The first interesting thing about Not Overtly Orchestralis the black-and-white photo on back of the disc, framing tworeel-to-reel tape decks, fastened to a bare wall about 20 feet apartand running a visibly stretched loop of tape across the expanse.Whether or not the six members of The Loop Orchestra actually performusing loops this large does not determine the success of their music;however, a healthy love of loops, odd juxtapositions, distortedlayerings, and nostalgia might create the perfect predisposition. LoopOrchestra are from Australia, with members who've played in theoft-overlooked experimental/industrial/newwave outfit Severed Heads,and like that band's more challenging 12" platters, Not Overtly Orchestralis heavy on clipped, semi-nauseous repetitions, loops meant to definethemselves as loops first and foremost, with any mood-making orillusionism purely secondary. The Orchestra work exclusively withreel-to-reel decks, a process that all but guarantees their primitivetechnique, by which various loops are slowly layered, fading in and outto create tracks that progress (depending on tact and intention) in ausually fluid, ever-changing fashion. While they lack most of theHeads' mechanical rigidity and long-windedness, Loop Orchestra'sslippery sense of humor and interest in all things arcane andincompatible seems directly related to their fellow countrymen. I amhesitant to compare this disc to other loop-centric, antiquatedtechnologists like (the now obvious) Philip Jeck because the appealhere feels more esoteric, more heavily reliant on the kitsch factor.Tape-loop composition is a tried, age-old technique, making The LoopOrchestra worthy of praise mainly because of the increasingly bizarrenature of the sounds used. The opening "Son of Not Overtly Orchestra"establishes its initial mood with a choir of hazy stringed instrumentswhich are slowly and nervously assimilated into a factory noisescape,eventually locking into submission as a few wailing guitars initiatethe track's calamitous end. The track acts as a pleasant preamble tothe weirdness that will dominate the rest of the disc. "Radiophony" isa 15-minute piece created from, and in tribute to, the BBC RadiophonicWorkshop's archival recordings. The Orchestra approaches this sourcematerial the way Stock, Hausen, & Walkman might, isolating thestrangest of the Workshop's creations, from abstract animal voices towonderfully dated space-age trumpet sounds and a library's worth ofgrainy, analogue atmospherics, stretching and piling each bit of tapeinto a surreal tour-de-force that those bearded Brits could never havedreamed up. The disc's real gem, though, is "Profiles," the longest ofthe four pieces and one that clarifies the Orchestra's devotion to campand all things peculiar. It is a vast collage of vocal sounds, rangingfrom piercing screams to breathy grunts and warped speech, piecedtogether in a staggering, drug-damaged spew, rife with churning aquaticnoise and other field captures. The track is a perfect summation of thegroup's interests, further into leftfield than they initially appearand completely capable of breathing freshness into tired styles andobsolete devices. Read More
