Search - Dome, Bruce Gilbert, Graham Lewis :: 3 & 4

Uneven listening, but maybe worth investigating for some...

Al-Ghaieru | Wisconsin, AKA | 12/01/2005

(3 out of 5 stars)

"...but definitely not for everyone. This is experimental stuff, so much so that music making does not seem to be a concern here, which is fine-the recording artist has that perrogative, after all. In the case of these two gentlemen in Dome, Bruce Gilbert and Graham Lewis, we have two people taking the experimental edge of their former band, Wire, into this band and amplifying that edge. Wire had its experimental moments, and would occasionally throw out a sound collage on a b-side. So the contents of this album, actually two albums together, are similar to Wire's experiments if you take away the pop element of Wire. So this is experimentalism for experimentalism's sake, a noisy ambient, Enoesque outing. This album may appeal to fans of Wire for that, and as there are dance beats running through some of the tracks, one can sort of see this album as part of the sound picture which would form when Wire regrouped, playing dance music instead of the rock they had previously played in Wire's first incarnation. There is some distortion and noise here, maybe enough to refer to this as "industrial" music, but for the apparently shiftless chaos here, this reminds me more of a slab of krautrock, or some of Elliot Sharp's noise music (especially the first track). The mucking around here with electronic sounds and sequencer/samplers also presages a new development, particularly in British pop culture-rave/house music. Granted that it was Dereck May's and Juan Atkins' albums that migrated out of Detroit and Chicago to really kick off the rise of techno in the U.K./Europe, but Dome would appear to be one home-grown element over there that early on embraced the notions of sound textures with a dance beat thrown over it as a new music form. Daniel Miller of Mute Records also shows up here for some sax abuse, as does Erasure's Vince Clarke(track 11) for some sample goofery."

So many ideas, so little time

leo | Beijing, China | 05/01/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"thoroughly enjoyable collection of playful yet serious music from the side project of these too-clever-for-school post-punk pranksters... nice textures, interesting loops, what should be throwaway little ditties turn out to be brilliant little masterpieces of songcraft and sound collage."

Not as impressive as the first two

Said Head | MN, USA | 11/07/2008

(3 out of 5 stars)

"I love Dome's 1 & 2 albums; they're experimental, but well constructed, catchy but extremely intelligent, and overall a wild journey for the ears.



After owning the CD compilation for a while, I decided I really wanted to get the next and final installment of the Dome period of Bruce Gilbert and Graham Lewis.



When I first got 3 & 4 I was upon hearing the first few tracks satisfied because it felt like an expansion on what they've done previously, but this/these tend to feel after hearing the whole CD through that it's more same-old same-old, along with some newer ideas that just don't click. The first 10 tracks, which comprise all of 3, are, as you can see from the titles, controlled by an overall theme. These pieces are mostly noisy and crowded, and while having some conventional instrumentation (this is where we are introduced to some fun use of saxophone) most of what you hear is messy noise not mixed half-heartedly with some scarse, expressive vocals.



There are essentially no real lyrics, more just a lot of gibberish, which is a really interesting aspect that is used often throughout just as an additional instrument. The saxophone too is pretty compelling, but for the most part these tracks feel a bit too overwhelming.



And onto 4; this album starts off with a lengthy ambient instrumental, which I'm pretty particular to. After that it's repetition after repetition. 'To Walk, To Run' sounds like the same 4 seconds is repeated for 4 minutes, and 'To Duck, To Dive' is one of few tracks that house anything close to lyrical content, which after so much mess is very refreshing. Then after that track I don't really start enjoying the music until the last track, which is really great.



Don't get me wrong, I like experimental music, and Gilbert and Lewis, and occasionally Newman and the collective Wire, all do it for me. It's just that I had expected more, umm, experiment, in these two albums. 1 & 2 sound like they practically write themselves and are the products of pure artistic freedom. 3 & 4, however, give the impression that the creators wanted a more linear sound, which does rather clash with being progressive."