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¥771 keef baker. pen fifteen. 2cd. february2k9

tracklist cd1. pen fifteen:

tracklist. cd2. light city:

download pressrelease.pdf

mighty subbass drones, driving, energetic beats, wonderful piano lines, atmospheric keyboards, doomy guitars, occasional vocal work - pen fifteen is another journey into keef baker's world, where unequal
musical styles like trip hop, electronica and even metal are used as baseplates and sometimes merge within a single note - just check out what starts as a distorted guitar and ends as click'n'cut in 'dead
end'. instead of 'eclecticism' a logical extrapolation of varied influences is displayed, whether it is post-rock, intelligent dance music, dub... in the end they become one style that can only be called keef baker. 11 songs of melodic harshness - loud and powerful even in their quietest moments. expect your expectations to be confounded!

"this is the voice of light city..." - intended to be listened to without interference or pauses - a trip into sudorific clublife that keeps you moving for more than an hour. an astounding mix with well-placed increasing and decreasing speed, ranging from dubstep to techno to drum and bass to breakcore and back. this is keef as he sounds while performing live - a great addition to a phantastic album. and remember: "the state loves you!"

a review in russian language can be found on the machinist's webpage:
http://www.machinistmusic.net/reviews/keefbakercd2009.html

cuemix
http://www.cuemix-magazine.com/cuemix/inhalt.php?image=1068
this is a mighty double-long player! “pen fifteen” is the new album from keef baker, the mighty idm poet. “pen fifteen” comes along with a second disc called “light city”, a stunning mix done by keef. but, first things first. pen fifteen is a dream of youth by keef, merging his personal music style together with metal music. kicking of with the melancholy track called “getting older” keef gives us a bewildering statement that will clear up through the following tracks itself. then with the following tracks mighty basses and absolute stunning programmed drums allow us to take a look inside his genius brain. this man is living “art” and a punk and metal addict! this rough basis is flavoured with ambient soundscapes, piano lines and suddenly out of nowhere with metal guitar riffs. each second is a surprise, but in this unsafe musical environment you start to feel safe. sounds illogical, but the answer is that keef brings forward the feelings of a generation above the thirties, and bewitch the generation beneath this age with his bittersweet appraisal. this album is a milestone, its straight forward, cynic and strangely dreamily. a miracle. i love “pen fifteen” for its roughness and its grown up vulnerability! a perfect ten that touched my heart deeply! the second disc you get with “pen fifteen” is called “light city”. a trip into keefs live sets, an enthusiastic mix! but this fast and wild mix of keef’s club sounds is also a statement adjunctive to the music, the person and the concept of “pen fifteen”. both albums are a kind of “dropping pants”. if you listen carefully to this mighty double-album you will out more about the person keef baker as you can read in any magazine. a rough journey though keef's conception of a clubbing night ...techno, idm, acid merged together to a perfect night. “light city” is a statement, a testimonial of a genius and a present for all of you who listen to music with your ears, brain, heart and feet… message received? 10*** so make an addition a perfect ten and a perfect ten makes what?

der medienkonverter
http://www.medienkonverter.de/kritik.php4?id=3351
um die 20 jahre macht er nun schon musik, doch keith "keef" baker wird nicht müde, ständig etwas neues auszuprobieren und vor allem weiterhin mit überraschenden live-sets aufzuwarten. erinnern wir uns kurz an sein letztes album "redeye", das sehr viele einflüsse miteinander verwob. ein album, das zeigte: alles ist möglich. sein neues werk "pen fifteen" ist ein wenig anders gestrickt. natürlich flossen auch hier wieder mannigfaltige einflüsse mit ein, aber keef baker ist ruhiger geworden. schon der erste song macht das klar und der titel des songs hört sich fast wie eine begründung für diesen schritt zurück in sachen tempo an: "getting older". das stück klingt, man traut es sich fast nicht zu sagen, poppig. ein paar schnuckelige streicher dudeln, verträumte melodien säuseln und eine gehauchte vocoder-stimme singt den text. die sich nun im kopf auftuenden fragezeichen werden beim folgenden "dead end" noch größer, knallt einem hier erst einmal ein trockenes gitarrenriff entgegen. das kombiniert keef baker mit streichern und klavier, was einen sehr schönen kontrast bildet. das nachfolgende "skellington" klingt mit leichten breakcore-beats und gitarrenriffs wieder wie der 'alte' keef baker. überraschend ist die dominanz der gitarre in songs wie "the east is not the enemy". das könnte in der form auch von einer rockband stammen, wären da nicht gegen ende des songs die tribal percussions. generell sind die songs aber sehr sanft ausgelegt und lassen eine regelrechte verträumtheit durchblicken. selbst wenn im letzten stück electronic, gitarre und trompete aufeinander treffen, kommt dabei ein downtempo-song heraus. aber "pen fifteen" hat auch eine andere seite, genannt "light city". keef baker wollte nämlich mal eine brücke zwischen seinen alben und seinen live-sets spannen, die sich teils erheblich voneinander unterscheiden. das eine ist geplant und durchdacht, das andere emotional beeinflusst und spontan entstehend. bei diesem doppelalbum wird der unterschied am extremsten deutlich, ist doch "pen fifteen" keef bakers bisher ruhigstes album und "light city" sein bisher aufwühlendstes. "light city" ist hibbelig, knarzig, schnell, langsam, mal wummernd und mal sphärisch. ein einstündiger mix, der den spirit von keef bakers liveauftritten und seine emotionalen schwankungen und seine impulsivität bei solchen sets einfängt. das doppelalbum "pen fifteen" zeigt damit keef baker erstmalig vielumfassend, wenn es auch nur einen teil seines musikalischen universums abdeckt. gerade diese zwei so gegensätzlichen pole machen dieses doppelalbum so interessant. (veit)

gothtronic
http://www.gothtronic.com/?page=23&reviews=5933
keef baker is back with another release on hymen records. it’s also a rather big release, since it contains two cd’s, called ‘pen fifteen’ and ‘light city’ respectively. keef baker is known for his authentic approach to idm and breakcore with a lot of other influences. the main album of his new release does sound a little bit different from his other work. it sounds especially inspired by rock music. often times it is very electronically manipulated or aided by much electronic sounds. tracks like ‘kellington’ do contain the breakbeat/idm approach, but there are a lot of filtered rock tunes to be found in here. this can get some getting used to. the very long titled track ‘mr snugglebunny's happy paradise is slowly turned inside out’ is very interesting; it’s a combination of nicely melodic idm with some guitars in it, towards the end it turns somewhat into breakcore and ends in autechre-like manipulations also with the aid of guitar sounds, which almost seems like to turn into some digital hardcore track. then there’s the second cd, ‘light city’, which actually sounds really like the keef baker we know. lot’s of fucked-up rhythms and breakcore structures. the whole second cd is one big fast and twisted trip. also funny to know is that, expect for the last song, all the song are exactly 5 minutes in length, the last one being 59 seconds longer. a very interesting release from keef baker, were the main album sounds very different from his common material. though with the second cd included, you do get the keef baker were you’re paying for. perhaps it’s kind of like a fail safe, in case people don’t dig the main album, there’s still a cd with more ‘conventional’ keef baker sounds. whatever it may be, it’s a rather interesting and good release you really should pick up! (fabian)

sonic seducer
http://www.sonic-seducer.de/index.php?option=com_reviews&func=detail&anzeige=8595&virtuemart=23f597b95236eca59d57e3ba1809eaac
schubladen sind keef baker völlig egal, wenn er sich in seinem maschinenpark austobt, das durften fans von experimenteller elektronischer musik in der vergangenheit schon mehrmals beobachten. der vierte reguläre release des briten macht da zum glück keine ausnahme und erstreckt sich gleich über zwei cds, die sich stilistisch wiederum nochmals deutlich voneinander unterscheiden. die erste scheibe ist ein absurdes mischwesen aus triphop, idm und noise, welches weder herrliche pianosounds noch grässlich verzerrte saiteninstrumente außen vor lässt. jeder track ist ein sammelbecken für unzählige ideen oder musikalische zitate, die manchmal nicht bis zu ende gedacht erscheinen, sehr zäh fließen und somit das prädikat „experimentell“ wirklich verdient haben. selbst nach dem fünften hören möchte sich nicht das gefühl einstellen, das album wirklich wiedererkennen zu können – genrepuristen werden das zu schätzen wissen. ungleich leichter verdaulich ist die zweite cd, die den untertitel „light city“ bekommen hat und aus einem guss ist, ohne pausen zwischen den je genau 5 minuten langen tracks. der schwerpunkt liegt hier eindeutig auf tanzbarkeit. elemente vom dubstep, breakcore, drum’n’bass, hard trance und techno kommen in wilder kombination zum einsatz… stillsitzen ausgeschlossen! beide seiten des keef baker sind hochinteressant. (catrin nordwig)

connexion bizarre
keith baker has maintained a steady output of an album almost every year since his debut “the widnes years” on n5md in 2004. having recorded albums for ad noiseam and n5md, baker has found a home on hymen records, the sister label of respected german label ant-zen. for this release, he presents a new full-length album with the spam filter baiting name of “pen fifteen” and adds a second disc of more club focused tracks entitled “light city” which is intended to be listened to as a continuous piece and represent the content of his live sets. “pen fifteen” itself is an interesting prospect and showcases baker’s ability to create unique sound combinations in his own inimitable style. he does this by fusing a range of different genres in his own unique way to create something new and original. utilising his own skills as a guitarist, baker incorporates heavy metal or shoegaze guitar themes into most of the tracks, most notably album closer “sugar daddy for shemale” where he takes a full-on heavy metal guitar workout and adds brief passages of trombone playing to it. quite an unusual combination on paper and in reality but it actually makes much better sense when hearing the end result. also notable is the album opener, “getting older”, which takes hazy shoegaze guitar and mixes it with mildly distorted half sung, half spoken vocals, giving the track a futuristic if slightly doleful slant. the addition of a crashing beat and emotive piano to the mix makes the track even more poignant. “dead end” opens with a grinding heavy metal guitar and continues with a steady plodding beat and melancholic piano keys to provide subdued interlude before erupting once more towards its close. after a short stop/start beat outburst, “skellington” unleashes a torrent of sharp breaks and driving guitar underpinned by creeping ambient tones and a demonic voice hidden deep in the mix. a new element is introduced on “the east is not the enemy” which features gentle eastern influences in the form of flute, sitar, rhythmic drumming and percussion mixed with driving guitar, a brief choral accompaniment and electronic rhythms. “mr snugglebunny’s happy paradise is slowly turned upside down” is a track of stark contrasts, opening with a prolonged period of radiant birdsong and crisp beats before slowly taking on an entirely darker subtext to close with a torrent of hard industrial beats which mutate into the grating sound of a revving motorcycle engine mixed with electronic noise and grinding guitar. immediately after this is “big dick bricks covered in sick” which starts and finishes as a gentle drifting ambient piece but inbetween becomes a crazed torrent of breaks and flowing electronic layers. “setekey sysfuckoffcunt v1” takes thudding percussive beats and off tune piano keys and embellishes them with grandiose strings and driving guitar. on the more ambient side of things is “sheepscar junction”, a track with gentle melancholic piano keys paired with slow beats, crashing drums and short passages of droning shoegaze guitar. “light city”, the companion disc to “pen fifteen” is a different prospect altogether, focusing more on the electronic aspects of baker’s work. opening with “the voice of light city”, the second disc opens with relaxed beats over a repeated mantra being broadcast around an idealised sci-fi metropolis. designed to be listened to as a single continuous track, “light city” is a rollercoaster ride of adrenaline fuelled energetic rhythm blasts peppered with periods of calming ambience, almost as though baker is providing a rest stop before the next furious flurry of rhythms descends. as it progresses, it starts to really unleash its full rhythmic power, stepping things up to industrial noise levels by “part 3: the square”. cunningly however baker manages to discretely underpin his tracks with fluid ambient tones that creep around and lurk in the background, occasionally surfacing as the torrent of beats eventually subsides. the prominent guitar elements are still there too but to much lesser degree, appearing in true james bond style at the start of “part 04: acid indigestion” or as underlying metallic textures of the generally mellower ”part 06: cake and black sheep” for example. as the journey continues baker takes in acid house, noise, drum ‘n’ bass, industrial, breakcore, dubstep and techno to varying degrees, incorporating a diverse range of influences into his music. switching from furious rhythms to distorted breakcore and on to glittering ambience in the space of a single track, he frequently fuses disparate musical styles but pulls it all together in his own unique fashion. where “pen fifteen” experiments largely with combining various forms of guitar and electronica, “light city” is more for the electronic purist. there are guitars in “light city” but they are used sparingly with the focus being mainly on crazy levels of bpm punctuated with calmer interludes. if “light city” is representative of his live appearances, baker must deliver some interesting sets with a careful balance of furious rhythms contrasted with gentler tones. there is a definite distinction between the two discs; “pen fifteen” is experimental and explorative while “light city” is no holds barred after hours fun. (paul lloyd)

discography 02.2k9:
the widnes years. cd. n5md md124. 2004
the widnes redevelopment project. cd. n5md md133. 2005
pure language. cd-ep. ad noiseam adn59. 2006
redeye. cd. hymen records ¥757. 2007
pen fifteen. 2cd. hymen records ¥771. 2009

keef baker on the web:
www.keefbaker.com
www.myspace.com/keefbaker