RORY SALTER

Free Music On The Clock

(Chocolate Monk - choc.567) CDR $8.00

Chocolate Monk describes Free Music On The Clock thus: “Mr. Malvern Brume pulls a few skivers at Cafe Oto. Liminal music for vacant minds,” and the only word here that makes sense to us is “at.” Salter steps in with a bit more detail: “Music recorded using bits laying around at the day job, on the clock, at the start of the summer break when there were spare moments. Recordings were then cut up and arranged at home, on the bed,” a description that infuriates Ecka Mordecai, who feels such a “cringe,” “shit,” and “rubbish” blurb is an affront to all concerned. “All those breathing sounds right up close, distorting into the mic... Muttering and complaining about stuff, it’s so intimate.” Mordecai notes that Salter’s soundscape, made “from the noise expressing what it’s like to go to work everyday and constantly be pulled away from the thing you want to be doing,” creates a tension that “is exciting and potent.” Is Free Music On The Clock straightforward and non-emotional? Hell, no. Mordecai says this album is “sick.” She is not opposed to his cello-playing, too. Edition of 60