Rer Quarterly, Vol. 4, No. 2 CD

The ReR Quarterly began as an LP and magazine in 1984. The artists featured in this issue are included in this bonus cd which was packaged with the magazine. Among the highligts are the East Coast environmental sounds that create a soundscape backdrop for Tom DiMuzio's "Inception." Marie Goyette updates one of the three B's in "Short-Cuts: Brahms." The result of the programmed samples is an intermittently moody and then powerful view of the composer, as if sent through a lattice. The harpsichord stands out Baroque and proud in front of the shadowy accompaniment of "electric guitar and digital machines" in Giovanni Venosta's three-part from "Le Ombre di Otello." Wave-like shapes of ambient noise characterize the sea-motion composition "Feu Brilliant" by Keith Rowe and Alaid De Phillips. Volapukgives us the cello, bass clarinet, drums and tape composition "Des Objets de la Plus Grand Importance." The result is a tightly conceived piece of music that consists of short phrases, sudden shifts, sparse arrangement but remarkable cohesion. Playful and engaging. On Boris Kovacs' "Interludium: Two Drums" the sonorous Gran Cassa drum creates enunciates a cavernous monologue punctuated by a snare drum. Philip Perkins takes us on a sound collage tour of Indonesia on "Virgo Ramayana." The disc concludes with Shelley Hirsch, John Rose and Chris Cutler on "After Hours/The Colour of Blood" taken from a live radio performance. The collage of conversation and instrumentation (keyboard, violin, low-grade electronics and percussion) makes a very interesting listen along the lines of a bizarre radio play. ~ Tom Schulte