Chip Shop Music - s/t

Homefront
No. 2

The first release on Homefront, the Krebs/Lacey/Rowe/Vogel, was already one of my favorites of the year and this one ain’t half bad either. “Chip Shop Music” is Erik Carlsson (percussion, electronics), Martin Küchen (saxophone, pocket radio), David Lacey (percussion, electronics) and Paul Vogel (computer, clarinet) and they sail with conviction on the two longish tracks presented here.

It’s one of those recordings, though, about which I can’t think of much to say. I can attest that “21st Century Chip Shop Man” has little to do, that I could discern, with the Crimson classic (then again, listening to it as I type, there’s a reed section some 21 minutes in that might just be akin to the wheezing mellotron at the beginning of that piece. Hmmm…). It’s not quite as catchy and bears no horn riffs. What it does do is beautifully navigate through a shifting field of percussive sounds, field recordings, electronica and reed tones at a very steady pace, like a purposive walk, not meandering but still taking in one’s surroundings. As with much of the best in this field, there’s an ineffable forward momentum at play, tough to pinpoint but clearly felt. The elements are not unusual—scraped metal, fluttered clarinet and saxophone work, subtle electronics—but their sequencing, their deployment is exceptional and not a little hypnotic. Right up to the offset sax/clarinet held notes and the clunking, chainlike percussion, everything works. One of my favorite tracks of this year.

The second cut, “Goodbye Mister”, is a rougher go but perhaps because a more difficult task is attempted, keeping things dark, maintaining a more limited palette and circumscribing a smaller area. It’s claustrophobic as opposed to the first piece, all sputters and lurches, groping its way. It leaves a lot of questions, not a bad thing, making one rather anxious to hear where this quartet travels from here.

Available (soon) from erstdist