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Live at The Pistol Social Club + CDr (2008)
Live At The Pistol Social Club April 29th, 2007
Matt Hill - untitled vii
Duane Pitre - Motorized
Justin Wright - August 1st, 2007
Kill Shaman
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PRESS
AQUARIUS RECORDS
From list No. 300
That's right, we're sounding that alert 'cause you might not know these names... suffice to say though that Justin Wright is better known (to AQ customers) as the guy behind Expo '70, whose new full-length cd Black Ohms happens to be our Record Of The Week this list. And Matt Hill is his touring partner, whom you've seen together with Wright if you caught 'em recently in SF at the Hemlock with Wooden Shjips, or elsewhere on tour. Also, their pal Duane Pitre is another guitar-wielding dronester with tendencies in line with the cosmic Expo '70 aesthetic. The prolific Expo '70 being an outfit we've continually championed as they constantly amaze us with their sooooo gorgeous, '70s krautrock inspired, spaced out instrumental drone musick.
There's four tracks here on this solid black cd-r. The seventeen minute long track one, finds Wright, Hill and Pitre playing together, droning out mightily, live at someplace called The Pistol Social Club. The credits have 'em all playing guitar, all responsible for "textures, drones", with Pitre also on "prepared percussion, disjointed lines" and Wright handling "melodic lines" as well. It starts as a hushed ambient soundscape, at once spacious and intimate, hesitantly melodic and repetitiously trancelike; raw, rough edges softened by gentle whirr, their guitars' volume gradually increasing, eventually building into a quite dense, distorted finale.
Then there's one track apiece from Hill, Pitre, and Wright. Hill's seven minute contribution is all acoustic guitar and field recordings, sparse pickings and pluckings, sounding like a broken music box, crank turned at half-speed, backwards, amidst nighttime insect buzz. Unidentifiable crackle, rustle, and hiss infuse the plinking proceedings, which could be a mellowed out Derek Bailey with Jewelled Antler production. Pitre's piece, "Motorized Music for Electric Guitar (live)" is what that says: a live performance, at a church in Brooklyn, with Pitre applying a "handheld high-speed rotary tool" to the strings of his electric guitar. The result is a twelve minute Niblockian drone divine, slow-building and shimmery. Wonderful. And then Wright bats cleanup, ending the disc with a live improv guitar piece featuring the use of two amps, and, we're told, a squeaky chair. It's ten and a half minutes of dreamy, subtle cosmic throb and drift, with sci-fi electronic FX whispering from outer space to swirl around this piece's glowing meditative center. So nice.
For Expo '70 fans and anyone into the guitar-drone-zone, this here's a varied four-part treat indeed!
MY RECORD COLLECTION.ORG
Matt Hill/Duane Pitre/Justin Wright "Live at the Pistol Social Club+" CDr
This is the first ever recording featuring Expo '70 main man Justin wright under his real name. It's a three-way split with one tune assigned for each artist and one collective track. The album starts off with the later, a monster jam which reminds me of some of Charalambides work with it's droning slide guitars, chaotic solos. It gets heavier and heavier as it progresses until it eventually dissolves within itself. Matt Hill's contribution is Derek Bailey-like improvisational guitar solo, filled with harmonics and a seemingly haphazard approach to the instrument. A bizarre yet charming number which would fit in perfectly as an alternate theme song to Mr. Rogers were it broadcast in the twilight zone. Duane Pitre's track is a pretty straightforward guitar drone number with touches of high-pitched feedback and a shimmering atmosphere. Wright's work could easily have been released as Expo '70 with it's wonderful pulsating, musique contrète-like vibe.
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TAROT READING / SOLAR DRIFTING 7"
SONIC MESSENGER CD
INFINATE MACROCOSM bonus CD
GALAXY OF MYSTICISM CDr
PSYCHOSIS LP
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