Michael Oster
"Better, Stronger, Faster, and Almost
Housebroken" CDR
F7
Sound and Vision
Genres: experimental, electronic, sound collage
Michael Oster
17732 Nathan's Drive
Tampa FL 33647
Dec 1 - 7 2003 |
Michael
Oster is the proud owner of F7 Sound and Vision, a studio based in
Tampa, Florida, and along with recording and mixing other bands'
artists, he dabbles in his own experimental solo project. His
style is a combination of glitch and noise music, as he takes
electronic sounds (damaged tape, bent electrical circuits) and
organizes them into long, complicated sound collages à la Aube
or Social Interiors. If one thing's for sure, it's that the music here is
for dedicated
experimental music lovers only. While Oster's style is
interesting and decently original, it's also very bizarre and far from
melodic. As a soundscape played in the dark, it could have a
very intriguing feel - kind of dark and warped. "Bent but
not Broken" especially would make for good pitch-black listening.
I would be interested in learning more about Oster's techniques.
This disc comes with very sparse information, and perhaps Michael
would be well-advised to include some explicatory liner notes to give
more context to his music. He might also try using a wider array
of sounds to create his pieces, as over this album's sixty-five minute
playing time, the listener can start to feel as if the music is a bit
too repetitive.
Overall, this is an intriguing, well-executed glitch album by
obscure newcomer Michael Oster. With a bit less
repetition, and perhaps a bit more traditional structural elements
(melody, rhythm), he could really garner some attention for
himself. At this point, however, Better, Stronger, Faster and
Almost Housebroken remains an album solely for serious glitch and
experimental electronic music listeners.
80%
Matt Shimmer
[Vitals: 5 tracks, distributed by the
label, released 2003] |