Q&A
SONIC REDUCER
Have You Never Been Mellow?
Five muted albums for those "Do Not Disturb"days and nights.

by JOHN GRAHAM
jgraham@wweek.com

It could be a hammering hangover, or the flu, or 4:52 am and still no sign of sleep, but believe it or not, there are times you just don't wanna listen to Extreme Noise Terror. These records will lull you into another state of mind. And no, that's not always a good thing.

Pure Kane vs. King Black Acid:
If the Stars Are Where You Feel Safe (self-made)

Pure Kane--a.k.a. local musician Bobek Djeyfroudi (Galactic Federation, sometime King Black Acid bassist)--probably isn't in the minority in being taken aback by KBA's poppy new direction. But rather than just bitch around the rim of a bottle that KBA's latest LP, Loves a Long Song, doesn't achieve the cosmic transcendence of yore, he's done something about it: remixed his favorite songs from the album into two extended drifts of astral-traveling
psyche-rock bliss. Like a modern-day "Shine On You Crazy Diamond," these new edits link tunes like "Kiss the Beast" and "Gentle Collapse (Feels Good)" with sparse instrumental movements that gleam and glow like nebulae in a peaceful deep-space dream. The distorted crescendos that poke their distracting fingers into the reveries of the original Long Song are left far behind; what remains is a simple distillation of the core KBA sound. Hushed and intentionally entrancing, If the Stars... should allow old KBA fans to recline in meditative splendor without having to reach for the remote every other song. But what would Daniel Riddle think?

Amber Asylum: The Supernatural Parlour Collection (Release)

Lorded over by occasional Neurosis collaborator Kris Force, Amber Asylum is a home for those dark personalities either too damaged or too delicate to see the light. Previous peeks into the Asylum mind were minimalistic, abstract, fragile: neo-classical motifs wafted like cobweb filaments underneath female vocals so whispery they were practically invisible. Supernatural Parlour Collection is similarly restrained, with Force's voice oozing ectoplasmic depression over slow cellos, violins and sparse military drum rattles. It may be a touch more tuneful than other Asylum visits, which could withdraw into shadowy ambient introspection that just...dozed...the day...away..., and an album-closing cover of "Black Sabbath" ups the energy level to something approaching social. But this Collection, like all reports from Amber Asylum, remains one best appreciated in nocturnal
solitude.

Robert Rich: Sunyata (Hypnos); Amoeba: Pivot (Release)

Sleep-concert king, Steve Roach crony and Lustmord collaborator Robert Rich has made a name painting ambient smears with his keyboards for the past 20 years. For those curious to know how someone gets started in such an esoteric field, Sunyata is a re-release of his very first album (made at a ripe young 19), and shows the precocious Rich already skilled at drawing out airy minimalism with enough microtonal shifts to avoid boring listeners--who, since this was during his psychoactive sleep-concert experiments, would've already been sawing wood anyway. (Semantics, people, semantics.) On the extreme down side, Rich uses the teeth-clenching New Age cliché of running water as a background sound source, a musical act that must be banned. Forever.

Pivot is what happens when a deep dronologist has a pop itch begging to be scratched. Here, Rich's usual miasma of subliminal whooshes and wails is abandoned in favor of a shockingly straightforward mix of guitar, voice and drums. While it's still a dream-clouded excursion--with Rich's feather-light vocals and acoustic lines sweeping across chilly electric-guitar leads and quiet sketches of percussion--the resulting King Crimson-tinted progressive pop is as pretty as the morning mist and nearly as insubstantial.

Enya: A Day Without Rain (Reprise)

Enya, the patron saint of shabby-chic candle shops worldwide, never changes. Cirrus wisp vocals? Check. Gaelic lyrics, grandiose piano trills and pizzicato strings? Check. Enough reverb-drenched echo to flood Ireland forever? Check. A Day Without Rain is so programmed to stifle mankind's violent natural instincts, one has to wonder why Enya's not the peace emissary to Belfast. Maybe they're worried the dullness would lull them into a dangerous, military-post-deserting coma?