Part of Staaplaat's rigorous CDR re-issue seres, Dan Burke's sonic mayhemnow can be yours at a reasonable price. As CDRs go, it's well producedand not really distinguishable from a regular CD. The title is apt, as the music is all over the place- in a good way.It's a bombardment from start to finish, never really letting up, andconstantly throwing new ideas and snatches of sound at you. He must havea warehouse somewhere filled with endless hours of tapes, and bits, andreels of forgotten films. Whereas any jackass with a sampler can throw endless cut-ups togetherinto and unearthly messy stew, it takes a fair amount of insight andcohesion to get it to work right, knowing when to introduce what, or howabstract sounds relate to each other. Dan Burke's the only musician I'veheard who uses volume as a musical instrument. It seems as important asthe choice of sounds, because he really knows how to build and keep uptension, something which is maintained and holds the thing together. Themost unnerving things are the long field-recordings, or static bits, cos'you can tell he's just waiting to puncture it with somethingear-shattering. Some of it does come-across like a horror-film, with thedirector an old hand at knowing when to pull back and when to throw inthe surprises.
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