Orignal Silence - The First Orignal Silence [Smalltown Superjazzz - 2007]The Orignal Silence is an improvised rock, cum jazz, cum noise, cum what ever they fancy collective that brings together the talents of Thurston Moore (Sonic Youth),Terrie Ex (The Ex), Jim O`Rourke,Mats Gustafsson (The Thing), Paal Nilssen-Love (The Thing, Atomic) and Massimo Pupillo (Zu). The thing that makes these two live tracks so rewarding is though there improvised- mostly it keeps locking back into a chugging punk, often aggressive funk groove, to freaked-out jazzy spacey metallic rhythmic patterns or slow baying dead tide slide in & out electro ambiences. It never just disintegrates into noise or aimless playing off against each other, which I’m sure is rewarding to the players but can be a little tiring for the poor listener after time. There’s also plenty of change tone and instrumental pallet going on from letting the sax squeal and rip away, to eerier guitar hazes, to bubbling electronics. The sound picture never becomes too crowded for its own good, there clearly playing to a make great pieces of sound/ atmosphere and not to how much noise or how clever they can play. The first track comes in at near on fifteen minute mark and is entitled If Light has no Age,time has no Shadow. It basically stays fairly with-in the constants of it’s jazz cum punk/funk groove structure, with electronics, guitars and sax’s flying all over the place, really building up one hell of a groove. Where as the second track In the name of the law, which slips in just under the fifty minute mark. Goes from gurgling spacey plains of electronics and guitar, to groove locked thrashings. All the way to unnerving expanses of dead grey lit ambient that slow slides and saws along with electronics and layers of hazy guitar repetition's. Jagged with picking and plucking,and sax playing that brings to mind someone weeping and whaling for mercy. A really very fine slice of perfectly honed musicianship that goes from slam dancing with the dead, to atmosphere and eerier expanses of richly painted sound craft and every were in-between. Roger Batty
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