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FENNESZ: ENDLESS SUMMER
CD
EUR 15
Fakejazz.com: "It caught
me off guard at first, this, the third LP of Austrian laptop
guitaristChristian
Fennesz. This is the last place one familiar with his music would
expect
to find a catchy refrain, or any reference to pop sensibilities at all.
Its not that he hasn't alluded to this in previous efforts, his 1999
7"/CD
single FENNESZ PLAYS, featuring covers of the Rolling Stones "Paint it
Black" and the Beach Boys "Put Your Head on My Shoulder" was just that,
an allusion; more of an electronic residue of the originals, rather
than
covers.
His first LP in 1997,
Hotel
Para.lel, was a perfect synthesis of blown out guitar noise and dance
floor
rage. His last LP, +47 Degrees 56' 37" -16 Degrees 51' 08, released on
the UK's Touch, fit appropriately into their mostly esoteric roster. An
exploration and fetishizing of the sounds in his garden, it had little
to do with melody. If anything, Endless Summer finds Fennesz picking up
where FENNESZ PLAYS left off.
Songs are constructed
around
the melody, rather than it being a small part in the whole. The title
track
is an amazing amalgam of micro sounds and macro guitar, a patchwork of
familiar and unknown, coherent and disorientating. The last couple of
minutes
feature an acoustic guitar that stutters and spits-up, struggling to
find
its center, rolling around in a lush refrain of synthesized stings.
Caught
off guard I'm sure.
A few tracks later we find
"Shisheido," by far the most traditional of Fennesz's compositions,
utilizing
pop's basic recipe: two guitars. On one hand, a simple chord melody
bathed
in an acid bath of glitches and pops, and on the other a plucked out
lead
of longing, contemplation and the sorrows of the end of a California
summer.
A sentiment echoed on the album's artwork of chilly sunbathers, red
orange
skies, and loan boats on the horizon with dark clouds overhead. In the
stand out track, "Before I Leave," he finds a way to suspend time and
catch
a single moment in between the notes--the work of Steve Reich or Morton
Feldman put on pause and investigated completely. We're left with
"Happy
Audio," a comforting refrain of little notes that over the course of
ten
plus minutes has its insides turned out. In a world of Clicks and Cuts,
a definite breath of fresh air."
GENERAL MAGIC: FRANTZ
CD EUR 15
Tim Owen, The Wire:"
Frantz
is named after Frantz Klammer, a former Olympic skier, I believe. There
is also a track titled "The Official GM Ski-WM theme". What does this
signify?
You may well ask. This is a bold venture in Electronica, and all this
comes
packaged in a book-shaped cardboard wallet, so it looks as intriguing
as
it sounds."
Forced Exposure: "Known
for their "treated" samples of unusual sources, this consists of
unspecified
droning electronics, sparsely attended abstract beats and general
disruption.
Beautiful electronic listening and a fine addition of the stupendous
Mego
catalog."
©
Biophon Records 2006