Beguiled by Tim Story (Reviewed 7 April, 1997)
Tonight I listened again to Tim Story's BEGUILED, an album from 1991 on Hearts of Space. It is the perfect thing to listen to on a wet Sunday night. It features jewel-like, short pieces for Story's big piano, accompanied by the amazingly soft electric-guitar playing as well as synthesizers and occasionally cello. The work is melancholy and sweet at the same time; it creates an intensely particular mood. I feel as though I'm sitting with someone after some great ordeal is over, reminiscing about sadness and endurance. I can almost see the half-empty glasses of wine.

Story's track titles alone are worth listening to: "Helen of the West," "Improbable Language", "Pale Litany," "In the Days of Small Sorrows," "Her Cathedral," "The Luminous, the Dark." They suggest whole stories (not Story) to me, mini-novels or romantic mini-films that could be created using just that cut as a soundtrack. I drift off into imagining just what "Her Cathedral" might be, or what "These Few Words" might have been.

There is a European, French feel to a lot of this music and it doesn't surprise me at all that Story cites the French surrealist composer Erik Satie as an influence in his music. More than that, there is a feeling of "maturity" or "adulthood" in this music that the more superficial, rock-oriented New Age material doesn't show to me. I feel that the "stories" behind Story are about grown-ups, not youths.

Story's music invokes France, and is "stylish" the way Craig Huxley's much more upbeat music invokes Southern California for me. As you can see I find myself writing more about the "associations" of the music for me than the music itself. This is not meant to denigrate the music which is beautifully crafted.

The graphic package of the CD is also beautifully done, with very close-in closeups of what turns out to be black and magenta flowers. The curves of the calligraphy of the "Beguiled" title follow the curves of the stamens of a mysterious magenta flower on the cover.

Altogether an aesthetically pleasing and "beguiling" work of art and even after 6 years it holds its own as one of Tim Story's best works.

Halcyon Days by Steve Roach, Stephen Kent, and Kenneth Newby (Reviewed 19 December, 1994)
I'm a major Roach fan, but I must admit it took me many listens to get into this album. Once I did, I began to appreciate it but it is not an immediately satisfying album. Steve Roach is joined by two other musicians in this techno-tribal set. The title refers to a mythical time of perfect weather the week before and after the winter solstice (right now, on December 19th) when the sacred kingfishers would breed in calm waters. The phrase "halcyon days" has come to refer to a calm and idyllic time but this music is anything but calm and idyllic. I'll go through it cut by cut.

1. "Halcyon Days." This is the best of the lot, right at the beginning. It has a rousing rhythm in which the didgeridoo is used for percussion. It snorts, barks, howls, and burps. Also prominent in the percussion is a clay pot with a clear ringing sound, and a big gong. About three-quarters of the way through the piece Roach's synthesizers enter in a particularly nice moment. The piece ends in a lovely classic Roach floating chord.

2. "First Day." This is more in the style of Roach's other collaboration with Saiz and Reyes, involving a tribal-inspired dancing/chanting rhythm. The ponderous beat continues throughout this piece: BOOM-cha, BOOM, cha.....BOOM-cha, BOOM, cha.... and a Middle-Eastern style improvisation is played on what sounds like a primitive saxophone. It sounds like a mix of Middle Eastern and blues playing.

3. "Rainfrog Dreaming." Twirling wind sounds open this piece, which then continues, floating through an ambient mix of Indonesian gamelan sounds, rain, critters, those frogs we heard on ARTIFACTS, and that old honking didgeridoo again. This piece explores some of the waterlogged Southeast Asian territory of Robert Rich.

4. "Snake Brothers." It begins with atonal tweeting and piping, accompanied by rattles and noisemakers. It sounds like the noises that are made to call up hideous slime monsters in H.P.Lovecraft stories. (Tekel-li-li!) This resolves into yet another didgeridoo rhythm punctuated by clackers. The rhythm and tone color do not change that much throughout the piece. The "arrangement" is rather thin here and I miss the multi-layered "symphonic" sound of Roach's other work.

5. "Slow Walk at Stone Wash." It has some quiet thumping and droning, and some hooting winds. There are some long drawn- out synthesizer sounds which are reminiscent of Roach's MAGNIFICENT VOID. This piece doesn't go anywhere. This and cut #4 are the least successful of the album.

6. "Riding the Atlas." This has a good, exciting, fast-triple rhythm. The didgeridoo is back on percussion, and there is also more musical sounds contributed by a string bass and some creative synthesizer sounds. The piece is fast and energetic; this is good jammin'.

7. "Calyx Revelation." This is the most "New Age" sounding piece on the album. You hear spacy Roach chords with spooky cascades of electronic notes repeating every few seconds. It is quiet and chilling, but it doesn't change very much as it goes on. This fades into....

8. "Kingfisher Flight." It has the same nervous rhythm which we heard in the Roach/Obmana WELL OF SOULS. I liked it there and I like it here. The ensemble is accompanied by a mournful flute sound.

Graphically the packaging is appropriate for the "techno- tribal" theme though somewhat conservative. The cover is a computer-done collage of feathers, aboriginal sculptured heads, and water (or ice). Inside the foldout the liner notes are refreshingly clear and to the point. The photographs of the three musicians, though, are annoyingly blurred in an "artsy" manner. Neither of the three guys is a matinee idol at any rate, they all look rather scruffy and grim.

My general impression of HALCYON DAYS is that it is good, but not excellent. Roach's work with Saiz and Reyes (FORGOTTEN GODS , EARTH ISLAND) was brilliant and I keep comparing this new trio with that other one. I think part of the problem may be that Roach's collaborators play mostly the same instruments as Roach, so you get MORE percussion and didgeridoo, rather than a wider ensemble. As I remember, the Reyes/Saiz combo had an electric guitar which added some echoes from rock into this usually inaccessible type of music. Also there was singing or chanting on the other albums which I missed on this one. Nevertheless there is some top-quality material on this album and I will be listening to it again and again during, and after these December Halcyon Days.

A Passing Thought by Stephen Ray Martin (Reviewed 2 April, 1996)

I like 'Winter's Horizon' (track 1). It's a very moody, simple peice with a repeating motif over a brooding background. To me it paints a picture of cold, wide open, spaces and is a style of music I particularly like which is why it surprised me that the rest of the album is full of very melodic, even jazzy, numbers.

'Eye of the Beholder' and 'Evening Commute' (tracks 2 and 3) are both very upbeat full of rich arrangements and sounds. Trouble is I find them a little to complex, expecially the drum patterns which seem to go off on their own rather than lay a foundation for the music.

'Maybe Next Time' (track 4) has a spanish guitar as the featured instrument and is my next favourite track. Very uplifting and a nice mix of the elctronic and acoustic.

The final track on side one 'Nevertheless' shows a change as the arrangements become less complicated. A lush intro into a neat background sequencer with a pleasant melody to the fore carries you along until it suddenly ends - no warning, no build up (which is a bit disconcerting at first but makes you want to turn the tape to hear what comes next...)

Side two's opening tracks, 'Primitive Implementations' and 'World of Erosion', both upbeat. Primitive Implementations has an unusual solo using a steel drum sound which sounds like Stephen's gone hell for leather with the hammers!

Then we have the last three tracks, 'Roads Less Traveled', 'A Passing Thought' and 'Catalina Sunset' which come together really well. The arrangements are uncluttered - the drums especially are more controlled - and the production seems less dense - you can pick all the instruments out. Very melodic and uplifting, especially the piano motif of the title track.

As a first release I think it shows promise for the future. And at US$4 for the tape you can't go wrong if you'd like to try it out.

For more information contact Stephen

Wire We Here by John Greenland (Reviewed 9 April, 1996)

I bought this on the recommendation of a posting last year by RGC and I can best describe this album as an hour of music to test your hi-fi as well as your listening powers. It's one of the best produced independent contemporary music releases I've ever heard. The depth, quality and variety of sounds and instruments used is incredible and each listening (and there have been many) has revealed another treat. Mind you, the music is just as rewarding.

I admit it took 3 or 4 listenings for me to really begin to appreciate this album but perserverance has paid off!

Each cut is like a miniature film soundtrack - swooping and rising, creating tension with a sudden key change or lulling you into a false sense of security before dramatically changing rythm.

Favourite tracks include the title track and 'Harry Birthday' with its repeating, syncopated, 6 note melody line. Also 'Ekkos' with it's mixture of orchestral sounds and an irritating (in the nicest possible way) lead keyboard sound.

In the sleeve notes John says "I am not a minimalist. On the contrary, life is so subtly complex and multilayered that if I had to assign it to a musical genre I would call it baroque".

This album is itself subtle, complex and multi-layered and if you like your music on the adventurous side then this really is worth buying ($15).

For more information contact John

Sacred Memories of the Future by Cybertribe (Reviewed 23 October, 1997)

Initial hearing of the aboriginal chant, didgeridoo and standard funk backing of the opening track, 'First Contact', and you'd think that Deep Forest had moved to the Australian outback fo their latest project. A very formulaic start but one that is very airplay friendly.

Get down to a more ambient groove and Cybertribe start to shine a little. 'Reaching the Oceans' is full of seabirds and waves, synths and unobtrusive didg with a pleasant, laid back rythmn which lull the senses while the uncluttered arrangement, mellow beat and improvised, free fall vocals on 'Cry of the Earth' (very reminiscent of Claire Hamill(sp?)) make the hairs on your arms stand-up!

Trouble is these are spoiled by the tracks they are wrapped around. 'Deep Down in the Jungle' and 'Visions of Light' sound like unfinished ideas, neither ambient or dance. The former also has a very disconcerting vocal line sounding like someone doing a bad impression of Jack Nicholson...

'Call of the Didgeridoo' is a solo piece that shows how expressive a hollowed out eucalyptus branch can be. So why use the didg for no more than just a background drone on most of the other tracks? It's also a good warm-up for final track, 'Back to this Land' which offers the best mix of aboriginal influences and modern sounds. Male chanting and stamping over a very earthy beat, a chord arrangement that lifts the heart and the main vocals taken by a child, Joshua Jalong, express a feeling of hope for the future.

Overall an album that comes across as lacking direction. Hopefully Cybertribe will be more focused on their next release.

The Blind Messenger by Forrest Fang (Reviewed 31 Ocotber, 1997)
Forrest Fang's new release, THE BLIND MESSENGER, rises from techno-ambient obscurity to star as one of my favorite new albums of 1997. MESSENGER is full of striking sounds, intriguing rhythms and structures, clever changes, and sophisticated musical invention. I hope that albums like this will bring its small independent label, Cuneiform, into more prominence in the world of experimental music. There are so many good tracks on MESSENGER that I will go through the set one by one.

Track 1: "Shifting Envelope" starts off slow, with some echoing soft sounds, and then really begins with the startling entrance of Oriental strings and Mid-Eastern rhythm. It cranks up into a syncopated Eastern-inspired beat, where the stringed instruments are used along with the Indian drums for rhythm, while the violin, Fang's main instrument, slides over it with fresh, clean harmonies. You can hear the influence of American avant- garde composer Harry Partch in this piece.

Track 2: "Fragments of an Unbroken Chain" is my favorite piece on the album. It is also the most uncompromisingly experimental and thus is not for the faint-hearted listener. It is a series of constantly mutating sound-changes, all over a single repeating rhythm, almost like a series of variations. Forrest Fang knows the cardinal rule of electronic music: Never let a sound or a sequence go on too long, and he observes it here. "Unbroken Chain" rips along from one change to the next, here with electronic beeps and whistles, there with electronic gamelan clangs, there with heavy percussion, then with picket fences of processed sounds. It is noisy. It is powerful. The influence here is that of the American minimalists, Philip Glass and Steve Reich. And it is a lot of fun to listen to.

Track 3: "Shadow and Son" is full of Oriental mystery. The Chinese-American Forrest Fang honors his Asian ancestry; instead of pretending to be an Australian aborigine or a Native American, he works with his real ethnic heritage. In this cut Oriental strings shimmer over electronic floating chords and ominous low sounds, softly punctuated by strokes of the gong.

Tracks 4 through 9 are all one piece, "The Alchemy of Angels" (I love that title) but each track is separately named. In this set there is some similarity to the music of Paul Haslinger in "Lightwave;" Haslinger also has used Renaissance esoteric inspirations such as alchemy in his work. Track 4, "Whorl" is a slow build-up of a wall of sound and is the most like "Lightwave" in the set. Forrest Fang uses computer programs to generate note- clusters, sound-shimmers, sound-washes and other textures; this is state-of-the-art composition here.

Track 5, "Inner Mosaic," is a spooky, atonal, ambient piece, while track 6: "A Bend in Time," features liquid synthesizer noises and sequences, then breaks into a toned drum rhythm, along with Oriental bells and more programmed note-clouds. Track 7, "Skimble," is a restful, watery piece with a "geometric" synthesizer note pattern reminiscent of Robert Rich (who is credited as helping in this album).

Track 8, "Aqualife," sinks into a chilly sea, with atonal noises over irregular rhythms, accompanied by metallic clinky notes. With track 9, "Enharmonia," the last of the "Alchemy" pieces, the music rises out of the depths with glorious-sounding electronic harmonics, bright and clear, almost like a fanfare. Then it coalesces into a procession-like passage with "chorus" and piano, created with ascending arpeggios and pentatonic scales, building into a sound I do not hesitate to call grand and exalted. The procession fades out into non-tonal echoes as the alchemical angels disappear into the world of ideas.

After that comes track 10, "Echo (Water Map of Aeolia)" which starts softly and builds up into a whirring soundwash with echoing electric guitar notes. This piece sounds like the songs of sentient computers. It is the most "space"- like music on the album. Track 11, "In Heaven there are no borders," is a chill-out piece. It rambles on for about 11 minutes, with atonal strums on an untuned string instrument, and, in its latter half, more rambling from Kit Watkins on acoustic piano.

The pace of the album picks up again with track 12, "Eternal." This is an ear-bending blend of Middle Eastern belly- dance/trance music and blues, with Forrest playing cyber-wailing on his violin. All this is set to a kebab-grilling drum rhythm. But I cannot figure out why Fang calls this piece "Eternal," which would suggest more of a moody, romantic Constance Demby type of piece than this edgy mix of East and West. But then I can't figure out why Fang called this album "The Blind Messenger," either. Do "interworld" music titles ever make sense?

The last track, no. 13, "Message to the Blind Watchmaker," is rather anti-climactic. It has a wry, bouncy melody, again reminiscent of Robert Rich's "sound geometry," interspersed with increasingly loud and flatulent brass blasts. And that's how it ends.

I may talk a lot about how many influences Forrest Fang shows in this album, but he's never overwhelmed by them. He knows how to use them to his own advantage. It is not a perfect album; after the high points of the first half, it never quite reaches that pace or level of brilliance again, though "Eternal" comes close. I would have liked to see one of the big-sound pieces for the final cut rather than the one he used there. But there is so much good material on THE BLIND MESSENGER that I don't mind sitting through some duller moments. The graphics on the box and the liner are the obligatory computer designs, and lack interest; the front is almost uniformly grass-green with only a few dots and dashes, with tiny type. This should have been much more patterned and eye-catching to match the exciting music inside. But the tone- colors in the music show forth brightly, and they don't fade even after many listenings. This one's a winner.