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... well-balanced between variety and cohesion.
All Music Guide
From high tech computer music using
custom designed software, to low tech sampling and multitracking, this
covers a wide array of styles.Wayside Music
All Music Guide
Doctor Nerve's 1991 CD Beta 14 OK included 44 short
sound events (two to six seconds each). They were meant to be programmed
by the listener (or played randomly) in order to form interactive songs.
Leader Nick Didkovsky asked various composers to write music using any
or all of the events. Transforms: The Nerve Events Project presents 25
pieces in this vein. Some use only unaltered events, resequenced and repeated,
but others use them as a background or simply as a starting point for
something more personal. Contributing composers include various members
of Doctor Nerve and related projects (Steve MacLean, Leo Ciesa's Iconoclast,
Greg Anderson, Yves Duboin, Dave Douglas, and Mark Wagnon) but also such
diverse musicians as warped folk freak Frank Pahl, Fred Frith Guitar Quartet
member Mark Howell, sound art master Thomas DiMuzio, guitarist Henry Kaiser,
Etron Fou Leloublan's Bruno Meillier, and even Frog Peak Music director
Larry Polansky. Some pieces go deep into experimental music and complex
algorithms, while others are funny avant rock reworkings that result in
an even more deranged version of Doctor Nerve than what the band already
is. The CD is well-balanced between variety and cohesion. Of course, this
is not a good place for a first contact with the band, but it is candy
for the fan. François Couture
Wayside Music
For Transforms: The Nerve Events Project Nick Didkovsky
commisioned over 20 artists to create music using the 44 "Nerve Events"
found on Beta 14 OK. From high tech computer music using custom designed
software, to low tech sampling and multitracking, this covers a wide array
of styles. Performances by Henry Kaiser, George Lowe, Neil Rolnick, Thomas
Dimuzio, Frank Pahl, Iconoclast, members of Dr. Nerve, and many others.
Steve Feigebaum
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