Search - Peter Scherer :: Cronologia

"Cronologia" Is Spooky, That Means Nice

Edd S. Hurt | Boulder, CO USA | 12/01/1999

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Peter Scherer was half of the Ambitious Lovers, the funky little outfit that included Arto Lindsay. Their LPs from the '80s are still good to listen to, especially "Greed." (They were working on the seven deadly sins but they got sidetracked; see the movie "Bedazzled" for more insight into this problem.) Scherer, in my opinion, brings just the right sophisticated, langorous, European touch to his music, which on his 1995 album "Very Neon Pet" resembles nothing so much as updated Miles Davis, sort of like "Agartha" for beginners. Or kind of like "Another Green World" without the nod to '60s "progressive" rock. In fact I would say that on "Very Neon" Scherer displays the same relationship to the strange '70s music perfected by Davis as does Tortoise to Steve Reich. "Cronologia" is not as overt, and I didn't initially listen to it as much as I did "Pet." But now I think it's even more substantial than the earlier album. Part of the Tzadik "film music" series, "Cronologia" is made up of short pieces that seem dour at first but whose cumulative effect is a delightful creepiness--sort of like what film music would be if it displayed real sensibility, as they used to say back in the old days. Works well while Tarkovsy's "Mirror" plays with the sound down. Put it in the changer with DJ Spooky, Arto, and maybe "Tubular Bells" if you remember that far back. When are the Ambitious Lovers going to do "Sloth," that one should be easy."

Flying strings, hidden messages

Edd S. Hurt | 08/04/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"It is a hot day in the begining of August. Mostly I can't find the words to describe this outburst of anger, love, guilt, hatred, fear, passion, longing, regret... After listening to this Album, I felt better. Thank you."