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Percussionist, poet, and artistic instigator Angus Maclise has an exceptional résumé but a microscopic discography. He was the
Velvet Underground's first drummer (he left the band because he could not accept the restrictions that accompanied paying gigs) and a key player alongside
Tony Conrad and
John Cale in LaMonte Young's Theater of Eternal Music. Maclise recorded soundtracks for many underground films during the late '60s and early '70s, but made no effort to get his music pressed onto records; after his death in 1979 his work lay dormant until the release of this colorfully packaged CD. Maclise's music turns out to be much more freewheeling than that of his more famous colleagues. Most of it features complex, constantly evolving percussion spiraling around heavily echoed flutes and hypnotically droning organ. The odd track out is "Shortwave India," a bracing electronic blast that predicts the efforts of contemporary noisemongers like John Duncan and
Merzbow.
--Bill Meyer
