专辑简介

by Brian Olewnick

Recorded a few years prior to the major works on his album Die Donnergotter, Factor X explores the same two specific territories which occupied most of Chatham's time in the '80s. "For Brass" is actually very similar to his guitar extravaganzas of the time, only with trumpets, trombones, and a tuba substituted for the guitars. The all-star ensemble (including George Lewis, Olu Dara, and Bob Stewart) play with both rhythmic exactness and apparent freedom over a propulsive rock base provided by Golden Palominos founder Anton Fier. Chatham's liner notes seem to indicate that all of the brass playing had been notated, but surely some of the wails and cries were at least originally generated in improvisation and then possibly later written to paper. Whatever the case, it's a powerful work and provides a fascinating acoustic slant on a genre of composition normally associated with electronic instruments. The three guitar pieces show Chatham working his own corner of the space initially explored by Glenn Branca. With the massed but differently tuned guitars riding over a rockish rhythm, there are certainly similarities but, among other subtler differences, Chatham's pieces tend to have an upbeat quality, even a lilt, that is rarely found in Branca. He mentions in his notes to "Guitar Ring" that "the initial idea...was to take a 'moment' out of popular music and proceed to extend and reshape the material until it achieved new musical meaning." If that sounds like too much icing and not enough cake, rest assured that Chatham delivers plenty of substance while succeeding beautifully with his concept. A fine album and one that was integral to the later explorations of countless alternative rock bands.