Name: David Moss Dense Band
Album: Live In Europe
Year: 1988
Style: Experimental, Avant-Garde
Similar Bands: John Zorn, Brand X, Secret Chiefs 3, Fantomas, Mr. Bungle
"One Word" Review - Schizophrenic Asian Racquetball
Based Out Of: NYC, NY
Label: Ear-Rational
Live in Europe - Cover & Record
Live in Europe - Back & Record
Live In Europe (1988)
- Two to Three to Tango 4:07
- Re-Shuffle 4:09
- Day to Climb 4:20
- Full Step 4:18
- Glider 3:18 /
- Neural Sense 4:31
- Song of the Possible 4:43
- Slant Lines 5:38
- Slow Talking 5:17
Album Rating (1-10): 5.5
Members & Other Bands:
David Moss - Drums, Vox (Bill Dixon Ensemble, The Golden Palominos, Denseland, Direct Sound, The Markus Stauss Project, Meltable Snaps It, Paul Brody's Detonation Orchaestra, John Zorn, Uri Cane)
Wayne Horvitz - DX7, DX100, Harmonica (Eugene Chadbourne, John Zorn, Curlew, Naked City, NY Composers Orchestra)
Christian Marclay - Turntables, Records (John Zorn, Kronos Quartet, Elliot Sharp, The Art Bears)
Jon Rose - 18 String Cello, Violin (Eugene Chadbourne, Slawterhouse, Kryonics, Transcendence, Art Bears )
Jean Chaine - Electric Bass (Uberfall, The Markus Stauss Project, Sarah Greene, Gary Lucas)
Francois Dietz - Producer, Mastering
Didier Dalfitto - Engineer, Mixing
Nick Lawrence - Cover Art [The Entymologist]
Tom Cora - Composition (Curlew, John Zorn, Andrea Centazzo, Eugene Chadbourne, Nimal, Third Person)
Fred Frith - Composer (John Zorn, Violent Femmes, Half Japanese, Swans, Residents, Curlew, Material, Brian Eno, Henry Cow, Naked City, Golden Palominos)
Fred Frith - Composer (John Zorn, Violent Femmes, Half Japanese, Swans, Residents, Curlew, Material, Brian Eno, Henry Cow, Naked City, Golden Palominos)
Unknown-Ness: I’ve never heard
of this band. Looking back, I think I got it because of the clear vinyl. That
was just unusual enough to make me pick this out of a thrift store music stack.
It surely was not the cover, which makes me think the content will be some sort
of modenrist take on classic jazz. I don’t know much about Jazz or enjoy it for
that matter, but this blog is for discovery, so I can check this out. I may
even be surprised.
Album Review: - So this is a live
version (duh, that’s what it is called: Live in Europe) of a travelling line-up
of David Moss’s 1985 album Dense Band when they played in Europe; Vandoeuvre, France to be
specific, on 5/23/87. The proclaimed stellar line up is made of avent-garde, experimental
artists from NYC, who have all made names for themselves individually. It is interesting, and to appreciate in any capacity, you need to pay attention to what is going on. Seeing this live was probably an inspiring event, if not, entertaining at the least.
“Two to Three to
Tango” features one off bass notes, chaotic drum spurts, and synth chimes; none
of which sound in unison. The vocals are high pitch, and not very melodic, reminding
me of a chicken squabbling with Mr Hanky the Christmas Poo. After the first
section of vocals, there is an intense section with elements that have been
used by John Zorn and Mr. Bungle.
“Re-Shuffle”
starts off with a lot of Western cowboy bass energy, and gives the impression
of building to something big and possibly chaotic. The driving bass sound is supported
by creepy Ghostbuster dripping ooze synth, and other occasional oscillations
and about 2:30, some vocal shouts are buried to the back. With balloon
deflating squeals, and Mike Patton-like vocals. Or perhaps it should be written
that the vocals seem to have inspired Patton.
“Day to Climb” is
a nervous jumper looking down over the side of a building. Or perhaps, as the
song is named, a climber ascending a mountain, but fearfully checking the
ground behind him. It is tense and a bit stressful bass line, which also reminds
me of the later, more difficult, Dr. Wily levels in Mega Man in a very basic
form. There are some screeching metal synth effects and random chimes to
increase the intensity. Toward the end, the bass line is replaced with a
singing saw sound, and hauntingly smooth vocals of pain.
“Full Step” is an
unsure bass line, a little mysterious like the Pink Panther theme. There are
deep, masculinly confident vocals, that have tones of an Asian Announcer but is
really French. After those vocals end, a chorus of female vocals is buried down
in the background, singing their own melody. The song picks up in a spastic drum
and bass racquetball game. The end of the song shows a bit of actual shared
melody and could almost be interpreted as a traditional song, if only basic
form, and for a very brief time.
“Glider” does
exactly as its name sake suggest: Primus-like gliding bass notes and tin pot
hitting percussion, and a vocal hoot and holler once in a while. Eerie alarm
like chimes are echoing behind, like a faulty security alarm has been disabled.
And steel drum bongs dot the song scape.
“Neural Sense”
Drum hits and bass plucked notes are timed together, as sawing violins are
layered down behind, suggesting urgency that the sporadic bass-drum rhythms
seem to ignore completely. The background violins grow in number, like a swarm
of violin mosquitos calling their masses together toward these dumb plodding hippo
bass notes. Squeaks and squelches of violins are accompanied by vocals that sound
like secondary exhales that accompany karate chops.
“Song of the
Possible” has a quiet, dark, minimal bass line in the beginning. Background,
coming to foreground fast, are turkey gobbler vocals of a neurotic emotion. The
vocal sounds still remind me of an avent-garde Asian performance, and I can only
imagine what this was like performed live, and I wonder how close these
performances are to the originals. The vocals, through a doubling vocoder,
sound a bit like the chicken lady from Kids in the Hall.
“Slant Lines” has
an unaccompanied, looping bass line that evolves as it repeats in the beginning
1:45. A cymbal simmer introduces the schizophrenic vocals, and the song transitions
into a dark, funky march. The march becomes side tracked with crazy percussion
and chaotic deep then high vocal sounds. The song ends with what sounds like an English
car siren, played melodically.
“Slow Talking” is
very slow, with bass notes paired up in twos. There are some old-internet
link-up static sound effects, and a very loungy, deep vocal (slow talking) that
is paired with a high, shrew, helium voice (fast talking). The voices take
turns as if having a conversation. And the song kind of just slinks away as if
it was never there to begin with, like a fever dream.
Stand Out Track: - Re-Shuffle
Links:
No comments:
Post a Comment