Genre: Avant Garde / Experimental / Jazz / Noise
Track Listing:
01 Eyes spring
02 Flygel
03 Pidgin
04 Obdura
05 Eroscope
06 The key
07 Sabbatarian
08 Preplay
09 Murdrus deluct
10 Shem the penman
11 Ohfey
12 Ussur
13 Eroscope vs.Eye spring (dance remix)
14 Pidgin (TRS remix)
Ogogo is IgOr Grigiriev, a Moscow born musician with a wonderfull sense of art, humor and all things avant garde and decadent. But above all he is an exceptionally talented and varied jazz musician with 25 years of creativity and guitar experience under his wings.
Linden is an hommage to the painter Ron Linden, and all the tracks are named after Linden's paintings. In short Ron Linden and IgOr have alot in common: The playfullness, the tecnique, they are both unpredictable,they are both hard to label and resist convenience. And they share a certain fascination for eyes.The cd combines Jazz, avant garde, experimental, noise guitar and drums, in surrealistic bedlam reminiscent of artists like Renaldo and the Loaf or Residents. One can hear clear influnces from people such as Stockhausen and Zappa, as well as the aforementioned Residents et al. The cover is of high quality and the booklet consists of a reproduction of Ron Lindens paintings. All over the design is impressively clean, consistently in black and red and very low key.
Though IgOr is a outstandingly taltented musician, "Linden" is, sadly, too demanding for me to enjoy fully.The guitar often over powers the other elements throughout the cd, leaving interesting bits somewhat garbled. There are a great deal moments that catches my interest and makes me go "yes this is really interesting!" I love noise, and I love guitar, however there is just something about this the invasiveness of the guitar on this record that makes it less interesting. Something that is quite sad as the intersting parts are very creative and beautifull!
As with track 6 "The key", my favorite, and track 8 "Preplay" which I think are the most fitting tracks to compliment the paintings. Subtle, foggy, sneaky and obscure. Maybe IgOr has been trying to capture the very essense of the philosophy Linden works rather then the painting themselves? IgOr and I certainly don't have the same experience looking at Linden's art. To me the paintings are far from chaotic and invasive.
The great part of writing this review is I am sure IgoOr couldn't give a rats ass to what anyone says about his work. When you work in this genre, you are most likely to create for your self first, and then the audience. I love that. Let it be said, If you are into IgOr's guitar, you will love this. If you are a experimental jazz fan, "Linden" is so right for you. I am left with the impression IgOr had a blast making this cd. Even though this is so focused, I can't help my self form picturing him laughing and having the time of his life recording this material. It's so playfull and it has a certain "if you can't deal with it, then fuck right of" attitude. The entire cd is packed with mental images and stories. It takes me to the circus, it takes me to the zoo, it takes me down town to a dirty jazz club, it drags me on an LSD trip, pulls me into a nightmare. In short, "Linden" is an explosion of expressions.
Being an artist my self I don't label art as "good or bad", I judge it by the technique and ideas contained withing the art itself. Consequently, as a work of art, this record is an "exhibition" I would love to go see. I would discuss it with my peers, I would be marveled and impressed, but I wouldn't buy the paintings.
