Charles Bobuck — This
The CD release takes in eighteen tracks from twelve separate releases, with a total running time of firth five minutes. If you are aware of The Residents more recent work, in say the last decade you’ll pretty much know what to expect here. The tracks are a blend of: moody yet off-kilter electro ambient sound tracking, darting world music elements. Ethnic tinged jazz work-outs with bouncing bass lines and quirky beats capes. Sampled gamelan, and other instrumental textures. The occasional soaring, sailing & distinctive guitar line( by long term Residents collaborator N Cook). Sampled ‘n’ electro fed horn/string work over circus-like electronica. And a general quirky/ playful blend of several different musical genre elements.
The collection highlights both Bobuck’s creative & often surprisingly composition skills, as well as a good ear for both a great melody & setting a distinctive mood. And I think I speak for many Resident’s fans when I wonder what the project will sound like with out his input. But I guess through-out the projects existent ‘collaborators’ have come & gone, and new ways of doing things have come about, and in a way that’s what’s made the project back catalogue so rewarding.
As collection/ compilation’s go this is very, very consistent through-out, and clearly someone has gone in and selected the cream of the crop for this CD. If you’ve not heard much of The Resident’s more instrumental work in recent years, then this is a great collection to pick-up. And even if, like me, you’ve heard much of the projects out-put this is still worth pick-up, as it’s sequenced well & they’ll still be a few moments/ releases you maybe won’t be a familiar with.