Technical Drawings - The Ruined Map
Technical drawings is Melissa St. Pierre (prepared piano) and Jesse Stiles (electronics). In "The Ruined Map," Technical Drawings' debut release, St. Pierre and Stiles pioneer a new genre that has been termed "Dub Concrète," combining influences from neoclassicism, rock, gamelan, and hip hop with results both weird and electrifying. In one of the record's centerpieces, "Strange Flora," the post-rap rapper Todd Jones verbalizes the musical journey: "We found an island on the edge of the world. With no name for it we made a claim for it."
"The Ruined Map" was recorded over the course of two days in Missi's attic in Pittsburgh. Post production took place in a remote rural textile factory in which Jesse lived from 2007 to 2010. "The Ruined Map" was released by Gagarin Records in 2011.
REVIEWS
From Vital Weekly:
'Dub Concrete' is the term coined by Technical Drawings, a duo of Melissa St. Pierre and Jesse Stiles. St. Pierre plays the prepared piano as 'invented' by John Cage. The inside of the piano is filled with coins, screws, bolts and sounds like a piece of gamelan. She uses an electric piano, and just how that works with prepared strings is a bit unclear to me. Stiles uses 'livid Ohm 64, jazzmutant lemur, Mas/msp and computer). A strange but great record. Seven of the eight pieces are instrumentals, and one uses the voice of Todd Jones. That wasn't necessary, as far as I would say, as the instrumental pieces are strong enough. A highly rhythmic record, that is hard to pin down. Certainly not techno, nor house, but mechanical world music like, gamelan like, hip hop like, but then as straight forward minimal beats, and no backbeat. Maybe the closest I could think of is it bears some resemblance with Konono No.1, less any singing. Very energetic music, pulsating and throughout honestly weird. Excellent.
From www.whisperinandhollerin.com:
‘The Ruined Map’, the first album by duo Technical Drawings is certainly not your average experimental recording, and despite one half of the duo operating synthesizers and electronic instrumentation, it’s not your regular electro set either. Much of the album’s other-worldliness stems from the use of prepared piano, pioneered John Cage. By inserting a range of miscellaneous objects and otherwise ‘modifying’ the instrument, the piano produces a range of sounds, many of a percussive nature, and none of which really resemble those associated with a piano.
As such, ‘The Ruined Map’ is a very percussion-orientated album, the eight tracks incorporating styles and sounds that span avant-garde disco to hypermanic steel drum orchestra. There are points when the relentlessly colliding rhythms and counter-rhythms got beyond being merely disorientating and prove to be all just a bit too much, as is the case with ‘Underwater’ and ‘Skullfloor’. But then there are others when everything comes together perfectly and builds a rare rhythmic intensity that’s simultaneously bewildering and exhilarating, as on ‘Interminable Spectral Mountains’ and ‘Issue Project Redux’.
It may be that some listeners simply can’t get beyond the obstacle of the experimental principles behind ‘The Ruined Map’, while others may appreciate the principal but be less taken by the practice. It’s not an ‘easy’ album, but it is interesting, both experimentally and sonically, and for that, it’s worthy of respect.
- Christopher Nosnibor
