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As an early example of extreme minimalism paired with avant-drone, this record explains quite a lot about the proto-punk and vicious experimental rock of the Velvet Underground being rooted in Reed’s snotty rock attitude just as much as in the avant-garde of academic music schools where Cale hung out. Recorded in the 1960s, these three lengthy tracks were published in 2000 and (not only therefore) have the thick smell of historical importance all over them.
„Sun Blindness Music“ (1967) might be all too fitting as a title, because the drone sound of Cale’s single keyboard chord (with dynamic changes) is piercing and relentless: the intensity, no matter what cluster Cale plays at a given time, never lets up. Listening to this really is like staring into a glistening field of ice and snow, then looking away, then staring again, look away, stare, and so forth. „Summer Heat“ (1965) is a mantra-drone-piece, one chord played on a distorted guitar. And „The Second Fortress“ (1967/68) is Cale on the keys again, adding some spacey electronic distortion.
If you are into minimalism as a genre, this harsh early example of it is probably a historically immensely interesting buy, as the music is not about being listenable, it is truly experimental in its initial, scientific sense, meant for you to focus on your visceral reactions to it. Ultimately, this sort of art is about sound, not music, so don’t be disappointed if you were looking for the baroque country rock of Cale’s debut Vintage Violence.
„Sun Blindness Music“ (1967) might be all too fitting as a title, because the drone sound of Cale’s single keyboard chord (with dynamic changes) is piercing and relentless: the intensity, no matter what cluster Cale plays at a given time, never lets up. Listening to this really is like staring into a glistening field of ice and snow, then looking away, then staring again, look away, stare, and so forth. „Summer Heat“ (1965) is a mantra-drone-piece, one chord played on a distorted guitar. And „The Second Fortress“ (1967/68) is Cale on the keys again, adding some spacey electronic distortion.
If you are into minimalism as a genre, this harsh early example of it is probably a historically immensely interesting buy, as the music is not about being listenable, it is truly experimental in its initial, scientific sense, meant for you to focus on your visceral reactions to it. Ultimately, this sort of art is about sound, not music, so don’t be disappointed if you were looking for the baroque country rock of Cale’s debut Vintage Violence.
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Before Cale was off playing Viola and Bass in The Velvet Underground, he was exploring his own Avant Garde ventures by himself. In this three-track collection, we get to see the kind of stuff he was doing in the 60s, which was early minimalist music.
Just a few years after the genre was pretty much invented by Terry Riley (who also did some music with Cale) he recorded some songs in the genre. The songs in here are well...long droney pieces of work that are sort of hard to get into, but once you do get into them, you really like them. The first track, Sun Blindness Music, is the same chord the whole song played on a few different octaves of a heavily-processed organ, while some other tones play occasionally. This sounds really boring, but actually comes out interesting. The next track is the only one on here that bears some resemblance to anything the Velvet Underground ever did, it's a distorted guitar solo, which is also good. The last track is another organ solo, this time more than just one chord! This track is decent but not as good as the other ones though. Overall, 4 stars.
Just a few years after the genre was pretty much invented by Terry Riley (who also did some music with Cale) he recorded some songs in the genre. The songs in here are well...long droney pieces of work that are sort of hard to get into, but once you do get into them, you really like them. The first track, Sun Blindness Music, is the same chord the whole song played on a few different octaves of a heavily-processed organ, while some other tones play occasionally. This sounds really boring, but actually comes out interesting. The next track is the only one on here that bears some resemblance to anything the Velvet Underground ever did, it's a distorted guitar solo, which is also good. The last track is another organ solo, this time more than just one chord! This track is decent but not as good as the other ones though. Overall, 4 stars.
Published
Two opposite words to describe this.....Minimal and extreme.
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