Search - Gordon, Icebreaker :: Trance

Pure Gordon......

Richard J. Melvin | 05/15/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Michael Gordon's Trance is at times minimal, maximal, exotic, rhythmic, rock n rollish and never boring. It has all the quirky twists and turns of his previous efforts 'Yo Shakespeare' and 'Weather'. He effectively uses an electric guitar and subtle electronic drones & other electronic effects in conjunction with acoustic instruments to express a variety of textures and rhythms - I love those contrapunctual horns!! He also incorporates a track, I think it is the 3rd one, of pan-world music - the underlying resource and inspiration for western contemporary trance music. On this track there are a number of overlapping non-western, exotic music styles whereby it is difficult for this lover of exotic musical fare to differentiate the multitude of styles at hand. The one musical style easily differentiated is from central asia: Tuva. Rising above the multi-ethnic meditation are Tuva overtones played by an regional instrument I do not know the name of; and the track is accompanied by a constant electronic drone - it lasts the whole movement and almost reminds me of singing from the Republic of Georgia. In the last track there are subtle references to contemporary trance techno music which is an appropriate way to end this fine, challenging composition.



This composition has what Decasia lacks: Michael Gordon's quirky personality plus the variety of expression he normally employs. I just wish Michael Gordon had more structure when he composed the music for Decasia because it, Decasia, lacks Gordon's most interesting music. After listening to Decasia again, I still find it too dense and too monolithic. As another writer mentioned (in a positive amazon review of the music for Decasia), the score was developed before the movie was made, that is all fine, but I think it contributed to the lack of musical variety. I would love to hear Gordon make another soundtrack of Decasia now that he has the movie to look at and I would certainly purchase that dynamic and mercurily structured composition. But for the time being if you are not familiar to Michael Gordon, Trance (and Weather plus Yo Shakespeare) is an excellent place to start. I think Decasia is for those who are already iniated with Gordon and not a first choice for newcomers.



I will most certainly listen to Trance many times and so will you."

No one loses consciousness during this trance

Robert Crowe | St. Louis, MO | 03/12/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Young Philip Glass meets Jimi Hendrix meets the guys in white coats from the looney bin. Fascinating poliphany, lines sliding in and out in coomplex patterns, and most of it LOUD. People used to describe early Glass as being like watching lapping water change the patterns of sand on the beach. This music is more like watching the changing patterns in solar flares.



Not for the faint of heart or delicate of ear. For others? It is hard to find metaphors. Maybe a bunch of egghead intellectuals having a ripping good time at a NASSCAR race. Maybe a bunch of rockers and their avant garde lovers attending a graduate mathematics lecture. I think it's great. It satisfies your guts and your mind.



I particularly enjoyed Trance 5, the last section. It has a structure and build of enormous intensity. The rising excitement makes me think of Ravel's Bolero, the first movement of the Shostakovich 7th Symphony and two of Glass' works, Act III of The Photographer and The Grid from Koyanisqatsi, although Gordon's ending is rather blunt and lacks the satisfying epiphany of these other pieces."