KNEALE/MONK/HENDERSON - Cicada Shrines (Fencing Flatworm; England)
One 46-minute piece by New Zealand improvisors Campbell Kneale (broken toys)
from Birchville Cat Motel, Craig Monk (violin), and Jeff Henderson (reeds).
Their electro-acoustic drone-and-squeak field develops very slowly, but
there's an anxious intensity throughout that marks this is as something
other than chill-out music.
Eddie Flowers at www.slippytown.com

Ah. Um. Blimey. This is not 'us' at all. Rob's a kind and brave man, sending this intense random squeaky irritating piece of 'modern' (as in '1960s') 'classical music' to an easy-listening fanzine. Bit like sending Jack Jones albums to The Wire. 3 guys from N.Z. play live for the longest 45 minutes of yr entire life... I honestly believed there were moments when time was going backwards. It's like Boulez and Stockhausen and Ligeti etc - the kind of stuff that emptied the concert halls when I was a kid. Music that's more fun to do than to hear. Not a lot of fun either way really. If you press the 'fast forward' button whilse this is playing then everything melts and blurs and it's a vast improvement. And if you take the CD out of the machine and replace it with a Joni Mitchellalbum that's even better still. Defend to the death people's right to make stuff like this. Defend to the death my own right never to hear it. From DDDD fanzine, Marleys, Minstead, Hants, S043 7FY (no web or email)

Ahh bliss. This CD does it fo r me. I think this got a slagging in Dddd a while back but I can listen to this all day. A dangerous thing to say I know but once you've become attuned. A single take from a live performance in Washington, New Zealand. Jeff Henderson plays reeeds and that is the first sound that you hear. A high pitched squeak introduces you to the other players: Craig Monk on Violin and Campbell Kneale on Broken Toys. It's like three snake charmers trying to raise a flaccid penis and going blue in the face doing it. It's like three people stretching the neck of balloons to let the air out. It maintains a steady intensity that never slips up. How can three people with a modicum of instruments and (probably) very little amplification make such a sound? A slow langrous trip for those tired of everyday noise. The joy of music dear reader, and for four quid it's got to be the bargain of the year too. From Just Glittering #5 (17 Broomfield Terrace, Westgate, Cleckheaton, West Yorkshire, BD19 6AH, UK, justglittering@aol.com, £1 or $3)