Carl Stone : Mom's

Carl Stone is an electronic music composer, which means you're in for an ear-bending. The album Mom's was released on New Albion records, which generally specializes in very atmospheric sound washes, the ambientest of ambient. There are several pieces like that on this album (one of which I almost chose), but this is not one of them.

"Mom's" the piece is basically a song that has been put through an audio blender. Imagine a CD player that aggressively skips, so that it's always plowing forward, even as it skitters back. In this case, it sounds like someone has seriously abused a CD of zydeco music, so you've got some horns, some fiddle, some crazed accordion and even a little Creole in the mix. It sounds like it would be a mess, but there are two things that hold it together and make it an amazing piece.

First, the result is kind of mesmerizing. Even though the tune has been shattered beyond recognition into a zillion pieces, the pieces themselves are startlingly recognizable. You know something is in there, even if you can't piece together what. To me, it's the audio equivalent of staring into a fire. There's flickers and shapes and the whole thing is completely abstract, but at the same time, fascinating. Your brain is hard-wired to find patterns, and I think part of the fascination in this piece, is that, between the recognizable instruments, the constant stuttering repetition, and the familiar feeling rhythms, it feels like there is a pattern there, even if there isn't.

Second, there is a pattern. I don't know the source material, so I can't say what the original song sounded like, but there is a definite progression through the source material. We are not jumping hither and yon in a random fashion. The skipping itself is localized, staying in one place to cover, over and over, the same bits of sound, before moving on to the next bit. So, in a sense, we get a feel for what the entire song is like, the opening crescendo, the instruments coming in and out, the verses and choruses, without ever actually hearing it. And the overarching structure of the source material brings internal structure to the otherwise crazy, broken sound coming out of the speakers.

It's a truly great work. It's random without being random, startling without being harsh, and somehow manages to be both organic and digital at the same time. "Mom's" is available on Carl's 1992 New Albion release, Mom's. The rest of the album is great too, but it's far more relaxed and ethereal than this piece.

Oh, also, I had to downsample this to 128k, since it's 11 minutes long. I listened and it still sounds good, but just so's you know.

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