Album Notes

If Jim O'Rourke's career rapidly eclipsed Dan Burke's, the later years have reversed the relative importance of the two. While O'Rourke has become a mundane composer of faux avantgarde, Burke has refined his scary, harsh, subliminal form of musique concrete. Burke is the missing link between Italian futurists of a century before and Andy Warhol's art of the collage. His sonic graffitis and murals dissect ordinary life and reconstructs it as an altered state of the mind.

Illusion Of Safety
Fifteen & In 70 Countries
The most recent releases from this assemblage. Industry is a true gem of industry-meets-Andromeda sonic union. The long "Temple Set" could well be the most beautiful "cosmic" -industrial piece I've ever heard, being a riverbed, shifting melodic drone overlaid with repetitive metal claging soudns, with lots of deep, low rumblings and even a sampled chorus. The live tracks are primarily in the same harmonious vein, making the whole tape a positively joyous and ominous listening experience. To me, it's theirbest release yet. In 70 Countries, with human torture as its theme, is more sonically diverse and hellish in atmosphere. Included are treated recitations of torture methods, industrial groans and wails, crying babies, high frequency drones, and great electronics, the whole brew in a tight mix. Not created to be sensationalistic, the pieces on this tape coalesce to form some genuine terror, and a powerful statement against (in)humanity. Jack Jordan

Illusion Of Safety
Finite Material Context (Complacency)
For such a prolific group -- and one with a constantly luctuating lineup -- IOS consistently deliver excellence. This tape compiles solo tracks from individual members, and though diverse, it shows their common artistic vision. Finite Material Context starts off with Chris Block's "Gravity," a piece with tightly overlapping vocal loops over spacey, whining noises. Nex up is an untitled Jim O'Rourke composition with the aura of a distant highwayand windchimes, and a vague sense of doom. I was totally absorbed in teh piece, when BAM! Dan Burke's "Mixed Signals" came in and my heart skipped a couple of beats. Spark Lunch's "Theme From Bensonhurst Race Riot" is a dense and intense collage work, Block's "Fondness Maakes The Heart Grow Absent" has a rotating squeal over repetitious industrial (remember that word?) percussion, and Lunch's "Mr. Blankford's Lament" takes us out on a more restful note. This tape is strong throughout.