Frederick Foxtrott

Fluorescent Grey
Gaseous Opal Orbs
February 29th 2008
Record Label Records

Gaseous Opal Orbs opens in the ether; in a primordial atmosphere complete with zoological calls whispered from the furthest reaches of time. As the track continues, Chrono-Synclastic Infundibulum then descends over the human infested fabricated and technocratic world with the weight of collected textures, sounds, and beats, symbolic of the manifest destiny that has not only spread across the horizontal plane of this planet’s surface, but also the vertical conquests of urban development and file cabinets filled with patents of science and industry. The track is in a sense linear; it is a story of the eons, from the proterozoic to the post-industrialized and globalized world. Chrono-Synclastic Infundibulum crescendos late, with tension and anxiety, as if all the sounds of the modern world were heard in concert.

The incorporation of sounds bound by a specific time or context predominate Gaseous Opal Orbs. The sound of African drums invoke a specific mode of music construction, which is then integrated with an electronic beat, paralleling the musical form without ever sounding alien or intrusive. Their basic functions are underscored and their purpose is maintained. They are time keeping devices. As the music itself deals with themes of time, growth, evolution, and importantly some of the darker aspects of so called progress, the instrumentation was conceived to a similar end. This record utilizes sounds from a variety of eras. This not only includes the vast stretches of geological time, but also musical styles separated by only decades. Take for instance the groove of Palette Swap Dub, to the Celtic revival of Celtic K-hole, to the acid infused hyperventilations of Molten Ghost.

Fluorescent Grey, aka Robbie Martin, invests a lot of energy in creating thick soundscapes that have the presence of a dense swamp fog. When there are not active contextual or temporal juxtapositions, he allows the listener to simply exist in the heavy environments found in the space between beats, emphasizing not always where the beat drops, but where it is conspicuously missing. This is a technique mastered by electronic pioneers such as Richard D. James, an artist that Fluorescent Grey clearly admires and through style and smarts, pays homage to. Gaseous Opal Orbs is a good record with a graspable concept and tremendous displays of talent. I look forward to more releases from both Fluorescent Grey and Record Label Records.

6/9

http://www.myspace.com/fgrey
http://www.recordlabelrecords.org

Other Releases
Please Do Not Buy This Recording- 1996
Untitled- 1997
Staircase made of balsa wood- 1998
Molten Ghost- 1999
Benjamin Vanderford with Fluorescent Grey- 2002
Lying on the floor mingling with god in a Tijuana motel room next door to a veterinary supply store- 2006
Ghos Busters III- 2007