Artists | Issues | CD Reviews | Interviews | Concert Reviews | DVD/Video Reviews | Book Reviews | Who We Are | Staff | Home
 
Progressive Rock CD Reviews

Josh Sinton

Couloir & Book of Practitioners Vol. 2: Book W

Review by Gary Hill

This is not really progressive rock. It's definitely avant-garde, and the kind of thing that lands along the lines of the Rock in Opposition movement. It features just one instrument: saxophone. This double CD set is freeform and experimental. It's also not the kind of thing that's well suited for track by track review, but that's what we do here. This is not for everyone, but what is, really? It is certainly art music and unusual.

This review is available in book (paperback and hardcover) form in Music Street Journal: 2024  Volume 2 More information and purchase links can be found at: garyhillauthor.com/Music-Street-Journal-2024.

Track by Track Review
1
              
Rift

A single  saxophone paints a unique and experimental picture as this track moves forward. I love the little jabs and stabs of sound that are heard as it works its way through. It's quite a freeform piece.

Scar
Similar experimental sound is on the menu here. This is not the same piece, by any means, but it definitely occupies much of the same space.
Scission
This gets really freaky and weird in its experimental nature.
Scree
If  anything, this is even stranger.
Talus
More saxophone weirdness is on the menu here.
Thrutch
This thing is noisy and freaky.
Clough
Somehow this is a little more melodic and less intense. It's still very experimental, though.
Arroyo
Again, the same basic premise, but delivered in different ways is on the menu here.
Foramen
With a voice heard on this, the track sounds like some kind of violent struggle. There is even some screaming.
Abyss
More understated and slow moving, beyond that, this isn't largely different.
Interstice
He manages to get into a pretty compelling groove on this one. It's probably one of the most mainstream things here.
Defile
While still in line with the rest of the stuff here, this is also unique.
Gill
A little lower in volume level, this almost feels like some kind of insect droning. It does get pretty intense, though.
Flume
We get some noisy strangeness here and some saxophone parts that feel like pained screams.
Seam
Noisy and chirpy, this is another slab of the kind of thing we've heard to this point.
Crevasse
Here we get another that's more melodic and mainstream.
2

              

Willy-Nilly

I dig the more melodic vibe as this gets underway. It gets pretty freeform and a bit weird as it continues.

Whoosh
This has a rising and falling kind of progression. It's more solid stuff in the vein of the rest of the album.
Whoops
Not a big change, this comes in more melodic. It gets some cool grooves later, but it's still rather freeform when it does.
Waterline
More of the same kind of free-form saxophone music we've heard throughout is on display here. This one has more structure than some of the rest, though. This piece is more than ten-minutes long, so it has plenty of room to explore.
Wrinkles
Somehow this one seems to gel and groove a bit more than some of the rest.
Windfall
This has cool climbing, stabbing lines of music. It's again, not any kind of big departure from the rest of the stuff on the album. This gets intense and rather noisy later.
 
More CD Reviews
Metal/Prog Metal
Non-Prog
Progressive Rock
 
Google

   Creative Commons License
   This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.

    © 2024 Music Street Journal                                                                           Site design and programming by Studio Fyra, Inc./Beetcafe.com