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Salt Lake Electronic Ensemble - In C (artist-released CDR) (special)

SKU SLEE 001
This is a very electronic, laptop-based rendition of this seminal classic and very adaptable work. Very spacey, low-key ambiance gives this a feel like Klaus Schulze and Radio Massacre International doing their version of this great piece! Beautifully laid back and contemplative. This version is getting a lot of buzz with some people calling it the best version ever; I might not disagree. Highly, highly recommended!

Classics of Western music, almost inevitably, recall a certain time and place...Terry Riley's In C is no exception: it recalls the heady, hallucinogen-powered atmosphere of San Francisco during the age of improvisation and experimentation of every type. Because so many works of twentieth-century music were sui generis--and In C is certainly that--it's hard, sometimes, to decide whether or not they evoke a time and place as an element of collective cultural imagination. The Salt Lake Electric Ensemble has addressed this problem head-on in this new and extremely exciting release of Riley's best-known work. Performing on laptops, they aim to update the work and make it speak for a generation of people brought up on the sounds and expression of what I'll call vernacular electronic music. The instruments permit all manner of timbral changes, all sorts of fascinating overlappings, all sorts of compelling rhythmic patterns--much of which, by the way, occurs in real time captured by the recording and not simply programmed in advance. The complicated patterns, in particular, are implicit in Riley's instructions for the work but difficult to realize with an ensemble of musicians with conventional instruments. The result of their work is nothing short of a revelation. They take a slower tempo than customary, which already nudges the piece in the direction of ambient or hip-hop music; percussion appears at certain selected points and sounds remarkably appropriate...while other times there's barely a sense of beat at all; the sounds produced by the instruments are truly contemporary most of the time (one hilarious, very analog-sounding sound is chosen for one of In C's most outre, absurd melodies, and both work to positively reinforce each other). Best of all, the artists of the ensemble have a questing, experimental approach, constantly pushing for new and surprising effects over the hour-long course of the performance. Someday, as more critics and scholars talk about the importance of improvisation (as opposed to fully notated music) in the composition of this time, Terry Riley--alongside many others--will be understood as making a decisive contribution to music history. The Salt Lake Electric Ensemble's recording of In C is already the most important addition to the discography since the premiere recording, and will likewise be recognized as part of a performance tradition that is a vital and remarkably apt expression of the present cultural moment." – Rob Haskins/American Record Guide



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