REVIEW: CURTIS BAHN - R!G

 

CURTIS BAHN - R!G (Electronic Music Foundation, 2000):

Technical data:

Recorded at Curtis Bahn Home Studio and at the Zeitgeist on 11/18/00.

Produced and Designed by Curtis Bahn

Track List: 1- Sbass, 2- Mechanique, 3- r!p, 4- Quabbin, 5- Ornithology, 6- r!g

This CD show us a serie of improvisations done by Curtis Bahn with his "sensor bass" and live electronics. Curtis says in the booklet that the system that he uses to do this music live has 8 audio channels and cannot be fully represented in a stereo context. Judging by this and the pictures of his musical equipment I guess that this must be even stranger in a live context. It is interesting to see Bahn improvising with his instruments letting his imagination fly free and without losing control at the same time. The "sensor bass" played by Bahn sometimes sounds almost like an acoustic bass and sometimes like a part of the electronics used here (when it gets in combination with them). To see this you can check "Sbass" (7:00) where Bahn plays very interesting phrases over the electronics giving a feeling of almost ambient music. Her e you have six tracks of pure experimentation where Bahn shows us why he is a great and original musician who is helping to extend the boundaries of music. Favorite tracks: "Mechanique" and "r!g". Contact: www.cdemusic.org/emfmedia