An Anthology of Noise and Electronic Music - Volume 3

This third volume (again a two-CD set) is slightly less varied than the previous two and has fewer obscure historical gems to offer, but it remains a strong compilation, rich in cross-references. Disc one begins and ends with short movements from longer academic electro-acoustic works (Bernard Parmegiani and Michel Chion's magnum opuses of the '70s). The sequence in between, which takes us from Hugh Le Caine's early synthesizer experiments to Ilhan Mimaroglu's analog electronics, Michael J. Schumacher's algorithmic compositions and Merzbow's harsh noise, runs so smoothly that it is almost supernatural. Each track seems to beg for the one that follows, so that Keith Fullerton Whitman, Justin Bennett, Scott Gibbons, Fred Szymanski, Francisco Lopez, and Zbigniew Karkowski all feel right at home with the aforementioned composers. Disc two is very different and seems to rely on sharp contrasts: from Erkki Kurenniemi's playful analogs to Alva Noto's clinical glitches, "Asmus Tietchens"'s barren lands of textures, Michael Rother's stomping Krautrock anthem, Faust's odd collages (from The Faust Tapes), and Rune Lindblad's elegiac "Till Zakynthos" (previously unreleased, like several pieces included here). This disc is a bit harder to digest, mostly because of the wide range of styles it covers - as good as it is, Rother's "Feuerland" can't help but feel slightly out of place (at least the Captain Beefheart track on the previous volume was included as a coda). But that's nitpicking: Volume three is as exciting as the first two and offers a healthy dose of significant electronic music, both critically acclaimed and previously unheard. ~ François Couture, All Music Guide