Moe! Staiano's Moe! Kestra: Two Rooms of Uranium Inside 83 Markers

You just know from the title that this is going to be improvised music – it takes them longer to come up with the title than it does to record the album! In fact the album is in two parts - a short live show from 2003 with the title of "Depleted Uranium", a piece highlighting concerns over the use of such material in Iraq which I am sure is a big issue to the orphans, widows or parents of the 50 thousand or so innocent people blasted to death by rather less chemical means by their Christian invaders and Muslim brethren.

As with most improvised music, you get what comes out. Sometimes the players are in the zone, sometimes not. Here the music occasionally gels into accidental counterpoint and interesting motifs but for the most part the chaotic methodology of blending two sets of musicians from separate rooms working to a few broad structural hints is less than riveting fayre. It was fascinating to note the difference in results though when the music is played through a sound processor such as DTS-neo or Harman Kardan's Logic 7 rather than the stereo format. The box appears to add structure and texture where none is apparent in the original form where the two rooms are directed through left and right channels independently.

Percussion, guitars, basses, cello, violin and brass are the main contributors. The directed "Uranium" piece is the more accessible structurally for obvious reasons with the musicians being semi-cued on their inputs. The main piece, recorded at Oakland Box Theatre is more of a challenge but gave me spontaneous moments of pleasure between long periods of puzzled concentration.

Track Listing
1. Piece Number 6 – Depleted Uranium
Tracks 2 to 7: Two Orchestras in separate rooms, parts 1 to 6

Added: October 15th 2007
Reviewer: Richard Barnes
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Language: english

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