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 Robert Poss - Distortion Is Truth [Trace Elements Records - 2002]After reading the bio that came with these CD’s I prepared myself for endless drones, without rhythm, built from layers of guitarfeedback. Unfamiliar with Robert Poss’ main band Band Of Susans, of which only the name rang a bell, I was in for a surprise. Since 1964 Robert Poss has been playing guitar in various blues- and rockbands until he discovered punk in the late ’70s. From that point he starts to write his own music and works with several people like Rhys Chatham and Nicolas Collins. He got interested in ‘side-effects’ of the electric guitar like feedback, distortion and overtones. Fellow New Yorker Glenn Branca’s guitarsymphonies have also been focusing on these phenomenae although the latter used enormous amounts of guitars while Band Of Susans had only three guitars and more of a rock-band attitude as opposed to Branca’s orchestra’s.Distortion Is Truth is Poss’ first solo-album and it’s a collection of things he has been doing lately, live and in the studio. It covers all his current interests. He has rediscovered the electronics he worked with the ’70s like oscillators. The music varies from dense drones (Henix Sambolo) to more spatial ambient pieces (Radio Free Albemuth Revisited). A piece like You Were Relentless sounds more like what I expect Band Of Susans to have sounded like. On the other hand Management Confidential is almost an electro-rock song with vocals even. Other pieces venture slightly into jazz (Showbiz), pure feedback (You Know The Drill) and groovy instrumental rock (Regret). The material presented on this disc is very diverse and far from the endless drones I was expecting. Most of it is based on repetition and sound thus sorting a hypnotic effect. All in all I am positively surprised!This CD comes with a companion disc called Crossing Casco Bay. On this album you’ll find two 20 minute-drone pieces, a soundpicture as I would call it and and 2 shorter, rhythmic pieces.The CD’s are available at Downtown Music Gallery.  
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|  | | Robert Poss - Distortion Is Truth | After reading the bio that came with these CD’s I prepared myself for endless drones, without rhythm, built from layers of guitarfeedback. Unfamiliar with ...
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| | | Crude ‘n’ Hope-corroding Wall... | Back in 2024, I got my first taste of Absurd Reality, and I was so impressed by how crude and nasty its take on walled noise was. Behind the project is South...
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