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Old 09.15.2008, 06:45 AM   #19
Moshe
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http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/articl...iginal-silence

Original Silence:
The Second Original Silence


[Smalltown Superjazz; 2008]
Rating: 8.0 If the success of a sophomore album should be measured by whether it includes a potential hit (it shouldn't, but humor me here), then The Second Original Silence has struck gold. Not that a six-piece improvisational noise/jazz/rock ensemble has much chance of scoring chart action, but if it did, opener "Argument Left Hanging - Rubber Cement" would fire a bullet into any top 10 it came close to. Shooting out of the gate with scratchy guitar, gut-rocking bass, and a stuttering beat, the track at first resembles a Captain Beefheart jam, then hits shades of electric-era Miles Davis, and ends with a trail of dense electronics. Throughout, Mats Gustafsson's sax wraps the din into a ball of rhythmic noise, suggesting it's actually possible to dance to free-form improv.
The rest of the album (pristinely recorded at a 2005 Italy performance) doesn't match that crackling open, but it's still pretty great. And while it may not have the relentless energy of the group's debut, it trumps that effort in terms of sonic variety. Full-throttle sprints trade jabs with sparser stretches, and recognizable sounds blend with noise so abstract, it actually gets scary. Much of this diversity comes from the increased prominence of Jim O'Rourke's electronics. Pushed forward in the high-speed mix, his ripples and slashes are somewhat stock, but the way he deploys them gives each piece tangible shape. Connecting the high-end of Gustafsson and guitarists Thurston Moore and Terrie Ex to the low-end of bassist Massimo Pupillo and drummer Paal Nilssen-Love, O'Rourke strings constellations out of his colleague's starry sounds.
His strongest moment comes on "High Trees & a Few Birds - The Doll's Reflection", a 19-minute piece in which he serves as de facto bandleader. It opens with five minutes of O'Rourke solo, swinging from bursts of noise to cricket-like ambience. When his bandmates each get shots at splattering on his sonic canvas, they all dole out their sounds with disciplined restraint. There was nothing quite this tense on the group's debut, and it works to near-perfection. Gustafsson's slow moans in particular mesh tightly with O'Rourke's blanketing sheen-- during the ending climax, the pair's dying-animal screech is unnerving.
The Second Original Silence concludes with "Crepescular Refractions - Mystery Eye", ramping back up into a pounding jam akin to the album's opening salvo. Where The First Original Silence was one sustained shot of adrenaline, its sequel shows the group can travel in an arc as well as straight line. Which makes the prospect of what new shape they might take on a potential Third Original Silence that much more enticing.
- Marc Masters, September 15, 2008
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