Monday, May 07, 2007
jeff rehnlund
our thin mercy of error
[2007, hymns]
formerly residing in lansdale, pennsylvania, apparently jeff's now in korea, seoul to be precise. sweet, he should collaborate with joe foster. i'd check that album out. other than that, there's precious little info about the guy. he doesn't really seem to keen on the whole idea of self-promotion, but that's not a bad thing. sometimes it's nice not to be beaten over the head with one's musical endeavors.
jeff rehnlund is embracing both noise and avant-garde idioms with our thin mercy of error. across the span of the disc's fifty-one minutes he'll work his way through cut-up noise collage work (160 india street), more easily identifiable dense noise (schmid), field record
ings (raleigh), rounded out musical pieces (green piano), atmospheric drone (bowls) and finds the time to touch on everything in between.
while as a whole the album's a success, there are several tracks on here that stand out for me. the shrill chimes on mera can be counted as one. even if it feels like someone's drilling into my head there's still this subliminal beauty to it which transcends that piercing noise. i'd advise that you keep the volume down during it, if you value the future of your hearing. the squeals and feedback of valado is a winning combination and i love the everything-but-the-kitchen-sink approach of the whimsical birthday. i'm not sure if it's a toy or a music box that's providing the background layer, but it's a great addition. near the end of the track it sounds like it's being strummed, so hell if i can figure out what he's using. the only track that i could really do without is the ten minute long raleigh. the first three minutes of it i quite enjoy, but the last seven minutes are bits from a couple of different (vocal) field recordings that are just kind of boring. rarely do i actually want to listen to people talking (especially when i'm not involved in the conversation). that's why i listen to music all of the time instead of hanging out with people, so maybe it's just me, but it really kills the pace of the disc. thankfully, it's followed up by three of the album's more sonically interesting pieces, so that minor hiccup gets pushed out your mind pretty quick like.
Birthday
[2007, hymns]
formerly residing in lansdale, pennsylvania, apparently jeff's now in korea, seoul to be precise. sweet, he should collaborate with joe foster. i'd check that album out. other than that, there's precious little info about the guy. he doesn't really seem to keen on the whole idea of self-promotion, but that's not a bad thing. sometimes it's nice not to be beaten over the head with one's musical endeavors.
jeff rehnlund is embracing both noise and avant-garde idioms with our thin mercy of error. across the span of the disc's fifty-one minutes he'll work his way through cut-up noise collage work (160 india street), more easily identifiable dense noise (schmid), field record
ings (raleigh), rounded out musical pieces (green piano), atmospheric drone (bowls) and finds the time to touch on everything in between.while as a whole the album's a success, there are several tracks on here that stand out for me. the shrill chimes on mera can be counted as one. even if it feels like someone's drilling into my head there's still this subliminal beauty to it which transcends that piercing noise. i'd advise that you keep the volume down during it, if you value the future of your hearing. the squeals and feedback of valado is a winning combination and i love the everything-but-the-kitchen-sink approach of the whimsical birthday. i'm not sure if it's a toy or a music box that's providing the background layer, but it's a great addition. near the end of the track it sounds like it's being strummed, so hell if i can figure out what he's using. the only track that i could really do without is the ten minute long raleigh. the first three minutes of it i quite enjoy, but the last seven minutes are bits from a couple of different (vocal) field recordings that are just kind of boring. rarely do i actually want to listen to people talking (especially when i'm not involved in the conversation). that's why i listen to music all of the time instead of hanging out with people, so maybe it's just me, but it really kills the pace of the disc. thankfully, it's followed up by three of the album's more sonically interesting pieces, so that minor hiccup gets pushed out your mind pretty quick like.
Birthday
:: posted by avant gardening, 9:08 PM