Monstrance
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CD Details
Performer: MonstrancePerformer: Andy Partridge
Performer: Barry Andrews
Performer: Martyn Barker
Edition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 2007-04-03
Music Label: Ape
Soundtracks:
Music CD 1
- I Lovely Cosmonaut
- Winterwerk
- Black Swan Black
- Mig
- Oodoo
- Ur Tannoy
- Little Field
- Pagoda Tailfin
- Chaingang
- Torturetainment
- The Floating World
- Priapple
Music reviews of Monstrance
Music Review: A grower, but a rewarding excellent sprawl of music
Rating: 5 Stars
If you know XTC, you obviously know who Andy Partridge is. A few of you will probably know who original XTC keyboardist Barry Andrews is. Even fewer of you who followed Barry's career well into Shriekback will know Martyn was Shriekback's drummer.
"Monstrance" pretty much unravels any preconceptions one might have about the members' previous work in XTC and Shriekback. There's nothing nearly as catchy or orchestrated. This is the three tapping their likes of their more challenging inspirations like Captain Beefheart, Robert Fripp, King Crimson, The Residents, Henry Cow -- perhaps Edgar Varese. And a first listen may not immediately stick, and may sound too evasive.
However, if you trap yourself into listening to this at work or on a commute back home -- headphones will help -- "Monstrance" sounds far more rewarding. Now, this is one of my favorite 2007 releases so far.
For those who like it louder or more upfront, perhaps it's best to start with the second disc, as the music is louder there. That said, it's not any sweeter.. in fact, it's downright caustic.
For the record, I'm a huge XTC fan, so I've always heard Andy and Barry's subtle avant-garde touches in their music on "White Music" and "Go 2" (and later in XTC's career, Andy's underappreciated guitar talents.) However, even I had to store away the names "XTC" and "Shriekback" somewhere else in my brain in order to approach "Monstrance" the best way.
If you like the inspirations mentioned above, however, I immediately recommend this.
More Monstrance free music reviews:
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Description of Monstrance
2007 debut release from XTC's Andy Partridge plus former Shriekback/XTC keyboardist Barry Andrews and his drummer Martyn Baker. This instrumental album was conceived in the studio and created telepathically between the musicians.. Apehouse.Andy Partridge's extensive catalog of finely crafted songs with XTC might make this improvisational trio seem like it's out of the blue, but he's actually been a fearless experimenter for decades. He's created dub versions of his own music (Explode Together), as well as devoting several projects to ambient sounds and atmospheric settings, collaborating with the likes of Peter Blegvad and Harold Budd. In Monstrance, he's partnered with Barry Andrews and Martyn Barker. The former was XTC's original keyboardist, who left and formed Shriekback, in which the latter was the drummer. The unnamed pieces are spread across two beautifully packaged discs and run the gamut from insistent grooves and undulating rhythms to skittering note clusters and slabs of sound sculpture. Starting at the top, one is gently led into these truly in-the-moment creations. Thoughtfully sequenced, the set is structured so that things get more adventurous as it goes along. By the time the 16-minute closing number rolls around, the interplay has become familiar enough that the sound from each instrument can be followed as if they were ripples emanating from stones tossed into a pond, fanning out, intersecting, and then disappearing. --David Greenberger
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