NEIL CAMPBELL - The Hearing Force of the Humanverse (Fencing Flatworm; England)
If pop music could get lost inside itself--where the Spector string section
is forever tuning to one key, or electronica gurgles freely like a velvet
fountain, or horror-movie mood music goes top 10--then it might sound
something like this. Or not. Another feather in Mr. Campbell's cap; another
Flatworm winner. Eddie Flowers at www.slippytown.com

Fencing Flatworm have been doing a great job of documenting the shadowy underbelly of the UK's Improv scene, not least the activities of multi-instrumentalist Neil Campbell, who also leads The Vibracathedral Orchestra. The Hearing Force Of The Humanverse, despite being a terrible pun on Albert Ayler's Music is the Healing Force Of The Universe is a great overview of many of Campbell's working strategies. The opening "Calder Rising Blending Neverending" is the sound of celestial bells, flickering in and out of phase as distant nursery rhyme melodies tinkle in the background. "Morse Flowers" sounds uncannily like its title, two horribly oscillating electronic currents bloop and squeak at each other like deranged flowerpot men. Best of all is "Palace Bathroom Floor", where Campbell seamlessly integrates field recordings of dripping water and background noise with xylophones and bells creating an eerily static landscape that really draws you in. The Wire, October 2001, by David Keenan

Neil Campbell may be more recently known as part of local resonant experts Vibracathdral Orchestra, but Hearing Force. shows three years of worth of equally absorbing solo work. Less guitar based than when with Vibracathedral, Campbell continues in their semi-improv, intuitive vein, using windchime-like bells, cut-up tapes of opera, Velvet Underground-style violin groans and radio tuning trills to create both beautiful disquiet and contemplative melancholy. From The Leeds Guide, May 2001 (widely available around Leeds and nearby towns, £1.50)

no bullshit, no sucky-uppies, no foreplay necessary cos this guy knows that I love him and its true and forget all the nice things said about Neil in the past, this is THE ONE - 9 tracks gummed together in ½-hour-plus, starting with music almost on the edge of not existing - like a fade-out that won't quite fade out . bagpipe blow-out from 8 glens away with short-wave low-flying-jets below you, the wound-down musical-box as stiff metal is toyed with and kindly instruments flirt and congress under the veneer . charity shop instruments given acupuncture . opera CD on the skids . the pneumatic driller's headphones cut out the bass - an album for 4-15am on midsummers day with the virginal air yours and yours alone as you erect a chair on the grass and this music plays out the window, you knocking it back, swigging whatever sticky liquids make you and him happy, the day so young that nothing has gone wrong yet, and when it does you don't care or even notice, with this nice album and the long day and the day so quiet and hours until the postman comes and warns you there are other people on this planet - best to forget. From New Luddism #71 (also known as Dddd, Marleys, Minstead, Hants, S043 7FY, UK)

Probably the most known from this quartet of discs, through his involvement with Smell & Quim and The Vibracathedral Orchestra. The majority of this recording is in Neil's usual mode of slow but evocative dronescapes with a subtle morphology. However, other areas are explored, as in 'morse flowers' which is a vibrant squelchy electronic number. On the cover it states nine tracks but upon listening to it is in fact one long 34 minute piece made up of 9 passages which work very coherently. This is one of Neil's finest accomplishments, either solo or as The Vibra. Orch. Recommended. Review from Cheeses International, August 2001 (mail order service and newsletter - focuses mainly on hard/abstract electronics and experimental musics) 15 Liverpool Road, Islington, London, N1 0RW steve.cheeses@btinternet.com