I must admit that Ihonestly don't remember this record being this good when I got it onvinyl two years ago, but now that it's on CD I feel it's worth amention. The Montreal trio known as Exhaust consists of Gordon Kriegeron clarinet, bass and guitar, godspeed's Aidan Girt on drums andvarious other things and Mike Zabitsky in control of reel-to-reel tapecut-ups. Their first release from 1996 was only on cassette, threesongs from that were remixed and appear on this eponymous release. Thetrio not only know how to interact well with each other on this disc,creating moderate tempo grooves and spacey cuts from improvisedsessions and limited sources, but they know when to quit and start thenext track. The ten tracks on the disc just barely squeak in over 30minutes, which is perfect for something as enjoyable yet somewhat thinas this. On each track it seems as if the recordings are going straightto the tape without overdubs of more instruments and effects. Aiden'srhythms are simple yet beat-box influenced and hyper-manipulated inparts, Gordon's musical contributions change from track to track andcan be a dub-sonic bass loop, squelching guitar or calming clarinet.Almost taking center stage are the samples and tapes, which unlike inthe godspeed setting carry no profound message and seem to be used forthe sole sake of their sound. Godspeed fans shouldn't jump into thisrelease expecting to hear something similar to A Silver Mt. Zion orMolasses, Exhaust is much different.

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