Monday, October 04, 2010

OVERDUE AMG UPDATE

It's been a while since I posted links to AMG reviews, 'cause I haven't been writing as many of them lately. Here are the most recent ones.

Akwid, Clasificado R
Black Anvil, Triumvirate
Bostich + Fussible, Bulevar 2000
Vicente Fernández, Un Mexicano En La Mexico
Marcus Fjellström, Schattenspieler
Henry Grimes/Rashied Ali, Spirits Aloft
Hildur Guðnadóttir, Mount A
Infernaeon, Genesis to Nemesis
Vijay Iyer, Solo
Liv Kristine, Skintight
Kylesa, Spiral Shadow
Rudresh Mahanthappa & Bunky Green, Apex
Man's Gin, Smiling Dogs
Neurosis, Live at Roadburn 2007
Steelwing, Lord of the Wasteland
Trigger the Bloodshed, Degenerate
Various Artists, Dark Matter: Multiverse 2004-2009
Vindicator, The Antique Witcheries
Waking the Cadaver, Beyond Cops, Beyond God

I also wrote a review of Cluster & Farnbauer's Live in Vienna that didn't run; here 'tis:

CLUSTER & FARNBAUER
Live in Vienna
Important
This two-CD set, originally released on cassette, documents the only collaborative performance between the German electronic duo Cluster (Hans-Joachim Roedelius and Dieter Mobius, formerly of Conrad Schnitzler’s trio Kluster) and percussionist Joshi Farnbauer. Cluster was one of the major kosmische groups coming out of early ’70s Germany alongside Tangerine Dream and the work of Schnitzler and Klaus Schulze. Their endless interstellar journeys via analog synth had a somewhat creepier vibe than those of TD, and were less robotic/inhuman than Schnitzler’s work, without being as lush as Schulze’s. This live performance, perhaps due to the limitations of the source recording, has a thin quality, and the sound occasionally wavers, but overall it’s bound to be of great interest to fans of the duo. The music travels through a variety of moods and zones over the course of nearly 90 minutes; “Piano” and the closing “Ausgang” are quite beautiful piano pieces, the latter also featuring Farnbauer on delicately tapped cymbals. “Drums” features him cutting loose on a thundering beat that almost prefigures industrial, while “Metalle” gradually moves from humming soundscapes to droning Krautrock reminiscent of Faust’s collaboration with violinist Tony Conrad, Outside the Dream Syndicate. Farnbauer adds a great deal to this album/performance, absolutely earning his co-billing status, and new listeners will find this every bit as fascinating as longtime Cluster fans.

1 comment:

LukeB said...

hey thanks nice review, quite intrigued by this album as hadn't heard of it before.