After All by 310
Formats: CD (BAY 19CD) Limited Edition Vinyl LP (1,600 copies) (BAY 19V) Digital (BAY 19E)
Release Date: 28 May 2001
Sometimes, it's good to remember that cliché are clichés for a reason: because they're true. So when we tell you that 310's second full-length album for The Leaf Label (their fourth in total) distils a jumble sale of unlikely influences (hip hop, minimalist classicism, prog rock, collage esoterica, field recordings) and decants them into tracks that don't fit into a neat pigeonhole, it does read like a cliché But it is true. We've never managed to find an adequate way to describe what they do, and judging by some of the reviews we've quoted below, neither has anyone else. Which is how we like it.
On After All, 310 gradually build a restless, cinematic vision in erratic time signatures, where hazy memories of childhood fever-dreams and scratchy home reels fade in and out of focus... or are they just half-remembered images from a TV screen? 'That's been a theme running through all of our records,' says Tim. 'The sense of mystery. Mistaken memories. Something familiar in a strange way. Tapping into something subconscious. Nostalgia.' So, perhaps not such a cliché after all?
Conversely, 310's recording methods are precise and considered. 310 are two old friends from New York: Joseph Dierker (DJ and 'inventor' currently gone to ground in Seattle) and Tim Donovan (engineer at some of NYC's top studios); now augmented in the studio and on stage by vocalist and samplist Andrew Sigler (aka fire/fly) who appeared at the 310 performances in Europe last October. Tim and Joe collaborate by relaying tapes of material across the continent, each building on the other's contributions. The result on this, their fourth album (1999's The Dirty Rope was their first for Leaf), is an emotionally fraught body of work that coaxes and wheedles a response from the listener, so unobtrusively, but effectively, that it leaves an eerily unsettled atmosphere behind. 'I think we all had a pretty emotionally trying year last year in our own ways,' Tim admits. 'The pieces on this record were pretty therapeutic in a lot of ways.' After all' we went through.'
In addition to his work with 310, Tim has recently been working with Angie Stone and Busta Rhymes new protegé Tameka Holmes. 'Busta is there on the mix sessions, which is cool cause he's diggin' my mixes,' Tim says. Ali Shaheed Muhammed is producing a few tracks as well. One night we had Busta, Ali and Phife Dog up in there. All we needed was Q-Tip and we could of had a 'here we go yo, here we go yo, so what's da, so what's da scenerio' reunion!' To ensure he keeps his feet firmly on the ground, he's also been working with Britney Spears and Steps...
Track 5 additional info
Raymond Cass and EVP samples borrowed with the kind permission of PARC/Ash International. Taken from the CD The Ghost Orchid [PARC CD1, 2000]
For further information on EVP contact http://parc.web.fm or www.ashinternational.com
[FYI: 310 is pronounced 'three-ten']
1. Takamous
2. An Seanachi
3. The Claw Is Forming
4. UNTidal
5. Street Level
6. Imaginary Families
7. Off-Track Betty
8. Aural Exiter
9. Truce For A Moment
10. After All REVIEWS
The Milkfactory