textura

Albums
Autistici
Barker & Baumecker
Marc Barreca
Steve Bug
Terrence Dixon
Cornelius Dufallo
Christian Fennesz
Fur Coat
Stefan Goldmann
The Green Kingdom
Chihei Hatakeyama
Benjamin Herman
Insa Donja Kai
Julia Kent
Kid606
K. Leimer
loscil
Lymbyc Systym
MayMay
Markus Mehr
Mutamassik
Personable
Glen Porter
Tom Recchion
Karriem Riggins
Steve Roden
Strategy
System Of Survival
Henry Threadgill Zooid
Twigs & Yarn
Yousef

Reissued
John Coltrane
Roxy Music
Wayne Shorter

Compilations / Mixes
Deep Love 2
Fabriclive 65: DJ Hazard
Robag Wruhme

EPs
Ahern and Packard
Dreamsploitation
Henry & Louis
Jacksonville
Sven Laux
Phasen & Refurb
Pleq + Hiroki Sasajima
Sontag Shogun
Strategy
Strom Noir
Nobuto Suda
Andy Vaz

Dreamsploitation: Jupiter Flight
Clocks & Daggers

Chuck Blazevic's Dreamsploitation project returns with the twenty-nine-minute cassette release Jupiter Flight (in a limited edition of thirty copies). The format fits the guitar-centric material well, with Blazevic splitting its sides between a suite of three melodic instrumentals on the first and a fourteen-minute experimental epic on the second.

The two opening songs on side A are rambunctious hell-raisers, “No More Sunshine” a take-no-prisoners exercise in guitar-fueled white heat and thunderous, “Wipeout”-styled drumming, and the title track an equally raucous riff on spacey krautrock replete with moments of distortion and blaze. Though both tracks roar, it's the latter in particular that feels as if it's racing at light speed through the upper spheres. Given the dynamic level at which the opening songs are pitched, it comes as a bit of a relief when “Spengler” dials the intensity down to close the side with a gentle and even lyrical coda wherein guitars and pianos conjure the image of an oasis of shimmering serenity.

It's side B's “Those Red Strings Found Feathers From The Fountain” that's the standout piece, however, in large part due to its beautiful central episode. Being a three-part composition for multi-layered guitars, the piece can't help but invite comparison to Steve Reich's 1987 Electric Counterpoint, and certainly there's no small amount of contrapuntal playing in the Dreamsploitation material (even if Blazevic composed his piece for three guitars whereas the tape-based version of Reich's involves two electric bass guitars and thirteen electric guitars, one of them the live player). In both composers' compositions, intricate guitar patterns chime rapturously and both also adhere to a fast-slow-fast sequence, but the key difference is that Blazevic's piece feels less strictly wedded to the formal design of the concept. That's especially audible during a lovely middle section that derives its emotive impact from nothing more than a simple series of gentle strums. That memorable moment reminds us that music presented in its most simple and essential form is often music at its most powerful.

October 2012