ReR
Janet Feder : Speak Puppet (2000)***°
Brainbox Janet Feder & Colin Bricher : demo (2003)****
The advantage of a prepared guitar over a usual guitar, is more richness in sound colours. When fingerpicking compositions deal with the actual nature of its oddities, we can have colourful compositions (-that remind me of John Cage's prepared piano pieces, where rhythms have their own colour and rhythmical melody). Never the less Janet's compositions on "Speak Puppet" seem at first not so unusually different. In the beginning of each composition the different tuning participates a bit in its composition's structure, but further on, the guitar composition grows a bit independently from it's original sound settings, and the differently tuned strings become alienated oddities. Is it this puppet on the string (-see picture-) that tries to seek for its own life ?
The guitar becomes again a usual classical fingerpicking style guitar, while this tiny puppet (as small oddly melodic touches) plays on its own independent life, as it sees the opportunity. Sometimes it plays perfectly along, although still with its own nature. This we can especially hear in the first three tracks, and on "Red Drum" a bit further on.
The track "Lightning Strikes" I knew already from the compilation album, and I described this before as a genius track, because new sound invention and melody and classical guitar fingerpicking, work perfectly hand in hand.
Two tracks are basically just fingerpicking, "Leaving light" and "A bird flew in". But there are also a couple of more "modern" or fashionable tracks. "Almost El Paso" is fingerpicking guitar with male voice and background turntable noise (?). "Sueno-remix" (with participation of Colin Bricker) has a very careful mix, guitar, some rhythms and background noise.
The last remix, -also the last track-, from "Leaving light" by William Caslon Experiment, is as careful as the first one. It's a bit of a naive and child like experiment, not in a bad sense, as if experimenting with a new toy, -a track that could have been richer in the final production for a richer three dimensional sound.
All in all "Speak Puppet" is an enjoyable release with a certain freshness and an idealism succeeding in going beyond its own limitations.
Also participating on this album : guitarist Mike Johnson (Thinking Plague, Hamster Theatre, 5UU's) (on first track), pianist Mike Vargas (on paddlydo (?), on one track) & prepared harp player Margot Krimmel (on 2 tracks).
+ demo (2003)****
On this release, the use of electronics with a semi-electronic part, overcoming the basic limitations of an acoustic recognisable melody, has given the music a very mature sound, which is partly based upon prepared guitars, with tiny additional sounds and friendly and soft breakbeat (?) rhythms.
The fingerpicking guitar stands more on its own (as in the earlier mentioned release), which I think is a good idea to get a clear distinctive structure, leaving the 'invention' mostly for colouring the structure, as environmental sounds, enriching the basic fingerpicking rhythms, thus creating more liveable space and a more modern sound.
A part of the noises and extra arrangements are like insect participations and come from the "level-of-the-grass" or something, while the fingerpicking itself works like "a-walk-outside".
A few times the total structure is broken up, very carefully, with full respect for the acoustic fundamentals. All various rhythms as well as electronic sounds work very contributively.
Where on the earlier release the electronics might not have been so essential, here everything is. Although not many rhythms ever make it much to the fore in the composition (except in the splendid "Sueno" perhaps) and while basically it is very relaxing music, I still recommended this to club house DJ's too, even when they might only use it after their house .. work.
A splendid and highly recommended release with a very modern and vivid sound.
