rhBand - Take One CD-R
(self-released)
This ultra-limited (50 copies!) rhBand CD-R contains some of their most powerful
compositions to date. Unfortunately, it's already unavailable, and although MP3s
are floating around Napster, it doesn't look like it will be obtainable any time soon.
Consisting of two live performances and a brief intro, Take One is a very immobile
record. There are no obvious progressions in the music, but rather a very slow
changing of parts that happens more gradually and unnoticeably than most other
minimalism I've ever heard.
I'm not sure what rhBand uses as their source material, but everything on Take One
is very cold and mechanical sounding. I'd guess that computers or laptops were
used to construct it, but the mad scientist feeling of strange home-built electronic
devices and knob-twiddling is there.
"Eagle Rock May 1999" is a 27 minute piece that mostly utilizes static to expand
over the half-hour. The dramatic effect of minimal, slow changes is not evident
here. The track functions as a dark and cold ambient piece. It begins with cold
static over a regular thumping sound in a rhythm, before many more layers of static
and hiss chime in. It gets rather intense, picking up definite tones, though the
harsher sounds disappear by the end and only soft harmonic frequencies remain.
It's dizzying to try and make sense of it; the listener is best to just get lost in the
piece and then wake up when it's over.
"San Francisco May 2000" is more akin to the work of Zoviet*France; it remains
very low and uneventful, but without the layered approach of the previous track.
This piece is practically hallucinatory. rhBand works very well in this format,
showing how easy it is for them to create these soundscapes.
This is probably my favorite rhBand recording, along with the slightly-less-limited LP
on Klang. Judging from this CD-R (and what was heard at the Transmissions
Festival last summer), their best work is yet to come.
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