Monday, November 03, 2008

Gates McFadden - You Can See Russia From Here On A Clear Day

Gates McFadden's fullest album to date has improviser/composer Joel Schrauben making a digi-romantic Glenn Branca of himself. But not via an army of guitarists; it's just Joel and a laptop - therein being dozens of delay loops and tones. You Can See Russia... is an exercise in infinite repetition; fitting in that the Palin remark appropriated is just one of a series of infinitely repeated talking points this season - repetition to the point of a loss of meaning. Fortunately for Gates McFadden, the loss of meaning here is not a descent into idiocy but one of recontextualization; where repeated tones and sounds layer upon one another building a veritable Tower of Digital Babel that comes crumbling down when Schrauben (as creator) sees fit. Schrauben achieves a unified, suspensefully ambient statement that gives credence to those who may assert that tension and resolution are overrated concepts.
Get it here.

Guyz Nyte - Smmmrtyme Blooze

In the heat of the summer, two men did not forget what heat and oppression are all about. Summer has come and gone, and the dutiful execution of heat mongering, sweltering summer death and 10,000% humidity by our two prophets of sweat stands as a testament to those months now lost. As you stand in the death-piles of raked leaves, counting the dismal days until you are buried in ice and snow, hold vigil with our heroes, Guyz Nyte, for the taste of the Mississippi Delta that comes to Michigan every year.
Get it here.