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Keith Fullerton Whitman/Greg Davis, "Yearlong"
Recorded on the road between December of 2001 and November 2002, thesethirteen tracks prove that it's never impossible to continue exploringnew musical palettes. Each track is, as far as I can tell, the combinedeffort of both Keith Whitman and Greg Davis and the music is markedlydifferent from anything they've released by themselves.
Carpark
Far moreglitchy and filled with non-linear messes of static and random noise,the majority of Yearlonghas a less polished and more improvised structure than what I amaccustomed to from either composer and so, upon first listen, I was abit shocked by what I was hearing. The first Knitting Factory track isbasically a series of highly edited pulses forced into envelopes ofecho, reverb, sudden decompression, and 90 degree turns. There's verylittle room for continuity. Similarly, the recording from the Bottom ofthe Hill in San Francisco comes off as a noise performance edited anddisjointed on the spot; gone are the smooth curves that populated bothDavis' and Whitman's releases from last year. On the other hand, thetwo WFMU Radio pieces and the Kontor Gallery recording in Köln, Germanyfit together quite well: the bells, whistles, reversed signal hums andguitar samples all flow in and out seamlessly, as though they weremeant to sit side by side on a disc. The La Casa performance inWashington is a beautiful mix of kitchen sink percussion and simple,spacious piano bits and the massive WNYU-FM track from New York(recorded on the same day as the Washington performance) is a blissfulmix of contemplative bells and shuffling utensils. These two tracks, inparticular, are amazing because of how different they are. Recorded onthe same day, they're indicative of how diverse both composers are andjust how willing they are to try new ideas. The Impakt Festivalrecording, the last track on the disc, is particularly fun, too, andseals my feelings on this album up. A combination of crackling hiss andmarching band samples, it lights up the end of an album that, at first,can be a little daunting, but ends up being excellently diverse andaddictive in all its playfulness. - Lucas Schleicher
Carpark
Far moreglitchy and filled with non-linear messes of static and random noise,the majority of Yearlonghas a less polished and more improvised structure than what I amaccustomed to from either composer and so, upon first listen, I was abit shocked by what I was hearing. The first Knitting Factory track isbasically a series of highly edited pulses forced into envelopes ofecho, reverb, sudden decompression, and 90 degree turns. There's verylittle room for continuity. Similarly, the recording from the Bottom ofthe Hill in San Francisco comes off as a noise performance edited anddisjointed on the spot; gone are the smooth curves that populated bothDavis' and Whitman's releases from last year. On the other hand, thetwo WFMU Radio pieces and the Kontor Gallery recording in Köln, Germanyfit together quite well: the bells, whistles, reversed signal hums andguitar samples all flow in and out seamlessly, as though they weremeant to sit side by side on a disc. The La Casa performance inWashington is a beautiful mix of kitchen sink percussion and simple,spacious piano bits and the massive WNYU-FM track from New York(recorded on the same day as the Washington performance) is a blissfulmix of contemplative bells and shuffling utensils. These two tracks, inparticular, are amazing because of how different they are. Recorded onthe same day, they're indicative of how diverse both composers are andjust how willing they are to try new ideas. The Impakt Festivalrecording, the last track on the disc, is particularly fun, too, andseals my feelings on this album up. A combination of crackling hiss andmarching band samples, it lights up the end of an album that, at first,can be a little daunting, but ends up being excellently diverse andaddictive in all its playfulness. - Lucas Schleichersamples:
