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(B. FLEISCHMANN :: The Humbucking Coil :: Morr Music, CD) The increasingly popular trend in electronic music to use analog in order to get that perceived “warmer” sound is the acoustic ethos behind The Humbucking Coil. Named after an electric guitar pick-up, the “humbucker,” known for its “fat,” “full” tones, Fleischmann seems to hail his album as a renaissance for the device.
Designed by Gibson in the fifties, and often associated with the Gibson Les Paul, a humbucker traditionally consists of two standard single-coil magnetic pickups. These are usually placed side by side, with opposing electric and magnetic polarity used to cancel out a large proportion of unwanted electronic “noise.” However, Fleischmann is far from being part of a small group of humbucker enthusiasts. B.B. King, Santana, Slash, and many other musicians past and present use it or a similar device such as the “mini-bucker” or the “motherbucker.”
Technical aspects aside, The Humbucking Coil is a very competent and solid assemblage of melancholy, harmonic tunes. If Money Mark had to make a budget collection of funeral dirges it might sound like this. Although the bulk of it is very pretty, it definitely lacks any risk-taking. It’s a pop album disguised as neo/retro jazz. At first listen you might think it would be something to be heard gently wafting through a hip, little downtown bistro; but it’s probably more apropos as background music for a Gap advertisement. Don’t take it seriously and the music could be enjoyable, if it weren’t for the few vocal tracks. These songs ruin even a casual listening experience, because once you catch even a line of the banal, predictable lyrics, that sappy, saccharine sentiment is hard to ignore or forget. Left out, Fleischmann would have had a decent little package of tunes fit for noisy dinner parties or a game of scrabble. (Buy it at Amazon.com)
The Humbucking Coil is scheduled to be released February 21st on Morr Music.
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(PIERRE BASTIEN :: Pop :: Rephlex, CD) On the other end of the retro-devolution stands French composer Pierre Bastien, who isn’t retro at all except for the fact he’s found possibly the most clever use for a record player since DJ Kool Herc first dropped a needle. Bastien is the creator and master of his own orchestra, a group of musicians made from disparate machine parts and driven by turn-table motors. These mechanical wonders play Chinese lutes, violins, drums of all sorts, and other various traditional instruments from around the world. It is a monumental endeavor because enterprises like this often result in spectacular disasters, regardless or because of their grand intentions. However, Bastien succeeds as creator, composer, and post-modern conductor.
The melodies are often strange and seem ready to break apart at any moment, but Bastien reigns in each piece with a deftness and subtlety that require many listenings to fully appreciate. At times his pieces sound like an off kilter Threepenny Opera or Tom Waits minus the voice. Then tone shifts, and one is reminded of Miles Davis’ circa Sketches of Spain, then suddenly it changes into something more akin to early Folkways Recordings of traditional Indonesian music. The variety, the richness and density, and the careful but seemingly careless manipulation of this automaton orchestra is truly something one cannot or should not experience casually. It is akin to listening for the first time to The Rite of Spring or Rain Dogs, or perhaps nothing like that at all. Very few recordings are so unusual and also so accomplished and rewarding. (Buy it at Amazon.com)
Pop is out now on Rephlex.
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