Abstractions, the – “Sonic Conspiracy ” – [Edgetone Records]

mitch   6/24/2006   A Library, CD

Comprising a sort of supergroup of the gloriously obscure,
THE ABSTRACTIONS build a Frankenstein monster from
a vast body of improvisational knowledge parts history,
social insight, music & (un)spoken word. Awakened, the
thing clumsily smashes windows, pewter, porcelain & all
things fragile or bric-a-brac, stalks the surrounding countryside
with a range of unclassifiable new sonic textures whilst making
a few (collect) telephone calls, cross-dressing on the run, fleeing
before an army of crazed villagers & eventually coming to the
attention of the commander-in-chief of Military Police & H-bombs
?’..Jesse Quattro (SAINT OF KILLERS) wails here with the best of
them; Rent Romus? alto is a piercing caterwaul; paradoxical percussion
from electronics/piano wizard Scott Looney (RECURSIVE
HERETICS); compulsory bent violin & creep-out vibes courtesy Bob
Marsh (LEFT COAST IMPROV GROUP); damaged appliances/
orphaned toys/unprepared guitars/subliminal rants supplied by Ernesto
Diaz-Infante – the quintet of the wide-eyed & insomniac sleepover perhaps;
rich, disturbing, traumatic, uneasy grave-robbing.

MITCH Aug 2004