Review
by Wonderful Wooden Reasons:
Iri
Li - Broken Summer
(ContraMusikProduktion CMP20)
CD
Iri
Li.... who is also one of the
people behind the intriguingly named ContraMusikProduktion (and no, I
haven't forgotten the spaces). Contra...Music? What a bold
assertion to make. I thoroughly approve but it's a hell of a
title to live up to don't you think? My dictionary defines
'contra' as meaning 'opposite' or 'against' (it also defines it as a
'Nicaraguan counter revolutionary movement' but I think we can discount
that one). So, 'opposite music productions' or 'against music
productions'. Being a record label I would imagine the first
of those two options is the more likely and after listening to this
album I think it's also the most apropos.
This is music with
a decidedly 'opposite' mindset.
Broken Summer sees Iri Li
taking a wide variety of 'traditional' instruments (voice, synth,
violin, gong, theremin, piano and more), mixing these with some
unidentified home-made instruments and then adding a variety of nicely
sourced field-recordings to create a set of creepy and mind-bending
compositions. It's obtuse, wilful, contrary, sad, whimsical,
intense, wistful, bombastic and melancholic but what I like most about
this album is it's all these things without ever forgetting that while
it is great fun being 'contra-music' it is still the 'music ' aspect of
that definition that drew us into this awkward little corner of the
world in the first place and that keeps us searching (whether as
musicians or listeners) for that elusive fix. 'Contra' is
fine but without the 'music' part it can quickly degenerate into
pointless navel-gazing or worthless flailing but that is never the case
here. Iri Li has produced 12 separate pieces that combine to create one
seamless whole.
Recommended.
(www.ContraMusikProduktion.de)
Link:
http://wonderfulwoodenreasons.homestead.com/reviewsGtoI.html
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