Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Century Plants - Sound System Sound

Century Plants is the duo comprised of Eric Hardiman and Ray Hare, the former being the mind behind the new label Tape Drift on which this cd was released. This release comprises of two half-hour long improvisations from April. This new label has done a really nice job with the packaging and presentation of this and the other releases from the catalogue. All of the releases so far are encased in black clamshells with wraparound covers and interesting artowork on each one.

Sound System Sound is an hour long onslaught of distorted guitar that starts with a bluesy tinge and continues on with a plethora of musical ideas that seem to appear and disappear through a thick haze of distortion and fuzz that pays as much tribute to the elemental as to the industrial. The music contained herein cantains both fuzz-drenched melodic improvisation and blistering atonal squall, blending themselves to create a musical behemoth that is both intimidating and accessable. The only problem with the release was a certain amount of inconsistency in some of the musical ideas, sometimes it sounded as if the pair could not resolutely decide what direction the music was meant to take, but then again that is sometimes the beauty of improvisational music.

8/10 This release can be ordered from www.tapedrift.com

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