Paul Dickow is submerged in the hazy underworld of drugs, secrets, andfailing memory. His music is a borderline between narcotic dreams andreality; there is no certainty in the melodies and beats that flowsteadily through these seven songs, but rhythms do emerge and gasprecognizably without fail. Strategy's newest release is march towardscontradiction. There are dub rhythms bobbing back and forth throughoutthe watery synthesizers and echoed noises, but they never seem to headanywhere. All the while, without giving notice, they morph and changewith the highlighted melodies and uneasy motions of the music. Dickowhas played with Fontanelle, Nudge, and Emergency, as well as remixedmaterial for Stars As Eyes, and this material sounds at as uniquecompared to the rest of his work. Despite the title of the CD, there'snothing Max Roach or Bill Bruford about these songs; they're all asteady flow of not quite intelligible words, sounds, and heartbeats. Attimes, like on "Drumsolo's Delight," the drums play a more noticablerole than on the rest of the record, but they always seem like they'rebeing choked underneath a mass of effects and late nighthallucinations. Nothing moves quickly enough to escape my ears, butnone of the sounds rest on a firm ground; this gives Drumsolo's Delightan uneasy delivery. At times the slow motion eruptions and naturaldevelopments are appealing and at other times they are painfully slowand do nothing for me. Sleeping music this might be, something to beplayed in the background, but it rarely moves or evolves in a way thatmakes active listening a joy. There are exceptions to this rule,however, as other parts of the record are compelling in their aquaticsway. "The Jazzy Drumsolo" is an excellent merging or steady rhythms,repetitive melodies, and noise-driven tangents. As various sounds seepout of the background, the rhythms and melodies shift and becomesomething entirely different. When some element of the track wears itswelcome away, another piece of the picture slides into view andcontinues to carry the music away in a floating drift. I'm not usuallya fan of something this direct. All the sounds are quite obviouslylaptop or keyboard-oriented and there's little to no variation in thedirection of any of the songs (they all sound like perpetual chillmotors made for slowing the heart down), but Drumsolo's Delightkept me strangely interested. I never moved to change the songshalf-way through their duration and I never once stopped and thought tomyself, "I hope this ends soon." I could deal with a bit more diversityor at least some surprising changes because the nature of this recordlends itself towards the obvious and simple. The whole album soundslike the color blue and that color never really changes from track totrack. Everything marches steadily on into infinity, until Dickowdecides to shut everything down. This record has its good moments, butthere's nothing fantastic about it that makes me want to listen to itagain and again. -Read More
