Colley, Joe – “Desperate Attempts at Beauty ” – [Auscultare Research]

Max Level   1/2/2006   A Library, CD

Joe Colley (aka Crawl Unit in a previous life) never seems to have much to say about his work. He sets up simple sound-producing situations and then lets them do what they do, without trying to direct things much. It’s his “this is no big deal” attitude that’s so cool. Two of the sound sources he uses here are ice water and clay. The sounds are unprocessed, but closely mic’d and amplified for maximum sonic depth. I won’t describe what any of the tracks actually sound like -except for Track 1 which I’m warning you will knock you out of your chair if you’re not ready for it- because that would impair the sense of anticipation and discovery that I think makes all the difference. There are times on this CD where it sounds like not much is happening, and that’s because, well, not much is happening. Deeper listening reveals the ambient sounds between the higher-level events. One of the best artists going, if you ask me.