SAME ACTOR – sharp edges

(CD, Bip Hop)

To hear such a hearty and joyous mixture as that of east European folkloristic harmonies and electronic glitchery as in “nothing yet”, the second track on Chris Cook’s new album under this moniker (otherwise he is known mostly as Hot Roddy), is a joy to behold. I am quite sure that he didn’t set out with a plan to mix these two quite contrary parts, partly because there is no hint for it in his background, since underground breakbeat artists aren’t usually found doing too many experiments outside their chosen area. Hence the different stage name. And partly because the mixing of contrasting parts into playful and at times humoresque cocktails runs through (almost) all of the tracks on “sharp edges”. Though it doesn’t always work as well as during “nothing yet”, but that finally is down to personal taste.

If you prefer synthie-keys from late Eighties crime shows, you might prefer the slim, echoey pads of “red yellow porpoise”. There are some breakbeats as well (“hammer”), usually mixed subtly into the background and a little muted. The field recordings of a nightly park garage gyrating slowly around plucked strings of guitars and later on a sitar, is a fascinating moment in music as well, especially when the rising volume of the strings starts to push the noise bits into the background and a whole changing set of interesting dynamics starts to roll. A different thing altogether is the sitar plaing. If you are fond of anything with a sitar, you’ll also love most parts of “sharp edges”. Especially the overdrawn, enormous “deforestation”, which uses the sitar throughout its great length. The variety is held up during most parts of the record, and it is fun to remark upon the things that change just the same as on the things that stay the same. For music so almost academical there is a remarkable amount of fun hidden in these tracks for sure.

All in all “sharp edges” dabbles a lot more in music concrete or a certain style of pop-avantgarde that is at the same time both academic and driven from the subconscious, than being pure electronica. Aside from the fact that for pure electronica, the drums sound too authentic and there is a fair share of “real” instruments to be heard, especially strings; from guitar strums the sitar. The paradigm-shift in progressive, audience-oriented experimental music has been proclaimed by me last year already, when more and more records were released on so called or self-proclaimed electronica labels, that included acoustic guitars, voices and other traditional parts, so that isn’t the main point of surprise. The sitar isn’t one either, though it is an obvious point for sure. For Bip Hop it is quite a step, in regard to main Bip Hop stars Tennis, si-cut.db or Hakan Lidbo. On the other hand, the vocalism of Iris Garrelfs might have marked a turning point for the label as well. Is it now a reactionary jerk when I feel the more downbeat oriented tracks to be more to my liking? There are some laid back grooves with slowed down hip hop beats on here (“dulcimer scramble suit”) and those I feel way more relaxed and inclined to listen to at the moment than to the almost cubist, structured pieces (“sharp edges”) that turn up at other places on this album.

I have been listening to this album several times off and on during the last weeks and I am still unable to pin it down as to what it is. Which is a good thing. The more you know about music and the more music you know, the less surprised you can be and the harder it is to summon up the fascination you once felt. My latest most remarkable musical experiece was a concert of an unknown opera by Antonio Vivaldi. But that was only two days ago, so what it comes down to is staying interested. Your reward will drop in steadily in the discovery of the eminently important small things and bits that make a lot of music interesting and differentiate it from the bland rest. But I guess, if you happen to reach these here shores of musical thinking and tinkering, you have still a lot of the spirit of a discoverer in you. And then, of course, you will also be able to enjoy this piece of music. Within the canon of Bip Hop “sharp edges” might be one of those releases that cry less for attention than others, but with time to come it might evolve as the one deserving the most attention.