Henry Flynt - New American Ethnic Music Vol. 2: Spindizzy
(Recorded)
Sandwiched by two lengthy, repetitive Terry Riley-stuck-in-Alabama pieces, this piece of
the ongoing Henry Flynt reissue series continues his attempts at creating "New American
Ethnic Music"—an avant-garde take on the distinctive sounds of American country and
western music. Unlike the other disc I've heard (the amazing Graduation and other new
country and blues music on Amepersand), Spindizzy spans a broader period of time and is
recorded in a significantly more lo-fi manner. This somewhat benefits the rural feelings
of the music—a fiddle sounds pretty great through some static and crackle; I'm not sure
if this was Flynt's intention or if it was done out of necessity. The liner notes are brief,
barely non-existant. I'm not sure whether Flynt is playing all instruments himself,
through overdubbing, or if he is merely composing for other musicians. I guess it really
doesn't matter; this music is so unique that his authorship is unquestioned. "Solo
Spindizzy," is solo indeed—three minutes of solo fiddle—and while at first it sounds like
someone practicing, it develops into arrays of counterpoint. Some of the shorter pieces
seem more like sketches, and the group/ensemble pieces are balanced mixes of rambling
guitars and looped violins.
Flynt truly is one of the most unique American musicians I have ever heard. He
understands time well, using repetition like the finest of the minimalists but infused with
a cultural awareness that sets him apart. The trance-like nature of his compositions are
most successful on the longer pieces, especially the eighteen-minute "Jive Deceleration"
that closes the disc. Nothing like the decayed tape experiments of "Celestial Power" is
found here; it's strictly traditional country and western instrumentation that is adhered
to. "Jive Deceleration"'s solo fiddle grinds away, getting slower until it finally reaches a
monolithic stasis that Lamonte Young would be proud of. The disc only really suffers
with "Rockabilly Boogie," eight minutes of blues progressions being hammered out on a
guitar. While not really a radical departure for him, it never really leaps up and begins
it's own slow, glowing burn like the other ones do.
I can't help but wonder how these pieces would sound arranged for a fuller orchestra;
the aural fetishist in me would love it, though I realize it would kill the "honest" nature of
the music. There is something amazing to me about Henry Flynt; not your "typical"
outsider artist, he slugged away at his music for years, only now really getting the
discography he deserves. Spindizzy is more than adequate as as introduction to his work;
I readily endorse it.
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