Semaphore's music is about clear tones, scattered beats, and just enough distortion to leave an edge in the ears so to speak. The 1st album entitled 'make' charted on CMJ top 40 under the RPM charts, and reviews have been positive. The music coming from Kirby Clements will be under the name of laughingshadow from now on. Semaphore remixes and the 1st album from laughingshadow can be found at laughingshadow.com.

Rib Magazine Review - 2005

3 ½ ribs-lots of different tastes.

Produced, composed and mastered by Kirby Clements’ (Semaphore) release Make is an adventure of the senses. Utilizing 24bit recording, a Macintosh and various digital devices, Clements was able to create a nostalgia-evoking soundtrack with unassuming, toe-tapping rhythms. The elements combined somehow mesh to create an experience somewhere between a planetarium and a dance club. Will Jordan

A & A Review - 2005

Very much in the vein of Aphex Twin (Selected Ambient Works phase, I suppose), these pieces often come on softly before really kicking the ideas in full force. The beat work is impressive, but not at all overbearing, as if the beats are merely another part of the construct. What a revolutionary thought.

Yeah, yeah, I deserve the razzing. But it is nice to hear someone with a firm grasp on all elements of a sound. Clements knows what he wants his music to sound like, and he's taken the time to really put everything together nicely.

This one really is a sleeper, as most good "ambient" (that term dates me, I'm sure) works are wont to be. Semaphore sails through the electronic universe with elegant lines and insistent grace. And that works for me.

SlugMag Review - 2005

Semaphore = Boards of Canada + a touch of Brian Eno’s sense of disorganization as a structure
Not to be confused with the DC band of the same name Semaphore, in this case, or perhaps till the lawyers get involved, is Kirby Clements. Make is a solid slab of ambient textures that knows just when to mess things up a bit and keep the songs from wandering off into something your mother would call “lovely” or “perfect music to fall asleep to.” In fact this is one of those albums that really benefits from being turned up to the point where you’re neighbors are banging on the door wondering why you’ve chosen that particular hour of the night to throw an electrical soundstorm down their throats. It isn’t overtly experimental, threatening or outrageously brilliant but it is good without being derivative.

Glide Magazine Review - 2005

Subtly ambient, often brilliant electro instrumentals excreted by Kirby Clements. Notwithstanding their vigorous breakbeats, the tracks lean toward a more dated sound on the whole, with scads of primitive synth rarely heard nowadays outside of Heart’s “Magic Man” (put less delicately, let’s leave it at Robert Moog Has Risen From the Grave). This isn’t to wave the whole thing off as anachronistic swill – the layers of Chemical Brothers/Haujobb snap-crackle-poppage are many and not un-creative – but both goth-fashionistas and couch-gangstas will be repelled by the choices in vibe and hurrying back to their chat rooms in no time. Opening gambit “Slipping South” catches Big Ben playing Tetris while striking midnight; the darkwave modulations of “Drone” bear a faint resemblance to vintage Wumpscut (or, more precisely, Diary of Dreams), eventually sliding into theta tones, muted clanging and psychedelic collisions. Thereon it’s mainly an all-noise scratch-ticket with some good picks – hardy explorers will discover man-made ocean waves and army-chopper whirr (“Gel”), a walk through menacing desert canyons (“Push”), stun-guitar-washed rasta-riddims (“Veggie”), and a humorous poke at prog-rock (“Death to Me”).

Albums

This Artist has 1 Album

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