Expo 70 – “Awakening” – [Sonic Meditations]

Grizzly Adam   12/3/2011   A Library, CD

Two 25 minute tracks. Solo sound orchestration from guitar and drum machine, and when the sound settles in there is the chance to accommodate some guitar technique, a few choice runs, styles, and rather freeplay, along the up and up as this is built for ultimate psych drone trip. This plain works. As both compositionalist and instrumentalist there are the elements of where the limit of good music is and the limits of the gear and instruments involved. Beginning with Geiger counter clicks, in come a top hat and bass drum, and incomes what sounds like resonating a bronze or brass object by rubbing, and the tunnel scope/sight of guitar drone, until a leading sound comes in, what sound like but cannot be keys. There after come the notes, and electronics to supplement a voice that isn’t there. Is this solar rock? Something derivative of postrock? It is gently “awakening”, limited only by energy levels (solar rock); it says track one but this alone would be enough for a satisfying cd long listen. I think Edward Said might roll in his grave with this one, is this Arabic? Track two does not settle for the sedate approach. More techno and ambience for this one, and with the tempo slowed some for this occasion. Beautiful misty ambience which is sadly mostly a missed experience as the beat plodding goes on and on, like Audion slowed, covering up all the neat environmental-tronix, like a car eliminating the sound of wind and the smell of animal dung, or the dry dirt kicked up on a dirt road, or the smell of wet dirt. Well at least 7 minutes into the beat plod goes away and is reestablished such that the ambience is now the prominent feature. The melody featured in the ambience only somehow segues over into the guitar and becomes doom bass drone, quite nicely, and returns to the solar fluctuations in a nice strumy fashion and psych twist. And that is how it expels electro rhythialand in favor of the edenic garden and lastly to silence to sleep. -Eveningly Infinitely Wipes Scrub Sonny Atoms Grizzly Adam