Genre: Experimental / Electro-acoustic

Disc one
01 Jump To The Work
02 No Assembly
Disc two
01 Repopulate
02 Terreiros
Disc three
01 False Flag Day
02 Inside-Out Job

Paper Legs is the nom de plume for the music of Trevor Healy and Brian Osborne birthed in Brooklyn a few years back. Last year Healy relocated to the San Francisco area and the two maintain the name for their solo and collaborative works. This collection of three 3' discs chronicles the three facets of these efforts all recorded in late 2006.

Disc one presents Healy's work with 12-string guitar, tone generator and cymbal. 'Jump To The Work' plays out a bit of additive synthesis, laying down a fabric of scraping and popping sounds that eventually gives way to some chiming guitar drones. On the other hand 'No Assembly' serves up some active stasis that could benefit from a longer-playing format. Both pieces have a somewhat meditative quality, but remain active enough to keep it from being considered minimalism. My only complaint is that it's too brief.

The second disc showcases two collaborative pieces, the second of which also includes violinist Joel Lambdin. 'Repopulate' conjures up some fictitious street festival in an opiate-infused haze that's not too far off from early Smegma or one of the Sun City Girls' psychedelic meltdowns. The second piece is a lo-fi textural exercise that sounds like a cheap organ run through a trash compactor. I mean this as a compliment but the birds outside my window seem to be a bit confused. Healy concludes with some very tasty slide/prepared guitar work.

Last but not least, disc three belongs to Brian Osborne, an accomplished percussionist and trap-slayer by day. Here he delves into a more exploratory noise terrain with microphone feedback, tapes, a Karaoke machine and some small percussives. His innate musicianship is never compromised here despite the new territory. He knows when to pull back and when to let you have it. I also like the disorienting effect, never really knowing where the sounds are coming from. At times it even sounds like the contact microphones themselves are being man-handled.

This is a promising collaboration and here's to hoping that geography isn't too cruel to their relationship. As an added bonus, try synchronising discs one and three and listen to them simultaneously. The packaging itself is pretty special too. The three discs are mounted on a scree-printed board the size of a 10' record. There's no edition size indicated but I'd go ahead and grab one just in case.