Customer Reviews

What Is It Like to Be a Bat

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

 

 

This is real music. I feel like with most music, I should be looking at the car, but instead I am smelling exhaust. With "What Is It Like To Be A Bat", Im riding in the car and Kitty Brazelton is in the drivers seat. Both she and Dafna Naftali are rock godesses who refuse to compromise. Buy this CD and like It! If you don't like it, emial me so we can fight. Sriously though, this is a burnished fineray which opens the window for the ear. Five Stars!!!!!!!!!!

What is it like to be bat? It's not a question I often ask but listening to this CD definitely could set one's mind in that direction. In a search for something new in music - this CD attempts to unlock a musical door no one has ever gone through. It succeeds to the uninitiated, (those who never got beyond top 40 music). To those of us who are already familiar with the musical experiments of Varese, Cage, Zappa, Zorn, Henry Cow, Xenakis, Ligeti, Partch, Ono, Berio etc... you will have no problem digesting this work. In fact, many of the aforementioned composers styles seem to emerge through out this CD. It is no surprise that John Zorn makes his appearance here as executive producer. The CD is released on his TZADIK label.

This CD is a movie for your ears and a peak into the the composers' subconscious. The composers being avant gardists, Kitty Brazelton and Dafna Naphtali. Both woman contribute their instrumental prowess through out with Brazelton on bass, keyboards, computer, vocals and Naphtali on electric guitar, vocals and laptop.They are complemented by maniac percussionist Danny Tunick and recordist Paul Geluso.


The CD is broken into two sections recorded or at least assembled three years apart. The first section from 1997, is a twenty six minute experimental sound-scape entitled She Said - She Said, "Can You Sing Sermonette With Me?". It is broken into seven variations or "bat-ches" as they call it, mostly on a basic theme (a sweet madrigal). This theme is subjected to various intricately edited, spontaneous dialog (field recordings) sneaking in and out of operatic vocalizations that pierce through out, supported by poly rhythmical electronic percussion (samples), darkly textured distorted guitar,electric bass and various manipulated computer based ideas. Basically, it seems that a lot of this music was at first rigorously conceived but left with lots of room for improvisation, texturing with quirky electronic effects, studio outtakes and then ultimately shaped via many digital edits. Because of the expert editing involved here, what could have been a formless hodgepodge of college material comes off as a cohesive whole with the necessary momentum to keep the listener interested.

The same holds true for the second section, recorded in 2000 entitled "Dreams and Marriage". However, it is a more song orientated work (referred to here as an aria) with kinetic steady rock beats, quickly recognizable contemporary operatic punk melody lines built around spontaneous dialog about five dreams regarding an aspect of marriage. Though this section differs from the first, in that it has more of a more "pop" form guiding it, it does propel the continuity of the first section by employing more or less the same instrumentation, clever editing and homogenous mixing . Like section one it is engagingly energetic and unrelenting.The overall sound reminded me of Frank Zappa's "Return Of Monster Magnet" opus from the CD "Freak Out" juxtaposed with AC/DC. In a nutshell: Controlled rocking chaos! Crank it up! Wake up your neighbors.

Though the information I was given about some of the processing done in order to achieve such intricate, alien soundscapes was interesting for the curious tech-head, it is pretty much pointless to describe it here. You have to listen to this work in order to appreciate the results.

It is too bad this work was not available in 5.1 surround sound. I think the mix would benefit from the kind of separation inherent in that format. Nonetheless, this is a top notch avant garde recording with a surprise ending to boot! Definitely worth checking out.

So come on. Open up your mind, set aside some time away from your regular, predictable routine, close your eyes, turn up the volume as well as your radar and follow the bat through it's dark journey. You may find a missing piece of yourself in this enticing musical stew.