Music Reviews

Staff Utne magazine

Dominic Frasca
Deviations
(Cantaloupe)

American experimental guitarist Dominic Frasca must be part Shiva; only four hands could play that one guitar. But no, all the songs are performed in real time without loops or overdubs, some on instruments he created, like the 10-string combination electric and acoustic guitar. He plucks and pulls the strings and drums the bodies, creating an expansive minimalism influenced by Marc Mellits and Philip Glass, whose compositions levitate under Frasca's 20 fingers. Remember that wandering dream you had? You circled. Somehow you came to the end, in the clouds with the gods and goddesses. Frasca is the living sound track for that dream. -- Dan Wahl

Electropolis
Electropolis
(Innova Records)

If jazz ran helter-skelter through the house of funky rock, Electropolis would be riding piggyback, grabbing a handful of hair. This album is a danceable, can't-wrap-your-head-aroundable fusion of chaos and order. In this context, fusion means the process of atomic nuclei coming together to release unfathomable energy. This music is simultaneously its own invention and the invention of former jazz geeks, a Minneapolis foursome who have juiced up their horns and bass by plugging them into electronic components. Their 'electrosax' and 'electrumpet' are fitting for the uniquely joined form, a sort of experimental rock that transforms itself, jazzlike, in each performance. It's the bomb, chickadees. -- DW

Various Artists
La Guitara: Gender Bending Strings
(Vanguard Records)

Producer Patty Larkin put a capital V-for Victory? Vagina? Very? -- in 'various.' Larkin surveyed the ranks of talented women guitarists and selected a baker's dozen for what, one hopes, is the first chapter in the book of V. La Guitara encompasses a vast array of styles, from folk artist Elizabeth Cotten's unique lap style to the intricate work on the Chinese pipa by classical musician Wu Man. It's a voyage through guitar virtuosity. It's a lovely V, a peace symbol aimed toward the ignorant claim that there are no great female guitarists. Drop the index finger, if you like. The honest thing now is to name the often unnamed, and then say thank you: Wu Man, Sharon Isbin, Patty Larkin, Memphis Minnie, Mimi Fox, Kaki King, Ellen McIlwaine, Badi Assad, Alex Houghton, Vicki Genfan, Muriel Anderson, Rory Block, Jennifer Batten, Elizabeth Cotten. Thank you. -- DW

Frigg
Oasis
(NorthSide)

An evening in the woods, with the red light drifting away through the trees -- that kind of peaceful -- then ripe sticks on the fire, snapping and sending sparks up, one foot starts tapping and then the other, a waltz, now a polka, now a schottische, if you have no legs I'm sorry, yet even your hands will dance. Frigg, the Finnish/Norwegian ensemble that is breathing fresh air into the body of traditional fiddle music, is named for the Norse goddess Frigg, 'she who loves.' And you'll feel her move into your midst like smoke and become solid. Hands together for the fantastic Finns! Move your feet, if you have no hands. Move your phantom limbs. -- DW

Various Artists
Our New Orleans: A Benefit Album for the Gulf Coast
(Nonesuch Records)

In 1974, when Randy Newman first sang about bursting levees and presidential indifference in his song 'Louisiana 1927,' he was a sardonic songster, ballsy with the freedom of distance from his subject matter. In the 2005 version, recorded for this Katrina benefit album, history is suddenly no longer a plaything. Each of the tracks, donated by venerated New Orleans artists and producers like Irma Thomas, Joe Henry, and Dr. John, takes on a special character in light of the flood. Allen Toussaint's composition 'Tipitina and Me' is full of rolling, resolving, impending doom, broken by ascending flourishes of human spirit. Meanwhile, the Dirty Dozen Brass Band proves poignancy can be so funky it leaves your CD player smelling like it for weeks. -- Tyler Otis

The Zincs
Dimmer
(Thrill Jockey)

Zincs' front man, Jim Elkington, is known to perform with only a guitar and an electronic drum beat. He seems content to sketch out his songs in performance, which works fine because they're so well crafted and catchy. His voice, low, with a masculine vibrato, is patient and unobtrusive -- the voice of a reasonable person, worth hearing out. His lyrics often have a suggestive incoherence, leaving your teased imagination to wander to mysterious places. If each phrase were a stroke of paint, mixed, the image would grow opaque, the canvas would disappear, and a snake would suddenly bite your leg. -- TO