I still love this Spacefolds release. Recaesarian was our first stab at writing our own loops - and its live version is probably our most powerful loop-based piece. Voyage is an improv that has fused itself into my brain - Chet's bassline might as well have been composed. It ranks right below Spacefolds 6 and 7 as my favorite Spacefolds release. Top Rank!
This was also the first Spacefolds release that is album length (or double album length for that matter), thus the release schedule slowed down a bit after that time.
A lot of nice, spacey improv on this one - an album formerly without a cover, now available on Bandcamp for the first time with an extra track, Brainhaze recorded around this time!
credits
released March 17, 1999
Chet Santia: Bass, Guitar
Jay Swanson: Keyboards, Synth
Paul Williams: Drumming, Synth, Keyboards, Loops
Darren Gough: Guitar
Dave Wexler: Guitar
All Music by Quarkspace.
Produced by Lance Starbridge.
Cover art courtesy NASA.
REVIEWS
This release is the fifth in the band's series of improvised sonic "Spacefolds" documents. (The previous four "Spacefolds" volumes were cassette releases, which are now sadly out of print.) (ed- but available here at Bandcamp!)
If you think "improv" means unfocused and indulgent, then Quarkspace's "Spacefolds 5" is not for you. This band's tightness flourishes under improvisational conditions.
Snarling guitar ushers you into a chamber of snappy rhythms. You find yourself ankle-deep in sultry basslines. Synthesizers bleep and churn, swirling the chamber's air currents with frolicsome weirdness. A deeper rumble surges at the horizons that rim the room, a chorus of jet-exhausts thundering with distant passage. The keyboards take up the percussive cycles as the riff changes. Now the music plummets into hyperdrive, accelerating the tempo and deviating the melody. The instruments are inflating, their individual contributions melting together to form unearthly structures. These new riffs tower over you, blazing into the sky with enticing fury. Just as you are about to go supraluminal, sneaky percussive rhythms call to you, luring you back into the physical universe.
And that's just the first of seven sonic excursions contained on this 71-minute CD EP from 1999. But then, you'd only notice that by watching the CD counter, as these improv pieces flow together seamlessly into a hyper-harmonic auralscape. - Matt Howarth, Sonic Curiosity
The newest release from quarkspace is a CD continuation of the earlier Spacefolds cassette series. The Spacefolds series is something of a musical band diary featuring recent improv instrumentals. quarkspace is still Chet Santia on bass, Jay Swanson on synths, Dave Wexler on guitar, Paul Williams on synths, drums, and loops, and Darren Gough on guitar.
There are seven tunes on this 70 minute disc, some of which are more cool quarky space excursions, and some venturing into somewhat different territory. The disc opens with "Recaesarian" which sees the band further exploring the techno territory that has been hinted at on earlier releases. But please read on if the techno term turns you off because this isn't your standard relentless rave beat muck whose only purpose is to keep you on the dance floor for a 24 hour stretch. quarkspace combines techno with the recognizable quarkspace sound to produce something far more interesting and listenable. We've got the techno beats, but we've also got the cool space excursions which somehow don't seem to contrast with each other at all. In fact, the band is exploring the possibility of playing raves, which could well expose that crowd to more substantial music while still giving them something to... uhhh... "rave" to.
"qspace Pixies" takes us into the kind of space territory that should please fans of quarkspace's Live Orion release from last year. This sounds essentially like two tracks as there is a several minute jam (with some brief Gong-like chanting) that fades out and then becomes something completely new. I love quarkspace tunes that prominently feature piano. The piano and guitar each carry a main melody while trading off the forefront role. The bass thuds away and occasional freaky synth bits pop up throughout. This is yet another one of those tracks that could be described as, "if the Allman Brothers were a spacerock band".
Another standout track is "Voyage" which, though firmly in the quarkspace mold, has a strong Pink Floyd sound in spots. Very much on the ambient side as well. This one will carry you away quietly while still holding your attention with music. "We Are QPR" is something of a space symphony and my favorite on the disc. The band explores a variety of moods and moves from quark jamming to quiet journeys into atmosphere and sound. A flute sound is simulated that embellishes the music very nicely.
Spacefolds 5 should hold us over until "The Hidden Moon", quarkspace's second studio CD. It will be a double-CD release and is due Summer 1999. - Jerry Kranitz, Aural Innovations
Spacefolds 5 is very different from previous installments in the Spacefolds series. The first volume to be released on CD, it features the band experimenting with electronic music. Many tracks have a techno feel (especially "Recaesarian"). The music is mostly loop-based, and that is why the band took this tangential direction. One must not forget that this series is like a laboratory, which implies both hits and misses. The band's relation to dance-based electronic music will grow and be better integrated into its sound on the studio album The Hidden Moon. Space rock and prog rock fans will probably still feel hungry after listening to Spacefolds 5. Pieces are longer but also more linear. Still, some improvisations are top Quarkspace material, the two best being "Qspace Pixies" and the 15-minute ambient jam "We Are QPR." This is not the best volume in this series; newcomers should begin with Spacefolds 6. - Francois Couture, All Music Guide
Church of Hed is the solo electronic space prog project of Quarkspace drummer/synthesist, Paul Williams. RIYL: Floyd, the
Orb, Stereolab -- Quarkspace is an American band together since the mid 80s. Known for combining spacerock and electronics with folk and progressive songwriting, their influences straddle the American and English psychedelic scenes of the late 60s with more modern influences....more
