David P. Madson continues his explorations in musical collage with this dense mix of chance sounds, "real" instruments such as Dee Kesler's guitar, samples, and the voices of such guests as Jessica Bailiff and TV on the Radio's Tunde Adebimpe.
Anticon
Along with plenty of dub thump and melodic blast, Level Live Wires has some pleasing swells and crackling electronics reminiscent of Tim Hecker. The disc is packed with disparate elements, sudden lurches, swerves, complete stops, slowdowns and glides, yet Madson's skill is such that the overall flow stimulates and engages.
For a long time it was a struggle to get into this record. It didn't make sense to me on headphones, and when played through speakers several people demanded that it be taken off. One morning though, I grabbed it as I headed to work and finally its perfect setting emerged: it sounds great on a busy drive when in danger of being late for an appointment. It is all mirrored in this record—the anxiousness, the feeling of speeding along highways, glancing in the rearview mirror, slowing to a crawl, being stuck at lights that appear to be broken, zooming past slouches, picking your nose, braking sharply, keeping one eye out for a traffic cop, pulling away from the lights like shit off a shovel, watching the clock and the speedometer, getting trapped in the purgatory of being behind parallel drivers across all lanes at the same speed, relaxing when some time has been made up, a peripheral glance at a smart young woman in a newer, bigger vehicle, and so on,... Level Live Wires sounded right when I was in motion.
Oddly, only later did I notice that the back cover art shows a car on fire, and the track "Burner" features Madson's recording of an abandoned vehicle exploding in front of his apartment, horn blaring. The overwhelming feeling of the disc is of being alert and anxious. Luckily, I'm usually late and Level Live Wires will be staying in the car.
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