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(Aug 22, 2004)
Rating - ***
The Austin's Obsession page
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This is a CD of electronic music performed by Joseph Algiers, Jr., who is the creative force behind Austin’s Obsession. The album title, Independent Film, is an apt one, because the music moves in a sort of progression from beginning to end, 14 tracks in all. I didn’t understand the progression, but then I never understand independent films either, so perhaps the irony is intentional. I recognize and appreciate Algiers’ genius, but can’t quite make the translation of his work from music into sense. Maybe you will succeed where I failed.
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The songs cover a fairly wide range of style and format. There’s one track that sounds like R2D2 on acid, another that features a syncopated note repeated over and over from beginning to end - but timed at a very odd fraction of a beat, as only electronic music can do. A human performer would tear off his clothes and go running naked into the street if forced to follow such a bizarre rhythmical pattern. And there are a few really fine songs, most notably "Slightly Difficult" and "Beautiful Robots" (tracks 2 and 13). Either of these songs could become popular with proper exposure. Also interesting is track 8, "The End of the World" which features a noise that sounds like a cross between a foghorn, a duduk, and a fraternity hazing session gone horribly, horribly wrong.
Independent Film has a few tracks on it that don’t seem to do anything for the musical progression. They sound a little like an AM radio that is tuned about 5 Kilohertz above or below the proper frequency. It’s apparently an intentional effect, but it just doesn’t do anything for me other than give me a headache if played at sufficient volume. If there’s any other possible criticism of the project, it’s that it doesn’t seem to cover any new ground. The range of atonality is nothing that Emerson, Lake and Palmer and Yes didn’t find back in the ‘70s. At one point I thought I heard the influence of Pink Floyd’s "Several Species of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together in a Cave and Grooving with a Pict," but then I thought, no, who in their right mind would copy that song, either intentionally or unintentionally? Still, don’t pay any attention to all this dithering - just take my advice and give it a listen, I think you’ll like it.
You can buy the CD
here.
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