Review #18 - review of Lost At Sea from the Irish Times' Ticket Magazine by Tony Clayton-Lea - November '07 - four-out-of-five-stars
Over the past 10-odd years, Galway-based Cane 141 - effectively the dabblings of Michael Smalle, who is occasionally aided and abetted by like-minded musicians - have operated not so much under the radar as off the screen.
Created specifically as a sonic accompaniment to a visual art installation (by Galway artist Roisin Coyle) for Project 06, the best compliment one can offer here is that this works very much as a stand-alone piece.
The theme (and I could be adrift here) is the sheer vastness of oceans and why/how humans are, comparatively speaking, utterly insignificant. The coup de grace - which anchors the listening experience - is the use of former Royal Navy officer, Commander Bill King, who tells salutary and salty sea stories as the music ebbs and flows around his words.
The best record of its type this year? Aye, aye, Cap'n.
Review #17 - Norman Records - review of Lost At Sea - November '07
This Cane 141 'Lost At Sea' album sounds a bit crackers until a quick Google search reveals that it's the soundtrack to a collaborative installation with Roisin Coyle. There's a bonkers vocal narrative and plenty of mad trippy electronics / field recordings. I guess it would make more sense with the visuals. Pretty cool though nevertheless.
Review #16 - Road Records - review of Lost At Sea - November '07
A quite beautifully obscure collection of electronic pieces written specially for an audio visual installation featuring artist roison coyle and michael smalle, the album features some really lovely lush ambient electronic sounds with an intrigueing narrative from a very posh gentleman as he talks about being out at sea with the navy, it may sound a wee bit obscure but its actually a highly entertaining listen as commander bill king keeps you involved from start to finish, when the chatter subsides you are then left with some lovely lush ambient sounds not too far away from the likes of fennesz or even the icy atmospherics of biosphere.
Review #15 - review of 1-10 And Back Again (and b-side Like A Wild Stoned Cowboy) from Straight No Chaser - Sept '05
Clever title. Clever record. For those of you who don't remember Glen
Campbell's ode to the 'Star spangled rodeo' all that's left to say is that
the B-side of the new Cane 141 single is an ingenious pastiche of country
soul coming to blows with jagged electronica. A bit like Johnny Cash in bed
with Depeche Mode, but less sweaty.
Review #14 - review of The Hot Is Too Hot 7'' in DJ Magazine by Richard Brophy
Cane 141 abandon electronic music's rules  of engagement and sound all the
weirder for it. Consisting of a collective of musical like-minds rather than
an anonymous loner huddled over a laptop, their sound is constantly morphing
and mutating, throwing unpredictable shapes into the equation. The title
track crackles with the purist funk of electro-breaks and aggressive bass
licks, but also features live percussion and a female breathy vocal. And
while "cycle mall" (remixed by Amoebazoid) heads to electro's outer limits
with wired hyper speed rhythms and sub-sonic bleeps, cane 141 return to
earth for the hazy mellow "Joe Meek Shall Inherit the Earth".
Review #13 - review of Moon Pool by Tony Clayton Lea - Cara Magazine August 2005.
For quite sometime now cane 141 have been little  more than a thatched
cottage industry. There's no harm in this - some of the best music is the kind
that hasn't been tainted by the promise of money - yet there hangs around
cane141 a sense of underachievement, a feeling that if they had a wider
audience of how good they were they could be far better known. This sense of
underachievement however is something you'd never guess from Moon Pool's
confident breadth of largely instrumental music, which is bold beautiful and
extremely clever. Using most of the astute electronica tricks in the bag-
multi layered rhythms, throbbing riffs, samples, found sounds, clear cut
melody lines - cane 141 make sure that their influences rarely undermine
their originality.
Review #12 - review of Moon Pool by John Meagher, The Irish Independent, July 2005.
Galway instrumentalists Cane 141 have delivered a fine second album of
guitar infected electronica. The band manages the tricky feat of being
progressive and inventive while retaining something of a pop sensibility.
Unlike most of their peers, you'll want to listen to Cane 141 over and over.
Review #11 - review of Moon Pool by U Magazine August 2005
If you haven't heard of them already, keep an eye (and ear) out for
Galway-based cane141 who released their 3rd album Moon Pool recently.
Featuring a plethora of instruments Michael Smalle and co create a mix of
swooshy melodies and funky electronica. Definitely one to watch.
Review #10 - review of cane141's 1-10 And Back Again 12'' by DJ Mag
On first listen, wasn't really sure what to make of this 12. But once
you've had a listen a couple of times, these tunes begin to sink in. Both
tracks present are fairly mellow and are very engaging, introducing you to
the world of Cane 141. 1-10 And Back Again is a slow burner with guitars
and a vocal that makes for an electronic colourful tune whilst Like A Wild
Stoned Cowboy is exactly that, with slight country folk elements hovering
somewhere in there.
Review #9 - review of cane141's Moon Pool album by Jim Carroll of the Irish Times - June 2005
It's four years since the release of the last Cane 141 album (Garden Tiger
Moth), and Moon Pool is already many light years beyond it and everything
else in the Cane wardrobe. In the intervening period, the occasionally
interesting indie-schmindie baby steps that the Galway-based act were then
taking have become giant leaps towards a grander, more elaborate and
fascinating design. One of the few Irish bands of their generation with the
know-how and chops to successfully blend electronics and guitars, Cane 141's
greatest strength is an ability to marry their newly found European
electronica leanings with a sometimes cute but always alluring pop
sensibility. It ensures that there are many standout moments here, from the
choppy, brooding disco kiss of The Hot Is Too Hot to the glorious,
technicoloured shimmies and shakes of 33:45 and 1-10 and Back Again. An
album for their peers to cut, paste and copy.
Review #8 - review of cane141's The Hot Is Too Hot EP by playlouder.com - May 2005
This is the single that's this week's biggest grower, moving up from way down the top twenty to the giddy heights of number four by its sheer brilliance - a black 7" of dark brooding techno that brings to mind Songs Of Faith And Devotion-era Depeche Mode for its sinister undergroove, and Add N To X for its inventiveness. If 'The Hot Is Too Hot' and 'Joe Meek Shall Inherit The Earth' ain't enough for you, then check out 'Cycle Mall' on the B-side - what starts as a jerky, disfunctional beast danceable to only by an epileptic with a severe twitch, transmogrifies into a startling thing of beauty that'll have you swaying yer booty, like Daft Punk doing the do with Chic. Watch out for the album, 'Moon Pool', for more on this crew.
Review #7 - review of cane141's Flutters For Cuts EP by Tom Magic Feet of Jockey Slut - July 2004
Four tracks of accomplished electronica  for lazy summer afternoons. Hark! Is
that an accordion that we hear on the languid, drowsy ' Zero Gravity, Year
81.'? Elsewhere, the deliciously mellow '33:45' is almost deep house and
comes with a more abstract Cristian Vogel mix, while 'Rewind, you've gone
too far" is almost danceable. Almost.
Review #6 - review of cane141's Balearica gig in London from Chris Coco - June 2004
"More mad gigs and a punishing travelling schedule make keeping this diary
up to date difficult. But before I whizz off to Glasto, here’s a quick update
on the last non-stop week. Starting last Wednesday with Balearica,
featuring the wonderful Freddie B on the decks and the inspiring cane141 live. I’m
a sucker for accordions and visuals and mini synths so stick all these
elements together with a live drummer and you have Coco audio heaven. cane141 had all this and more, with an electro dub sound and an casual, indie
attitude straight out of their rural idyll in Galway in Ireland. Their
performance was fresh, funny, inspiring and really special."
Review #5 - review of cane141's EP release "Flutters for Cuts" in id - May 2004
"Swooning stuff from Irish three piece, tinged with melancholy and regret (aren't
we all). "Zero Gravity, Year 81" starts us off with a lilting, tilting
remembrance of times past. "33:45" sweeps by in a haze of curly emotion
before getting a right Cristian Vogel seeing-to, while "Rewind You've Gone
Too Far" bumps up da beatz without losing da funk. Idiosyncratic and proud
of it, just as it should be y'all."
Review #4 - review of cane141's EP release "Flutters for Cuts" in Logo - May 2004
"As a description of the delights that lie within this debut EP from Galway's Cane 141, the words 'flutters' and 'cuts' are perfect. Built around complex shards of samples, stuttering electronic beats and swooning melodies created from lazy, hazy accordions and concertinas, and shape-shifting synthesiser lines, Cane 141 evoke an image of summer days spent looking at the green fields of Provence through a heat haze, before decamping to the village square to watch strange rituals involving shields being battered with sticks made of ancient elm. This is the place where ancient meets modern; it is indeed a wondrous place."
Fela Lewis
Review #3 - review of cane141's "Sugarfoot/Lolly12" in The Circular Cosmis Spot, USA - May 2004
Man this is a great story. Late last summer I loaded my laptop with a ton of tunes for review and took off with my wife, baby daughter, and my two dogs for the lake home. Time for some r+r but most importantly, time to get my head straight. And thus, off to the booniefarts we go, merrily.
About two days into our vacation, late one afternoon, I headed out to the chairs at the edge of the lake with my trusty laptop. Glorious day, sailboats on the lake, blue skies, puffy clouds, birds, the whole shit. You know what I'm talking about.
I start through the tunes and, wading through the dreck that the mailman malevolently shoves into my mailbox, I come across "Sugarfoot." And the first thing I think to myself is, "fuck yeah, that's it."
"Sugarfoot" is that very beautiful day in a bottle. It's a beautiful day in the country in your pocket, ready for the 30 below January day, the tenth one in a row, when you need a break for sanity's sake and Christ can I just have one nice day, 70 degrees, sun, poofy clouds, you know. I need it. It's a nice day in the middle of the town square where it's so nice, first nice spring day and you hit the grassy part of the square and you sit there, soaking in the sun. Skip lunch because the day is so, so nice.
My guess is the spoken part is a recording of someone recounting a trip, or a meditative experience. And man, when the vocals kick in around 3:15, you've just gotta be loving this track. Has this sunny sounding guitar bit over a chopped, percussive electronic bed, high female vocals above the fray, angelic and nice. Just makes me happy. Excellent track.
"Lolly12" is alright. Darker feel than the previous track. A more driven ambient piece grounded in reality by a subtle, elegant guitar bit throughout. It's a statement stated and allowed to reverberate, drifting off into nothingness. A profound thought given the chance to sink in. Excellent.
Man this is great stuff. It's so damned smart it gives me goosebumps.
Review #2 - review of cane141's EP release "Flutters for Cuts" in Hot Press Magazine, Ireland - April 2004
"The criminally underrated cane141 are wholly deserving of a place as exalted in Ireland's musical ecosystem as the one held by the likes of the Jimmy Cake and the Tycho Brahe. Essentially doin' a neat line in instrumental euphoria that blurs the distinction between instrumental post rock and minimalist electronica, cane141 write of glacial otherworlds in much the same way as FourTet and Mum do. As introspective electronic EP's go, "Flutters for Cuts" is hugely endearing and brimming with charm and personality. Now if only they were to become as ubiquitous as some of the country's singer-songwriters, we'd be laughing..."
Tanya Sweeney
Review #1 - review of cane141's Witnness 2003 appearance, from witnness.com
"On the other hand, cane141 are catering for those who like their hangover
cures a little less effervescent and a little more experimental. cane141
are a subdued, trance-like outfit, imbued with the Gallic-cool spirit of
Stereolab, and brimming with melody and positivity. At times, their set
sounds like the soundtrack to 'Amelie' playing somewhere in space, and not
even the guy eating rancid-smelling Japanese noodles to my left can negate
their summery vibes."
Review #0 - Review of Sugarfoot in Hot Press Magazine, Ireland - March 2003
Taking lo-fi to mesmerising new places,cane141 combine dreamy electro synths,soprano and folk vocals,gentle guitar picking,digital beats and haunting soundscapes to create an altogether heavenly mess.This limited edition single is only available from the band's website,www.cane141.com. Log on for more details-this is one you won't want to miss.
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