Joe Grimm - Brain Cloud [Spekk - 2008]The tracks on Brain Cloud are based around rich and dense clouds of drone and sustained matter utilizing primal layers of piano and along with the sustained harmonics of voices, violins, horns. Through out the 5 tracks on offer here the sound is often wall like, yet at the same time harmonic, mysterious and dramatic. Grimm was first influenced by the Glenn Branca's 100-guitar symphonies then by the master of droning and dense piano work Charlemagne Palestine to create Brain cloud, you can also hear the influence of Steve Reich here too with a few tracks using looped and repetitive piano notation. But ultimately Grimm has managed to create his own sonic identity and way of working, though the tracks have subtarined and drone elements at their centres he often mangers to pulls out rich shimmers and moving harmonic tone from the tracks like an enchanting heat haze hovering above the wall of sound. Some tracks often seem to have quite a spiritual base due to the sustained and growing clouds of voice elements which rather brought to mind either aboriginal dreamtime chants or sinister cinematic stuck choirs. But the element that is most used and present through out all the tracks here is the piano which Grimm really mangers to master it’s power, depth and breath taking sonic wonder- often you feel like you have become one with the sound as your completely hypnotized and locked into it’s depth, falling through the dense flurries of piano tones. On the last track Grimm users as many as three separate played piano to build up his awe inducing sound. An highly rewarding journey into sustained and drone matter that mangers to stay hypnotic yet slowly shifting and often quite complex in it's sound layers with Grimm pulling all manner of sonic magic from the dense clouds of often powerful sound created here. Roger Batty
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