Date: Wed, 25 Feb 1998 20:08:59 -0700 From: mark von minden Subject: Mark Hollis/Grimble Grumble PAN AMERICAN - CD (Kranky 025) Maybe late February / early March. Mark Nelson has been recording and trading tapes under the name Pan American for some time now. Mark's contributions to Labradford, as the trio's guitarist and singer, may prepare the listener somewhat for the debut Pan American album. It is a resolutely rhythmic album, carrying with it traces of dub and bossa nova. A drummer plays on 2 tracks. All of the other beats you hear are samples. Tones generated from voice, guitar and electronics are maneuvered and warped across the soundfield. At times Pan American is reminiscent of the long lost Embrace the Herd album by the Gist (with the low key traces of dub rhythms) and at other times of current practioners of minimalist techno such as Panasonic or Porter Ricks or of old school sound organizers like Zoviet France. sounds good to me. Date: Mon, 6 Apr 1998 10:43:54 -0700 From: Chris Palacios Subject: Must Listens and Utter stuff Pan- American, (Kranky) The solo debut buy the vocalist of Labraford.....and I finally "got" what Labraford has been all about. After thinking over and over, "where are they going with this," I finally came to the conclusion, NOWHERE. That is all the fun. Lush spooky and driven by nothing other than making sound, sound interesting. Yummy. It took the beats to help me figure it all out. Now I can listen to Labraford and just enjoy, I don't feel like I am missing something. Date: Thu, 16 Apr 1998 10:37:57 +0100 From: David Thorpe Subject: Recently in the UK... PAN AMERICAN Pan American (Kranky) LP 4 stars out of 5 As one third of Labradford, Mark Nelson has created some of the most touching and graceful music to come out the US in recent years; when the group visited the UK last year, a disused and candlelit synagogue was deemed an appropriate venue for a live show. In his more rhythmic solo incarnation, Nelson utilises a similar sense of space and atmmospherics to that of his usual group but, like much of the best current American music, also looks towards European electronica labels such as Warp or Mego for inspiration; one song sounds like the synth-motif from a generic rave track, slowed to a strung-out, stupefied crawl. If you're already a fan of Labradford, add an extra star. Lovely. (David Hemmingway, from the Guardian) Date: Sun, 27 Sep 1998 20:59:23 -0400 From: Dave Walker Subject: Re: Labradford/Pan American/Pan Sonic Ryan Hicks wrote: > Okay, I'm a bit slow, I recall some discussion last year about Labradford > and Pan American. I'm intrigued now by the context of being in the same > sentence as Panasonic (who admittledly are a bit difficult, but I like them > nonetheless) and I'm now wondering what Pan American are all about. > Electronic-ish or guitar-o-droney, or...? > PanAmerican is Mark Nelson from Labradford. The project shares some similarities with Labradford, such as the fascination with drone and texture, but PanAmerican is more explicitly electronic than Labradford, with a pronounced ambient dub influence and more prominent percussion.