Sonic Boom - All Things Being Equal (2020)

It’s auspicious that Sonic Boom—the solo project and nom-de-producer of Peter Kember (Spectrum, Spacemen 3)—returns in 2020 with its first new LP in three decades. Kember’s drawn to the year’s numerological potency, and this intentionality shines into every corner of All Things Being Equal. It’s a meditative, mathematical record concerned with the interconnectedness of memory, space, consumerism, consciousness—everything. Through regenerative stories told backwards and forwards, Kember explores dichotomies zen and fearsome, reverential of his analog toolkit and protective of the plants and trees that support our lives.

Sonic Boom’s second album and first for Carpark began in 2015 as electronic jams. The original sketches of electronic patterns, sequenced out of modular synths, were so appealing that Stereolab’s Tim Gane encouraged Kember to release them instrumentally. “I nearly did,” confesses Kember, “but the vibe in them was so strong that I couldn’t resist trying to ice the cake.” Three years later, a move to Portugal saw him dusting off the backing tracks, adding vocals inspired by Sam Cooke, The Sandpipers, and the Everly Brothers (which he admits “don’t go far from the turntable pile”), as well as speculative, ominous spoken word segments. His new home Sintra’s parks and gardens provided a different visual context for Kember’s thoughtful observations, and he thematically incorporated sunshine and nature as well as global protests into the ten resulting tracks. “Music made in sterility sounds sterile,” he says, “And that is my idea of hell.”

Over the vivid, calculating arps of opener Just Imagine, Kember nudges listeners to do as the title suggests. It’s based on a story he read about a boy who healed his cancer by picturing himself as a storm cloud, raining out his illness. The Way That You Live, a rollicking drone powered by drum machine rattles and bright chord beds, morphs political distrust into a revolutionary mantra about ethical living. “I try and live my life by voting every day with what I do and how I do it, who I do it with and the love that I can give them along the way,” offers Kember.

An unusually curated gear list accompanies each song, unexpected layers reinforcing the monophonic skeletons. Mystery soundscapes and grinding sweeps were teased from EMS synths, synonymous with and evocative of ‘60s BBC scoring and ‘70s Eno. Pacing basslines oscillating into warbling heartbeats came from a cheap ‘80s Yamaha. A modern OP-1 generated subtle kicks and eerie theremins, while his toy Music Modem—an unused holdover from sessions Kember produced for Beach House and MGMT—finally found its recorded home.

It’s rare to see liner notes where synthesizers rather than humans are credited (other than guest vocal stints from “co-conspirators” Panda Bear and Britta Phillips), but Kember is masterful at finding the unique personality in his machines. “I tried to find the deepest essence of the instruments and let them play,” he offers. What emerges from these considerations on technology and humanity is a honed collection both philosophical and grooving, spacious even as it fills to its brim. It’s distinctly Kember—more than that, it’s distinctly Sonic Boom.

Tracklist:
1. Just Imagine (07:57)
2. Just a Little Piece of Me (05:34)
3. Things Like This (A Little Bit Deeper) (05:01)
4. Spinning Coins and Wishing on Clovers (06:25)
5. My Echo, My Shadow and Me (03:01)
6. On a Summer’s Day (06:37)
7. The Way That You Live (03:32)
8. Tawkin Tekno (04:51)
9. I Can See Light Bend (05:19)
10. I Feel a Change Coming On (08:24)

Exact Audio Copy V1.6 from 23. October 2020

EAC extraction logfile from 7. August 2021, 17:44

Sonic Boom / All Things Being Equal

Used drive : ATAPI iHAS124 F Adapter: 1 ID: 0

Read mode : Secure
Utilize accurate stream : Yes
Defeat audio cache : Yes
Make use of C2 pointers : No

Read offset correction : 6
Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out : No
Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes
Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No
Null samples used in CRC calculations : Yes
Used interface : Native Win32 interface for Win NT & 2000
Gap handling : Appended to previous track

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Selected bitrate : 1024 kBit/s
Quality : High
Add ID3 tag : No
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Additional command line options : -8 -V -T “ARTIST=%artist%” -T “TITLE=%title%” -T “ALBUM=%albumtitle%” -T “DATE=%year%” -T “TRACKNUMBER=%tracknr%” -T “GENRE=%genre%” -T “COMMENT=%comment%” -T “ALBUMARTIST=%albumartist%” -T “PERFORMER=%albuminterpret%” -T “COMPOSER=%composer%” -T “DISCNUMBER=%cdnumber%” -T “DISCTOTAL=%totalcds%” -T “TRACKTOTAL=%numtracks%” –picture=%coverfile% %source% -o %dest%

TOC of the extracted CD

Track | Start | Length | Start sector | End sector
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––-
1 | 0:00.00 | 7:58.38 | 0 | 35887
2 | 7:58.38 | 5:34.43 | 35888 | 60980
3 | 13:33.06 | 5:01.04 | 60981 | 83559
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9 | 43:02.52 | 5:19.33 | 193702 | 217659
10 | 48:22.10 | 8:25.51 | 217660 | 255585

Track 1

Filename C:Sonic Boom – All Things Being Equal (Carpark Records, 2020) EAC-FLAC1. Just Imagine.wav

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Extraction speed 6.0 X
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Accurately ripped (confidence 6) [3A2603D5] (AR v2)
Copy OK

Track 2

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Extraction speed 6.7 X
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Test CRC 3322213A
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Accurately ripped (confidence 6) [3CADEDFC] (AR v2)
Copy OK

Track 3

Filename C:Sonic Boom – All Things Being Equal (Carpark Records, 2020) EAC-FLAC3. Things Like This (A Little Bit Deeper).wav

Peak level 99.0 %
Extraction speed 7.2 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 9DB8E22F
Copy CRC 9DB8E22F
Accurately ripped (confidence 6) [DC161AEA] (AR v2)
Copy OK

Track 4

Filename C:Sonic Boom – All Things Being Equal (Carpark Records, 2020) EAC-FLAC4. Spinning Coins and Wishing on Clovers.wav

Peak level 95.4 %
Extraction speed 8.1 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 30B6CFC9
Copy CRC 30B6CFC9
Accurately ripped (confidence 6) [1B11C95E] (AR v2)
Copy OK

Track 5

Filename C:Sonic Boom – All Things Being Equal (Carpark Records, 2020) EAC-FLAC5. My Echo, My Shadow and Me.wav

Peak level 96.8 %
Extraction speed 7.7 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC E974421D
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Accurately ripped (confidence 6) [C26FCFB5] (AR v2)
Copy OK

Track 6

Filename C:Sonic Boom – All Things Being Equal (Carpark Records, 2020) EAC-FLAC6. On a Summer’s Day.wav

Peak level 93.5 %
Extraction speed 8.9 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC AE1306D6
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Accurately ripped (confidence 6) [A98AFB40] (AR v2)
Copy OK

Track 7

Filename C:Sonic Boom – All Things Being Equal (Carpark Records, 2020) EAC-FLAC7. The Way That You Live.wav

Peak level 94.7 %
Extraction speed 7.0 X
Track quality 99.9 %
Test CRC 2D86773F
Copy CRC 2D86773F
Accurately ripped (confidence 6) [B7419460] (AR v2)
Copy OK

Track 8

Filename C:Sonic Boom – All Things Being Equal (Carpark Records, 2020) EAC-FLAC8. Tawkin Tekno.wav

Peak level 95.8 %
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Accurately ripped (confidence 6) [B6EF2F43] (AR v2)
Copy OK

Track 9

Filename C:Sonic Boom – All Things Being Equal (Carpark Records, 2020) EAC-FLAC9. I Can See Light Bend.wav

Peak level 96.9 %
Extraction speed 9.9 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 04343C51
Copy CRC 04343C51
Accurately ripped (confidence 6) [477B4660] (AR v2)
Copy OK

Track 10

Filename C:Sonic Boom – All Things Being Equal (Carpark Records, 2020) EAC-FLAC10. I Feel a Change Coming On.wav

Peak level 94.3 %
Extraction speed 10.6 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 7F4BBC48
Copy CRC 7F4BBC48
Accurately ripped (confidence 6) [DE9FFE2A] (AR v2)
Copy OK

All tracks accurately ripped

No errors occurred

End of status report

–– AcoustID Plugin V1.2.0

Total fingerprints: 10

–– CUETools DB Plugin V2.1.6

==== Log checksum 2E2BE59D4215F8BAAA8EC144FE2A198092A0D23447905AABA09CFDB4F8653534 ====

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