Search - Stevan Tickmayer :: Repetitive Selective Removal of One Protecting Group

Not for the "lily-eared"

B. Ness | Napa Valley, CA | 05/18/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This recording is not for those who cannot appreciate a music from such composers as John Cage or Harry Partch. What may sound like random sounds and unplanned noise is actually masterfully constructed. Instrumentation is diverse and includes a good deal of programmed keyboards and percussion as is evidence from passages that are impossible for a live musician to play. Don't let this fool you though. The entire recording has been meticulously scored.



From humorous to sublime, this recording should be an engaging experience for lovers of modern music. Especially humorous to me (in a dark way) is Napalm Democracy, which includes clips at the beginning and end from the movie "Plan 9 from Outer Space," the classic Ed Wood Sci-fi "thriller." The titles themselves are intriguing. How many listeners will know what "Restriction Fragment Length" refers to? For those who don't know, it refers to fragments of DNA cut up by enzymes called restriction endonucleases. Allusions in the titles and music abound, so keep a "watchful" ear."

Too cool for school

Jan P. Dennis | Monument, CO USA | 05/20/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"What if there were a really smart postmodern guy, a guy who'd absorbed all the lessons of Charles Ives, Olivier Messiaen, John Cage, Ligeti (pere et fils), Iannis Xenaxis, Luciano Berio, Harry Partch, Morton Feldman, Philip Glass, Steve Reich, Arvo Part, John Tavener, Leo Sowerby, Mike Patton, Trey Spruance, John Zorn, Chris Cutler, Bang on a Can, So Percussion, speed metal, out surf, Tucker Martine, Eyvind Kang, Peter Garland, Ikue Mori, Susie Ibarra, and Nathan Michel? What if he were from Eastern Europe, classically trained in double bass and piano? What kind of music would he create?



The music found on Repetitive Selective Removal of One Protecting Group.



It would be music to confound critics, casual listeners, and even those who have some familiarity with the above hodge-podge of postmodern musics.



Why?



It'd be just too out there and hectic to assimilate and absorb by all but the most sophisticated and weirdly eclectic.



Guys like me, pardon the self-aggrandizing plug.



Too many other guys (and gals, let's not be sexist here) just won't have the hermeneutic access to be able to appreciate the way weird aesthetic going down here.



And it's not even a matter of virtue. It's more a matter of luck, stars in alignment, whatever. People as weird and marginalized as Stevan Kovacs Tickmayer are, sadly, slated to be appreciated by only by other creepy denizens of marginalized musics, such as your humble reviewer.



Think you're up to it? Hook into this bizarreness before it disappears from the face of the planet.



And thank me for turning you on to it, if you think of it."