Jay Cloidt - High Quality Music for Everyone with Ears
Mark Dalton | Seattle, WA USA | 07/13/2000
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I'll admit to some prejudice about Jay Cloidt - I've been listening to his music since we were in college together in the midwest, and I know where some of it is coming from, and have heard it develop over the years... Yet his music is continually surprising and delightful. Cloidt compositions sparkle with wit, understanding and compassion for the human condition, and amazing musical sounds... Many sounds literally pulled out of the air, polished up like a Washington red apple, and presented in a way that helps us to percieve the wonder in the commonplace, as well as the brilliance of first class musical imagination at work. Entertaining fun is here, yes, but Cloidt composes with serious intent. At the turn of the millennium, here's a man who is, in the words of Virginia Woolf, beginning to capture "the spirit of the age" - the developing age. An age of great aesthetic beauty, for those who can see and hear, an age of great promise and greater challenges. Kole Kat Krush opens the 21st Century with a flourish."
Kole Kat Krush
Judy Munsen | Alameda, CA USA | 07/02/2000
(5 out of 5 stars)
"The problem with so much 'New Music' is that it is more interesting intellectually than musically. Jay Cloidt explodes that trend and creates a CD full of cuts that are emotional, stimulating and humorous, and he manages to include a wealth of intellectually challenging patterns, sounds and references.It is obvious that Cloidt loves sound. The way he coaxes musicality out of silverware clattering (in a Gershwin quote, no less) or motor cylcles or stairclimbers is as awesome to hear as it is to contemplate how he ever thought of doing that in the first place. Add the super-musicianship of The Kronos Quartet and the Paul Dresher Ensemble, and you have a rare masterpiece on your hands.I love listening to this music. Even the order in which the pieces are presented shows care and the desire to take the listener on an exciting and rewarding trip. The more I listen, the more fascinating new things I find. If the things you're listening to these days are beginning to all sound alike, treat your ears, heart and head to the Kole Kat Krush experience."
Cloidt's Kole Kate Khrush
kenneth d. rose | Chico, CA | 06/23/2000
(5 out of 5 stars)
"In "Kole Kat Krush," composer Jay Cloidt demonstrates what new music at its best can accomplish. Alternately serious and playful, introspective and exuberant, these pieces are informed by an overriding wit and intelligence that makes "Kole Kat Krush" a work of rare achievement. Listening to this album it is easy to see why Cloidt has been able to establish himself as a sought-after composer, with such well-known groups as the Kronos Quartet and the Paul Dresher Ensemble commissioning works from him. The title song demonstrates why Cloidt's music is so appealing. The melody that weaves through this piece has a distinctive, modal sound that is occasionally punctuated by quotations from such eclectic sources as the Cream, Stravinsky, Sly and the Family Stone, and even a snippet from the theme to "Laura." While this is cleverly done, what is most impressive is that Cloidt convinces us that these quotes "belong" to this composition, that they are part of the organic whole. (Both the Kronos and the Dresher groups provide versions of "Kole Kat," and it is one strength of this piece that both are extremely good.) There is a wide emotional range on this album. "Jimi's Fridge" is etherial, spooky, even extraterrestrial, while "Exploded View" is a wacky creation based on electronic processing of auto noises, baby talk, and the yowling of Ed the cat. Ed has never sounded better. "Life is Good . . . And People Are Basically Decent" is the most ambitious work on this album, with five parts and a length of about 20 minutes. Within this single composition the listener encounters a warped version of chopsticks, a beautiful section called "For Bud" (here a loop of a motorcycle running through its gears acts as a sort of continuo), Philip Glass-like arpeggios in "Driver," and the shifting long tones of "Gahenna." The most challenging piece on this album is the moody "Light Fall," which a sheepish Cloidt confesses is an attempt to create something that is "straight-forwardly beautiful." What is beautiful to Cloidt includes train sounds, human speech, and even, perhaps, a chainsaw. In lesser hands, what Cloidt attempts on this album might come off as mere gimmickry, but Cloidt always incorporates his quotes and samples seamlessly, in the service of the composition. Cloidt's stated intention has been to expand the notion of what constitutes "music," and to convince the listener that even the mundane noises of everyday life are interesting, and potentially beautiful. This albumis a reminder that if one has the ears with which to hear, music is everywhere."
Track Listings (13) - Disc #1