Album Review
Blackshaw, James – “Fantomas: Le Faux Magistrat” – [Tompkins Square]
Max Level 1/6/2016 12-inch, A Library
Blackshaw leads a chamber-type quartet through a musical suite that accompanies Louis Feuillade’s 1914 silent film “Fantomas: Le Faux Magistrat.” This performance was recorded live at a Parisian theater October 2013. Blackshaw, best known as a guitarist, also plays grand piano here. The other three musicians play a wide variety of instruments among them: guitars, piano, saxophone, flute, vibraphone, violin, bass guitar, synthesizer, percussion, and electronics. The music throughout is quite beautiful in a melancholy way, and the recorded sound is excellent. Tracks A3 and D1 start as soundscapey things (tone poems?) and develop into something more musical. There is a recurring motif that shows up at various times throughout the album–an insistent pedal tone sort of thing on the low notes of Blackshaw’s piano. Nothing here really stands out musically on its own, but as accompaniment to a silent film, I’m sure it serves its purpose well.
you heard it 19 times on kfjc! most recently:
- 677 days ago, Pete Dixon rebroadcast played Part 9
- 978 days ago, Pete Dixon played Part 9
- 2287 days ago, Pete Dixon played Part 3
- 2291 days ago, Billie Joe Tolliver played Part 11
- 2294 days ago, Pete Dixon played Part 11
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