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Zenflesh Records Reviews
zenflesh four tkp performance crippling data restriction
zenflesh four
Ambience is my secret lover. Ambient noize makes you actually listen to what the world sounds like around you. These sounds create worlds in which people can tread into and explore. The perimeters to realms that subsist are particularly confined by the human imagination. A symphony of sound without the elements of conventional music. Harmony and melody come from how you hear the environment itself. But this zenflesh (four) cd is even different from ambient "space" electronica. Deep space does not sound like cheezy guiatrs from the 70s, rather it sounds like this. Barren nothingness. Miles and miles of void. It is the absence of structure. Worlds are created here where the notion of pop does not exist. People try to fall asleep to this, but since there is no comfort in "Sleep...can't sleep",, the insomniacs end up lying awake starring at the ceiling. No rhythm. No beats. No birds singing. No screams of torment. Only soaring minimalistic noizes. The changes are so subtle, that it makes them all the more beautiful and all the more painful. A rhythmic pulsation hypnotically leaves the journey unresolved. They never fell asleep. What, after listening to this WE never fell asleep? Ha. The most amazing part of this is that no keyboards were used in making this. Shit. "Choosing instead to use guitars and other stringed instruments to create similar sounds, the zenflesh sound has come to be called organica."
dankzine 8/24/98 dankzine although I think the review was only ever in their print version

tkp-performance crippling data restriction
Aside from having one of the funniest album covers I've seen in a coon's age (however long that may be), Turk Knifes Pope is one of the stranger pieces of work I've come across in awhile. TKP nestles in that nebulous field of ambient/noise art music (which can easily take in artists as varied as Scorn to Controlled Bleeding to Merzbow to Aphex Twin) and this seventy plus minute recording easily falls under my personal definition of ambience. Since western music is based upon chords, three minute songs, catchy choruses (you know the rest...), there aren't as many tag points to explain away TKP's music. Instead, you get a lot of long drawn out tones, sound waves, lower register throbs and occasional rises and drops in recording levels. Obviously this isn't going to be the choice cup of tea for a teen looking for shoegazing anthems, but it succeeds on the field of latenight background sounds or perhaps something to play to cause your roommate to assume you've "lost your marbles". So if you liked Controlled Bleeding's The Poisoner or just are feeling anti-music, this might be of interest to you.
Satan Stole My Teddybear 8/13/98 SSMT

tkp-performance crippling data restriction
Schwere Kost, wahrhaft schwere Kost ist das hier. Schwere Klänge und eine Höllenlänge von über 70 Minuten und daß bei nur einem Titel auf der CD. In erster Linie ist die Musik gruselig und auch spacig, um erstmal ein paar Schlagworte zu verlieren. Im zweiten ist die Musik sehr sehr minimal, es gibt nur sphärige Synthesizerklänge, die einen vermuten lassen, daß gleich ein schlabberndes Alien aus dem Bettkasten klettert. Genauso klingt es nämlich, wie ein Soundtrack zu einem düsteren Science Fiction Film. Von fast totaler, minutenlanger Stille drehen die Klänge in den Vordergrund und klingen elektrisch, krachig, extrem verhallt, als ob weit entfernt in langen Gängen irgendetwas passiert, gegen Ende (in den letzten 20 Minuten) kommen dann sogar verfremdete Instrumente zum Einsatz. Ich habe beim Hören immer die Alien-Filme im Kopf, als ob man alleine in einem monströsen Raumschiff steht und Angst bekommt, eine Art Beklemmung oder Agoraphobie. Klar, keine CD für die Disco, aber für den Klangfreak oder dem künstlerisch geschulten Feinsinn einfach gut. Oh Mann, echt gruselig, ich denke, ich kann heute Nacht nicht einschlafen! Solange guck ich halt ins Internet unter http://www.zenflesh.com/ oder maile etwas unter panic@zenflesh.com.
Back Again 8/16/98 Back Again

tkp-pcdr
First of all, I'd like to say that this CD confused the hell out of me. On the back of the case, there is a jumbled track list. So, I looked in the insert. There was a track list, but none of the tracks were the same as were written on the back. So, I looked online. Yet another tracklist was online. Now, this was all before I put the CD in and noticed that there is only one track. I'm still baffled. But, talking about confusing track lists aren't what reviews are for. So, on to the music....
The form of musical expression that Turk Knifes Pope have chosen is ambient noise. Bands in this genre tend to go a bit to far with overdone droning sounds. But, not with TKP. Dreamlike soundscapes are mixed with rattling, crumbling, distorted, echoing, screeching, mindless chaos. The 72 minute CD constantly shifts atmopheres. Its calming ambience will put you in a restful state for a brief period, but as roaring static and metallic drones are all of the sudden blasting through your headphones, the last thing you'll want to think about is resting.
Instrumentation, though mostly (if not all) electronic, is innumberable. New sounds are being thrown at you every second. For a good deal of CD's that fall into this genre, if you take a brief listen to a track here and there, you'll notice that the entire CD is made up of one monotonous sound. Turk Knifes Pope have a constant movement of sound in their music and this constant movement and change of direction keep this piece from ever becoming stagnant.
To any fan of the obscure, "Performance Crippling Data Restriction" is a must. If you are into artists such as Schloss Tegal, Lustmord, Aube, and the like, TKP's work should impress you. From the minute you stick it in to the finish, you'll know why Zenflesh calls it "disturbing music for disturbing people." Pick it up at www.zenflesh.com.
Grinding into Emptiness 8/17/98 Emptiness.net

$$$ Turk knifes Pope- Performance crippling data restriction(Zenflesh)
Things got lost int he translation in the album we review here for sure. See. it starts out good. Very nice guitar ambient/industrial work. nothing original at all. but mellow, good background/sleep music. Reverbed, gobs ov effects like stuff. just flowing backdrop music that only if you had heard it a million times you would know is a guitar. And it stays the same. it buiilds up lamely, and dies down lamely. til like 50 minutes into the cd...when they introduce sort ov a voicey reverbed sound and mess with it and get it distorted...which is pretty trancelike and very well done......for the last few minutes ov the cd.!!!! The rest was sooo goddamn boring. i could hardly sit through it. THE OTHER ZENFLESH comp is great though....they are an interesting label. this was just terribly unoriginal, and boring as hell. i would have rather recieved the last few minutes ov the cd .
$$$- Releases which are terrible, which we feel we MUST destroy, because they're too many people who think they can just throw anything together...and get away with it!
Tunnel 8/28/98Tunnel 8

tkp-pcdr
A relatively unknown group on their own Zenflesh imprint label, with one looooong piece on this CD, which looking at it's title could be taped at a live performance. The sound of Turk Knifes Pope is one that is filled with guitars, guitars and oh yes, guitars. But not the usual three chord play, TKP manipulates the six strings beyond recognition, and stand in the strong tradition of Main, zoviet*france or the more daring (as in drum-and vocal less-) postrock. Not necessarily something hot, exciting or new, but quite allright for what it is.
Vital 9/7/98

tkp - performance crippling data restriction
The first introduction to me of the Zenflesh label from the states. They seem to specialise in noise, drone, ambient and isolation experimental music and this long CD by Turk knifes pope a.k.a Destin Leblanc demonstrates this rather well. It says here that they have been compared to Organum and Main amongst others, and that is true enough but the depth of sound that is created is much deeper. It actually reminded me quite a bit of Lustmord and other similar artists, which in my book has to be a good thing! There are several levels of depth in the music, with different things going on in parallel. To my mind came the image of life on a far off semi derelict alien infested space station! A thing I hate about cd's is when the entire thing is indexed into just a single track. It just makes you want to forget about the cd. This is a bit different though as for full effect you really have to play it from the beginning and listen right to the end. The music is rather unnerving as just when you think you have habituated to it you are hit with a quite devastating blast of noise! It really made me jump. It constantly evolves for all of it's 72 minutes and I surprised myself by playing it all of the way through without stopping it once, which is quite an achievement for me. Highly recommended for fans of the Cold Meat Industry, Side Effects and Dark Vinyl labels. Not a cd you will be disappointed in.
Oblivion 9/9/98 oblivion

TURK KNIFES POPE-"Performance Crippling Data Restriction"
CD-One long 70-minute track of distant drones and metallic reverberations, sounding not dissimilar to the classic 1980s collaborative work of David Jackman and Steven Stapleton. TURK KNIFES POPE create rich, evocative, and (mostly) organic-sounding landscapes with depth and restraint. Halfway through the disc a series of horrific electronic crashes punctuates the seething ambiance, reminding you that this is definitely not passive listening, nor is it "ambient". Liked it. (Zenflesh)
Godsend 9/11/98 Godsend

tkp-pcdr
Think of Performance Crippling Data Restriction as ambient music for the insane. There's something sinister lurking back there behind the electronic drones and feedback loops. Perhaps this is just a conditioned response on my part; this record could convincingly provide the incidental music to The Shining, but I think that on a fundamental structural level this music is unsettling because it is unsettled itself. The sounds on Performance Crippling Data Restriction can only be described as disembodied -- sounds without apparent sources whispering by like some sort of spooky aural mist. Occasionally the solemn stillness is shattered by a burst of reverb-drenched noise, the audio equivalent of a cat bursting from the shadows in a horror film -- a sort of false catharsis that gives way to a subtler yet deeper sense of unease. Given its morbid atmosphere and its limited aural palette, combined with the fact that it clocks in at over 70 minutes with a "tempo" that's way on the slow side of largo, compare Performance Crippling Data Restriction to watching a deadly train crash in super-slow motion in black and white and with no sound. Needless to say this will appeal to some and not to others!
Splendid 9/22/98

tkp-pcdr
The content of performance crippled data restriction is one 72-minute-long ever-evolving tableau of noise. Not necessarily noisy noise, as much of it is quite restrained, and even quiet, noise.
The cute bunny graphic on the cover may be misleading, unless you take into account the expression on his little face, and the incoherent title in the hyper-grunge typeface.
The major component seems to be processed guitar feedback and occasional atonal chords which range in intensity from slight hums to full squalls. After 10 minutes everything quietens to near-silence, gradually rising somewhat again on distorted reverberations. The cavernous sounds are spooky, a bit Lustmord-ian even. Eventually train-whistle-like blares slice through the lull, only to go almost silent again.
Sometime after the 30-minute mark, explosively echoing ripples of sound violently intrude on the generally moderate noise levels, then fade away after alternating a few more times between threateningly raucous and pretty quiet. Other louder phases sound more like thunder or distant warfare, while softer interludes echo the forgotten sounds of an abandoned factory.
After 48-minutes, an almost musical sensibility blossoms from the electronically wavering tones, growing louder and stronger into a droning insectile roar. At some later point the guitar sound shows through the dissonsance, only to be sucked back into a vortex of caustic feedback. Eventually, the disc abruptly closes after a hushed loop cycle.
performance crippled data restriction is probably not for everyone. I like it just fine as background noise; it's got a pleasantly dark quality I enjoy quite well, but when I attempt to get "into" it though, I have a harder time. At first I thought the quiet-loud-quiet-loud cycle was aimless, but then realization dawned... it's like life, man! Still, I gotta hoist One Thumb.
Ambientrance 9/24/98

tkp-pcdr
"Music from the edge of the bed" runs the label tagline, but I doubt TKP made it even that far, their virtually non-existent shavings of treated noise wash into and out of silence like the contented dreams of an electronic brain made audio. The music is one hour-long movement which, although melting at times into several discernable segments, makes it impossible to talk about songs or tracks as such. Better to note that, as with so many experimentalists (see our Big Block 454 interview), there's a method in the slumbering madness---in this case audiopsychological experimentation into minimal differences motivates the Bowery Electricism and mutation/repetition...but quite what results are to be expected is anyone's guess. Continuing the research on the sleeve, the listener is confronted with apparrently random collections of 3-letter words, so it's fitting to end the review with another: Eno.
Robots + Electric Brains 9/29/98

tkp-pcdr
Pretty and insidious. Features the Pookah right on the sleeve, so you know someone's trying to tell you something. I think Turk Knifes Pope is designed to lull you into a hypnotic state so you can accept the subliminal messages that may or may not be imbedded somewhere within these tracks. I may be totally wrong on this. If so, I'm sorry for spreading rumors.
Cyberia 10/3/98

tkp-pcdr
Turk Knifes Pope, active since 1991 with two cassettes already under its belt, consists of one man with a penchant for rabbits and cats, churning out big, formless and grimy electronics. The scuzzy strokes of lumbering synth bulk bring to mind the recent pro-Tangerine Dream stance taken by fellow US West Coasters RhBand. Which is no bad thing.
The Wire 10/98 

TURK KNIFES POPE "PERFORMANCE CRIPPLING DATA RESTRICTION"
72 minutes of totally spaced-out, minimalist material. One of the better aspects of this release is that from what I read it was created mostly using "natural" instruments (guitars, etc.), although transformed through a variety of effects. The lack of large amounts of samplers, loops, etc. avoided any sort of annoying repetition, allowing the band to focus simply on creating a really long experimental track, which slowly flows between moments of emptiness and slightly more dynamic sections. This really stripped-down sort of material, consisting mostly of drones of various type, is a bit too stripped-down for my personal taste, but I have to admit there are some interesting ideas here. Even though this CD didn't quite make me fall to my knees, it didn't annoy me in any way either. For those moments of solitude when you want to be by yourself this would be the perfect sound to create a somewhat eerie background.
Corridor of Cells 10/15

TURK KNIFES POPE "PERFORMANCE CRIPPLING DATA RESTRICTION"
Although "Performance Crippling Data Restriction" has twelve tracks listed in the liner notes, in fact the entire album is mastered as one contiguous composition. However, it seems that each of the twelve movements contains a distinct collection of sounds that when flowed together as a single piece of music is more than the sum of its parts. Unfortunately, as far as Ambient albums go, this Turk Knifes Pope release is one of the more mundane I have heard. While I am sure the music was created with nothing but the best intentions, it fails into the monotony that albums consisting of nothing but drones and ambience often do. The production is excellent, the cover art if amusing and I love the title of the album, but musically, it is far from innovative or new.
Sonic Boom

TURK KNIFES POPE--Performance Crippling Data Restriction
Energized, constantly moving drones that dabble in different realms of volume and intensity. Never simply droning, the music here seems primarily based in the unsettling sonic void of a tunnel, whether loud and obtrusive or spacious and waiting for the next squeal of brakes around a hard corner--the impact like razor blades flying in formation, at first scattered and then abruptly joined as one, slashing all in their path. The music is guitar based, vibrant and unsettling. The pattern woven into the 72:03 track (annoyingly, 12 tracks are listed, but the disc only tracks one--even though the track splinters into distinct segments within the flow) cruises uncomfortably along, punctuated with moments of true, trebly, unwavering aggression. There's an ever-present, nail-biting tension, a sensation of impending peril; and, when it makes itself known, the peril strikes swiftly, unapoligetic in its aural assault. Rather repetitive, but still with enough sonic thrust to keep it amusing (if one gets their amusement from that butterflies in the stomach feeling, butterflies that occasionally morph into piranhas, nibbling...). ~ JC Smith
Outburn #8 (not online)

Turk Knifes Pope - Performance Crippling Data Restriction (Zenflesh)
Tear Ceremony - Film Decay (Simulacra)
OK, let's face it - it's very easy to make a bad ambient record. It may be a cliché, but it truly seems that many artists simply turn on their machines, poop out 70 minutes of beatless noodling, and declare it an album. So it's always nice to find an exception, and it's even better to find two of them. Tear Ceremony and Turk Knifes Pope are both American one-man projects - Todd Gautreau of Dallas and Destin Leblanc of California respectively - and they both reside in the darker fringes of the ambient landscape. Initially, Gautreau's work is the less intimidating of the two, as many of its ten tracks wear a hauntingly gentle façade, but deeper listening reveals more sinister undertones. Turk Knifes Pope, meanwhile, is unapologetically unsettling, with the fragile passages of the single 72 minute track being disrupted from time to time by sudden bursts of mechanical din before retreating back to an almost subliminal volume level. Play either of these for your friend that thinks ambient equals easy listening, and watch their toes curl.
Feedback Monitor

TKP - PCDR
Excellent Isolationist guitar work. The TKP track on the Zenflesh compilation CD Amduscias definitely didn't suggest anything like this. Very minimal guitar noise, possible one continuous performance. The composer/performer shows a nice respect for the silence, as well as a sense of when to build an appropriate climax. A very visual, soundtrack-ish work, suggesting a vast, deserted, metallic industrial complex, fraught with unseen danger. Touchpoints are Final, Lustmord, and Main. This CD is fucking beautiful, so screw y'all. ~ C. Reider
Autoreverse #8

TKP - PCDR
Turk Knifes Pope's "Performance Crippling Data Restriction" is worth cracking the plastic open for, an epic journey through the feedback-stained perimeters of guitar absolution from a band better known as performance artists who specialise in miming Moog notes to unplugged electronic installations in candle-lit places of religious worship around Kansas (put that in your press kit and smoke it, guys...) Pure poetry in motion(less) bliss, on a more serious note, and well worth checking out.
Ptolemaic Terrscope #26

Turk Knifes Pope -- PERFORMANCE CRIPPLING DATA RESTRICTION
Given the name and the title, i had this idea (don't ask why, my ideas come from strange places, mon) that this was going to be a white-noise kind of album. Imagine my surprise to discover it's more about tripped-out psychoambient cathedral drones and the like. The title names are literally monosyllabic and apparently more or less random, but that's all right -- i get the impression that the work is carved up in chunks kind of arbitrarily anyway. (In fact, regardless of what the track listing sez, there's actually only one track on the album.) The whole shabozz opens with some swank microphone feedback drones, like a series of tumbleweeds blowing in the desert, or maybe a spaghetti western on Mars. These feedback drones, often heavily reverbed or force-fed through delay pedals from the sound of it, go on for quite some time, moving closer into the stereo picture, then further away. As the drones and swirls go on, it becomes obvious why TKP has been compared to Organum, Nurse With Wound, and Main -- the structural theory is learned behavior from listening to the rise and fall of Organum releases, and the kitchen-sink tumbling through space sound is reminiscent of Main's "if less is more, then a lot more of less should be even more of more" philosophy. As for the NWW connection, well, hell, i'm beginning to think everybody in the whole world who uses quirky sound gets compared to NWW. (I never thought that much of 'em myself, but what do i know.) The li'l insert i got with this indicates that it's intended to soothe insomniacs, although how that's supposed to happen when blaring noises explode out of the background every so often just as you're on the verge of nodding out, i'll never know. (Perhaps TKP merely have an extremely subtle sense of humor. Or perhaps they're just sardonic.) I approve of this disc. I wish my bloated soundscapes sounded this cool and alien. If you'll excuse me, i think i'm going to go track down the other TKP disc now. Just... just as soon as i roust myself from my sudden hypnotized, jellylike state....
Dead Angel 34

turk knifes pope - "performance crippling data restriction"
Just one question, why? This is one track of noise. It buzzes, whirrs, booms and every now and again crashes. And that's it. An excruciatingly long piece of noise without even the merest hint of music. This has been done - Eno, Throbbing Gristle, Aphex Twin - have all done it, and it's still not worth listening to. There's nothing particularly bad about it, because there's really nothing there. Noise is not music, it needs rhythm, melody, something. Basically, this is the ultimate in ambient, and if it wasn't for the odd loud bit, it would be the cure for the insomnia that seemingly inspired.
Sorted 11/98

tkp - pcdr
This is one 74 minute long improvised piece. As you might guess, it gets incredibly boring at times not only due to the length but also in the minimal droney nature of the sound, which is a guitar through effects pedals set at the same levels throughout as far as I can tell. A lot of musicians have had many improv sessions like this, going on well into the night. But most will trim it down to just a few of the more interesting moments, which there are plenty of in this piece. But for a traditional listening there is too much long boring stuff in between. The CD may be better suited for layering, DJ sets, or sampling.
FAQT v3 #1

TURK KNIFES POPE - Performance Crippling Data Restriction
ZenFlesh is one of those labels whose releases I don't actually purchase, but its damn good just knowing they are there (especialy with the glut of EBM being released these days). Reconstriction was another one, and while ZenFlesh doesn't quite have the homogenous sound ReCon releases had, you should still have a pretty good idea of what you'll get from them: Ambient noise/soundscapes. Turk Knifes Pope has released a single-track CD here. It moves slowly from barely audible regions to minimal soundscapes to distorted washes of noise. Comparisons to Nurse With Wound or :Zoviet France wouldn't be far off the mark-- and like some of the releases by these two well-known bands I've mentioned, "Performance Crippling Data Restriction" isn't all that compelling. So why am I glad ZenFlesh has released this disc? I'm glad, first of all, that there is something out there besides EBM that can be called 'industrial' music. Along the same lines, it's good to hear music that requires contemplation rather than spoon-feeding canned beats to the bobbing heads of agnst-ridden youth.
I'm still not sure whether this disc has an improvisational feel or not-- it does sound very real-time, and like the effort of a single person. There's no musique-concrete wizardry nor computer-assisted deconstruction going on. It more like an assorted collection of ambient sounds run through a few different effects processors, giving this release a more organic and fluid nature (and sparse at that). I was never sure what to expect next, but when it came, I was never suprised, either. Weird how that works. [Laird Sheldahl]
The Plague webzine

TURK KNIFES POPE: Performance Crippling Data Restriction
This 73 minute CD is one long piece, generally an ambient industrial sonic sculpture (drifting grinds and sighing scrapings) punctuated by several intense outbursts of attack noise (crashing tones and jarring harsh spirals). As this non-rhythmic music continues on its edgy/sedate way, the tones become darker and the outbursts more frequent. For a period, the music switches to guitar and bass notes, stretched with reverb and echoes into a grating tapestry of atmospheric string tortures. This tapestry will inevitably surge a few times before everything returns to pulsing electronics (again, with outbursts) until the abrupt conclusion.
Imagine Nurse with Wound doing Brian Eno.
Matt Howarth - Post Bros Sonic Curiosity

Turk Knifes Pope performance crippling data restriction
Herein lies one song, seventy-two minutes and one second worth of song, at that. There are no lyrics that I could find, just periods of varying noises. At one point I had a flash back to the middle school hearing tests. There I was, palms sweating, heart pounding, and sitting in a stiff orange chair with the oppressive avocado-colored headphones covering my ears while a mysterious lady behind me picked different tones, played them at different levels and kept changing the ears she played them in, while I sat anxiously raising the hand that corresponded with the ear which had just been stimulated. It was more stressful than the Pepsi Challenge. And the very same anxiety overcomes me every time I pop this disc in the player. This is a disturbing musical landscape, artfully done, and sure to impress those of you who are in need of a meditative, yet sinister song to help you "relax." http://www.zenflesh.com.--
Goddess darkvelvet

TURK KNIFES POPE- "Performance Crippling Data Restriction"
Twelve destructive ambient soundscapes, one bleeding seemlessly with the next. The music of Turk Knifes Pope is not easy to listen, but the journey is incredible for those who are persistent. Headphones and a very quiet room are necessary to hear the intricate blending of sound and soul. Only for the brave. (miles)
Black Monday

TURK KNIFES POPE- "Performance Crippling Data Restriction"
Not knowing what to expect can be a great thing- knowing what to expect and then being forced to admit that you are utterly wrong is always a pretty worthwhile experience. This brings me to this disc- look at that cover- wow. Forget the cartoon bunny (as well drawn as it might be) and whatever Kildozer-esque hybrid that image might trigger- the music here is pretty fine. Whatever the intentions, the end result makes me think of a reasonably good bootleg rehearsal tape of Ash Ra Tempel- the sort of low key low fidelity sound a lot of groups have been passing off as "neo-Krautrock" for some time now. This release actually hits that sound pretty right-on by making it real difficult to discern when this music was actually recorded. It doesn't reek of weepy nineties indie-pop or anything. Once again, there seems to be something smart ass conceptual going on judging by the package, but this lowly reviewer can't be bothered with that. I get the feeling that, like, say, Caroliner, each "Turk Knifes Pope" release probably sounds completely different. One track / 72 minutes of hissy mysterious and occasionally pretty guitar-driven echoes- its a good listen. CONTACT: Zenflesh Records P.O. Box 252085 Los Angeles CA 90025 USA http://www.zenflesh.com/
angbase

TURK KNIFES POPE Performance Crippling Data Restriction (Zenflesh)
Seventy-two minutes of cutting edge experimentalism from the Zenflesh label's Destin Leblanc, better (though unhappily as yet not much better) known as Turk Knifes Pope. Although the cover suggests that there are twelve tracks here, and very careful listening might produce some tentative attempt to define these, to all intents and purposes this is a single, very long, track. "Dark Ambient", "Intelligent Noise", "Difficult Listening" - none of these tags can adequately convey the wonders of this recording, which at times conjures visions of two gigantic marble gods bawling from clifftops to each other across a hundred miles of prairie, and at others suggests a petrifying claustrophobia, the bedroom crammed with grinning demons, the soured air singing with their spite.
Judging by Destin's alarming little sketch on the back of this CD "there is no solution to the sleep problem" because we're too scared of our possible dreams to close our eyes. Strangely enough I found that listening to this recording actually helped me to sleep, because it conjured up images from my subconscious that I'd rather confront in daylight with my eyes wide open. This arctic howl of electronica, Merzbow meets Koner in a wind tunnel on the borders of the Jubilee extension, accompanied by a banshee carrying a malfunctioning foghorn (and the ghost of Edgard Varese), reminds me most of another truly great ambient release, White by PVH. Missed it? Then don't miss this. If your local record store is too clueless to stock Performance Crippling Data Restriction then you can order it direct from Zenflesh. Go do it now.
STEWART GOTT fluxeuropa 01/99

Turk Knifes Pope - "Sleep, Can't Sleep"
Have you ever seen the noise/experimental category and wondered what kind of "music" that category describes? Sleep, Can't Sleep is post-industrial noise in its pure form. Repetition, complex feedback oops, keys played slowly, a subtle soundtrack for a cyberworld sci-fi movie or video game. Depending on volume, this music can relax or energize. This CD is the most minimal of extreme minimalism I have heard for the dark, ambient style. I don't like the fact that they put 14 titles on one 72 minute track on the CD, but I guess that means they want to force us to listen to it as a single unit. I can't help but think it is symbolic too. Each title had one syllable: "hot", "yet", "ram", "its", "etc" are examples. I would say "Sleep, Can't Sleep" isn't quite as creative or interesting as Matt Frantz's "Graphic Verses" CD or any of Independent Opposition's experimental/noise CDs. However, it has some positive post-modern qualities to it and will please listeners of the genre who like pure ambient-noise while they play video games, or try to sleep, or who can't sleep.
Reviewed by Shane Matsumoto 4/15/99. - Gajoob

TURK KNIFES POPE: "PERFORMANCE CLIPPLING DATA RESTRICTION" Zenflesh
A work consisting of an only theme lasting over sixty minutes, filled with chaotic, cosmic atmospheres, whose disorder, at least apparently, tends to create a disturbing, panicking sensation, enhancing any state of loneliness or making human presence more suffocating. A music that, like most of that produced by the label Zenflesh, is aimed at a very concrete audience, able to understand it. An understanding, no doubt, having its foundations on an unprejudiced hearing.
LAURA S. GARCIA Amazings

 
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