THE WIRE June 2011 “Size Matters” review by Brian Coley
Magnetic Stripper
Extended Play-R
Suitcase 7”
Debut of the solo electronics project created by James Ellis following his departure from Tennessee (and from the duo Absolute Ceiling). Now based in San Francisco, Magnetic Stripper’s music owes certain allegiances to Bay Area synth-a-booty of the late 1970’s and early 80’s, but it lacks the cuddly dynamics that ruined some of that stuff. Extended Play-r definitely sounds olden and non-academic, but is good in a serious way.
VITAL WEEKLY
MAGNETIC STRIPPER - EXTENDED PLAY-R (7" by Suitcase Recordings)
Eric Blevins was once known as All Fours, and also running the Suitcase Recordings label, and returned after a long hiatus in 2008. In 1982 he started along with one Jim Ellis as Absolute Ceiling, until 1984 and since 1996 the two work again. Another fourteen years later sees the first release by Magnetic Stripper, a 7" with four tracks on Blevins' own imprint. They seem to be stuck in old industrial music, armed with a few synthesizers and a rhythm machine. Think a bit of Esplendor Geometrico in the earliest days, crude formed electronic music with voices which are hard to decipher. I must admit I quite liked this, but then so I did with the old Esplendor Geometrico sound. The overall music and design: its all very much a product from the past but then presently made. A fine one. (FdW)
AQUARIUS RECORDS
MAGNETIC STRIPPER Extended Play-R (Suitcase) 7"
Given the look and sound of this short EP, Magnetic Stripper could be some terminally obscure DIY-industrial-synth project circa 1982, with the tinny drum machines, noisy blurts from various synths, and plenty of references to Absolute Body Control, Minimal Man, The Units, and Chris Carter's synth moments within Throbbing Gristle. But in fact, this is the work of San Francisco's James Ellis, currently working and performing today. There are four short pieces that would make for a great teaser for a forthcoming record, with the weird-science array of disjointed synth melodies and electro-static squiggling, all hanging upon skeletal drum machine pulses. The title track has more of a bedroom project New Wave feel with its motorik rhythms and percolated step sequencing. The other three tracks take more of an early SPK direction with all of the drum rhythms taking on a lumbering pace, minus the snarled noise and grizzly imagery. Both sides of the 7" end on locked grooves, and the single comes with a retro-looking button. Very cool.
LOUD & QUIET
MAGNETIC STRIPPER Extended Play-R
(Suitcase)
Magnetic Stripper’s ‘Extended Play-R’ is a collection of odd and odder experimental sci-fi sounds. They’re loosely molded into four tracks, but blink between the sonar wobbles of the title track and the metallic fizz of ‘Nuclear Cataracts’ and you’ll miss the handover between what is essentially two intergalactic sound recordings of complete alien nonsense.
Not to worry; the b-side dials down the pretence as this San Franciscan heads for a planet a little more similar to that of Earth, where inhabitant like songs to have some kind of direction. Static-ridden electronics continue to fuel this spacecraft but the satellite squeaks of ‘Feel’ – that squeal like a dolphin chorus – are thankfully set to an industrial beat that has some intent. It almost feels sexy, in a cosmic prowler kinda way. The following ‘Another Step’ then does its best to fuck itself up by interrupting its voodoo house samples with repetitive goblin vocals. And it was getting so normal.
DISCOGs
Review by pastysurprise Jan 20, 2011
Great single that somehow melds the terrain between eighties acts such as Minimal Man and Mark Stewart Group. There's a lot of sonic variety, including cool keyboard work and two locked grooves. If you miss the raw creative DIY electronic sound that characterized the 80s, then getting this new 7" will truly help bridge that gap.
DUSTED MAGAZINE “STILL SINGLE”
JUNE 2, 2011
Magnetic Stripper – Extended Play-R 7” EP (Suitcase)
Self-proclaimed “VOX/ELECTRONIX (SYNTH DIY)” recorded over a two year span in San Francisco from one James Ellis, who has been at this music since its inception (his outfit Absolute Ceiling was active in Georgia in the early ‘80s). One would predict that with such a depth of experience, and drive to continue in music for an unheard decade, that the artist might be able to develop a voice apart from the current generation of acolytes. One would be right, too – Ellis has had Magnetic Stripper as an active project since 1996, and his compositional stance and personal energy gives these four songs carry with them the sense of discovery, if not mastery, that led on the first waves of minimal synth, acid house, bleep techno, and other styles of music that relied on this technology to creep out in dividends. Ellis seems to have more interest in weird oscillator sounds than actual keyboardsmanship, but the exploratory vibes make for some really intense atmospheric pressure when it all gets going. Comes with a 1” badge, both sides end in locked grooves. Cool record! (http://www.a4suitcase.com/magnetic-stripper.html)
(Doug Mosurock)
JURGENDDR.BLOGSPOT.COM
Wednesday, 6 April 2011
Magnetic Stripper: Extended Play EP-R (Suitcase)
In the first half of the eighties, he worked in Tennessee project Absolute Ceiling, behind which stood a pair of experimentalists: James F. Ellis, and founder of the cassette label Suitcase Recordings Eric Blevins (All Fours). After Ellis in 1996 moved to San Francisco and began performing under the pseudonym Magnetic Stripper (Blackhair DVD Collection), their cooperation slowly reversed. Until late last year, they teamed up again through a collection of four songs recorded during the years 2008 - 2010. The record, named Extended Play-R, and during January it came after the Plastic & Paper 2CD. Very precious memories in the industrial electronics with mysterious whispers and endless track, The New Flesh. Without it, here is a record just eight minutes, which is perhaps the only criticism of this release, garnished with pancake edition.
METROPULSE Knoxville by John Sewell July 27th, 2011 at 11:28
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Long-time scenesters will certainly remember Jim Ellis, the stylish artiste whose projects included Jack Kirby-influenced cyperpunk landscapes, clothing items that were requisite hipster couture for those in the know, tattoos, and, most of all, himself. Ellis was a mainstay of Knoxville’s punk/art/industrial scene in the late 1980’s and early 90’s. In 1994, he moved to San Francisco, where he has become a successful autodidact in the field of interactive multimedia technology.
Since 1996, Ellis has performed as Magnetic Stripper. Always appearing in self-designed costumes, he creates a jarring sound reminiscent of 1990’s glitch artist of the Mille Plateaux label and, especially, the pre-digital, computer-generated electronic noise of performers such as the The Normal, Factrix, Boyd Rice, Throbbing Gristle. All of the Magnetic Stripper’s sonic output – ranging from dubstep and krautrock to musique concrete, which is “industrial” in that it produces the factory sounds of jackhammers, buzzsaws, dentists drills, and steel presses-is created on sound-generation equipment constructed by Ellis himself. The name “Magnetic Stripper” comes from a malfunctioning reel-to-reel deck notorious for scraping the ferric oxide off the tape, aka the Magnetic Stripper Deck.
As “Magnetic Stripper”, Ellis recently released a 7” single on the suitcase imprint, an Atlanta-based label run by another Knoxville expat, Eric Blevins. The record has created quite a stir in the underground noise scene, receiving positive reviews in avant-garde leaning publications such as The Wire, and Dusted Magazine.
Interestingly, the record has a strong Knoxville connection. “Being still fixated with the electronic sounds of 1978 – 1983,`Extended Play-R’ is the record I would have made when I first moved to Knoxville from Johnson City in 1985”, Ellis explains. “Nuclear Cataracts” is dedicated to [Knoxville artists] Bruce Dillon, Kathy Freeman, and the SeeSeeEye. The B-side is alternative-universe soundtrack music for Kevin Niceley’s `Gospel World.’” (Gospel World was the name of Niceley’s Fort Sanders home, which served as an after-hours nexus/crash pad for hardcore punks and gender-bending gothic types in the 1980’s. Niceley later ran the Mercury Theatre and has just opened Niceley’s Tavern in Fort Sanders).
Ellis plans to extend the momentum of his first single with three upcoming releases: a cooperative project with Blevins called Absolute Ceiling (Absolute Ceiling has performed intermittently since its inception in Johnson City in the early ‘80s); a remastered version of the first Magnetic Stripper recording; and a retrospective DVD. The Magnetic Stripper 7-inch, as well as photos and a brief bio, are available the suitcase site, a4suitcase.com, and videos of Ellis’ scary-looking sonic contraptions can be found at trashaudio.com.
