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to rococo rot and i-sound, "music is a hungry ghost"
Fans of To Rococo Rot's last full-length release beware, click/glitch fans beware, both worlds share the car ride here on a disc which (consistent with other TRR releases) has taken a few listens to be completely appreciated. I must start by admitting a scary realization: I sometimes get the feeling that there's too many clicks in my music collection right now. This whole click/glitch trend is rightfully doomed if it continues to go nowhere. To Rococo Rot have probably realized something similar and decided to actually go somewhere.
"Hungry Ghost" sounds like a sonic painting of a car ride with NYC-based DJ I-Sound, stopping along the way to pick up and drop off passenger Alexander Balanescu (violinist of the Balanescu Quartet). It's a 45-minute score to an overnight trip — the "Trance of Travel" if you will — claiming "How We Never Went to Bed," and went "From Dream to Daylight" "Along the Route." Then of course there's the "Mazda in the Mist" "She Tended to Forget." Beyond that concept, TRR made a prime example of how to couple the tools of today's technology with real musicians to push the musical evolution forward. While I warmly welcome this to the click genre, I accepted it with loads of hesitation to the TRR sound. The catchy tunes and driving melodies which littered their last release are less prominent throughout the 45 minutes here. In their place are more sound effects, whirling, buzzing and yes, clicks. The band has not completely given in, however, and are indeed still actually playing their instruments. I was so in love with 1999's release 'The Amateur View,' that I sincerely hoped they could build on that foundation, yet I'm thrilled somebody is making an effort to drive the clicks off of laptop-exclusive music. This album succeeds in the sense that it would make a perfect disc for driving with a bunch of friends, providing a gentle ambience perfect for talking over with the occasional noticing of quiet high-pitched clicking things.
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