a r t i s t : Tom Recchion
t i t l e : Sweetly Doing Nothing
d a t e : 2006
l a b e l : Schoolmap
g e n r e : Avantgarde
r l s. d a t e : Jul/2007
t r a c k s : 06
b i t r a t e : VBRkbps
s i z e : 71,2 MB
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Credits:
Mastered By - Andre Knecht , Mark Wheaton
Performer [Invented Instruments] - Max Eastley (tracks: 1, 3)
Performer [Tapes, Records], Percussion, Guitar, Computer,
Effects - Tom Recchion
Notes:
Recorded in 2005 in The Forest.Images are stills from Fishloop
and Rippleback, hybrid computer animation/liveaction
performance video loops by Jonathon Rosen.
Tracks 1, 2, 3 & 6 were used in collaborative performance with
Jonathon Rosen in MOCA's Visual Music Exhibition concert
series, 2005.
(http://e.discogs.com/release/867946)
Music is a way of filling up time. Different tempos and
rhythms are different possible means of using certain amounts
of time. In some cases, tempo and rhythm are obvious within
the first 10 seconds of a song, which is nice if youÆre a
time-strapped DJ. In other cases, a trackÆs rhythm can take
several minutes to present itself in a traceable fashion.
ôThe Crazy Beat,ö one of six eerie, protracted pieces on Tom
RecchionÆs Sweetly Doing Nothing, isnÆt ôfree noise,ö even if
it sounds like ôfree noiseö; it has a peculiar (but definite)
rhythmic structure that isnÆt obvious until about two minutes
into it. Just as a certain level of concentration can turn a
mess of dots into a picture of something, a certain amount of
time (with a certain amount of concentration) can turn a mess
of beeps, bangs and boings into a rhythm.
In the case of ôOozings,ö which clocks in at 12 minutes, the
rhythm takes a bit longer to come out and play. Sweetly Doing
Nothing is not a record for those in a hurry.
Tom Recchion was once a member of the storied Los Angeles Free
Music Society, and has cast his shadow on dozens of musical
projects, fringe and mainstream. In the last few years, heÆs
dedicated himself to reviving the exploratory potential of
ôexotica,ö a pursuit that inspired some truly weird orchestral
bastardizations before rock and roll scorched the earth, re-
emerged as a smirky retro fad in the æ90s, and is now once
again largely abandoned.
People slap on exotica sides to escape, whether to an imagined
Pacific paradise in the conformist æ40s and æ50s, or to an
imagined swank-bachelor renaissance in the crunchy,
aesthetically malnourished æ90s. Exotica died because its
purveyors stopped looking for new places to escape to. Its
moods and gimmicks were cannibalized by prog rockers and poppy
theory nerds like Stereolab, but exotica itself forgot how to
daydream.
Recchion has changed that. If you want to draw the shades, put
on a record and drift off, he has a few new destinations for
you. But theyÆre not the most comfortable places.
Of his recent discs, Sweetly Doing Nothing is the darkest and
most abstract, the most chilly and beautiful. ôThe Crazy
Beat,ö ôOozings,ö ôHo Ho 66ö and ôJazz 10,000 a.d.ö are too
vaguely defined to be ôpop,ö too structured to be strictly
ôexperimental,ö yet too harsh to be ôambient.ö They donÆt aim
for paradise, but for the dark, threatening, uncharted regions
beyond it. Only the soothingly hypnotic ôThe Elephant Godö and
the soothingly gloomy ôUnderwater Girlsö approach the spacey
simulacra of classic exotica, and they too inflict a more
jarring sort of removal than they initially promise.
As ôUnderwater Girlsö draws near its close, the echo of a
slow, muffled siren introduces a sense of distant urgency, and
reminds us that weÆre too far away to do anything about it.
By Emerson Dameron
(http://www.dustedmagazine.com/reviews/3356)
label's site:
(http://www.schoolmap.org/)
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01-The Elephant God [11:21]
02-Jazz 10,000 A.D. [05:46]
03-Oozings [12:02]
04-The Crazy Beat [06:22]
05-Ho Ho 66 [09:18]
06-Underwater Girls [10:05]
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54:54 min