The idea behind the 'In the Fishtank' series sounds really good: get two (or more) bands touring the area (broadly, the Netherlands,) and get them to record a live album in the studio, spontaneously. Like most things that look great on paper, the execution fails gloriously, and on many levels. Maybe Sonic Youth was having a bad day, or possibly the I.C.P. or The Ex took over a whole lot of the sound on this album, but please, if you have anything else you'd rather do, don't hesitate to do that instead of listening to this album. It has all the annoying qualities of a pretentious John Zorn release (and none of the positive, like the amazing musicianship of some of the early John Zorn stuff.) The rush of recording constraints forced on the groups probably didn't help the creation of their numbered tracks. The seemingly random numbering of the tracks gives me the impression that these pieces were just made with no intent in mind, just to take up time. Weird atonal honking horns are ok, but not if they're boring you to death. If you like Sonic Youth (or any of the other bands,) at all, avoid this thing like the plague.
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