Ever since I heard Nuno Canavarro's Plux Qubaalbum, I have been waiting for some artist to approximate the closetedbeauty of that record. Esteemed by Christoph Heemann, Jim O'Rourke andothers since its recording in 1988, Plux Quba is a gem ofbedroom electronica, a fractured, dreamy assemblage of treated vocals,simple electronics and brilliantly restrained melodica. It cannot besimple coincidence that the same label to reissue Plux Quba in1998, O'Rourke's Moikai, is now releasing Orton Socket's debut, a discthat owes much to Canavarro's unique style. Orton Socket is theunlikely project of Ray Mazurek, member of the Chicago Underground Duo,Isotope 317 and others, but that would be hard to guess based on thismusic, a delicate patchwork of digital sounds, lacking definitestructure or even grounding rhythms. 99 Explosions differs from Plux Qubain that, twelve years on, Mazurek has a greater variety of sounds athis disposal, but structurally, it is very similar. The songs enjoy aspare, though non-repetitive structure, with more than one distinctsound rarely occupying the listener. Every piece travels through dozensof individual phrases, each entirely different than its predecessor andarriving in a way that seems both arbitrary, yet in accordance with thedisc's fuzzy logic. Darkly melodic sections appear abruptly butdissolve just as quickly, into low-level hums, shifting glitch effects,and mini, dirge-like drones. Once in a while, rhythms will emerge fromrepeating two-note clusters or metronomic sounds, though they are neverextended, only continued to the point of suggesting furtherdevelopment. Like any great painting, the beauty of 99 Explosionsis the result of its powers of suggestion. In his denial of resolutionor elaboration, Mazurek rends something new from his already beautifulphrases, a unique sound world that exploits listener expectations in anunimposing, delightful way. Read More
