Pour, rip...no! (Rhizome Recordings 2002, LP)
From Aural Innovations #20 (July 2002)
Now it is the summer of my madness - Pour, rip...no!’s new disk is spinning on my turntable, a melancholic folk exercise turned inside out. Mournful, melancholic - an ode to desire perceived, the beloved lost, twisted, leaves tossed over the streets on a late November day....
This is long-after midnight music, music capturing the agony of loss, the torture and sincerity of the creative spirit, perhaps love’s absence itself, a cry from obscurity. This is mostly folk music, as interpreted through a fun house mirror: 2-chord strumming, occasional harmonica, and some electronic loops and random drumming. This is stark stuff. It’s as if early Springsteen and Syd Barrett were passed through an emotional meat grinder; a genre known as Jazz Actuel is also cited as an influence - I’m not familiar with this, although the genre is generally centered on the experimental period of jazz in late ‘60's Paris. The result is disturbing, but oddly compelling, if the vocals a tad strained and primitive - this being my only major objection to what is otherwise a challenging and worthwhile effort.
Rip is Brooklyn-based, and this is the first release from the rhizomerecordings label, recorded in the fall of 2001 in Williamsburg Brooklyn’s Rare Book Room, where a high emotional tenor was obviously achieved - sustained throughout the recording.
Abstract emotional distress is apparent throughout this vinyl-only release, which can be broken down into roughly two song groups - loose folk numbers and free-form vocals interspersed with occasional drum loops and plunking noises at various volumes. Not easy stuff, but compelling for some tastes.
For more information you can visit the Rhizome Recordings web site at: http://www.rhizomerecordings.com.
Contact via snail mail c/o Rhizome Recordings; Williamsburg Station; PO Box 110-436; Brooklyn, NY 11211.
Reviewed by Ian Compton