BASS COMMUNION V MUSLIMGAUZE

While recording the first 3 Bass Communion albums, Steven Wilson got his hands on a copy of one of many of Bryn Jones' (Muslimgauze) albums and was impressed with his ability to explore so many different types of music, that he sent him some of his music recorded with No-man, hoping that he would re-imagine it with his style. Bryn did this and returned it in 4 days with all the songs reworked. Steven then reworked it again and sent it back, after which Bryn did that same thing again. This went on a few times, and eventually, they came up with 7 tracks that they were both happy with. However, with the both of them busy with their own projects, those tracks got pushed to the side. After Jones died in 1999, Wilson polished them up and released 5 of them on this album. Later, the other 2 were also released on an additional EP. Originally, they were going to only make them available on a CD-R at Muslimgauze conerts, but there were so many people interested in them that they made them more widely available.

Over the 15 years of Bryn's musical career, he released over 100 albums on small labels, so the original concept fit in with his recording style. Unfortunately, I'm not very familiar with his work other than the double CD 'Blue Mosque', which utilizes a lot of world music styles centering on percussion. I have heard that his music spanned a lot of different and odd styles. 'Blue Mosque' was also the album that Steven Wilson heard that impressed him. For me, it was an okay recording, but nothing really special or ground breaking.

Which brings us to this album. The five tracks are simply named One, Two, and so on. There really is no telling which No-man songs were used since these tracks have been altered so much, that you can't tell what they are. 'One' starts out with a lot of atmospheric sounds swirling around, each one increasing in volume only to be suddenly cut off. There is a lot of percussive sounds going on too. Suddenly, around the 2:30 mark, a fuzzy rhythmic beat takes off driving this track forward. A bass riff starts off and you get a nice, upbeat modern electronic style that is almost accessible compared to most other Bass Communion music. You can hear pretty much all the instruments at one time or another in the swirling music. But one would be hard pressed to figure out what the specific source material is. It does have more of an earlier Porcupine Tree feel to it than any of the other Bass Communion albums.

'Two' starts off with some really cool electronic sounds. The sounds seem literally electronic and among them, you even hear snippets of a vocalist, but they mix in with the other sounds. This one is definitely more experimental. Some processed music glues it all together, but the tones are subdued, as if playing in another room. A pattern gets established eventually, as the effects take on a more percussive role, but not in any traditional sense. The music remains more of a repeating loop of sustained notes that slightly change pitch. This all disappears eventually and we're left with those strange electronic sounds again.

'Three' is the longest track at over 13 minutes. It takes right off with a crazy percussion pattern that starts and stops with no warning. A fuzzy tone and synthesized sounds accompany this beat. This stop/start pattern continues until you get to the 5 minute mark, then you are left with electric pulses that are subdued with sudden bursts of noise that can scare the living daylights out of you. A new, tricky percussive pattern starts at 7 minutes with the pulses continuing. A lot of the subtle differences and layers are all percussive except for some indiscernible voices and electronic sounds. Later in the track, there are what sounds like some middle eastern influences buried in the mix. The percussion gets less evasive as it continues.

'Four' is the shortest track at just under 5 minutes. It starts out quite minimal with what sounds like astronaut voices. Percussion and metallic noises fade in a looping pattern that stops suddenly and starts again. This fades out and you get a drone, some percussion and a backward sounding percussion.

The last track 'Five' has a compelling rhythm right off the bat and a repetitive guitar hook. You get the cool processed music turned into percussion on this also, making some very interesting textures and sounds. The rhythm slowly gets disassembled and reassembled with new textures and sounds added throughout.

Right away, you hear Muslimgauze's influence on this Bass Communion album with all of the experimentation with percussive sounds. This is almost always present with the atmospherics of Bass Communion. It adds an interesting layer to the music, plus it is also relies more on repetition, sometimes with subtle changes and other times with sudden and very apparent changes. It's a nice dynamic, but sometimes it can be too repetitive before there is a sudden change. Also, Muslimgauze's noise rock influence almost completely takes away the ambience and minimalism of BC's sound. Yes it is there, but harder to find among the percussive textures.

All in all, it's an intriguing listen, but not something that I can listen to very often, because mostly of the repetitive percussion. It can also be abrasive at times. I definitely prefer the Bass Communion solo albums over this, but it is still interesting to listen to on occasion. If you like experimental noise rock, then this is something you would definitely want to check out though.