Aidan Baker

One side effect of Aidan Baker's formidable output, both solo and with Nadja (20-plus full-lengths in 2009 alone), is the partial severing of anything resembling a casual audience. Passing knowledge of his work usually focuses on Sunn O)))-derived drone experiments, so this darkly vibrant work for rock band and strings should shock the averages. Both sections are drawn from live performances. The four-part Liminoid suite runs the gamut from leery explorations of ambient space to full-on eight-piece rocking with double percussion charges into medieval history. With text adapted from Christian Magic writings, the piece reminds of last year's Faking Gold and Murder by Aethenor, at times, which featured David Tibet's magical expounding. Lifeforms is one long piece that keeps its drone cards closer to its chest. Aside from a briefly innervated passage that pits Mika Posen's violin and Nick Storring's cello against Alan Bloor's (Knurl) amplified metal objects, the piece is above all a highly successful contingence of drone and minimalist composition.