Radiant

Alastair Galbraith | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 28, 2003)
• Original Release Date: 2003
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Emperor Jones (Rev)
• ASIN: B0000DZTWE
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #776,169 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

One medium-length and one extremely long composition comprise this collaboration between two of New Zealand's finest underground musicians, violinist Alastair Galbraith and Constantine Karlis, drummer for the psychedelic band High Dependency Unit. Naturally, space is the place where they find themselves throughout Radiant, and it's mostly a resplendent domain. The music is genuinely dynamic -- all the normal modifiers, from blissful to hypnotic to disorienting, apply at various times -- yet, especially on the title track, also goes through the occasional tedious patch. Even during the more prosaic sections, however, both players are scintillating. Galbraith's instrument goes through the range of textures, scraping its bow against the heavens, avant-garde style, one moment -- usually transcendently -- and, in the next, drawing from the long Celtic melodic tradition (his violin sometimes even mimics bagpipes), while adapting it to his particular needs. And Karlis is equally at home keeping a utilitarian tempo that allows Galbraith's alien landscapes to carry the moment, inventing irregular and dexterous fills to match the strangeness of the space through which the duo is traveling, or laying down heavy-duty bass-and-snare grooves that keep the ship propelling toward the light. "4 Orbits," by contrast, is a haunting mural of metallic found sounds and ominous tribal rhythms trapped in an otherwise empty room. It is as internal and agitated as its predecessor is sweeping and exploratory. Both merit canvassing more than once. ~ Stanton Swihart, Rovi

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful!, February 14, 2004

By 

Brit Bunkley "Brit" (New Zealand) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Radiant (Audio CD)

Certainly one of the best recordings to come out of New Zealand in years! Mixing the acid-folk post punk of Galbraith with the drummer, Constantine Karlis of the terrific post rock group, High Dependency Unit, this instrumental record comes across like avant-Jazz violinist Leroy Jenkins playing swinging Scottish jigs. Beautiful!