With occasional instrumental help from
Russell Mills
,
Mute Records
producer-in-residence
Eric Radcliffe
and, on saxophone for three songs,
Mute
head
Daniel Miller
himself,
Dome
kicked up an unusual storm on
3
. Along with singing provided on many numbers by the mysterious
A.M.C
. -- not the cable channel, but a near-anonymous vocalist squeaking up in the mix throughout -- the
Gilbert
/
Lewis
duo found a variety of strange but effective ways to make their particularly curious points clear. There's little question upon listening to
that more than a few of the '90s experimental/post-rock types had this or the CD version of it kicking around in their collections.
Main
in particular likely referred to this release more than once, and it's little wonder that group's
Robert Hampson
worked with
on a collaborative album. The song titles alone test the edge of abstract;
"Danse"
and
"Jasz"
may approach understandability, but when one deals with things like
"An-An-An-D-D-D"
"Ur-Ur,"
Cole Porter
this isn't. There's a vaguely similar comparison to be made to the
Talking Heads
album
Remain in Light
or
David Byrne
's solo work with
My Life in the Bush of Ghosts
, in that rhythms from varying world sources are explored and tested out. However,
takes a far more consciously aggressive, electronic approach to such source material, running things through heavy echo and skewing the pitches as low as possible, as much forecasting the rise of industrial as anything else. The freakish clatters and tones on tracks such as
"Na-Drm"
certainly aren't calculated to easy, smooth listening.
Miller
's brass work is surprisingly enjoyable in context; treated with the same production style and limited to rhythmic fills instead of melodic runs, it adds just enough of a wild card to tracks like
"D-D-Bo."
~ Ned Raggett