Sea” emerges as another strong reality with such hard atmospheres and eclectic structures mutating all the time. “Kalanda” floats into cosmic atmospheres dressed by experimental soundscapes surrounded by such elements which keep your senses awaken from start to finish. So a very recommended release to those into experimental ambient material with such ritualistic touch. For more info just visit POST ABORTION STRESS page.....


Thursday, July 02, 2009  
 Review For "We Have Discovered Your Mother's Body" by Edgar 
PAN.O.RA.MA audial/visual/Magickal Journal

by Edgar Kerval




http://www.panoramajournal.blogspot.com/




PAS (....Usa....)....
“We Have Discovered Your Mother’s Body” Cdr 2007....
(Self Released)....

POST ABORTION STREES is the representative driving force generated by Robert L. Pepper and Jon Worthley, having in mind to explore the diverse structures into experimental / ambient spaces, but at the same time working with visual and other devises which increases more our interest when hearing the music. This album includes a total of 7 compositions in which you can transport yourself to the ancient regions of Egyptian culture, due the enigmatic mysticism and atmospheres created through the whole album. Opening this release is “Circumsize Your Mind”, a composition focusing into percussive elements and a very in deep atmosphere and dismal arrangements which are really amazing. Through “....Night.. ..Island....” things goes more dense and spectral at the beginning of the track, with perfect work of vocals and some ghastly structures rising to complements perfectly with the general concept of the track. “We Are Boo Da La” is an evocative track full of obscure realities and abstract forms, based in dynamic elements and melodies which together create a very interesting musical piece. Voices and the always interesting percussive elements keep your attention all the time. With “Outside The Void”, AS marked a high point due how the tracks evolves from time to time. A ritualistic expression, focusing so many interesting elements, for example the dark soundscapes embracing such percussive sounds and atmospheres gathering through the whole track. Another interesting composition is “Electric Bliss”, a psychotic structure with the dynamism and identity which characterize each one of PAS releases. “Failure To Perform” emerges through thin percussive beat and spoken voices which suddenly mutates into more rhythmic atmospheres. Closing the album is “Particles I” another track floating into the experimental ambient sounds which PAS has adopted since the very beginning. An interesting purpose by this act coming from Brooklyn ....Usa.....
 
Sunday, May 31, 2009  
 "The Lyre Speaketh " review by Radio Indy 
"The Lyre Speaketh," is a new experimental album by PAS (Post Abortion Stress) that's doused with sounds both familiar and bizarre. The track, "Otherworldly Magic in County Kirkahan" is driven by a fast paced sub-bass and hand percussion while metallic sheets are scratched as an ambient layering. "Chorus of Cats" is another song where you can feel its pulse, but the emphasis is on the soundscape of distorted elements reflecting in a cave or dungeon (as one may imagine). The appeal to this CD is not a hook or killer beat, but rather exposing yourself to unique sounds that create a new musical palette. There are moments of dissonance but before long, a shimmering light seeps through, revealing a charm behind the shadows. Expand your horizons by hearing "The Lyre Speaketh," where there are endless possibilities to the depths of music.
-Max B. and the RadioIndy.com Reviewer Team  

Thursday, May 28, 2009  
 PAS REVIEW: Korova (Spain) 
KOROVA CULJANTIN P.A.S. (POST ABORTION STRESS) RUIDO Y TRAUMAS http://www.korova.es/muzak.php?pag=2&id=624 PAS es uno de esos grupos para los que da gusto tener una sección habilitada...De lo contrario, jamás nadie en este mundo llegaría a saber que existen, a menos que acudiera a publicaciones o webs superespecializadas de esas que no visitarías ni fumao. Nosotros tampoco lo hacemos, y es el azar el que ha puestoa PAS en nuestro camino. Ni nos lo pensamos: estos tíos son tan extremos que supimos que tenían que llenar nuestra portada. PAS son un proyecto experimental de Brooklyn técnicamente compuesto por 5 músicos/creadores que acometen a partes iguales la creación musical y la visual, disponiendo filmaciones y proyecciones como complemento de todas sus actuaciones. PAS crean sonidos, los improvisan, los deforman, los descomponen y los reconstruyen en vivo como si estuvieran tratándolos sobre una mesa de operaciones. PAS combinan los sonidos abstractos que almacenan en un disco duro con la creación musical analógica a través de instrumentos convencionales (guitarras, percusiones...), embarcándose en formidables jam sessions de pura exploración experimental. Como grupo, PAS ha editado 4 discos. Como proyecto, puedes añadir varias horas de material fílmico. Y como experiencia, ninguna comparable a visitar su myspace y entrar en su universo:  

Tuesday, March 24, 2009  
 Dark Grave Review 
Category: Art and Photography 
http://www.darkgrave.com/

http://www.darkgrave.com/reviews/index.php?id=66


This is a very unusual DVD from posT-abortioN-stresS - froM thE viewpoinT oF thE fetuS.

Experimental Audio/Video Composition Volume 1

Contained on this DVD are 10 presentations and 2 live videos. 

The video and audio is very experimental. The audio sounds in the style of Robert Rich. The video appears partly home video, and partly editied video with lots of blurr and color. It is a very slow watch. The most interesting video is The Bedtime Story Came True. It plays like a silent movie with a story to follow. Best to watch when you are not in total control of your senses - such as lack of sleep.

Copyright 2008 by Robert L. Pepper.

More info: www.youtube.com/zorillo23
and myspace.com/postabortionstress  


Saturday, November 15, 2008  
 PAS DVD Review by Dan Drogynous 
Current mood:  adored
Category: Music 
PAS (Post Abortion Stress) --- Experimental Video Compilation -- Review 8-8-08 

Altogether, I was enraptured by the pieces of art flowing together throughout the individual videos, which kept me hanging on for an enchanting hour or so of a netherworldly experience peopled with bittersweet creatures in a timeless city. The clouds, Manhattan shots and other fascinating images flowed throughout with the music like a projector projecting pure extravagance with no real space in time. The scene with the plastic bird was a really terrific section that I loved. There were so many surreal effects which completely seduced me into the screen, and took me into far-off realms of my imagination. The music is also timeless, as well as quite calming, leading from one magical place to another. A sense of fun as well as deeper, more complex emotions were explored through the use and photography of odd totemic symbols and whimsical attempts at interpersonal connection, which intertwined and all brought with them a touch of magic, but in an interesting way completely more eccentric than most video work of today that i have seen. It strikes one's curiosity as well as mystery; video pieces of power expressed through delicate, driving and otherworldly beauty in sound and vision alike. It is a free-form of reckless artistic abandon as well as dead-on spiraling sounds that leave you wanting more and wondering what will come next from this group of musical artists.

Dan Drogynous 8-8-08