Search - Charlemagne Palestine, Tony Conrad :: Aural Symbiotic Mystery

A confession: I'm probably not the guy to review this weirdn

Jan P. Dennis | Monument, CO USA | 08/28/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

". . . nevertheless, I'm going to give it a go. As is my wont, I picked up this disc because it was discounted, and, hence, "affordable" (at least one supposes). With no information on the accessible outer parts of the package, I bought it blind. Yes, it was in the jazz bin. Yes, it bore the bona fides of an authentically obscure label, Sub Rosa, which, perversely, I find myself drawn to. But what really grabbed me, I confess, was the name Charlemagne Palestine. Huh? Not being into, nor completely conversant with, out 70s minimalism, I'd not heard of this dude. Nor of his musical partner, Thomas Conrad. I didn't know what to expect. Indeed, I had no expectations (probably a good thing).



OK. I didn't immediately dig it. I struggled with its alien aesthetic. I balked at its retro minimalism. I winced at its, let's face it, reveling in faux primitivism. Who listens to such musical obscurantism, I asked myself. I set it aside. Shelved it. Never intentioned picking it up again. But then there it was, strangely prominent among my thousands of CDs. Could I just ignore it? Yes, I could. And did. But not for long. Eventually, a weird pull brought it back into my musical horizon.



What's going on here? Eyvind Kang at his most primitive meets a pared down Andrew Hill, each channeling unknown, arcane spirits of huge aural consequence. Not dance music, for sure, but sounds evoking primeval gravitas of grand moment.



Informed listening, I guess, presupposes inebriation, or some such thing, to enjoy this eldritch-ness. Bonus: very strange vocals.



4-1/2 stars, morphing to 5."