Hooker/Miller/Ranaldo

Out Trios Vol. 1: Monsoon

BY Roman SokalPublished Mar 1, 2004

Recorded in one long 49-minute pass to two-track, the trio of Roger Miller, Lee Ranaldo (Sonic Youth) and William Hooker have achieved a type of experimental improvised music that can pacify zombies and make them behave. Ever present is Ranaldo's eerie echo-laden guitar, which is set to distant percussion and an assortment of unexplained rhythmic noises. The tension builds quite magnificently — from early Pink Floyd-esque drones to pure modern voodoo. The idea of not splitting up this music into sections/separate tracks should teach a lesson to those who are too fragmented in approach. Monsoon creates a singular experience; a forced listen, which in the long run will give the masses a proper mental mindset into how to listen to such material — which might at first seem just like a lot of fucking around, whereas in reality, it is highly deliberate and is an aural painting of a painting of a painting and so on — its sonic diaries of what happened a second ago, and a response to having just listened to it. By the end, one is floored by these cosmic signals of music. Investigative playing and listening at its best.
(Atavistic)

Latest Coverage