Paranoise - Private Power

Year of Release: 1999
Label: Ancient Records
Catalog Number: n/a
Format: CD
Total Time: 59:33:00

Judging by the liner notes on this album, Connecticut band Paranoise have a mission, which is to help preserve and advance elements of third-world culture. To quote band leader Jim Matus, "The music on this record in some abstract way represents in my mind a model for interaction with third-world indigenous people."

So, is this rock? Maybe. Is it progressive? Oh, yeah. Is it original? Most definitely! You've likely not heard anything quite like Paranoise, who produce a hypnotic form of world music that features driving rhythms and samples of third-world sounds combined with rock instrumentation including drums, guitar, and bass. They also color the compositions with violin, dulcimer, digeridoo, and laouto.

This music pulses, winds, pounds, blasts, massages its way into your brain like no other music you've likely encountered. African and Indian themes slither their way through most of the pieces on this album, with bursts of distorted guitar, layers of mesmerizing loops, eerie vocalizations, and an overall exotic feel that, if you close your eyes for a moment, is guaranteed to deliver you to places in the world--and in the universe--you've never been before. Maybe even places that don't exist, except in the mysterious realm of the imagination. This is brilliant stuff.

Tracklisting:
Evil Vs. Evil (3:14) / Instability, Containment, Rollback (4:58) / Tetrahedral Metaphor (6:40) / Mechanical World (4:56) / International Monetary Fun (4:57) / Constant Fear (4:44) / Structural Adjustment (8:40) / Private Power (6:08) / Tarana (4:49) / Not There (5:07) / Centerless Grinding (2:40) / Monuments (5:20)

Musicians:
Jim Matus - electric and acoustic guitars, dulcimer, Laouto, harmonium, sampling, backing vocals
Thorne Palmer - lead vocals, acoustic guitar, lyrics
Geoffrey Brown - drums, percussion
Bob Laramie - five-string bass
Rohan Gregory - violin

Discography:
Constant Fear (1988)
Start A New Race (1993)
Private Power (1999)
Ishq (2001)
Mawwal (Acoustic Paranoise) - Live At Artspace (2002)

Genre: Other

Origin US

Added: August 2nd 2001
Reviewer: Clayton Walnum

Artist website: www.paranoise.com
Hits: 1974
Language: english