Almost too clever for its own good, this issue of Unknown Public (see full list of all previous issues). Its theme is not just piano works, but a combination of loud and soft. Everything in the packaging is black and white. So far, so reasonable. But the combination of a graphic designer getting carried away with fonts and layout (in the absence of colour) with the loose-leaf pages of the text is a recipe for confusion and disorientation. I think I've managed to keep everything in the right order. Still, I am not drawn in.
The overall shape of the CD is a kind of negative of the sampler from a few days ago. Where that had two meditative pieces to aspirate an indie variety show, this has two driving percussive pieces to punctuate a series of abstract tone poems. The first of those two pieces is by Jan Steele's ZiZ! Ensemble, and, though it's called Gamelan Disco, sounds more like a Nymanesque Irish jig to me. The other is Nyman himself, with possibly his Greatest Hit, from his soundtrack to The Piano — the piece that always reminds me of Wim Mertens' Belly of an Architect soundtrack.
The later leaves in the box have some interesting texts by Billy Jenkins on the features and use of "crap pianos", Nicholas Hamlyn on "future piano", John White on Satie's Vexations, and Clive Bell on volume and quiet. Yet the graphic designer's contribution is turned up to eleven throughout.
Details of this album on the Unknown Public site
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