03/01/2004

Dead Angel , US
issue 62

http://www.monotremata.com/dead/

Molar The Time and Motion Studies (False Walls / fw05)

Hey now, this is an interesting one. Guitarist Jim Goodspeed joins forces with
Matthew Johnson (keyboard, laptop, guitar processing) and Lars Fischer (laptop) to create sonic landscapes of improvised sound. One of the more intriguing methods they employ is to feed the guitar through the keyboard, where Johnson can mutate it on the fly. The result is a complex mix of acoustic and electronic sounds, in structures that continually evolve as the
band members feed off each other. Percussive samples and loops feature heavily in the mix as well, and once the three of them get really worked up, it tends to sound like a lot more than three musicians at work. Remarkably -- partially because of the nature of the instruments, and I suspect partly due to judicious mixing and editing -- the sound is far more cohesive and balanced than you would normally associate with improvised sound. Part of the appeal in these ten soundscapes is the band's talent for juxtaposing dirty and clean sounds, and for improvising increasingly agitated sheets of melody and noise over the machine-like loops and drones. The beats (implied and explicit) are what keep the droning sheets of sound from drifting off into pure isolationism, although it's the unusual guitar processing that holds your attention more often than not. Time and motion are both more than adequately represented on this album. It's nice, too, when they slow down and drift. Geological forces are at work here, occasionally converging in the movement of tectonic plates. You should bear witness..

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