ART TORRENTS

Extended Organ - XOXO (1999)
Tuesday, February 12, 2008

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"Extended Organ is a 'supergroup' of experimental sound artists whose members are culled from the ranks of that seminal West Coast 'slacker' noise cult the Los Angeles Free Music Society. The four members of Extended Organ have been improvising with sound for over two decades and although they have played together in various configurations in the past, this is the first time the quartet has ever played together as a total entity. The foursome each have active and well established careers on their own. Paul McCarthy is a world renowned art superstar. His work in Extended Organ consists of free form vocal/lyrical improvisations which play off the instrumental improvisations of the other three members while at the simultaneously setting a mood, telling a story and responding to the general ambience of the performance situation. Fredrik Nilsen is a founder of the Los Angeles Free Music Society and a noted photographer. Nilsen conceptually founded Extended Organ in which he plays prepared acoustic guitar and both an antique analog organ and a modern digital keyboard, all in an especially unorthodox style. Fredrik's approach, which acknowledging minimalist composers, spins equally from gothic horror movie soundtracks. Joe Potts is a founder of the LAFMS and mastermind of Airway, which has been called 'the gnarliest noise band of all time'. Potts is omnipresent on his chopped optigans -- instruments he crafts from dismantled 70s optical samplers. With up to 64 simultaneous samples per instrument, the chopped optigan is the ultimate drone machine. Tom Recchion is a founder of the LAFMS and member of the Doo-Dooettes and B People. Recchion uses Kurzweil, guitar, radio, CDs, etc. to accent the other instruments as well as the occasional lush crescendos. Tom also acted as producer on the record as well as mixing and processing the sound of the entire ensemble live during the recording. Three years in the making, XOXO is creepy and wonderful. It may sound like a gross exaggeration, but we are wondering if this CD might not just be the Sgt. Pepper's of noise records."

at 9:13 PM