high noon
[2000, intakt]

both christian and elliot are based out of the rotten apple. marclay is largely known as being one of the first non-hip-hop musicians to recognize the turntable as an instrument itself, not just its usefulness as a ho-hum audio medium. he did more than just recognize that fact though, he went on to establish quite a name for himself in the experimental and avant garde fields of music. while marclay's style leans heavily towards the avant side of things, the turntable has also enjoyed a good deal of exposure in the world of noise. you can count amk, vertonen, emil beaulieau and nautical almanac amongst its more prominent fan base.

elliot sharp is an experimental musician with ties to a few instruments including guitar, soprano saxophone as well as the bass clarinet. elliot (i've also seen it printed as elliott) is incredibly prolific with over two hundred releases, spanning solo, collaborative and band efforts. strangely, this is the only one i have...in terms of bands that i actually know about, he was a member of no-wavers god is my co-pilot and there was also carbon (a pretty large membered affair that also included harpist zeena parkins). when it comes to what he's playing, sharp is just as comfortable with jazz, blues, rock, orchestral as well as more noise-based music.

on high noon, my favorite moments are those that feature elliot playing the guitar, such as on the fantastic opener blinding shadow. aside from elliot's great performance, marclay's work is more on the textural side of things and really achieves the album's best balance. the record static is an excellent touch as well. really though, that can be said of all of the tracks where it shows up. or even just in general. immediately following blinding shadow is wait, which really serves as a testament of how impressive christian marclay is on the wheels of steel. over a sublimely catchy backdrop, marclay seemingly shows off his entire repertoire on the instrument, from well placed scratches to cut and paste sound collaging, he's really going to town on this one. had i not seen pictures of him, i'd swear that he has no fewer than ten arms, but sadly, he only has two. how plebeian. while marclay exercises like wait are remarkable, i have difficulty in picking up on what elliot was laying down. i did hear what sounded like random guitar plucks at different intervals, but with all of the variety of sounds coming at me, i'm never sure if that was from a record that was being used or not. clearly; however, this is a minor detail since the overall sound is so brilliant. sharp and marclay find harmony once again on ghost town. with sharp this time on the bass clarinet, the turntable freak-outs are set aside, with marclay focusing on fewer separate ideas. it comes as no surprise then that this is probably the most centered track. ghost town lives up to its name and has that haunting aura to it. the marriage of drawn-out clarinet notes with the faster digital sounds that marclay's producing make for a unique contrast in sounds. overall, the piece is slower-paced but it's not without its noisier moments, especially as it's winding down. so short so long is one of the best songs on high noon. after opening up with a myriad of layers, including a nice one with drums that gives it some pep, it settles down after a few minutes and then gets into a groove, the foundation of which elliot'll soon be playing the electric guitar over. it's a memorable piece of melancholy coming from him, too. christian lets him do his thing by himself for a spell before some digital sounds pop up. the final minute of so long seals the deal, as the guitar keeps fading out, only to come back briefly in fuzzed-out glory. very nice. oh, yeah, that bit of accordion, you gotta love that.
this is a very nice album indeed with a good mix of turntable wizardry as well as more focused/cohesive works. throughout the album there's so much layering going on that you'll undoubtedly find something new that will stand out to you upon repeated plays. that's obviously a good thing as it's a lot harder to grow weary of listening to an album when new surprises keep presenting themselves.

The Noon Train