E.g Oblique Graph "Completely Oblique"
2xCD-R Pretentious (The Label) OBLIQUE 1 (2002)
Disc One (62:52)
Fall Into Glass (2:23)
Merge (4:52)
Murders Linked To Gaulist Clique (9:02)
Scar (3:00)
Affirm/Deny (5:51)
Choir-Screen (3:41)
Human Rights (2:18)
After Commentary (2:46)
Off Chance (8:15)
The Piano Room (20:44)
Disc Two (41:46)
Black Cloth Behind De Gaulle's Wax Head (5:17)
Triptych (6:43)
Study Of Red Pope (Innocent X) (8:00)
Castro Regime (3:06)
Islamic Koran In Camera Dome (8:49)
Rapid White Flag In Snapshot Blur (9:51)
Prior to one hundred and forty-some (and counting) releases as Muslimgauze, Bryn Jones was known as E.g Oblique Graph. This limited edition set of 201 collects all of the tracks from the very rare cassette and vinyl releases: 1982's "Extended Play", "Piano Room" and "Triptych" and 1983's "Inhalt". What's on these two black CD-Rs bears little to no resemblance to trademark Muslimgauze. It's rather sparse and primal electronic music with a DIY attitude typical of the late '70s and early '80s. Jones plunked about and droned on synths, mixed in various tape recordings and some pseudo-beats and lets it all churn within effects. The more dark or abstract the more interesting: marred choirs and speech, reversed and otherwise manipulated tapes, electric discharges, sonar-like pings, seemingly random juxtapositions, etc. "Human Rights" is probably the first track (in title, at least) to address a socio-political concern while the final (and my favorite) track of disc one, the 20 plus minute "Piano Room", seems to be the first to utilize a drum machine amongst its varied movements. Israel's 1982 invasion of Lebanon brought about a paradigm shift in Jones' inspiration, as evidenced by the titles of the two tracks that made up the "Inhalt" cassette: "Islamic Koran In Camera Dome" and "Rapid White Flag In Snapshot Blur". The blood is beginning to boil in the former as an upfront rhythm dominates most of the nearly nine minutes. Soon after this began Muslimgauze. "Completely Oblique" isn't all that exciting really, more of a historical footnote for Muslimgauze collectors. Though I do have a soft spot for this sort of amateur music making, having done it myself for a few years, *I* don't even listen to my *own* tapes anymore. The liner notes make it pretty clear that Jones wasn't too interested in revisiting this or other past work either. So while I'm grateful for the chance to finally hear it, I also have to wonder if re-issuing it was the right thing to do ...
Muslimgauze
Pretentious
(The Label)
Where did I get this CD? - Soleilmoon Recordings