Press & Reviews


Comments & Reviews for Ian J Cole's work:
Reviews for The Fraser Syndrome Reviews for Black Scars Across My Back
  • Aural Aggravation July 2020
  • Fantastic Work! Electronic Musician
  • 2 Elvington Terrace’ is a haunting piece that drifts and wafts, ghostly and ethereal.
  • Black Scars Across My Back is highly evocative, and knowing the story, the context, imbues it with a sadness that’s affecting. It’s hard not to be touched by its quiet intensity.

Reviews for The Clifton Hotel:
Reviews for Deconstruction - Demolition - Re-invention:
  • A summer's Day is perfect, seriously well done, beautiful little introduction - love the bird song. 4/5
  • Deconstruction good, but it's difficult to do the whole fractured vocal thing - the listener needs to be in the right mood. I was a little too jolly to get into the spookyness on my first listen! ***
  • Parting is Such Sweet Sorrow is really nicely conceived, the start and the end especially are effective in the use of atmospheres behind the melody. The playing sounds so tentative, really human, despite the processing. ****
  • Bellows has a nice kind of evolution from 'Parting is Such Sweet Sorrow', it doesn't feel like a separate piece of music, in fact the whole thing flows, it felt very coherent. ***
  • Hollinshed's Three Sisters A nice shift. It's got a whole church vs ZX spectrum thing going on. The variation in the central set of tones makes it sound less obviously accordion. 5 stars
  • Re-invention (Buttons' in C) Excellent. the sound sources are so processed as to be unrecognisable. There are some seriously great noises in the background, like someone opening and closing a rusty elephant. I could see this being used in a computer game, it's got that whole tension of approaching something threatening at the end of the level.The use of the vocal is superb. Sounds faintly islamic! This longest piece holds together as a central part of the work. The most distant from musical sound sources, and yet very intuitively musical in the journey it takes the listener on. Perfect ending the way it just cuts is a brave and right decision. 5 stars
  • Demolition (Radio Transmission from the Sea) Some unsettling spaces. Lovely use of sudden changes. 4/5
  • The Cottage The accordion comes back in recognisable form for the conclusion. Nice bass building in the background and weird swooping ( cat? ) noise. ***

Reviews for Aleatorical Alchemy:
  • Walking On Marbles... very impressive..Amazing stuff.
  • Not quite Jean Michel Jarre but not far off. Weird and wonderful!
  • Highly impressed by the work(SoundFjord).
  • A privilege to have the opportunity to listen (Re/Flux).
  • Walking On Marble sounded like it was made halfway between the Klang Studios and wherever Throbbing Gristle made their early industrial tracks.
  • Tape Factory Rewind - very nice, beautifully simple and effectively executed. You know how to end a track! Nicely done! 4 out of 5
  • The random computer - the central melody is really quite effecting, but the crash gets intrusive? I really like the actual tone of the synthetics that were programmed. ***
  • Walking on Marbles - It's reminds me of a track from John Peel many moons ago where he would play archive recordings of parts of the British sewage system. Extremely subtle and effective. The second half works well as part of the same piece, bringing to mind some of the scary parts of a computer game. It really takes the listener on a journey.  5 stars
  • The Random Quartet - Sounds like water lapping against the side of a boat. Very nice. Lulled me back to normality and off to bed. ***

Comments & Reviews for Katie and the Questions
  • Absolute powerpop, their wonderful! Chris Thomas, (Vibrations Magazine).
  • Katie and the Questions have put women in rock music back 20 years, A strange sort of 80s girl group. Sharleen Spiteri (Texas).
  • Stylishly retro, twenty4seven music, The Press.
  • It's rubbish man!!! Dizzie Rascal.
  • You will be dancing!!!! Helen Francis Barlow, Vibrations Magazine podcast.
  • 'A pulsating brand of powerpop' Local Independent Music.
  • There's a real buzz going on for Katie and The Questions right now. Adam Simpson (Stereoboard.com).

​Latest Interview Here From The Streaming Festival - Dec 2011.
Picture