A limestone cowboy’s vision runnels-off road and bears right into smooth and shattered grins of clints and grikes glinting off glass mosaic pieces.
This must mean that the musical instrument, composer, and performer known as Dr. Will Redman is near, with vibraphone and computer in tow.
Will Redman, Ph.D.: flummoxing drummer; percussive puzzler; confounding composer; one of three mavericks in the meat and three trio Microkingdom, whose performances often provoke Qs such as “was this written or is it improvised?”
Teeth of Gold, however, does not intend to provoke. The natural and artificial flavors of its low-viscosity lubricants - loops, cut-ups, live licks, flash sounds, modifications - flow together, encapsulated as relaxants, as five atmospheres of polish and pleasure. Even the most abrupt and out-of-order time jumps and glitches, as we hear in the hit-the-jackpot harmony of “First, One,” work in the current. “First, One” is the last track, not the first, and not the first and only to hit the jackpot. Each track shimmers in the tanning bed-like light that is reflected off ore.
The bedroom scene from Indecent Proposal comes to mind. Only, the paper money is replaced with coins, thousands of golden coins, as varied in design as carpet beetles, falling from the ceiling. Demi Moore and Woody Harrelson are replaced with a vibraphone and a laptop. The coins strike the vibraphone’s metal bars, creating a trickle of pitches, fills, and accents; the coins roll off and land on the laptop’s keyboard, creating a series of edits, impressions, and effects. The scene, in which we now have a bed, a vibraphone, a laptop, and an overabundance of golden coins, is without signification. Except, as in the original scene, it is a celebration, a small victory, short in duration. From here on out, one feels, as Moore and Harrelson’s characters felt, that it will be a smooth ride.
• Will Redman: http://www.willredman.com/home.html
• Friends Records: http://friendsrecords.tumblr.com
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