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This is "downtown" music, lighthearted
in character even as it maintains a generally high level of musical sophistication.
Ice Cream Time is fast moving and fun... All Music Guide
... fascinating and a bit unnerving, just
like life itself. Downtown Music Gallery
All Music Guide
New World's Ice Cream Time begins with a kid's voice
singing "It's Ice Cream Time! It's Ice Cream Time!" It is taken
from old, burned-out audio and sounds like one of the kids in The Little
Rascals, except that his use of the word "funky" suggests a
recording of more recent vintage. This gives way to a slurry of drunken
saxes and palpitating guitar that gradually peps up into a mix that is
funky indeed, alternatively loose and complex, zany, Zappa-esque, and
not, whatever you would like to call it, it is. It is an hour-long adventure
orchestrated by iconoclastic New York composer Nick Didkovsky in collaboration
with sampler/processor Thomas Dimuzio and crack European saxophone ensemble
ARTE Quartet. Prior to making this recording, the ARTE Quartet had already
distinguished itself through fine realizations of works by Terry Riley
in a previous New World release. Dimuzio is a San Francisco-based audio
artist who offers his work through his Gench Music online catalog. Ice
Cream Time is a long suite built out of 12 separate parts, some of which
connect together and some that do not, but it feels all of a piece --
not so much a "suite" in the conventional sense so much as a
long theme park ride with a number of separate attractions. There are
parts of it that are mysterious, atmospheric, and even a little menacing,
particularly in the latter half, although it is seldom profound in the
sense that most "serious" music tends to be. However, profundity
doesn't seem the overall aim Didkovsky is shooting for. This is "downtown"
music, lighthearted in character even as it maintains a generally high
level of musical sophistication. Ice Cream Time is fast moving and fun,
especially in the first half, although the artists do not confide in us
the source of the little kid audio at the beginning. As in the mystery
of how many licks it takes to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop, "the
world may never know." (4/5) Uncle Dave Lewis, All Music Guide
Downtown Music Gallery
Featuring Nick Didkovsky on electric guitar, laptop
& composition, Thomas Dimuzio on sampling & processing and the
ARTE (Sax) Quartett. Over the last decade, Nick Didkovsky, has concentrated
more on composing, working with his computer and improvising, than running
NYC's foremost "progressive" band, Dr. Nerve. With Dr. Nerve
performances and recordings few and far between, Nick has continued to
refine his composing and improvising skills. The six pages of enclosed
liner notes by Ross Feller are illuminating and helpful in understanding
this music, but I leave it to you to read them for yourself. The first
part of this piece, after a short silly vocal refrain, features purposefully
drunken sounding twisted sax lines. Nick's writing for the sax quartet
is spirited, fun and his guitar fits in just right. I dig the way the
layers of samples weave their way around the saxes like a festive fabric
that is as much fun to hear as it is to look at. Nick's music often has
that quirky yet difficult Zappa-like vibe that makes me smile because
it feels so good and is a challenge to play and listen to as well. There
is a great section on "Fall" where the saxes play layers of
twisted notes together and then become intertwined in layers of manipulations.
It sounds as if they are playing backwards! Like Lasse Marhaug in the
Territory Band, Tom Dimuzio, does a great job of providing strange, electronic
textures or samples and is featured on "Seltzer Section" and
on "I Cheer Pet Eater", where the samples turn the saxes inside-out
at times. What I dig about this piece is that has some unexpected twists
and turns. "Calm" is just that, with long hushed drones for
the saxes, that is quite lovely. The final section, "Rise" is
long and most impressive. It begins with more somber sax drones that are
rich and haunting and build exquisitely in cautious layers that both fascinating
and a bit unnerving, just like life itself." Bruce Gallanter
notes
"Nick Didkovsky s music reflects current trends and
practices including the use of live, interactive computer-assistance,
genre jumping, and blurring the distinctions between highbrow and lowbrow.
Although the accoutrements of Western tonality are never far off, his
musical sensibility allows for some radical departures from the stock-and-trade
of tonality. Didkovsky is attracted to the ambiguous boundaries between
human-generated and software-generated materials. Ice Cream Time (2003)
is a multi-movement piece scored for saxophone quartet, electric guitar,
and live electronics. As might be expected, Ice Cream Time embraces, or
engages with, a wide range of influences and material contrasts. Nine
of the movements feature live sampling by Thomas Dimuzio, whose job was
to capture and process the saxophone and guitar sounds in real time, using
his Kurzweil K2600RS. Because the unaltered signals are also heard, a
rich and subtle texture is produced."
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