Want to hear the music
first? Bovine Life on Myspace is here:
Free track "Smiles of God" on main music menu, right.
In 1994 I was in the island of Harris and Lewis (the same
land mass) shooting my art college degree film. In the cut
of the finished film, one of the shots lingered longer than
would be socially acceptable. It was of a Highland Cow. A
friend of mine said the cow reminded him of the
banthas in Star Wars (shaggy
horned yak/cow/mammoth hybrids). I decided that the
production company I would start after college would be
called "digital cow productions." When I started making
electronic music, the name grew into "Bovine Life" - as
it would stand for my working method - aiming for a
gentle life, chewing the cud, grazing on culture and
regugitation of sounds and gastric collisions!
This review from www.themilkfactory.co.uk explains it
pretty well: During the nineties, Chris Dooks became a
respected filmmaker in the UK, thanks to his music
documentaries, including a film on Scanner man Robin
Rimbaud for the South Bank Show. In 1999, Dooks
developed Myalgic Encephalomyelitis, a debilitating
disease affecting energy levels and the nervous system.
Bound to his Edinburgh flat, with his film making
activities on hold, Chris’s computer became his lifeline
with the outside world, and, as he started working on
some music, he also developed friendships with a
multitude of very different artists around the world.
Collaborations took shape, although Dooks never met he’s
musical partners, all work being done via exchange of
MP3s, on which Dooks would work when his health would
allow. Social Electrics collects some of these moments.
Despite the variety of collaborators present on this
record, Social Electrics is an incredibly intense and
homogene work. As collaborations alternate with solo
efforts, it rapidly becomes difficult to discern between
internal and external inputs. With elements of hip-hop,
electro, field recordings or electronica confronting each
other, this album is dense, complex and challenging. The
tracks, very often made up of multiple elements juxtaposed,
are short, rarely going over the four minutes mark, and
held tightly together. Sounds come thick and fast,
positioning themselves in the anarchic structures. Elements
of voices, at times lacerated, plain at others, cohabite
with bleeps, clicks, analogue noises and abrasive sounds.
Out of this chaos, melodies sometimes emerge, and seem to
bring some cohesion to the work. Dooks and his virtual
guests, including Janeck Schaefer, Matt Elliot, of The
Third Eye Foundation and Köhn, distort each other’s
universe, challenge each component, recycle ideas,
manipulate, experiment, and ultimately, create a most
poetic symphony of promiscuous atmospheres, precarious
beats and sonic interferences.
Amongst the darkest and most uncomfortable moments of
Social Electrics are found in the broken vocals of Ether
Works Part 1 or the digital terrorism of Homeostasis, while
Sevumpteen or Now We Are Light demonstrate a more human
approach to the same basic concept. In between these
extremes, Dooks and friends put their compositions through
an incredibly intense process, eliminating any unnecessary
element, to work at the core of the soundscapes, applying
sharp and aggressive movie-like montage techniques to
underpin the bare essentials of this record. To complement
this release, No One Sees Black, a short film Chris Dooks
shot shotly before becoming sick.
Social Electrics takes an effervescent and refreshing look
at contemporary music, ignoring rules and concepts,
transcending genres and influences, to offer a disarmingly
touching poetic vision. Nothing comes between Dooks and his
work, and this record becomes a poignant symbol of a man in
fighting. Social Electric is the truly magnificent work of
a man in love with life.
Social Electrics : Tracklisting
Bovine Life Tired But Wired
Bovine Life Vs Nathaniel 'Chief' Forrest O.J. Simpson
Bovine Life Vs Nathaniel 'Chief' Forrest The Smiles Of God
Bovine Life Now We Are Traffic
Bovine Life Vs ? Ether Works Pt.1
Bovine Life Sweepea
Bovine Life Vs Duodecimo Maeow
Bovine Life Vs ? Ether Works Pt.2
Bovine Life Vs Köhn Sevumpteen
Bovine Life Vs Smydlyssna Düsseldorf Girl
Bovine Life State Stone Glass Wind
Bovine Life Vs Octorock Atay Atae
Bovine Life Vs M.C. McCooch Dog Trigger Finger
Bovine Life Vs ? Ether Works Pt.3
Bovine Life Eats Alku Alku Heartbeat
Bovine Life Weak Latte Symphony
Bovine Life Vs Köhn Homeostasis
Bovine Life Vs Yituey Vida Torpe
Bovine Life Vs Janek Schaefer Dog Day Cicada
Bovine Life Now We Are Light