{"title":"Memotone","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"pruning","title":"Pruning","description":"\u003cp\u003eOn his Discrepant debut memotone aka Bristolian Will Yates collects some unreleased recordings under a most aptly titled name - \u003ci\u003ePruning\u003c\/i\u003e - following a healthy stream of releases for such esteemed labels as Black Acre, The Trilogy Tapes or Soda Gong. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eConsidering the process of pruning as a practice of selective removal, the album takes its name at face value never falling into a mere collection of tossed off material or random B-side assemblage, making it a cohesive listen throughout its disparate timeframe and evasions. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA statement about memotone's vision itself, \u003ci\u003ePruning\u003c\/i\u003e veers closer to his Fourth World\/ECM\/Exotica meets Sci-fi transmutations in alignment with what would be expected from a memotone release on Discrepant. 'Moss Zone' briefly sets the tone with a warm but queasy synth bedsheet that flows into the 'Weird Figures' cyber-jungle, all small twinkling percussions and rainforest pads slowly rising. 'Riders' brings the synth-flute to an early Warp meets John Hassell's 'City: Works of Fiction' scenario that pops up again in more disrupted form on 'Wisdom [MOTHER]'. 'Not What I Thought's skewed tropical guitar gets going on lo-fi percussion and dissonant synth chords while 'Jim Starling and The Inverse Church' bring to mind 'Autoditacker' era Mouse on Mars going jazz-fusion. Or what we should expect from their Smalltown Supersound stint. 'Beach Scene' is exactly it, as the sun sets into 'Come In [Don't Mind the Ghost]' Summer night's stars with all the allure of Stereolab. Alluring, that's exactly it. Do come in.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Discrepant","offers":[{"title":"Black LP","offer_id":51188610629963,"sku":"2242650","price":22.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/CREP93_f8761510_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1738364830"},{"product_id":"smallest-things","title":"smallest things","description":"\u003cp\u003eMemotone, aka Will Yates, releases a new 12-track album, \u003cem\u003esmallest things\u003c\/em\u003e, on World of Echo.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWill Yates has made music as Memotone since 2007. He operates in the tradition of what Robert Fripp has called 'a small, independent, mobile, and intelligent unit.' If you book him, he will come. When he arrives, he will have everything he needs to make his complex, engaging music: a clarinet, a guitar, synths, samplers and pedals, quickly unpacked in the corner of a club, gallery or village hall. Starting small, he will build layer upon layer of melody, accompanying himself and cutting across himself, creating a music that avoids cliche and moves beyond easy description. His recordings have followed the same trajectory. Moving quickly, he has released fifteen or so albums across various labels (including Trilogy Tapes, Discrepant, Soda Gong). Taken together, these recordings are the sound of a skilled, inventive composer pushing at the edges of what he wants to listen to himself. It is possible to hear a variety ofinfluences in his music: folk and jazz forms, the textural inventiveness of British DI electronica and Chicago post-rock and the blurred sci-fi brass of Jon Hassell are all discernible. But mostly, Will's work seems to stem from a constant drift between long hours in his home studio, and time spent outside in the woods and hills around his home in Wales.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eListening to the album, lushness creeps in at the edges, tiny green shoots appear on what might at first appear to be bare soil. smallest things sheds the skin of Will's previous recordings, removing the electronics and the looping and layering of previous work, to create something almost entirely acoustic. But don't be fooled into imagining music that's folksy, pastoral or twee. Opening track 'I Could See the Smallest Things' is a statement of intent. Widely spaced guitar is underpinned by earthy cello and sleepwalking clarinet, making a gorgeous threadbare pattern, which recalls a Morton Feldman miniature or a Morandi still life.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBeyond the skill involved and the years of self-taught music making that have gone into putting this record together, it is Will's close, careful attention and his talent for existing, observing and creating in the moment that make his work special. Memotone will perform at World of Echo’s annual birthday celebration on 8 Nov Expected Music, when they take over Walthamstow Trades Hall for an inter-genre, day-long investigation into some of the more outré manifestations of the contemporary worldwide underground.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"World of Echo","offers":[{"title":"LP - Black","offer_id":51957678211403,"sku":"R4263-9735","price":23.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/fd2c0fe2-b697-f6ca-81d8-55b91871018f.jpg?v=1749034586"}],"url":"https:\/\/shop.roughtrade.com\/de\/collections\/memotone.oembed","provider":"Rough Trade","version":"1.0","type":"link"}