VERSION 10 - NOV. 1997-By Andy Waggoner

In keeping with their trend of releasing extremely high quality and interesting experimental and instrumental music, Tone Casualties' latest offering, Fibre's Sub Aquatic Memories, is the aural equivalent of drowning. Third world music sounds, instruments and samples mix with high-tech soundscapes in such a dark and mystical way rarely achieved with this style of music. Usually one finds cliché sentimentality and optimistic global village hoopla ala all the Lexus and IBM commercials, but with Fibre, all that is ignored. Instead, we find a respect and appreciation for the religious and cultural invocations from throughout history and from many countries. Gregorian chants flood over electronic beats that pulse and throb, while Middle Eastern wind instruments weave a tapestry between. Sub Aquatic Memories takes fragments of our homogenized culture(s) and drowns your aural palette in them. A slow and methodical drowning, as you float just under the surface, slivers of light break through the cultural flotsam above, giving you glimpses of, and calling forth scenes from, our collective consciousness. Quite exquisite.

DMZ issue #3

If you are not familiar with the music Tone Casualties has been releasing lately, will then you need to listen to Fibre. Tone Casualties deals primarily with quality instrumental music of the experimental variety and Sub Aquatic Memories is no exception. Comprised mostly of former members of Rise Robots Rise, the Brooklyn-based Fibre mix in so many different samples into the instrumentation that you're libel to hear over a dozen different instruments/sampled sounds within a span of 30 seconds. The follow-up to their critically acclaimed debut I Cried At The Fair, Sub Aquatic Memories stretches instrumental boundaries to their outermost limits through the use of various electronic, acoustical, percussive, and ethnic sounds and is one of the finer experimental releases I've heard lately. And when I say experimental, I don't mean to make this sound like a Merzbow album that in my opinion can be almost unbearable to listen to. The experimentation here is with different instruments and sounds, and can border on sounding jazzy, tribal, classical, funky, and organic, but never at the expense of sounding caophonous. Trust me, these guys are creating music on a higher plane. - Leon Johnson

NEW AGE VOICE - OCTOBER 1997 by JJ

Sub Aquatic Memories is a fascinating, daring, and extremely well crafted CD. Its unusual sonic textures transform and twist reality in a truly psychedelic way, although it is certainly a new generation of psychedelic music. Dense, complex tracks with altered vocals and sounds are well described by the title. Just as our eyes and sense perceive everything differently underwater (lighting, speed of movement, color) and memories are filtered fragments of past reality, this music is otherworldly, mysterious, and unfamiliar, effects brought on by unconventional instrumentation, sampling, and sound processing. the altered vocals are a particularly striking signature element, and remind me of Hal as he loses his chips in 2001. I feel as if I am listening to a soundtrack to William S. Burroughs' naked lunch years, or partaking in some drug-enhanced religious experience. the eerie, haunting atmosphere of this industrial/ambient/sombient collage reaches me in a visceral way, and I find my mind stimulated to a new imagery every time I listen to it. The composition is very tightly thematic, and should be listened to closely in its entirety for best effect. However, radio programmers with little time on their hands may want to check out the following tracks first: "Master Seed" with its deep sonics and sombient feel, and "The Sleeper" with its spooky weirdness vocals. These are only representative pieces, I find it difficult to define my favorite tracks. Every time I listen is a different journey.

FAQT ELECTRONIC CULTURE (VOLUME 2, NUMBER 1)
FIBRE - SUB AQUATIC MEMORIES

ethno ghost music
intriguing moodscape design
don't expect to dance

FIBRE - SUB AQUATIC MEMORIES

- Richard Moule (Exclaim - September 1997)

The names Ben Nitze and Joe Mendelson might be familiar if you were a fan of the defunct experimental funk band Rise Robots Rise. But even if you were, nothing would prepare you for this transformation into a Fourth World ambient funk outfit. Nitze, Mendelson and friend Mac Quayle have obviously been listening to Jon Hassell and his early '80s Possible Music series and have set out to create an imaginary world of their own, taking along with them sound forces from dub, electronica, Middle and Far Eastern music, with even a little delta blues and jazz thrown in. The trio have then synthesized these resources to create a work that recalls Eno and Byrne's My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts and some of the ethnic explorations and adventures from the late Don Cherry if he were backed by the Orb.

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FIBRE - SUB AQUATIC MEMORIES

by P.L.Rocklove - October 1997

The first album by Fibre entitled Sub Aquatic Memories on Tone Casualties Records is an oasis in progress among an otherwise dry genre. Dropping anchor into a realm of music which the members of Fibre appropriately call Experimental is a trio of explorers attempting to colonize in an open but charted territory. Songs like Transition Wheel mix tradition instruments like violins, saxaphones and drums with electronic music to create a futuristic vibe. The marriage between songs, smooth transitions and dare I say, experimental vocal pieces on this album leave the passengers thirsty for more.

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