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Matt Krefting

High Hopes

OM32

High Hopes is a recording of music for cassettes. While the general tone is experimental, the structural elements of song are not left behind. Each side is a continuos statement comprised of brief motifs and repetitive strains bleeding into one another, coalescing into a cold narrative of half-remembered, slow mbiras, 78s of an orchestra in endless refrain, a confused piano, a vocal hosanna... While the pacing allows a certain introspection and the tape fidelity allows a certain detachment, direction and concision are not sacrificed. Elements from side A reappear on side B recomposed and an overall tone of melancholy is maintained throughout. E.M. Cioran said, "A heart without music is like beauty without melancholy." Here... you've got it all.---Greg Kelley

Matt Krefting – High Hopes (Open Mouth LP)
Matt has been doing solo shows for a few years now using multiple old cheap cassette machines and various cassettes, some of which are recordings he has himself made. He has released some fine CDRs, but I think High Hopes is the cream of the crop so far. I am not usually fond of side long, or in this case LP length collages, but Matt shows exactly how it should be done. The whole piece has a definite architecture, with sounds sometimes returning in the building of the whole. This is not a 'journey' up a collaged field recording river. There are some unidentifiable ambiences, some lifted choral recordings, lo-fi breaking glass, warped keyboards of all sorts, all combined in a minimal and highly effective manner. The whole atmosphere really captures for me days and days of heavy alcohol use. Soon every event is wrapped in a warming cocoon of booze, which is both glorious and horrifying in its detachment. Even the breaking glass sequences seem lost in an alcoholic fog. This is a spectacular achievement. (If you want a non-alcohol related perspective, a lot of this music would have sounded great in the fine film (original, not fucked up version ) THX 1138.)  Matt! Time to come over for some drinks! --scott foust



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MATT KREFTING "HIGH HOPES" LP
$18 ppd in US
INTERNATIONAL ORDERS
$35
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