CYPHER 7

NOTHING LASTS

 Disc one:
  1/  Dead Drop                                  (Bova,Haas)                   17.41
  2/  Piece of Blue Sky                          (Bova,Haas)                   6.45
  3/  Dream Spiral                               (Bova,Haas)                   8.41
  4/  Conspiracy of Silence                      (Bova,Haas)                   3.09
  5/  Ladder of Lights                           (Bova,Haas)                   23.05
  6/  Still                                      (Bova,Haas)                   19.34

 Disc two:
  1/  Message Important                          (Bova,Haas)                   14.17
  2/  The Suspicious Shaman                      (Bova,Haas)                   8.43
  3/  Tokyo A.M.                                 (Bova,Haas)                   6.38
  4/  Benares (Open Secret)                      (Bova,Haas)                   12.04
  5/  Nothing Lasts                              (Bova,Haas)                   5.52
  6/  Falling Backwards                          (Bova,Haas)                   16.05
  7/  Nadyr                                      (Bova,Haas)                   13.31

          Recorded at Bovaland and at the Power Station, New York City
          Created and encoded by Jeff Bova and Alex Haas
          Navigation and ground control : Bill Laswell
          Encryption Cydewinder: Peter Wetherbee
          Radically Reconfigured and Remastered at Ground Zero by Joe Lambert and
            Alex Haas
          Ground Zero Extrapolators: Jimmy B, Nick, Joe and Michal [Mytek Converters]
Jeff Bova: keyboards, sounds; Alex Haas: keyboards, sounds; Bill Laswell (Disc two, track 1): bass; Jaron Lanier (Disc two, track 4): ba wu.

          1998 - Yikes Inc. (USA), Y7774-2 (2CD)
Note: The translation of the text of 'Message Important' may be found by clicking on the song title.

REVIEWS :

Completists may recall that Cypher 7's previous disc [actually their first, 'Decoder' - SW] was part of the Subharmonic label's Strata/black box series, one of bassist/provocateur Bill Laswell's dalliances with dub, noise and electronica, that was issued in an ominous-looking black jewel case. Like many of Laswell's co-conspirators in sound, Cypher 7's Jeff Bova and Alex Mass weave dark, ambient textures in slowly shifting sequences. These suspended, floating tones are more prone to an organic layering of sound, which has been the preferred choice of construction, all the way from Brian Eno to the sample-conscious illbient/Wordsound crowd. With moderate BPMs, repetitive analog synths, and an echo box set to full-on ricochet, Bova and Maas glide through the cosmos on this generous 2CD set of spacey, mind-melting instrumentals. While hip hoppers might find this slow going, folks into pioneering German practitioners like Klaus Schulze and Tangerine Dream will discover a reverence in old school electronics that’s just about hip once more to be full circle. Recommended if you dig staring into the lava lamp...

Virginia Reed (courtesy of the Focus Magazine website)