Telecognac

When Jon Mueller mixes literature and music, the results are usually puzzling, fascinating, and -- surely in this particular case -- hauntingly beautiful. This album, Telecognac's second full-length CD, is a study of memory. Mueller and Chris Rosenau are joined for the occasion by Scott Beschta. In the six pieces they created (titled "Moment 1" through "Moment 6"), snippets of melodies from classical tunes have been looped, transformed, crossbred. Everything is heard as if through a thick fog -- or in a dream. Contours are familiar, but details remain evasive and memories have a way of running into each other and combining into a new reality. Various kinds of sonic pollution have also been added to the mix, pushing further the sense of eeriness. One thinks of Alain de Filippis' classical music plundering (Petites Musiques de Bruit) or even more of Robert Lippok's charming Open Close Open, which used a short quote from Mahler. Laid-back, highly textural, and utterly strange, the music on Memory attempts to walk the fine line between concrete and abstract, between the known, recognizable, reassuring, and the experimental, uncertain, disquieting. This disc provides a very special listening experience, enhanced by the six short texts inserted in the package, which provide a setting for the music to unfold. Impressive and strongly recommended. Memory was released by Crouton in October 2001, in a limited edition of 500 copies. ~ François Couture, All Music Guide