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Pondfloorsample Gen Ken Montgomery
Gen Ken Montgomery- electronics, tapes
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It was all I could do to not fast forward through “Father Demo Swears,” but for some reason other than laziness I let it go and after awhile I even turned up the volume. That really helped. It would’ve helped more if I’d listened to it while drifting off to sleep at night with all the lights out (that works with Robert Ashley). It didn’t fit the bright green Spring day that was happening while I had it on. That’s not the record’s fault. Maybe it’s best to think of this duo-cd not as music, or sound art, but as one of those old Sound Effects LPs, inasmuch as Montgomery presents altered recordings of film projectors, fridges, radiators, bath drains, birds eating and so on. He admits he’s a “mad scientist” and he once released a cassette full of only static and hiss, so there’s sometimes (but not enough) a needed element of humor here. It’s worth at least one listen so it can open up small doors in your head, but the hour-long installation piece would defeat almost anyone’s resolve, and it takes up almost half the package. Most of the set takes a dim view of pleasure, a problem some musical modernism has had for too long.
XI Records
Richard Grooms
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