HAROLD BUDD
Avalon Sutras
Samadhi Sound
STEPHAN MICUS
Life
ECM
· New Age veterans deliver masterworks.
The problem with New Age music is that it is premised on a notion of spirituality that excludes Nick Cave.
I don’t mean that Gospel is the only possible musical approach to contemplating eternity and salvation, but the blithe assumption that everything is going to be just peachy in the long run should cause some concern about the possibility of boredom. Judging by these albums (and their extensive discographies), neither Harold Budd nor Stephan Micus is much troubled by apocalyptic premonition, but at least they seem to have an idea of the good life that goes beyond an endless free supply of Valium.
Both are pioneers in the field, and began recording a quarter century ago under the influence of American minimalism. Budd was one of the defining composers of West Coast minimalism, and along with Brian Eno and his gang, helped create ambient music. Micus took things in the opposite direction, exploring minimalism’s roots in (and affinities with) various other musical cultures, from Japan to Mali.
After his initial landmark releases, Budd’s output declined rapidly in quality (and then in quantity), but Micus has held steady with an album every two years or so. Each release explored a new area with a slightly different approach, so that his back catalogue constitutes the most engaging introduction to world music available from a Western classical perspective.
Avalon Sutra is practically the first Budd recording in 20 years that I can listen through without cringing. While his meandering keyboard improvisations are still at the heart of the creative process, these short new compositions are given a focus by being performed in part by string quartet and in part by duets with Philip Glass Ensemble saxophonist John Gibson, a respected composer in his own right. Don’t expect to be galvanized – the result is still unmistakably West Coast in tone, but with the idle moments suggested rather than played through.
Budd’s original works are balanced by a second CD on which Akira Rabelais remixes one composition using his trademark gradual processes, an hour-long piece that succeeds where Budd’s own post-Eno attempts at electro-acoustic fusion generally failed.
Life is a more intense work, in part because the composer is a man more driven to constant self-renewal, but mostly because it is the musical setting of a Zen riddle, sung (by a multi-tracked Micus) in a suitably hieratic East Asian style, accompanied by an assortment of drone instruments and percussion. While it does have moments of tranquil beauty, such as the six-minute-long instrumental "Temple," performed on Thai singing bowls, dilruba and nay (always a good idea to have an ethno-musicological dictionary on hand when listening to this man’s work), Micus captures every nuance of the dramatic shifts of his story (included in English translation as well as traditional calligraphy in the liner notes), holding the listener’s attention throughout this 50-minute set.
Closing a year in which the most noticeable shift in popular music was the steady convergence of the post-rock and electronic scenes towards semi-classical forms, these two releases provide a timely perspective on that area’s often-overlooked recent history.
BUDD 4/5
MICUS 4/5
TIMOTHY HECK
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