Textile
There's no denying the quality of individual tracks on this disc ofimprovised electro-acoustic music, but I am reluctant to recommend it.This is because I am really not sure what the disc actually is, or whatit is intended to be. Perhaps I should list its contents, in order ofappearance: two brief pieces by a duo called Alma Fury, who play moogand sampler. One lengthy quartet piece by Alma Fury joined by YasuhiroOtani (computer player whose appearance on the "Four Focuses" compturned my head pleasantly a few years ago) and turntablist OtomoYoshihide. Then two pieces by multi-instrumentalist Xavier Charles, ashort duo by Charles and Otomo, and two more short solo improvisationsby Charles. Now I ask you: is this a compilation? The reappearance ofOtomo on two tracks suggests that some larger framework is in place,though what that could be is unclear. So is it a group withinterchanging members, like the great "Four Focuses" CD? Maybe, butthen we never hear Charles with Alma Fury, and Otani only appears onone piece. It could be that this is a document of a single concert,which would explain the variousness of the disc's contents but, alas,such a possibility is never addressed in the package. That a date andlocation is only supplied for the quartet track implies that the otherrecordings were made at some other date and place, so my theory hasthat hole in it. Is it a meeting of Japanese and French musicians? Ifso, then why are we not presented with solo pieces by Otani and Otomo?I just can't tell what unites these pieces of sound into An Album, so Iam left to describe the music by itself.
High tones are, as the title clearly states, in fashion. Sachiko Mplays them exclusively, TV Pow employ them often, Toshimaru Nakamuraseems to live mostly in the uppermost frequency range, and on and onwith the hordes of late-comers and hangers-on. The sine tone is asobvious and self-explainatory a noise as white static, or 60-cycle hum,or feedback, and as such must be used very intentionally in order to beat all effective. Whatever their relation to each other might be, allperformances on this album use sine tones as a key element. Thankfully,all the muscians are dextrous enough improvisers and sensitive enoughlisteners to create more than a mere demonstration of a trend. AlmaFury (aka Claude Besnard and Vonick Moccoli) seems to be an especiallyexciting duo, whose pieces leap and dive gracefully among gravel growlsand piercing highs. The trio recording covers much territory in its 21minutes, and made me wonder why an entire album was not devoted to thisgroup. When it changed subject to Xavier Charles afterwards, I felt asif I had cold water thrown on me; I was just enjoying the many placesthat this quartet could take me, when suddenly they were gone, thesubject abruptly changed. Not that Charles' solo tracks are bad; theyare not, though the use of recognizable radio fragments has never beento my taste. To me, as soon as an improviser turns on a radio, puresound is brought crashing down to a reference that it cannot recoverfrom; I find myself too aware of the process and attempting to tunethat part out (no pun intended). The Charles/Otomo duo is lesssuccessful than the quartet, if only because they each seem to be doingtheir own thing at the same time, in the same room. I would have likedto hear the possiblilities of their instrumentaion explored in moredepth (could this have been a full duo CD?). The inclusion of twoadditional Charles solo pieces is fine, if (for the reasons alreadydescribed) somewhat puzzling.
There's no denying the quality of individual tracks on this disc ofimprovised electro-acoustic music, but I am reluctant to recommend it.This is because I am really not sure what the disc actually is, or whatit is intended to be. Perhaps I should list its contents, in order ofappearance: two brief pieces by a duo called Alma Fury, who play moogand sampler. One lengthy quartet piece by Alma Fury joined by YasuhiroOtani (computer player whose appearance on the "Four Focuses" compturned my head pleasantly a few years ago) and turntablist OtomoYoshihide. Then two pieces by multi-instrumentalist Xavier Charles, ashort duo by Charles and Otomo, and two more short solo improvisationsby Charles. Now I ask you: is this a compilation? The reappearance ofOtomo on two tracks suggests that some larger framework is in place,though what that could be is unclear. So is it a group withinterchanging members, like the great "Four Focuses" CD? Maybe, butthen we never hear Charles with Alma Fury, and Otani only appears onone piece. It could be that this is a document of a single concert,which would explain the variousness of the disc's contents but, alas,such a possibility is never addressed in the package. That a date andlocation is only supplied for the quartet track implies that the otherrecordings were made at some other date and place, so my theory hasthat hole in it. Is it a meeting of Japanese and French musicians? Ifso, then why are we not presented with solo pieces by Otani and Otomo?I just can't tell what unites these pieces of sound into An Album, so Iam left to describe the music by itself.High tones are, as the title clearly states, in fashion. Sachiko Mplays them exclusively, TV Pow employ them often, Toshimaru Nakamuraseems to live mostly in the uppermost frequency range, and on and onwith the hordes of late-comers and hangers-on. The sine tone is asobvious and self-explainatory a noise as white static, or 60-cycle hum,or feedback, and as such must be used very intentionally in order to beat all effective. Whatever their relation to each other might be, allperformances on this album use sine tones as a key element. Thankfully,all the muscians are dextrous enough improvisers and sensitive enoughlisteners to create more than a mere demonstration of a trend. AlmaFury (aka Claude Besnard and Vonick Moccoli) seems to be an especiallyexciting duo, whose pieces leap and dive gracefully among gravel growlsand piercing highs. The trio recording covers much territory in its 21minutes, and made me wonder why an entire album was not devoted to thisgroup. When it changed subject to Xavier Charles afterwards, I felt asif I had cold water thrown on me; I was just enjoying the many placesthat this quartet could take me, when suddenly they were gone, thesubject abruptly changed. Not that Charles' solo tracks are bad; theyare not, though the use of recognizable radio fragments has never beento my taste. To me, as soon as an improviser turns on a radio, puresound is brought crashing down to a reference that it cannot recoverfrom; I find myself too aware of the process and attempting to tunethat part out (no pun intended). The Charles/Otomo duo is lesssuccessful than the quartet, if only because they each seem to be doingtheir own thing at the same time, in the same room. I would have likedto hear the possiblilities of their instrumentaion explored in moredepth (could this have been a full duo CD?). The inclusion of twoadditional Charles solo pieces is fine, if (for the reasons alreadydescribed) somewhat puzzling.
It's rather ironic that a guy who refused to accept the technology ofemail (which predates Non recordings actually) has released an albummixed in 5.1 surround for compatible high fidelity DVD systems.(Unfortunately, months after owning this, I have yet to experience thehorror in full surround.) Following Non's brightest album, (theunofficial tribute to Phil Spector and girl groups, 'Receive theFlame'), Boyd Rice strays further away from Non's noise roots, yetreturns to a dark sound, roping in grand orchestral and choral samplesto the mix of fire and death. 'Children of the Black Sun' is Rice's alltoo brief aural tour of the underworld, where seven spots highlightvarious mythologies' takes on the darker side of the afterlife and whatkeeps the world cyclic. While the album is potentially rich withfascinating themes, I feel the music is rather undeveloped, far tooshort, and somewhat haphazardly tossed together. Opening with a briefvocal recording, the sound immediately morphs into a heavy drone. Harpsweeps, viola strikes and distant screams additionally color thesoundtrack of "Arka," the place where Cain was exiled to after hisexpulsion from Eden. Without pause, the tour continues on through"Black Sun," where a single note horn drones on in the foreground whilean orchestra holds painfully for resolution it never sees. The tensionworks but the development sounds far from complete. From here, the tourcontinues through five more locations, gliding from track to trackwithout stopping, each incorporating a new set of sounds. The distantmachinery-like noises of "Serpent of the Abyss" subside to fliespicking off tasty morsels on a rotting corpse on "The UndergroundStream," while the echoed choral loops carefully matched with cracklingfire and crashing waves on "The Fountain of Fortune" give way to thealbums closer, the 51-second "Son of the Sun," where a distortedbackwards speech clumsily accompanies an unexciting orchestral loop.(Spin it backwards for extra insult if you really find the need toshell out the cash for 31 minutes of average drone loops.) I could begravely mistaken on the value of this album, since I haven'texperienced the full spectrum, but musically, I'm going to make aneducated guess that the listening experience doesn't get a whole lotbetter. 
This CD is a recording from the Summer of 2000 of a Berlin performanceby Ilpo Vãisãnen and Dirk Dresselhaus (i.e. Schneider TM). Vãisãnen isplaying the typewriter, that beautiful device pictured inside thePanasonic "Kulma" CD, while Dresselhaus is playing electric guitar. Themusic is electric noise improvisation and is generally prettyenjoyable. This is nice music to play while doing the dishes, ironingor checking email. But the trouble with that is, as the music is mostlynot very attention-grabbing, it's easy for the mind to wander andsuddenly I find that the CD has come to its end and, with a measure ofguilt, I admit that I can't recall much of what happened. It is notfair to expect a 45-minute improvisation to be enthralling all the waythrough. Even if it were, how much of that can we expect to remainafter the transfer through CD into your living room, with the soundtoned down and smoothed out, with the drama and tension of the eventreplaced by the banality of everyday surroundings? So I get theheadphones on and concentrate. (This enhanced CD has a couple of videostaken from the performance that can be played on a computer and,despite the video effects, the images help me to visualize the event.)Under these conditions, this turns out to be an exciting performance.Vãisãnen is the more dominant player in duo. While rather conventionaland fairly transparent, the guitar playing is always tasteful,sometimes exciting, and very sympathetic to its surroundings, thesebeing presumably Vãisãnen's doing. The same personality known from PanSonic is immediately recognizable but is largely without the Pan Sonicsound. After years playing a unique instrument it is perhaps no wonderthat a personal style emerges. Vãisãnen introduces considerableoriginality to the unfolding process at several points throughout theshow. My only quibbles are the smart-ass track mastering and theinscription on the inside of the digipack that says "set the volume andlisten." But perhaps this is no more than the anticipation that certainin the audience will in fact set the volume and do the dishes orironing instead. 
When Stereolab burst onto the music scene, critics and fans praised thefresh sound of a band who incorporated the energy and drive of groupslike Neu! combined with the artful mentalities of 1960s French popmusic. Over the years, the group's recordings have evolved from a raw,analogue sound to a much more refined, digital one. Live, however, thegroup has consistently proved their worth, evolving with theexploration of more territories and unrelentlessly dishing out thenoise, graduating to a tight, fully realized collective. This two-disccollection captures ten years of BBC radio sessions, that livein-studio moment where a band's weaknesses can easily be exposed to theworld. (Perhaps it's through these recordings they decided it was timeto get a new drummer after the first session, and perhaps they gave thebass guitarist another chance to tune up after "Check and DoubleCheck." The revolving door of keyboardists remains a mystery, however!)It's safe to say, however, that a number of these recordings that haveheld up over time, sounding remarkably as fresh as the day they werefirst broadcast. From the early low-fi days I'm reminded of the band Ifell in love with: a group who was still sort of learning their placebut were doing a fantastic job regardless. It wasn't long after therecordings that songs like "Wow and Flutter" and "French Disko" werestuck in the heads of thousands of fans and with all-out jams like"Metronomic Underground," classics of the 1990s were born. This is thelongest-spanning collection of Stereolab music issued and it providesan excellent document on their evolution as skilled players andwriters, without the advantages of studio tricks, re-takes andoverdubs, something their most recent albums might be a little toooversaturated with these days.
After the Archers of Loaf broke up, front man Eric Bachmann decided hestill had a significant Muse living within him, enough to warrantforming Crooked Fingers, his current project. Where the Archers of Loafhad an abrasive noisiness which was unbelievably catchy and poppy,Bachmann's Crooked Fingers has shed all of the noise and distortion fora far more plaintive and roots rock sound. Did I mention there werestrings? There are strings. Some of the songs on 'Red Devil Dawn'receive a strangely lush orchestration, complete with horns ("YouThrough a Spark") and strings ("Big Darkness," et al.). On the otherhand, the last song, "Carrion Doves," is a truly spare dirge whichreminds you how good a songsmith Bachmann is even with the moststripped-down elements. The last time I heard Crooked Fingers was whenI sought out their cover of Bruce Springsteen's "The River" (I findmyself singing this song sometimes driving late at night, in the car,alone). I was curious what Bachmann did with the Boss's ballad. Iremember it being not as good as I wanted it to be, and I was surprisedbecause Bachman's scratchy, throaty, and gruff voice was perfectlyattuned to the task. The songs on 'Red Devil Dawn' are catchy pop rocksongs, but when the strings or trumpets come in I cannot help but thinkI am listening to a Mark Knopfler album, a thought which makes me feelrather uncomfortable and causes me to look for the nearest Minor Threatalbum. While picking up my mom from the airport recently, I had theCrooked Fingers album playing in the car, and she actually asked if Iwas listening to Bruce Springsteen. Her confusion became clear to mewhen I thought about it. Someone could easily mistake this album forthe newest Tom Waits or Neil Diamond. Still, I find myself listening tothe first song, "Big Darkness," whose verses hop up and down the scalesand whose chorus is quite catchy. As long as I don't think about MarkKnopfler or Neil Diamond, I can listen to 'Red Devil Dawn' pleasantly,though I don't foresee any of its songs replacing "The River" as mylate-night solo material. 
Bill Laswell is one of those "everywhere-at-once" musicians—producing,engineering and playing bass on countless albums for other artists, aswell as maintaining an absurdly prolific release schedule of his ownmusic. This album is mysteriously billed as 'Dub Chamber 4,' and sinceI haven't heard the first three Dub Chambers, I'm questoning myqualifications to write this review. However, this album does bearquite a resemblance Laswell's 'RadioAxiom: A Dub Transmission' album, acollaboration with Jah Wobble released early last year. Like thatalbum, 'Book of Exit' is a highly polished series of superlative ethnicmusic workouts, utilizing heavily percussive dub as a backbone. Thisstrategy has worked for Laswell many times before, and it works hereagain. Three of the six tracks contain beautiful, serpentine vocals byEthiopian singer GiGi, who also sang on 'RadioAxiom'. GiGi'sseductively epic vocal style works wonderfully in this context, but asLaswell's music always floats dangerously close to New Age/Worldbeatterritory, it's difficult for me to completely surrender to its beauty.There is something a little enraging about white westerners whoshamelessly co-opt the music of other cultures and blend them into asuper hi-fi pastiche that loses its meaning and context, and serves asstereo test fodder for thousands of yuppie bachelor pads. The onlythings that save Laswell's music from being relegated to this hall ofshame are his incredible grasp of composition, subtlety, and his earfor rich, captivating production. It is this amazing ear thattransforms the opening track "Ethiopia"—a combination of cleanlyplucked acoustic guitar, tabla, multitracked voice and echochamber—from an easy cliché into an alarmingly beautiful experience.Most of the album follows this same basic formula, until things get alittle bone-shaking and mind-bending towards the end, with the one-twopunch of "Shashamani" and "Land of Look Behind." The album concludeswith the long-form heroic pop of "Jerusalem," an achingly lovely paeanto an ancient holy land, rife with war and division. GiGi sings mostlyin English this time, and her sad and timely refrain of "Jerusalem,Jerusalem/You are so undone/Oh, what have you done...?" leave no doubtof this album's worthiness.
Elliott Sharp shouldn't need much of an introduction, but just in casehe does, just think of him as this bald headed big-nosedcyberpunk-obsessed improvising bassist with a mountain of recordingsand collaborations behind him. He's a mainstay of the New York KnittingFactory scene and one of those musicians whose activities have alwaysbeen on the periphery of my record collection. I've probably heardquite a lot of tracks from him here and there but before getting holdof this I only had one Carbon CD, which I found in a highly unlikelydusty old secondhand shop. This duet recording with the almost equallyprolific drummer Bobby Previte is perhaps slightly more exciting and alittle more freeform than Carbon, and mostly it's hard to believe thatit's just two people playing. They've played together a lot in the pastbut this is their first duo recording and it's obvious they couldprobably kick out deconstructed funky jams like this at the drop of ahat. Their chops are dense yet fluid, and whenever it seems they'reabout to hit a predictable groove, they pull out some new rhythmicthrust that shifts the dynamic. This can occasionally work to thealbum's detriment. For instance: at the end of one track they lock ontoa really cool Can-style hypnosis, only to curtail it prematurely.However, this is only a small niggle as it's quite a breathtakingdisplay of virtuosity that keeps up a high level of momentum and flux,as Sharp fingerhops all over the neck of his eight string guitarbass,plucks a little pedal steel and even blows a bit of bass clarinet.Unless they are overdubbing or more likely laying on delay pedaltricks, it seems he can play clarinet and bass at the same time.Although people who've heard a lot more of Sharp's recordings mighthave become jaded by now, to these ears this sounds fresh and fun. 
When you see a song title like "Trebling/Freezing," you have a prettygood idea of what kind of a listening experience you're in for. 'TheEvening Drag' is a sullen exercise that doesn't reach for much more.The album begins with "The Girls Will Haunt You," starting off strongas Kim Torrez debuts her plaintive voice amidst the band's simple, yetdeep-sounding arrangement. It's a strong hook, and yet frustratingly,the track begins to fade out unresolved, without expanding ordeveloping on its initial expression. A majority of 'The Evening Drag'mines the same territory, competent songs of quiet despair that rarelydisplay any flair or personality to set it apart from any other song onthe album. At times, it seems they tried to compensate by addingspecial effects, but more often than not, they feel out of place ordownright goofy. By the time you reach "A New Despair," an inexplicableinstrumental track that has you waiting for something, anything tohappen and then again fades out, the album's formula has begun to wearout its welcome. Torrez is capable of showing some dynamics, whichmakes the sameness of the middle of the album so disheartening. On"After the Carnival," they create an atmosphere that's positivelyblissful, as Kim croons "spin me around / spin me, make me dizzy." Theemotion is conveyed excellently, a warm memory replayed the next daythat still manages to make you smile. The final two tracks, "The Flame"and "All on Fire" also deviate from the standard sorrowful drone, thelatter beginning as a lullaby with dreamy vocals that make you glad youdidn't hit stop. 'The Evening Drag' is uneven, but with a few brightspots that make it hard to count this band out. 
In an age where the sophomore slump is more commonplace than a bandname that starts with "The," it's a pleasure to hear an album that doesnot show any chinks in a band's armor. Sonna's lovely secondfull-length effort is not a departure for the band in any way, and whata lovely treat that is. The band continues to craft fluid instrumentalguitar music without redefining the genre, but still in a unique enoughway not to draw comparisons, and varied enough not to bog the listenerdown. The first track, "Frone Taj," opens with fervor and energy, anddoesn't let up for its duration. Chiming, dueling guitar lines startthe track off, and when the drums kick in the song just soars. Thickbut sparse bass notes underlie the proceedings, and the bright andseemingly dischordant guitar line mixed with a very pretty noteprogression on the second guitar meld better than you'd expect. Then,the band slows things down considerably for the hypnotic "Open Ended,"which features a similar melody to the end of "The Opener" on Sonna'sdebut. It just grooves along, steady faded drums and muted bass joinedby that same chime and guitar bend. Elsewhere, Sonna drones out on "OneMost Memorable," and returns to their frenetic side on "The Right Age,"but only briefly. The tempo slows mid-song, turning the song into apleasant slow dance for lovers only. The final two tracks flow intoeach other, completing a sentence together, title-wise. "Smile" is adown-tempo mix of bass, echoed guitar, and droned swells with whatsounds a lot like a harmonica joining towards the end for a beautifulclimax while "And the World Smiles With You" finishes the record offmuch like it started, with crisp drumming, intertwined guitars, andpurposeful bass. It all quiets down towards the end with harmonics andpiano for a whole "in like a lion, out like a lamb" vibe that's justmagic. Sonna's not breaking any molds, but they're certainly growinginto their own space. 
Country music is a genre marred by the Nashville Network-popularizedimages of ten-gallon hats, Shania Twain, and the "Achy Breaky Heart."Its history has been buried by line dancers and crossover hits, andthis mainstream face is often enough to make your average rock musicfan plug their ears and refuse to even entertain the thought oflistening to country music. But just as the crème de la crème of rockand electronica won't be found with a spin of the radio dial, a closerlook must be taken at artists like Neko Case who make meaningful musicthat acknowledges the rich past of country music and Americana. Nekotakes a much subtler turn on her third full-length album than on herprevious efforts. Eschewing the bright, twangy sound of 2000's superb'Furnace Room Lullaby,' 'Blacklisted' feels like a smoke-filled room,dark and foggy, but with a definite sting. The hushed, plucked acousticguitar of "Things That Scare Me" sets the late night mood of the albumwhile racing along at a gallop. Banjos, strings, and vibraphones playsupporting roles throughout the album, but the true star of'Blacklisted' is Neko's voice. She manages to lend a delicacy to herlyrics while singing with such force and emotion on tracks like"Runnin' Out of Fools" and "Deep Red Bells" that you'll fall out ofyour chair. Songs like "I Wish I Were The Moon" lament loneliness,while on "Look For Me (I'll Be Around)," Case is dangerously close toresembling a stalker. Heartache, longing, loneliness, and obsession arecommon subject matters, but the passion in her voice conveys asincerity and honesty that makes 'Blacklisted' a truly powerful album.It's the soundtrack to a sleepless night, lying in the dark, listeningto the rain where you can't stop thinking about that one person and howyou don't know where they are, or who they're with. Forget about thebaggage that country music has been tagged with. To allow preconceptionand prejudice to stand between you and this work would be a seriousmistake.
