Although Glissandro 70, the debut CD from the duo of the same name, is a short jaunt, it is harmonically daring, roguish in
execution, and relentlessly rhythmic. Much in the vein of the album artwork, pieces follow a cut-and-paste
aesthetic, gingerly lacing blaring horn stabs and clammy sub-bass pulses with chugging guitar and straight-up dance beats.
The album was cobbled together over a two-year period by Toronto musician
Sandro Perri — who also
creates music under the moniker Polmo Polpo — and Craig Dunsmuir. In
particular, the intricate post-production work on numerous compositions is most
impressive. The pensive
arpeggio of "End West" builds with a certain reckless abandon for the first
three minutes, and is then
strafed to warped vocal samples and effulgent electronic textures. Other
works, such as "Bolan
Muppets" and "Analogue Shantytown," are of a similarly nonsensical seesaw
spirit, rocking, bobbing
and jingling their way through prickly melodic
abstractions, gongs, singing bowls,
and gently ebbing drones.
While its material is certainly varied, one might nevertheless take issue with Glissandro 70 for
often drawing on rather tired forms; while the post-production techniques do
indeed layer and
reorganize the skewed tangents of this duo's sound into a fairly compelling,
detailed web, most of that sound consists of well-worn elements, which limits
the benefits of any subsequent mixing. The elated accelerations and oddball percussion
spatters in many pieces harken back to any number of psychedelic records, and
while these songs are well arranged, they
never feel distinct, urgent or altogether personal. Over the course of some
36 minutes, the scratchy guitars, slurred electronics and eddying waves of kick
drums produce a wealth of elastic, sonorous shapes, all of which are at times
quite trancelike, but also a trifle kitschy.
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