Tuesday 17 December 2013

Rē Records Quarterly -- A Series, Part 4: The Quarterly Vol. 1 No. 1







Modern art from the early twentieth century was the inspiration here, with Braque an influence on the back.  Opening with staccato string chords reminiscent of a Night on Bald Mountain growing psilocybin mushrooms on the ground for the plucking, from Steven Moore, and proceeding into complete Norman Bates' Psycho territory, this first installment is probably one of the best in the set.  The other record I will present next tomorrow, Volume 2 No. 2, is my favourite, foolishly I kept it for the 5th part of the series by which time guaranteed everyone will have had enough of this crazy music designed to clear the room of any normal human being.

Standout track here is unknown Swedish band's  "Mission Impossible" (not to be confused with the proto-alternative band of the same name which featured a young Dave Grohl) and their song Indefinite.  Notice the brilliant use of the tritonal B flat on a song in E.  I would love to know if they made any more recordings, if anyone has any info, please let me know.




The other fabulously jittery track is Lars Hollmer's, with its angular melody and bizarre chords with crazy dissonances, it's pretty much a definition or anthem of the RIO style.  I know it drives some people to distraction on hearing this, while others like myself find it utterly fascinating because of its off-the-wall mutational originality. 


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