Strade Trasparenti [coll] – [Staubgold]

Max Level   6/2/2011   A Library, CD

Soundtrack to a film about a lengthy bus trip through Brazil, on which people encounter other people and watch as the landscape passes. Five tracks here, all by artists familiar to KFJC. Track 1 (28 minutes) is a mammoth thing by The Necks that rises and falls in gentle waves of piano, guitar, and percussion. Track 2 (10 minutes) is a solo electric guitar piece by David Grubbs with lots of empty space in it. Track 3 (12 minutes) by Mira Calix is busy, but on the quiet side, full of percussive patterns and marimba-like sounds. Track 4 (5 minutes) is a rockin’ samba-beat piece by local all-star outfit Mute Socialite featuring Ava Mendoza on guitar. This one sort of jolts us awake, as if the bus had stopped to pick up some unruly new passengers. Track 5 by O-Type, another epic-length piece (23 minutes), develops several different ideas, but it’s anchored throughout by an irresistible beat and it works. The first three tracks evoke the feeling of being on a journey, staring out the window at the scenery, thinking of nothing. A soundtrack to get lost in.