Furt

Imagine sitting in a medium-sized room filled with 100 or so tiny sound emitting robots tweaking merrily on E and mushrooms. No, not you, them. Omnivm comes pretty close in style and execution to this rather extreme but apt description. This is electronic music performed live by Richard Barret and Paul Obermeyer, who organise each of the four pieces around specific sound material. This material ranges from gamelan samples to speaking voices to analogue synth tracks to the music of improvisers Evan Parker, Paul Lytton and Barry Guy. While these varying sound sources form recognisable sonic "themes” they in no way restrict the musicians themselves to any sort of trite or predictable path. Is it noise, glitch, electro-acoustic? It is none of the above and all. While remaining fully aware of all these isms, Barret and Obermeyer have created a situation that transcends these limitations by redefining the definitions that often place improv and composition at odds with one another. All this and making some fun, smart music in the bargain.