Buzzle

Tim Story (Artist)

Product Details

• Audio CD (January 2, 2007)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Barking Green/Nepenthe Music
• ASIN: B000MM0OBQ
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #221,445 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

About the Artist

Tim Story, hailed as "a master of electronic chamber music" (CD Review, USA) has received widespread acclaim for his haunting compositions which blend piano and other acoustic instruments with elegant electronics. In addition to his nine solo albums and dozens of compilation appearances on labels including Windham Hill, BMG, Sony, EMI, and others, Story's work has appeared on numerous television and film soundtracks, and was nominated for a Grammy award (for 1988's "Legend of Sleepy Hollow", a children's recording, with Glenn Close), and a NAIRD "Album of the Year" award (for Beguiled). Recent soundtrack work includes the original score for the popular NPR documentary "In Search of Angels" (1994), and "Caravan" (2004) , a feature-length documentary from the production company of award-winning Spanish film director Pedro Almodovar. Notable collaborations include acclaimed CD's with Hans-Joachim Roedelius, the latest of which "Lunz" was named one of the year's "Top 5" by Amazon.com's editorial staff.

Product Description

A fascinating, engaging departure for Grammy-nominated composer Tim Story, buzzle is a rhythm-fueled diversion into atmospheric electronica. Spiky, organic grooves mingle with vaporous ambiences and creaky analog electronics - picture yourself in a post-modern film noir, and buzzle is the soundtrack you'll have in your head. Those who know Tim Story as a craftsman of elegant, understated chamber music might need to dive beneath buzzle's kaleidoscope surface, but shouldn't be disappointed - there's much that's familiar here. Story's signature use of moody, elusive chord structures, angular melodic phrasing, and masterful sound design give buzzle its spooky and suspenseful character. But there's warmth and humor here, too - Story splashes his electronic environments with piano, guitar, cello, even the unexpected voices of his young daughters. Like those of Cluster or Boards of Canada, these pieces take on a life of their own, inhabiting a kind of quirky parallel universe. Buzzle is as pithy and elegantly composed as any music Story has created, with plenty of treats for those who listen for details. Atmospheric, enigmatic, programmatic - and above all, thoroughly enjoyable - all that Tim Story devotees love about his work is still here in spades. What's so surprising about buzzle? Perhaps it's that, in a decidedly different way, it is just what we've come to expect.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Tim Story Diversion, February 26, 2007

By	Frederick Smith (United States) - See all my reviews

For long-time fans of Tim Story's hauntingly beautiful, contemplative space music--which rightfully earned him a place as one of the premiere artists on the Hearts of Space Record label--Buzzle will be somewhat of a departure, but one certainly worth taking. For those not quite ready to delve into the deeper world of such albums as Story's Glass Green (1987), Beguiled (1991), Drop (1997), and Shadowplay (2001), meanwhile, Buzzle will act as an excellent introduction to the artist's style. Subtitled "A Tim Story Diversion," the eclectic album finds Story's dark, signature ambiance woven with a masterful use of electronics, digital samples from several previous works, snippets of human voices (including those of the artist's daughters), and acoustic cello (provided by long-time collaborator Martha Reikow). But perhaps most striking for those who have kept up with Story's musical career is his fairly regular use of rhythmic percussion on Buzzle, which can be attributed to the artist's admitted "affection for what's now called electronica." Story's employment of percussion, however, is neither overdone nor merely grafted onto the music. Rather, it carefully evolves, almost organically, as the album progresses from such early pieces as "Rota," "Decelerate or Fasten," and "Monkey Builderizer," to such later pieces as "The Woman Singing," "You Are Patient," and "Yeh!" Along the way are several other notable works, including both "Otherize" and "Dust Bale Hole" at the mid-point--neither of which would have been too far out of place on Lunz, Story's superb 2003 collaboration with Hans-Joachim Roedelius--and a remix of Lunz's "Something Happened Here" (featuring Roedelius on piano).

2 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Immediate joy, lasting delight, December 13, 2007

By	Martin Bush - See all my reviews

On the surface, at least, "buzzle" is a departure for Tim Story: A fun and brilliant one, though!

Make no mistake, I'm a long-time fan of Tim and Tim's music, most emphatically including his simpler as well as his more melancholy work. But those who appreciate Story's work who complain that they can't hear his trademark simplicity, elegance, and melancholy simply must not have listened with sufficient care and insight. The subtle Tim Story ambiance is still there, and then some! It's just that this is also a lot of delightful fun. Why that should count as such a black mark against Tim and his discography in the minds of some of his fans and admirers is utterly inexplicable.

There are layers within layers here, and in all my decades of listening to subtle, complex, and sophisticated music, I have never encountered anything as astonishingly deep and rich in terms of acoustically luminous auditory wizardry since Steve Tibbets' Yr

All in all, an exceptionally rare musical treat. And it would be that coming from anyone, but Tim's put his own fascinating turns of phrase into this astonishingly rich tapestry of layered analog and digital electronica, so his most discerning fans simply will not want to miss it!