Scratchy Marimba

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Stephen Vitiello is a New York-based composer-musician and video artist who straddles the gray area where electronic music leaves the pop arena behind and merges with the world of high art. He has worked with a range of people with connections to both worlds, including UK airwave plunderer Scanner and American transcendentalist Pauline Oliveros. Sulfur (Sulphur in the UK) is the record label run by Scanner's Robin Rimbaud, and Scratchy Marimba is the second installment in the label's Meld series, which features joint projects. The collaborators in this case are Scanner himself, Hahn Rowe (who has worked with Vitiello in the past), drummer Dean Sharp (whose credits include the Rick Danko band) and the semi-legendary Anthony Moore (Slapp Happy). Over six tracks spanning 32 minutes, the CD is a study in disintegration. At first every instrument is a discrete element in the gently hazy minimalist compositions. But by the final track, all the sounds have dissolved into one cloud of rumbling, hissing, and crackling; a faint hint of melody is finally overtaken by a dense, high-pitched drone reminiscent of a bowed cymbal or hurdy-gurdy. The titular scratchiness is a thread that runs throughout, beginning as a background vinyl record crackle that is gradually refined into smooth white noise. --Bob Bannister

Scratchy Marimba,Stephen Vitiello,Sulfur Records,Electro-Acoustic,Electronic,Experimental,Pop,Rock

Scratchy Marimba

Tracks:

9 Out Of 10 (Stoned Teenagers Can Hear That Fluttery Sound In The Background)
Scratchy Marimba
Loudmouth
Forget What You Came For
Taxi Take Off Turbulence And Landing
Taxi Take Off (With Anthony's Ending)

Amazon.com

Stephen Vitiello is a New York-based composer-musician and video artist who straddles the gray area where electronic music leaves the pop arena behind and merges with the world of high art. He has worked with a range of people with connections to both worlds, including UK airwave plunderer Scanner and American transcendentalist Pauline Oliveros. Sulfur (Sulphur in the UK) is the record label run by Scanner's Robin Rimbaud, and Scratchy Marimba is the second installment in the label's Meld series, which features joint projects. The collaborators in this case are Scanner himself, Hahn Rowe (who has worked with Vitiello in the past), drummer Dean Sharp (whose credits include the Rick Danko band) and the semi-legendary Anthony Moore (Slapp Happy). Over six tracks spanning 32 minutes, the CD is a study in disintegration. At first every instrument is a discrete element in the gently hazy minimalist compositions. But by the final track, all the sounds have dissolved into one cloud of rumbling, hissing, and crackling; a faint hint of melody is finally overtaken by a dense, high-pitched drone reminiscent of a bowed cymbal or hurdy-gurdy. The titular scratchiness is a thread that runs throughout, beginning as a background vinyl record crackle that is gradually refined into smooth white noise. --Bob Bannister

Customer Reviews:

What're you thinking of?.......2000-05-25

If Stephen Vitiello is "opening up a fresh wound in the sound" with Scratchy Marimba, the sound must have been doing some serious tripping beforehand to bleed the way it does on this CD. What Vitiello has done is to create some interesting compositions that evoke strong, yet strange mental pictures.

Take the first track, "9 out of 10". The image I got was of an old, rusty machine in the dark basement of a haunted house, churning out organ notes in an endless automatic process that no one's heard for years. Did this machine once play music for guests long ago? Or is it a power source, the fuel for something demonic deep within the house? These were actual questions that ran through my head as I listened. It's like prose turned into musical form. The other songs are no less striking, although it takes a few listens to 'focus' oneself.

The music is quite minimalist, with one track, "Forget What You Came For," consisting mainly of a bubbling sound set to a steady rhythmic pattern. But nothing is really rhythmic here - the sound is distorted and broken, giving the songs a melancholy tone. Don't expect to dance (in fact, expect to clear the floor if you put this on).

In short, you're not going to make friends with this CD. People who are not really listening are going to find it boring or depressing, because of its moody and atmospheric nature. It's best played alone, with no distractions, so that you can really lose yourself in the music and what it creates. Once you do, the results are surprising.

Scratchy Marimba
Average customer rating:
Scratchy Marimba
Stephen Vitiello
Manufacturer: Meld
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | New Age | Styles | Music
Experimental Music | Miscellaneous | Styles | Music
ASIN: B00004SPQC
Release Date: 2000-03-27