You've got to love a CD subtitled "special low frequency version"; I don't care who you are. This is a CD of deep bells chiming erratically and continuously at varying tones and volumes for a full 60 minutes. Tintinnabulation is part of Atlantic's "Environments" series. The "Environments" motto bravely declares, "The music of the future isn't music." I couldn't agree more.

I own Environments 1: Psychologically Ultimate Seashore. Although Seashore is excellent bed-wet-inducing noise, it lies too far left on the noise/music spectrum to really warrant critical comment (Cf: Kenny G., Noisechart). Tintinnabulation, however, does merit critical comment because it's made of bells, and bells are made by men, and men sometimes use bells to make music. (Plus, this is the special low frequency version. Did I mention about the special low frequency version?) Although somewhat musical, Tintinnabulation is not really music. And why would it be? The music of the future isn’t music, remember? Yes, I occasionally play this album very loud while grilling burgers on the back porch. Now mind your business.

Tintinnabulation
       ~ Environments 2
Audio CD - $11.49
Released August 1987
WEA/Atlantic

Tintinnabulation

While some artists merely visit Noise Music Beach, these last two bands live there (in cardboard boxes under the boardwalk, no doubt). They surf the waves; they fish the shore; they study the tides; they howl at the moon. Consequently, they are the noise music masters, the N/M Beach locals. Not content to emulate the mere whine of a rusty dentist drill, they aspire to the lascivious purr of a newly sharpened Stihl chainsaw.

Experimental Audio Research is the brainchild of Sonic Boom, ex-member of the renowned minimalist psychedelic guitar duo Spacemen 3. Guest artists on Beyond the Pale include Kevin Martin, stalwart of isolationism (a musical genre so obtuse it makes industrial music seem like salsa), and Kevin Shields, guitar genius of My Bloody Valentine. Think of EAR (Experimental Audio Research) as British psychedelic noise music. The instruments (keyboards, synthesizers, guitars, amps) are all from the pre-digital tube era. Consequently, the music is rich in tone and mood. Unlike Sonic Youth, EAR has no punk rock axe to grind, so they are able to seek beauty without constantly having to prove their avante-worth. As a result, their noise is less grating and more ambient.

Beyond the Pale ~ Experimental Audo Research
Audio CD - $13.27
Released July 1998
Big Cat DNA

Beyond The Pale
Calm Before, The
Dusk

I saved the best for last. Take an enormous, paved, man-made underground chamber in Washington state, drop in a trombone player, an accordion player, and a singer/sheet metal player, and start recording. That's Deep Listening by a trio now known simply as The Deep Listening Band due to the success of this one recording. The amount of echo in this underground space is phenomenal, so much so that the placement of the recording microphones relative to the performers radically determines the entire sound of the recording.

The musicians on this recording are not only playing their instruments but the chamber itself. Imagine running an entire band through the same extreme delay pedal. The cool thing about this recording is that all of the instruments are totally acoustic, and even the chamber's reverb and delay are acoustic. Don't be fooled by the accordion and the trombone; this CD is as removed from Weird Al's polka waltzes as Washington state is removed from Slovakia. What we have here is just one big ol' emotive tone warp. The only instrument that's even distinguishable is the sheet metal. Forget "If a tree falls in an empty forest, does it make a sound?" Try "If the color 'yearning' falls in an underground Martian dream factory, can you still believe it's butter?" Oftentimes noise music makes better theory than it does listening. But in this case, Deep Listening is all its name implies and more.. more... more...

Also by Deep Listening Band:

Ready Made Boomerang
       ~ Deep Listening Band
Audio CD - $12.99
Released July 1991
New Albion

Balloon Payment
Metalorgy
Seven-Up