Re: (idm) in defense of richard thomas

From gg2g4ink
Sent Mon, Nov 10th 1997, 01:14


On Sun, 9 Nov 1997, xxxxxxx@xxxx.xxx (Sean Cooper) wrote:
>these include david moufang, kreidler, mouse on mars, and bisk, and i would 
>also include richard thomas (at least what i've heard of him).
>the welsh sun ra is, of course, typical wire hyberbole--insufficient, 
>reductive, and ultimately damaging, appealing to an ahistorically eclectic 
>"avant-gardism" and expressing little more than a vague similarity of 
>enthusiasm in the writer

i stopped reading the WIRE - personal reasons - so i wasn't even aware that Mr. 
Thomas is now the 'talk of the town'. his tracks on the Invisible Soundtracks 
records were too slight to leave much of an impression... but _Shoes and 
Radios..._ grabbed me immediately. from cover to content, so to speak.
don't dismiss this record as formless noodling. Richard Thomas is operating 
within as unique a system of musical structure as Schoenberg's 12-Tone 
compositions or the cyclical minimalism of Reich and Lucier. Sun Ra? why? 
because there's a little jazz in there? if you're looking for the Second Coming 
of Sun Ra, you should check out _Dub Sonic Starship Arkestra_ - and they would 
not be the least bit ashamed about the comparison, i gather...  
it's on Soup Disk's newest sublabel, 360 (i think), and all the information on 
the disk/insert is printed in very tiny Japanese characters. even if i could 
read Japanese, i'd probably have trouble with this one... but the disk is 
amazing. yes, yes... review forthcoming. i've been swamped lately.

so here's what i wrote about RT for my latest 'electronica' column in MAGNET. 
_Shoes and Radios..._ actually became something of a catalyst for freeform 
riffing on the topic of alternate-soundtracks ... the issue (#32) won't be out 
for a few months, so e-mail me if you want to read the whole thing sooner. 

the newest records from: x@x; Larry Kucharz; Psychomuzak; Wabi Sabi; Neil 
Landstrumm; Hans Platzgumer; Cristian Vogel ... round out my other picks for 
'invisual soundtracks', btw... try matching them up with these films: Repulsion; 
Opera (Argento); Manhunter (Mann); The Abyss; Metropolis. let's see if we arrive 
at the same conclusions...  :)

RICHARD THOMAS last appeared on Leaf's fittingly-titled _Invisible Soundtracks_ 
series ... The lone Thomas track to linger for longer than a minute, "Muffin 
Spencer-Devlin/ Hawaii II," is less an ode to Jon's brassy sister than a 
Badalamentian duet for squealing/clanging things and muted trumpet; a fine 
beatless bridge between the Sons of Silence's smoke trails, the frosty insectile 
techno of Gescom or Disjecta, and the finely detailed environments of Vendor 
Refill and Nonplace Urban Field. _Shoes And Radios Attract Paint_(Lo Recordings) 
is a full-length stream of Richard Thomas' open-ended audio signifiers. 
Rustlings and rumblings, distracted melodic plinkings, spasms of erratic rhythm, 
and tastes of tape mistreatments and tortured jazz, all mingling in the light of 
Thomas' weird atmospheres. Cue up _Barbarella_ (1968) to any of Roger Vadim's 
more outlandish setpieces, crank up Thomas' "OrdureRechauffe," 
"ValleyOfTheInterlockingSpurs," or virtually any other track on _Shoes..._, and 
experience a new degree of strangeness. -(gg/magnet#32)

i've tried it. the effect is incredible. try the doll-room scene. or the 
birdcage. or, well... as i said - just about any scene/just about any track!

cheers!

GuerillaG2-G4/ gg
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