REVIEW: Various Artists, At Home With the Groovebox
(Grand Royal and Tannis Root)
- Christina Apeles
What a grand display of electronic ingenuity with the use of a Groovebox from artists like John McEntire of Tortoise, Money Mark, Sonic Youth and Beck. Tannis Root's motivation behind the project was to take a programmable synthesizer with a library of classic and fresh synthesized sounds, or what is referred to as "a band in a box," pass it on to a wide range of artists, and see what happens. The result, in two words, is "absolute fun."
A small number of the fourteen artists featured could resist creating the ultimate dance track with their try at the Groovebox. Early pioneers of synthesizer music, Jean Jaques Perry and Gershon Kingsley, whose song "Baroque Hoedown" inspired the Disneyland Main Street Light Parade music, shine in their tunes. Perry throws a little bit from the legendary song, a mix of bells, vocal samplings and traditional Scottish melodies into "Groovy Leprechauns," while Kingsley, dolls up a moog number in true festive fashion with "Popcorn." Air, who are far from foreigners to such technology, created a masterpiece of a ballad with "Planet Vega," an exploration of instrumentals, using tempo variations, moving inflections and dreamlike beats. And Bis gets down and dirty in "Oh My," letting it all hang out with heavy pulsations, sampling and progressive synth playing, for a beat happy dance track.
One would expect the clever and funky numbers offered by Money Mark, Cibo Matto and Beck on this release, but the most entertaining aspect of this collection was seeing how acts like Pavement, Buffalo Daughter and Bonnie "Prince" Billy a.k.a. Will Oldham (Palace Brothers) tackled an instrument with such a dance fever surrounding it. Pavement is almost unrecognizable in "Robyn Turns 26," sounding closer to hip-hop than indie pop, and Buffalo Daughter finds familiar ground, with high hats, hypnotic cycles of sound, even that annoying-on-all-but-this-occasion hand clapping sample worked into "303 + 606 = ACID," an obvious homage to underground music. And could anyone fathom Bonnie "Prince" Billy doing a danceable tune? Of course not, he was among the few that did overcome the urge to boogie, presenting his somber penchant atop spare music, probably the most unlikely pairing of true indie vocals with charismatic tempos. How he turned the Groovebox into a low-key instrument in "Today I Started Celebrating Again," just proves his range, or better yet, taste in music.
Veteran pianist extraordinaire Dick Hyman closes the disc with "Glass Slipper," a dramatic orchestration of sounds appropriate for a cathedral setting or a ballet. Listening to him will amaze you, as with all the artists on At Home With the Groovebox, making you think twice about what can be done with a compact box.
