Tuner
Totem
(Unsung Records, 2005)

Produced by Reuter/Mastelotto

Pat Mastelotto - drums, percussion, samples, programming; Markus Reuter - touch guitar, organ, synthesizers, programming, voice

Totem is the product of two of the more interesting musicians around-- Markus Reuter (Centrozoon) and Pat Mastelotto (King Crimson) -- and while both of their individual work points toward the music on this disc, the resulting collaboration far exceeds expectations. Electronica is probably the best label one could come up with, though it's pretty far afield. Lots of glitch techniques but infused with rhythms, tribal and rock, and layers and layers of manipulated sounds.

The opening cut, "Flinch", is the most straightforward electronic cut on the album although it eventually devolves into a glitchy off kilter excursion. "A Test of Faith" is probably the closest anything comes to Crimson, a bit more like ProjeKct 4 or Power to Believe but only a passing resemblance. "Hands" combines a tribal field recording with propulsive synth and drumming and eventually adds a dubby bass -- the elements continue to shift and dodge about for the full seven minutes of the song ending in AFX-esq cutup chaos. And how can you not love a song called "Dexter Ward"?

The album is a dense mix of melody, texture and rhythm and as such is the sort of disc that exposes something new each listen. Mastelotto continues to impress me as a musician pushing every boundary he encounters. His work with acoustic and electric drums is really amazing and raising the bar for everyone mixing the two. Reuter plays some nice touch guitar and, one expects, the lion's share of the keyboards. I'll definitely be checking out Centrozoon more closely .

I love when an album confounds my expectations and veers into unexpected places. There's a second disc in the works - it can't come too soon. Worth the effort to track this one down.

Posted 20 June 2006.