BUILD BUILDINGS – there is a problem with my tape recorder (self released)
Posted: January 4th, 2006, by Alasdair RBuild Buildings, a.k.a. Brooklyn based Ben Tweel, is a master of subtlety: “there is a problem with my tape recorder” is a strong collection of minimal electronica that is crafted with care, warmth and precision.
Tweel provides the listener with a seemingly limitless assortment of beats and samples, each delicately and purposely placed to build tensions and melodies that slowly slide under the radar of the listener.
There is a feeling of familiarity throughout; Tweel has produced something that is imaginative, playful and rooted in the every day. Sampled clicks, hums and whirrs from the gadget and button filled world around us meet sparingly used acoustic strings, percussion and piano. I imagine at times his music sounds like what a fax machine might sound like if it tried to serenade a photocopier with a harp.
Even at loud volumes, “there is a problem with my tape recorder” will always seem quiet, which is no bad thing. Sounds from outside of the music rub alongside the music with ease – beats mix with the hum of traffic or shop lights elegantly. I even found that at times that I had forgotten that I was listening to music and had become half convinced that my life had always been soundtracked so perfectly by Build Buildings.
Alasdair R
Alasdair was sent from a distant planet in order to conquer the Earth. His powers of procrastination and argument are so powerful it is impossible to escape from the grip of his warped logic. He hides behind a range of disguises which includes the largest collection of jumpers in the galaxy. Luckily for us, Alasdair is easily distracted from his tasks of death and destruction by anything from cute little puppy dogs to pop music and thus humanity is safe, for now.