3RD
030303
(hear it)

This three-song EP, called 030303, by a trio called 3RD, whose songs last 3 minutes and 33 seconds, which was recorded on 3 March 2003, and which cost $3.33, is very cute. It's loud ambient music. It may be improvised to a degree. It has a sort of "doot doot doot" insistence which is endearing. It's only 9 minutes and 99 seconds long, so it doesn't take a lot of commitment to enjoy. It's the kind of CD I forget about, then discover, listen to daily for a week or so, then forget about again. It has no vocals.

Recorded by Steve Albini. Albini is kind of a famous guy in audio and music circles. His bands Big Black and Shellac are rightly well-loved by those who need to love something scary. His recordings embody a certain kind of enhanced realism approach which a lot of people in the world of scary music love. By scary, now, I mean the music has the tendency to cause the uninitiated to scrunch up the nose and lift the glasses, or cock the head, so to speak. He also advocates for analog tape as the best recording medium and as most trustworthy archival medium for sounds.

In a sense, the "recorded by Steve Albini" note is a mark of quality, although of course as the owner of a big metropolitan studio he has to record tons of bands just to pay the bank and so forth. Especially in the wake of the year punk broke, anyone who worked with Nirvana had a large pool of good intentions, and it made the careers of Albini and of Butch Vig. In this case, I bought the CD because it was cheap and recorded by him - and I have not yet regretted it.

At the end of the album, and the sample above, you can hear Albini's signature awesome drum sound as the other instruments drop out. It's odd, actually. The kick drum is very clear and right on top of the speakers, while the snare drum is full of room ambience. I've never been a big fan of the sound (I only really love Vig's Nirvana album), but here, perhaps because of the repetitive sound and the lack of vocals, I think it works perfectly. It would be cool if there was a whole genre of music just like this.

bb, 10 apr 08