Shifty Disco August 2005
The balance between pop music and art has been quite abstract in the last 30 years. The work of Talking Heads and Composer -
Producer Brian Eno in the early 1980's is such a harmony. The focus of popular musics has largely been a systematic formula
of what Eno describes as "very pyramidal". A class system where the lead vocal is at the head of the class.This legates the
rest of the instruments and sounds to the backround. What interests coL is the scope of many sounds building to create a
sonic landscape that is similar to a flat shape. Also, to have each piece of music (song) exist on it's own in space. Not rooted
down by any chord structure or boundary. A lot of what Eno was aiming for, while creating such work, was to physically place
the concept of music in a new place, as well as in our minds. It is brave. A lot of what makes up the nature and scape of
coL's music is similar. The focus of creating sounds that are understated and modest releases them from any role
or idea, and they are free to go where they may, very similar to the concept of improvisation.
Amplifier Magazine March / April 2006
"JesusWarhol Records and all the industries of Colin Lipe are coming to a place where people who not only want escape,
but escape forward, can find a friend, ear, and object of both implicit function and exquisite beauty. Dancers,farmers,
philosophers, and pizza makers all have a valued position in the world of coL. Try playing someJames Brown and watch
the vibrational patterns of the universe show themselves to you. Love the old fashion way. Selfless.
We wouldn't work without us."
BBC Radio 2008 / 2009
Sand and The Exploding Plastic Kaleidoscope featured.
Music From Another Surface August 2010
I have been a quiet observer of coL's work since I first read that he performed drums on one of Ariel Pink's Paw Tracks releases.
I must admit though, that due to no one (including coL) making a big fuss or push - to get his stuff into themind of his generation,
I have been hesitant to dive into his immense and overwhelming catalog of 47 albums. Where do I begin? I mean, if someone
has 3, 4 or 5 albums, one can pick an album that is newest or start from the first. You don't feel like you've missed too much of
their output, up to this point. But, with coL, there is already, due to his enormous library, this sense that you have missed out
on something, and that is kind of a mind-fuck, seeing as how most people have never even heard of him! I have put this past
me, and gone into the depths. Well, I bought an album - finally. I picked his 42nd (and I know that sounds strange) album:
" The Temple is Burning" from 2007. With an opening line like: "You're so afraid to kill who you are, and begin again." This is
like nothing else is out there. What is weird is the sense that coL would rather have the story or meaning behind the songs
accepted or taken in, then his persona. There is also something else going on. These are no pop songs. I am not even sure
if they can be called "songs". They are intense, and the use of music for coL seems to be a way of expression, the way video
was during the 80's with such work as 14 video paintings; "I see TV as a picture medium rather than a narrative medium.
Video for me is a way of configuring light, just as painting is a way of configuring paint." - Brian Eno. I believe coL
uses music just the same way. He is an artist, and this happens to be a medium in which he expresses himself.
