Unlike Anything Else
This one definitely grows on you. Very subtle. Very beautiful. Sometimes I listen to it several times in a row. Highly recommended.
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Otherworldy & Epic
This performance simply took my breath away. It is dense, spacious, exhilarating, out of this world..
it's a shame...
... that they didn't have the foresight to get a professional quality recording. this sounds like some dude walking around with a portable dat unit or something. but... I highly recommend this download as the music itself is fantastic... and most of the recording is good enough to capture the essence.
Pay attention
From Pitchfork: Commissioned by the City of Paris to compose something for their all-night La Nuit Blanche Festival, he wrote the ambitious "A Crimson Grail (Moves Too Fast To See)." Gathering 400 guitarists . . . and four leaders listening to his directions through headphones, Chatham led a 12-hour sonic marathon. Starting on the steps of France's largest church, the Sacré-Cœur, the ensemble ended the show inside, beneath a 272-foot ceiling. Nearly 1000 people witnessed this mini-miracle. . . .Given the huge mass of bodies and sound, it would be unreasonable to expect the recording to replicate this spectacle. But audio limitations become a blessing on this album . . . Slightly hissy and foggy, at times even claustrophobic, the record sounds like the abstracted essence of electric guitar. Sure, you can hear a chord here, a string pluck there, and the clicking of Kane's cymbal throughout "Part Two". But the lasting impression is that of a vibrant, shimmering sound-cloud.
flawed recording of good material
I like this album... very ambient and rich sounding layers of sound. My only complaint is the quality of the live recording. There are multiple clips and microphone bumps throughout the piece... the recording job is just totally amateur.
Don't waste your downloads
I always try to find something to access even on the most impregnable tracks. This disc gave me nothing. No contrasts. No variations. One shouldn't have to imagine interests in sound.
Immense.
400 guitars do not sound like what you think. Recorded live in Paris, this epic composition forms a sine wave of pure electric guitar. But what at first seems overwhelming and unapproachable reveals considerable texture and nuance with deep listening. You’ll find yourself moved, even breathless – and always awestruck.
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