Zed
Salt / Mark Flake
"Fragmintia"
CDR
Wood
Records
Genres: impov, experimental, diy
Wood Records
1604 Central
Dodge City KS
67801 USA
May 26 - Jun 1 2003 |
As
the Wood website explains, Fragmintia is "30 minutes of
morally corrupt and warped improvisational ditties from MWF and
Indiana multi-instrumentalist ZED SALT! Skewed and yet relaxing.
Atonal yet ambient." But don't let words like
"atonal" and "improvisational" make you think this
is a boring avant-garde exercise - it's quite the contrary, actually.
This disc is comprised of sixteen short improvisatory pieces, and
while they are definitely left-of-centre, there's also a surprising
amount of accessibility present. "frgmntia#7," for
example, is an almost Eugene Chadbourne-esque instrumental folk
banjo number; while it's only a bit longer than a minute, it succeeds
in setting a dark, moody tone. "wah-wah impasse,"
meanwhile, consists of a throbbing bass-line and a nice supporting
nest of guitar strumming. "dancing dick," on the other
hand, is a goofy guitar soundscape with some funny lyrics about a
"pencil of a man" called "Dancing Dick."
"frgmntia#3", the album's longest song, follows
"dancing dick," creating a deliberate juxtaposition - it's a
three minute, haunting bass and guitar improvisation that slows things
down into eerie mode.
All in all, I like this disc a lot. A great deal of talent is
directed into a number of unconventional ideas, and the results are
stunning. Experimental audiences will enjoy the daring nature of
what Zed and Mark are doing, while more conventional
listeners will find themselves enjoying something they've never been
exposed to before. Recommended - this is, so far, one of the
best discs on the fantastic Wood Records, and an excellent
introduction to the label's style.
90%
Matt Shimmer [Vitals:
16 songs, distributed by the
label, released 2002] |
