Bob Marsh – Eight [coll] – [Setola Di Maiale]

Max Level   8/30/2009   A Library, CD

In 2007, composer/cellist/improviser Marsh put together a strange, disjointed eight-minute piece of sound art, using voices, electronics, and field recordings. He sent that material to twelve other artists–the only one I have heard of (besides Marsh) is Boris Hauf; the others are completely foreign to me–and asked them to do their thing to it, with no expectation that the new pieces would remain in any way faithful to the original. Those twelve versions are here, along with Marsh’s original piece as Track 13. The many versions are interestingly dissimilar, yet they can’t help but go together well because of their common origin, and they make a nice collection; it’s often difficult to tell just by listening when one track ends and the next one starts. Track 9 seems a bit different, with a softer sound and a less disconnected feeling than the other tracks have. I probably like that track the best, but there is good, creative stuff throughout.