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Windy and Carl | Consciousness (Kranky)
Windy Weber and Carl Hultgren make records of transcendental sound. The pieces are certainly not tunes in any standard sense or even thematic music but rather sound patterns dealing mainly in textures and in a limited way, (to me at least) moods. Some tracks feature gently shimmering patterns of trebly noises, some flickering noises almost like vibrations and others almost static sound like a hundred cellos holding one chord. The press release mentions Carl's guitar lines taking on a folky melodicism. To identify those lines may require the kind of careful attention needed in school eye tests where they show you cards of very pale dots with a number on it comprised of even subtler coloured dots which you must correctly identify. Should you need a sort of musical mandala to aid you in a serious eastern meditation then the opener The Sun, bright and shimmering, and the expansive Elevation may prove efficacious. These two offerings and several others can also be deemed suitable as kinds of aural wallpaper for your neighbourhood tantric sex sessions. Track 2, Balance, may be a damper in all areas since it resembles nothing more dreary than the continuous rumble of a small aeroplane engine in flight. There are quite a few W&C fans out there and since this so resembles their previous albums I'm sure it will do fine.

Stephen Ridley
June-July 2001

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