Search - Earwax Control :: 2 Live

2 Live by Earwax Control. Released by Naim, 1994.

Jazz (England)
"A bizarre, deeply experimental album from a label based in the appropriately mystical and corn-circle county of Wiltshire. Earwax Control is the creation of Pat Metheny Group drummer Paul Wertico, who occasionally gets together with his pals Jeff Czech and Gordon James to 'spontaneously compose and perform'. In other words they make it up as they go along and throw in some very weird electronic noises to boot. The strangest thing of all, however, is that the results are not that unpleasant. There's a bit of unnecessary chat to begin with, and the first track is shocking in its unruliness, but once you realise that jazz is never going to get free-er than this you just sit back and enjoy the ride. The first sign that some kind of twisted logic is at work comes in the artily named "Clevinger Did Forget, And Now He's Dead". Grinding, dirty, Hendrix-style guitar punctuating sinister keyboard musings and sudden, strange, gaping silences. Earwax Control are trying to tell a story. They aren't creating tunes, they're creating atmosphere. The other stand-out track is called "Took a Drive, Hit a Ghost". It's plucky and upbeat, with pounding percussion and something that sounds like a concertina. The result is funky rural, a kind of cajun on LSD. Earwax Control are undoubtedly bonkers, but they're entertaining with it."