James Brooks a.k.a Land Observations is
probably better known as one of the key members of the band Appliance
who have released numerous titles on the Mute record label over the

years and had the privilege of recording not one but four BBC Peel
sessions! Brooks is also a visual artist and has exhibited his work on
the international art scene. It’s not surprising then that James has
incorporated his love of guitar based music and visual art within his
new EP release ‘Roman Roads’. Cat On The Wall’s Jo Whitby caught up with
James via e mail to discuss the new record and discover where his
passion for music originated…

FULL INTERVIEW:

http://blog.catonthewall.net/2011/07/interview-with-land-observations.html

Visual and musical art have come to exist as powerful forces in their own rights. They both evoke different senses of visceral pleasures and when combined, the resulting force flourishes into a canvas of evocative stimulation. Alongside Battles, formerAppliance frontman James Brooks manipulates these two artistic outlets into one arousing force.

James’ Roman Roads is proof of how effective it can be.

Full Review and Interview:

http://drownedinsound.com/in_depth/4142856-dis-meets-james-brooks

There is something distinctly refreshing about listening to music that is ‘about’ Roman roads. Such conceptual bravery is to be applauded. It occurs to me that what Brooks finds intriguing about the idea of historic routes is perhaps their fractured qualities; the ways in which trajectories are re-routed over times; sections erased, or left to decay as a barely visible memory alongside something newer. For me these are the ideas that find voice in Brooks’ layered repetitive guitar phrases and the gently motorik rhythms that are themselves as ghosts of the Appliance past. Think of the finest Appliance moment of cycling reference (‘Derailleur, King Of The Mountain’) stripped of electronics and with a more pronounced Deebank guitar voice and you might be getting somewhere close. The limited edition vinyl single is released on August 1st on the Enraptured label. Get your order in quick. READ IN FULL:

http://unpopular.typepad.com/unpopular/2011/07/arrivals-.html
Brooks creates beguiling simple motorik rhythms out of layered guitar. Now if Eat Lights Become Lights is a pulsing, nocturnal ride through the urban dystopia, complete with electronic textures and juddering drums, the motorik of Land Observationscreates the opposite effect. This trio of songs are bucolic simplicity itself delivered with a soothing delicacy of touch. READ IN FULL: http://follyfollyfolly.blogspot.com/2011/07/land-observations-roman-roads-ep.html

Radio Plays

Land Observations received its 4th play of ‘Viae (In C)’ from Gideon Coe on BBC 6 Music on wednesday 20/07/2011.

John Kennedy played ‘Viae (In C)’ on his XFM X-Posure show on Tuesday 14/06/2011.

Reviews

Record Collector Review

Eat Lights: Become Lights – Autopia

Limited Clear Green Vinyl LP/ Digital Download

Release date: 28/02/2011

Cat No’s. RAPTLP64/RAPTDL64

ORDER HERE [PHYSICAL] | DOWNLOAD [AVAILABLE NOW]

ADVANCED ORDERS OF LP WELCOME!

“Eat Lights; Become Lights mix Krautrock rhythms and celestial drones to heavenly effect” – NME

Formed in the winter of 2007 by Neil Rudd (Guitars, Programming, Loops) & later joined by Rob Hyde (Drums) & Alex Baker (Bass), Eat Lights; Become Lights share a deep love of classic German electronic acts of the 1970s, evoking classic kosmische bands but making the sound very much their own, creating an ever-changing synesthesic landscape of harmony and melody, feedback & drones, played against a driving motorik beat.

With the release of their debut single They Transmit in May 2008 on Enraptured Records, ELBL quickly gained critical praise from the likes of the NME, and record of the week slots from Manchester’s Piccadilly Records and Leeds’ Norman Records soon followed.  The second single Klustered, released in April 2009, was equally well received, and the band set to work on a long-player.

Gigging heavily since their conception, ELBL have steadily built up a reputation as a formidable live act, and the band have played several high-profile supports, including a sold-out tour with New York electronic pioneers Silver Apples as well as being championed by Stuart Maconie on BBC Radio 6 Music’s Freak Zone.

Autopia sees the band finally condensing the maelstrom of their live shows into an LP – in contrast the record is tighter and more synthetic-sounding than the live show, recorded and edited using digital emulations of classic 60′s compressors and EQs. The record takes in a range of musical touch points, steering from the obvious Kraut-influences to 90s shoegaze and techno, always underpinning each piece with, quite simply, great melodies.

Live shows are planned for 2011 and the album release will be marked with a London launch party. To see what you might be missing, read the live review below!!

SAT 26th FEB KLUB MOTORIK-ALBUM LAUNCH PARTY
Eat Lights: Become Lights + Plank + Appliance DJ Set @ The Drop – London
£4.00 Entry,Doors 9pm – 4am
www.myspace.com/eatlightsbecomelights

Latest Live Review

The Lexington, London
19 January 2011

It’s a red-light night tonight at The Lexington, north London’s finest whiskey bar and excellent venue to boot. Red décor and red lights make for a surreally-flattened visual experience, as if watching tonight’s bands during one of the more blood-soaked sections of Suspiria. But there’s no gothic horror show from Eat Lights, Become Lights - their take on psychedelic immersion is far more in the Düsseldorf tradition, as befits what is effectively Klub Motorik‘s house band.

It’s pretty clear from the get-go where Eat Lights are coming from, driving in from San francisco ’68, Germany ’78 and Rugby ’88, passing through Camden Town in the mid-nineties on an epic road trip which rolls the good times into Islington ’11 on the ever-enveloping groove. Opening with a bright number on which the late Klaus Dinger would definitely recognise his mark, Eat Lights pick guitar lines and organ runs with aplomb, cheerful long-range stares fixed firmly on the future as daydreamed on the 1975 autobahn. As the smoke machine increases the blurriness factor, they keep up the flow of what for them is a truncated set in the support slot tonight, flicking on the cruise control as they sweep through the songs in a performance which is at once elevated by the semi-acoustic wah guitar sheen and held to the tarmac by precision drumming, all swirled up and over by the ever-buzzing organ tones.

Single cut “Test Drive” is lead by a chiming loop into a NEU!tastic slice of ecstatic propulsion, slipping easily into the wide-open spaces which the motorik rhythms evoke, firmly optimistic and riding on a utopian dream as much as the persuasive percussion, the guitar solo sounding as if it could easily be drifting out of a blissfully-imagined playground song sung in a Technicolor world without cares or danger. When Eat Lights, Become Lights have to end, they do so leaving the empty stage reverberating to the now-traditional – yet always winning – sound of self-oscillating FX which, like their songs, could easily ride on forever down the road.

http://www.freqzine.net/reviews/k-x-p-eat-lights