Klarc Qent
"Junk Jazz" CDR
Water
Bear Records
Genres: sound collage, avant-garde, experimental
Klarc Qent
PO Box 58674
Cincinnati, OH
45258
Feb 2 - 8 2004 |
Few know of the living legend that is Klarc Qent. Few
know of his incredibly detailed, amazingly diverse sound
collages. Few know of his undying musical spirit, which breeds
composition after composition of pure audio bliss. Way back
when, I reviewed his debut album, "Erroneous Data (plus),"
which was a delicious foray into People Like Us /
Negativland plunderphonics. But Junk Jazz is a much
different album, taking a more serious approach to musique concrete,
featuring abstract cut-ups filled with old jazz and avant-garde
samples. The likes of Coltrane, Cage, and - of
course - Stockhausen can all be heard in the mix.
Though Junk Jazz is extremely experimental, there are many
pieces here that should be accessible to those unfamiliar with the
experimental audio collage genre. "The Cliff & the
Fall," for example, lays some neat squiggly abstractness over a
smooth piano background - the results are far from melodic, but still
quite engaging. The atmospheric "Eddie Lang Saxophone"
is also one of the more listenable moments.
Other tracks go for straight-out experimentalism.
"Relapse," for example, is a percussion-heavy, bizarre
soundscape. "Improv for Duo" is pure messy guitar
squall, chopped up and impaled on a frisky layer of percussion.
Junk Jazz is recommended for the adventurous listener.
Klarc Qent is truly proving himself to be one of the best sound
collagists on the scene, and you'd be silly to miss out on this disc,
which can be yours from Klarc
for five measly dollars, postage paid.
87%
Matt Shimmer
[Vitals: 11 tracks, distributed by the
label ($5 ppd), released 2003] |