Maggi Payne
Crystal
(hear it)

Maggi Payne was a (video) collaborator on one piece that Gordon Mumma presented at the S.F.I.E.A.M.F.. Finding this CD on super-discount sale at the Candyman, a local music store (actually it may be the only local one left), I was excited - had fate intervened? There was some other music on sale that I wanted too, but I wasn't sure if I would get it all. Then the counter jockey did something awesome. I was looking for a certain CD for my sister's birthday, and it was not in the racks. I asked at the counter, and he had it right there, like, I said "do you have the [musn't reveal the secret present] CD?" and I was looking at it within 1.5 seconds. I got the other CDs too, and I left proud to have avoided the chain store.

After being a little disappointed at some of the volume levels at the S.F.I.E.A.M.F., I was glad to play this CD pretty loud. Like, loud enough that I started to worry about the neighbors, because the CD really sounds like the aliens are above your house warming up the getcha-ray. Then they turn it on. Big, big noises. A deep low hum, a whirring screeching, harmonic pile-on. Very smooshy and slow moving to the point of borderline structurelessness. Sometimes I was scared, and not just for pretend.

I'm still here, though, because it was just music. Some of it was so basscentric that notwithstanding its enormous volume Lea and I were able to converse at fairly regular speech levels, because all the important speech frequencies were above the music. Some of it was so trebly that I had to turn it down.

bb, 3 Apr 08