Aspects of Physics :: Systems Of Social Recalibration Review
2002-10-01
The Wire Issue 224
Late of defunct San Diego post-rockers Physics, Jason Soares collaborates here with Thatcher Orbitashi and JFRE 'Robot' Coad in an exploration of the rock-electronica interface. He's developed a whole philosophy to back up the music. "Experimentation can be as spiritual as it is scientific, driven by an intense desire to know and sense the universe around us in novel ways," the sleevenotes read. Soares dresses this 'philosophy' to look like a science textbook, complete with graphics. It's a witty enough visual conceit when swallowed with the group's name, but it adds up to a vague mission statement. The music's considerably more substantial. Mixing leftfield rock with electronica is hardly new, but Aspects Of Physics make a fair go for it, contrasting cool, streamlined textures with glitch percussion and warmer guitar tones. Undoubtedly the centerpiece is "Level 4.2," which highlights shifting relationships between the intricacies of programmed sounds and the spontaneous fluidity of Ambient guitar.
