Review

Kobi's second album corrects most of the shortcomings found on Projecto. This time, Kai Mikalsen's rich drones and electronics leave more room to the revolving cast of contributors. Except for the Jazzkammer guys, the guests appearing on the first album are all back on Dronesyndrome. From Per Gisle Galåen's turntables spew strange monologues ("This Inclusion Is Not a Simple Operation"); Bjarne Larsen's rumbling arco bass carries "Yellow Scales Slid Across Oily Rolls of Flushed Skin" into the nether regions of the audible spectrum; Fredrik Ness Sevendal's guitar is crucial to the disquieting bliss of "Anchored to a Central Core of Saturated Intensity" and "The Evening Was Unusually Sultry and Heavy." Most of the tracks involve three players and two are duets, but who knows if they were performed live with all musicians present in the same room at the same time, or if they are not instead the result of minute studio assemblages -- there are passages pointing in both directions. The music flows seamlessly from one track to the next, players coming in and stepping out like it was all a long continuous improvisation, and there you have another reason why this album is superior to the previous one. It still makes for a rather dry, abstract album. These drones don't grip you at a cellular level, as with artists like Aidan Baker or Troum, but they feature enough artistry in their composition and plenty of puzzling sounds to warrant repeated listens.