itzmehall

Member Since: Aug 23, 2006
Rank: 1826
Average Vote Received: Correct (4.05, 138 votes)
last 10 days: Correct (4.09, 22 votes)
Rated 683 releases, average: 3.73
Location: Massachusetts, United States
Profile: Ratings:
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Places you may find me eavesdropping or discussing music:
http://www.derekroddy.com/forum/
http://chondriticsound.com/forum/
http://ihatemusic.noquam.com/

Seller Rating:

100.0% positive (8 ratings)

Buyer Rating: 100.0% positive (12 ratings)

itzmehall's groups (8)

Reviews:

Sunn O))) - Monoliths & Dimensions - 27-May-09 04:14 PM
This is the pinnacle of Sunn O))). I cannot see how they could ever top this album. It is their most imaginative, well composed, and multi-faceted work to date. The album is an ambitious amalgam of Sunn's guitar drone with chamber ensembles, choirs, and an array of guest musicians.

Each Sunn album has had a fair share of guest musicians. However, Monoliths & Dimensions is the first to utilize each musician's contribution and flawlessly infuse them to create a greater realization of each piece of music. Oren Ambarchi and Attila Csihar have been consistent members in recent years and are also credited as "key players" on the album. Csihar's contributions are stronger and more coherent than on past albums in my opinion. The lyrics are closer to traditional vocals perhaps than the chants on past albums, but still contain an atmospheric delivery. Dylan Carlson of Earth makes an appearance on the track Big Church. He even receives credit for inspiring the choir arrangement of the track. One of the most surprising appearances is by jazz trombonist Julian Priester, an alumni of Sun Ra's Arkestra, who contributes a beautiful and human sounding melody which finalizes the last moments of the album. The most noticeable contribution however, is by Eyvind Kang and his direction of the chamber ensemble players. These arrangements add the most depth to the album and coax the music into something unique.

At times, Sunn have been negatively portrayed as a band built by hype. I can't say that I am completely in love with some of their earliest releases, but they have been progressing into more creative and ambitious ventures within the last few years. As I said at the beginning, this is most likely going to be the pinnacle of the group. This is by far the most imaginative music that Sunn has released.

Even with new found diversity, the slogan still holds true... "Maximum Volume Yields Maximum Results".

Scratch Orchestra, The - London, 1969 - 14-May-09 11:14 AM
What initially grabbed my interest for this release was the Cardew and AMM connection. However, none of the musicians are credited on the release and it contains no liner notes about the particular performance. It is believed that this meeting was mostly composed of students from Cardew's own musical classes at Morley College in London, and other musicians who answered an advertisement placed in "The Musical Times" magazine. Unfortunately, I believe the democratic leanings of the group are what makes this a poor release, as well as the incredibly poor clarity of the recording. I felt as if I was listening to this performance through the wall of an adjoining room.

Side A is dominated by muffled horn players and a voice musician who mostly hollers and shouts. Occasionally another musician will poke through but not to any great significance.

Side B is slightly more interesting in my opinion. It consists of radio broadcasts played in succession for a couple of minutes each. There is no radio interplay or collage if you will. It really is just a broadcast playing for a couple of minutes and then a subtle switch into another.

I had high hopes for this release, but was greatly disappointed. I am sure not everyone does or would dislike this release as much as myself, but I feel the only significance of the release is that it is one of only two official releases to document this collective group project led by Cardew.

Emeralds (2) - Emeralds - 03-May-09 07:08 PM
For those of you like myself, who started listening to Emeralds around Solar Bridge, this may sound like an odd tape. The S/T cassette is an earlier-ish release from the group, which finds them still searching for their signature sound.

The material on side A does not sound anything like the cosmos inspired drones reflected in their current material, it actually sounds far more like a dark ambient track which by the end of the song awkwardly transitions into a field recording of muddled conversations. It never develops into anything significant and sounds like a group still striving to develop direction.

Side B is much more like the slowly evolving blanket of synthesizers and guitar which Emeralds are known for. Not as layered and complex as their current material, but still a nice piece. It's an early pre-view of what the group later becomes capable of.

Gridlink - Amber Gray - 06-Dec-08 07:16 AM
Gridlink's debut release "Amber Gray" has been much anticipated since their first track was featured on the final Discordance Axis release "Our Last Day" in 2005. After three years, I was excited when I heard it would finally receive a release date in 2008. However, the length/price of the release kept me from purchasing it for a couple of months. I am so glad I caved in and just paid the $14 for this release, because it is a very strong 12 minutes. Of course, and probably to Chang’s dismay, most of his musical projects will be compared to Discordance Axis. Gridlink, like Discordance Axis, plays ultra-tight technical grindcore with incredible energy. To be frank, it is hard to go into the differences between the two groups, because they may share more similarities. However, "Amber Gray" stands very strongly on its own merits and is exceptionally well done. The first few listens will most likely be a blur, but on repeated listens you will hear how well crafted these songs by Chang, Fajardo, and Matsubara actually are.

Anthony Braxton - 3 Compositions Of New Jazz - 09-Nov-08 03:13 PM
3 Compositions For New Jazz is Anthony Braxton's debut album as a leader. While breaking away from traditions of Western music, which Braxton states in the liner notes is one of his many goals for this album, he does embrace one of his greatest influences. This music utilizes the collective improvisational teachings of the Association for the Advancement for Creative Musicians, which Mr. Braxton had been an active member of at the time. A musical platform which heavily emphasis's the social dependencies of group improvisation, while simultaneously expanding on the importance of individual expression. Multi-instrumentalism, another encouragement of the AACM, was a means of further expression widely showcased by all musicians on this album. The results provide some extremely free and liberating pieces of re-structuralism, but do tend to get too disjointed for my own interest; moments in the first and second track in particular. The Bell however, the third and shortest track, stands apart from the rest of the album in certain regards. Actually created by fellow AACM peer Wadada Leo Smith, The Bell sounds the most focused of all three tracks. The piece utilizes far more space than the former works, allowing each musician more room for individual expression. I believe Braxton executes the playing style of collective improvisation more successfully later, on the For Trio album on the Arista label than he does here on 3 Compositions For New Jazz.

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