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A Review of "Zen Junk": Just A Place-Saver For The Future
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To: Echo Root and Fans [Existing or Potential] - [Revised for detail January 27, 2008]:
Echo Root has just given the fuzz community a delicious sampling of what is self-described as, "Zen Junk" - I relish that unique layering of terms with surprising "za-zen" result. Its novelty and surprise set the proper frame for Echo Root's innovative work. Place a fuzz marker on this artist's homepage because it will be well-used.
Also, I appreciate the novelty of Echo Root's mental framing of the age-old dialectic [that is to say, basically Western] quantity vs. quality contra-distinction, with an innovative and, thus, remarkable choice, opting for the former over the latter. Of course, Echo Root does this on purpose and for a purpose and we should give this artist's thesis [of quantity over quality] a fair hearing. While the debate between quantity vs. quality [with a built-in bias which is, perhaps unfair, of the latter over the former] has been played out since time immemorial, I don't recall ever coming across the intriguing position taken by Echo Root in the context of music discovery and appreciation. The dialectic is one that has to find resolution in the fullness of time - that is, if you put yourself in this mind-set to begin with - which is itself an open question if one wants to be Zen Drunk about it.
On first impression, Echo Root's music and accompanying word puzzles, soundscapes and sound sources, as well as visual art keeps the ear, eye, and mind fully engaged and challenged. The whole combination of sources and resources is an artist's endeavor to situate those willing to engage with the artistic exercise in another time, place, and order - one where we should all seek to find refuge when we can. At the same time, Echo Root's music remains, unlike much of experimental music today, still accessible to a broader audience of willing participants sitting on the edge of chaos - which means most of us. It thus holds great promise, methinks.
I will "listen" to [and more fully "experience"] these pieces with more care when I have time and space to give Echo Root's body of work the review it really deserves. In the meantime, this is just a "place-saver" [an excuse I have been using too much of late].
[NB: a note to readers of my reviews: the text of my reviews at this site may change from time to time. As I listen for futher nuances in a song or body of work, I keep modifying or adding to my thoughts, making my reviews an organic "moveable feast". Since Fuzz artists are constantly evolving, as are our own perspectives, I think Fuzz reviews should not be frozen in time. It's time to extend the power of real-time, web-based music discovery, by making our reviews, "wiki-reviews."]
Echo Root has just given the fuzz community a delicious sampling of what is self-described as, "Zen Junk" - I relish that unique layering of terms with surprising "za-zen" result. Its novelty and surprise set the proper frame for Echo Root's innovative work. Place a fuzz marker on this artist's homepage because it will be well-used.
Also, I appreciate the novelty of Echo Root's mental framing of the age-old dialectic [that is to say, basically Western] quantity vs. quality contra-distinction, with an innovative and, thus, remarkable choice, opting for the former over the latter. Of course, Echo Root does this on purpose and for a purpose and we should give this artist's thesis [of quantity over quality] a fair hearing. While the debate between quantity vs. quality [with a built-in bias which is, perhaps unfair, of the latter over the former] has been played out since time immemorial, I don't recall ever coming across the intriguing position taken by Echo Root in the context of music discovery and appreciation. The dialectic is one that has to find resolution in the fullness of time - that is, if you put yourself in this mind-set to begin with - which is itself an open question if one wants to be Zen Drunk about it.
On first impression, Echo Root's music and accompanying word puzzles, soundscapes and sound sources, as well as visual art keeps the ear, eye, and mind fully engaged and challenged. The whole combination of sources and resources is an artist's endeavor to situate those willing to engage with the artistic exercise in another time, place, and order - one where we should all seek to find refuge when we can. At the same time, Echo Root's music remains, unlike much of experimental music today, still accessible to a broader audience of willing participants sitting on the edge of chaos - which means most of us. It thus holds great promise, methinks.
I will "listen" to [and more fully "experience"] these pieces with more care when I have time and space to give Echo Root's body of work the review it really deserves. In the meantime, this is just a "place-saver" [an excuse I have been using too much of late].
[NB: a note to readers of my reviews: the text of my reviews at this site may change from time to time. As I listen for futher nuances in a song or body of work, I keep modifying or adding to my thoughts, making my reviews an organic "moveable feast". Since Fuzz artists are constantly evolving, as are our own perspectives, I think Fuzz reviews should not be frozen in time. It's time to extend the power of real-time, web-based music discovery, by making our reviews, "wiki-reviews."]
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