Customer Reviews

Gravikords, Whirlies & Pyrophones: Experimental Musical Instruments

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is one of the few CD's that I just have no hesitation giving five stars to. "Gravikords, Whirlies & Pyrophones" is a recording of people playing unusual and home-made musical instruments, performing familiar and utterly alien-sounding compositions on them. If you have any ear at all for music this CD will keep you fascinated for days, and reading about the artists in the accompanying book is equally entrancing.

A great many books and recordings of experimental musical instruments are painfully dry and boring, written (and recorded) from an academic point of view. This book/CD set isn't, and as a result it's highly entertaining. I can guarantee that as a listener you have never heard anything quite like the sounds you will hear on this disc. And far from being a collection of funny noises, all of the pieces on here are compositions, with beginnings, middles and ends, actual rhythms, and melodies. This CD/book set is an eye-opener and a mind opener, and it's very inspirational. It made me want to go out to the garage, fire up a bandsaw and make my own instruments.

And I will guarantee you that nobody can keep a straight face during the rendition of "New York, New York" on the Car Horn Organ.

You have to like experimental music, but... the fact is, this CD would be worth listening to even if the tunes were played on regular instruments. In other words, it's good musically and in terms of the unusual instruments used. Clara Rockmore's 'The Swan' and Sugar Belly's 'Wake Up Adina' are the real gems.

I just finished listening to this for the second time in a row. (I only paid 15 for it though!) It's full of beautiful music and is a really great package. It looks like a book and has lots of notes about all of the wonderful intstruments that make up the collection. Musically it's obscure, but what would you expect "car horn organs" and giant sculptures to sound like? And just wait until you hear Clara Rockwell play the Theremin. I plan to buy several copies as presents for my artist friends. There's a second volume that's good too.

This is a book and CD set. The book is about people who have made "experimental musical instruments". There are two or three pages of text and pictures about each person and their instruments. Interesting stuff, but to really get a feel for the instruments, you would need to hear them. And that is where the CD comes in. Unfortunately, less than half of the instruments in the book are featured on the CD. But it is interesting to hear the ones that are featured. These aren't just random sounds played on the instruments, these are actual musical compositions. Some of the instruments sound quite beautiful and some do not. One instrument in particular (I won't mention it's name) sounds like someone strangling a cat. But if you are interested in outsider music, this is a must get for you.

This project proves that the instruments we know are but islands in a sea of infinite possibility. One would think that music on invented instruments -- from electronics to pottery to car horns -- would be a mere curiosity, a novelty item. But the pieces reward repeated listening, and the whole package is put together with Ellipsis's usual creativity and panache, with plenty of information to lure you in and encourage further investigation. (I have no relationship, formal or informal, with the company.) Now out of print, I think, which is sad.

I couldn;t imagine what the rest of the album would contain after hearing NEW YORK, NEW YORK played on a Car Horn Organ, but I wasn't disappointed. Some of the most wonderful sounds coming out of pipes, clay pots, and crystal wine glasses. And the book is a treasure with pictures of the various instruments. What a find for the collector of oddball music!

This is a great box set. You get a CD and an illustrated book. The CD features recordings of all sorts of odd experimental and home made instruments, ranging from the Theremin to the Bamboo Saxophone to Harry Partch's custom instruments. The book discusses the inventors and their instruments. The CD is a very unusual listen. The musical styles are all over the place, and it goes from the sublime to the ridiculous (sometimes both at once!). Some of it is Dr. Demento style gimmick music, while other is very experimental, and still other is fairly straighforward (the tune with the Bamboo Sax is actually a pleasant old school reggae instrumental).

Make sure you get the 1996 edition, because the book discusses more inventors, including ones not included in the CD.

If you like this, check out the book and acompanying CD's entitled Songs in the Key of Z, Vol. 1-2

Songs in the Key of Z: The Curious Universe of Outsider Music

NPR's Morning Edition caught my attention one morning with a piece of bumper music - a rendition of "New York, New York" played entirely on car horns. It was the sound you would get if you could orchestrate Times Square. It was utterly delightful and even got the normally-reserved hosts giggling. A quick search of the NPR site brought me to the title "Gravikords, Whirlies and Pyrophones." Now who could resist that?

Alas, "New York, New York" is one of only two or three cuts on the album that can be listened to in an unaltered state of mind. The rest is, well... experimental as promised and confirms why experimental music is not mainstream.

On the other hand, having in your collection a version of "New York, New York" played on the car horn organ is worth every penny of the cost.