Customer Reviews

Music Is a Hungry Ghost

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

 

 

If music's merits were measured in atmosphere and texture alone, then To Rococo Rot would be considered one of the most innovative bands on the planet. The four members achieve a wonderfully cohesive sound that explores the space/density dichotomy with effortless grace. Unfortunately, as far as thematic development and melodic and harmonic complexity are concerned, "Music Is A Hungry Ghost" is decidedly primitive. So in time the locked grooves that establish such delicate interplay end up feeling more like incarceration than liberation, and what could have been warm and inviting sonic exploration begins to sound cold and aloof. More complex, enticing and listenable material is produced by the bands with which To Rococo Rot shares members - Kreidler and Tarwater.

I received this CD as a promo several years ago while employed at a record shop. One of many CDs I received in this manner, listened to a few times and passed on to friends...

...except this one I kept, and listened to again and again. Odd, considering I'm no electronica afficionado. This is definitely not your garden variety 4/4 beats. Compositions are short but superbly developed. The music has an organic feel, as of live instruments delicately cut-and-pasted and looped. The crackly turntablism and evocative violin crop up at just the right places. It has basslines Tortoise would be proud of. It made me go out and buy "Veiculo" and "Amateur View." All three albums are highly enjoyable and reward repeated listens. This is warm, inviting listening with lots of subtleties. I want their whole catalog!

This is a fantastic album. Rooted in Krautrock, filled with interesting sounds from a future laboratory, and infused with the DJ touches of I Sound, this album often provokes the question, "WHO is this?!" We used to play it in our shoe store, Subterranean Shoe Room (in San Francisco's Mission District), and it was a favorite of our customers. I can't tell you how many times I answered this question, wrote down the info on a business card, and sent the person to Aquarius Records or Amoeba Music to grab their own copy.

You will listen to this CD and not know what you've heard. You may listen again and have the same experience. You may ultimately decide the sounds To Rococo Rot have composed here mean nothing to you. They don't evoke one to dance. They are so momentary, there is no memory of them. In general, it sounds as if this is not something many out there are looking for. But, of course, that is the point to personal music. It speaks inwardly out from its creator with the artist so close to the material there is a danger we, the listener, may ultimately not be allowed in. And there is a certain distance between us and To Rococo Rot on "Music Is A Hungry Ghost" but in the ambient textures and the angled compositions, the corners are not too sharp and a real warmth emerges, capturing a sense of timelessness, of light, of darkness. There is the play of children in the sound, of depth of feeling next to the mechanical sputtering of machines. There are open horizons, wide open space, and the pulsing of a synthetic heart. I am not one to categorize. I try to take all music on its own terms and see as clearly as I can, the intent of the artist(s). This is indefinable stuff marbled throughout with brilliance and audacity never going over the top or where you want it to. It flexes an experimental muscle in its stubborness. Adventurous listening in many genres is gone these days. To Rococo Rot stays tried and true to the mystery. Long may they run.