Labels
EAD 2810A-4AD / ADR 073
- Minotaur Shock went DIY this year. Big deal, some of you might think; the rest of you might wonder, "Who is Minotaur Shock?" The second question is easy to answer: it's the recording pseudonym of British electronic-pop musician David Edwards. His third album under that name, Amateur Dramatics, was issued on the artist's website in August, and whose pricing scheme tweaked that of the Radiohead/Nine Inch Nails/Cliff Richard (yes) model in a rather ingenious way. Instead of the "It's Up to You" pay scheme of In Rainbows, Amateur Dramatics sold for what Edwards felt each track was worth.
Literally: each song was given a grade from one to 10 for "technical difficulty," "musical difficulty," "extra musicians," "live instruments played by me" and "computer crash," and from one to 20 for "fun/replay" and "special consideration" and the final number became the price. Hence "Beekeeper," with its 9/10 technical difficulty and musical difficulty ratings, as well as an 8/10 for computer crash ("Too many trumpet samples do not a happy processor chip make"), went for 77p, while the brief "Two Magpies" could be yours for only 33p, owing to its mere 4/10 technical rating ("Nothing too taxing here") and 5/10 for musical difficulty ("It's deliberately simple").
By now, you can obtain the album in a more straightforward fashion and price—on CD, even! And Edwards' handcrafted, melodic indie electronica is a snug fit with both his European label, 4AD, and his U.S. label, Portland, Oregon's Audio Dregs, where Minotaur Shock shares aesthetic space with the likes of Copy and Dim Dim. The more obvious reference points are Four Tet and Caribou: "This Plane Is Going to Fall" (66p) in particular could fit on the latter's Andorra, with its ethereal vocals by Anna-Lynne Williams (of Seattle shoegaze-folk trio Trespassers William), rich violin lines, bouncing beat and cartoony laptop gibbering.
"Jason Forrest" (54p) begins with a frenetic massed-horn intro but soon mutates into whapping electro-funk, an appropriate homage for the man it's named after. As for "Beekeeper," it's a low-key charmer, building gradually from a simple, shivering piano to cool woodwinds filling out the melody with surging minimalist patterns and increasingly frenetic rhythmic clatter. There are worse ways to part with 77p.
Tracklist 01. Zookeeper
02. AmDram
03. This Plane Is Going To Fall
04. Accelerated Footage
05. Jason Forrest
06. Two Magpies
07. My Burr
08. BATS
09. Snapdragon
10. Buzzards
11. Beekeeper