***"California sound artists Ilya Monosov and Preston Swirnoff return with two more sonic labyrinths stretched over disparate terrain. As on their previous albums, Monosov and Swirnoff cast boundaries to the wind. Disillusioned and wise to the ways of the world, the duo not only succeeds in propping up the shambolic planet they created on Recorded Works Vol. 1 & Vol. 2, but also in soaring toward the furthest reaches of distant suns. Blurring the line between composition and improvisation, these new installments are rare, unearthed gems. Volume 3 begins with dancing shadows and acoustic myopia. Monosov's minimal vocals lead Swirnoff's piano ramblings deeper into the cerebral maze, inadvertently finding the best route out. Setting off the shaky delicacy of the opener and Side A closer, "Repeat Again" (with enchanting vocals from Naomi) are the raucous, industrial rhythms of "Snake Lust" and "Fly Away." The Indian-inspired drones of "With Charles Curtis" top the whole thing off with cinematic splendor. Monosov and Swirnoff manage to seamlessly mesh these ideas into a cohesive whole."—Brad Rose. Edition of 500 copies.
LP $13.75
12/04/2006
***"Two Recorded Works opens in equally brooding, cinematic fashion with SWIRNOFF’s 'air organ' slow gasping its weighted way through magenta dust-clouds of bowed guitar. Later, sea-shanty bellows underscore the spectral traces of whistles and ghosted vocals and whistles to particularly melancholic effect. But the final side, credited to MONOSOV and Swirnoff's rock unit THE SHINING PATH, is a whole other kettle of herring. It rockets upwards into the fuzzed out expansive zones of the Rallizes sound, but is tethered to an on-edge, speedfreak shake of a Suicide rhythm, just too fast for comfort. Bliss handily circumvented, higher mind tied to delirium tremens. I think they're trying to tell us something"—Alan Cummings. Edition of 500 copies.
LP $12.00
04/26/2005