Verstarker

Editorial Reviews
Dent Verstarker

The only thing I can find to complain about with this CD is that I have no idea who the players on it are. Maybe I got some sort of special press copy or something, but I have a sneaking suspicion that the names listed on the inside single-page jacket are pseudonyms - they've got to be, because the musicians on this disc are far too good to be complete "unknowns." All the arrangements on this are fucking tight musically, from the wonderfully minimalist mandolin paired with an amazing female vocalist on Following the Armadillo to the bass tracks on all of the songs - yes, the bass rocks, that's about all I can really say about it without just gushing like an idiot thirteen-year-old. The songs themselves are extremely diverse, from an almost-Yoko Onoesqe track called Tsuki E (but don't let the Ono comparison scare you away here) to a version of rock god Victor Krummenacher's The Expanse that sounds like something off of one of the old Shockabilly records. The whole thing's just this really weird combination of acoustic music and electronic manipulation that's really hard to describe, but trust me here: it friggin' works.

About the Artist
Dent has been assembling freeform sound collages since 1992. They are the result of informal collaborations by Jonathan Segel and Victor Krummenacher with Dave and Anne Costanza and whoever else might be around. Recording usually takes place in New Mexico, with editing and additional recording in small home studios in California. Influences include Can, The Basement Tapes, ethnic and folk musics as well as elctronica and turntablism. The most ecelectic hodgepodge of styles you can imagine with a... read more

Album Description
A free form psychedelic collection of music assembled by Magnetic owner and former Camper Van Beethoven viloinist Jonathan Segel. Features appearances by the alter egos of Victor Krummencaher, Alison Faith Levy and the Lords of Howling Dave and Anne Costanza.

Verstarker

Verstarker
Average customer rating: Not rated
    		Verstarker
    Blumfeld
    Manufacturer: Big Cat
    ProductGroup: Music
    Binding: Audio CD

    GeneralGeneral | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music
    Indie RockIndie Rock | Indie & Lo-Fi | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music
    GermanyGermany | Continental Europe | Europe | International | Styles | Music
    GeneralGeneral | Rock | Styles | Music
    Pop RockPop Rock | CD Singles | Pop | Styles | Music
    ASIN: B000008Q6Z
    Release Date: 1996-02-09

    Tracks:

    1. Verster
    2. Anderes Ich
    3. Der Angriff Der Gegenwart Aug Meine rige Zeit
    4. Langsam
    Verstarker
    Average customer rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    • CVB members + pals + DIY mishmash+ ADD
    		 Verstarker
    Dent
    ProductGroup: Music
    Binding: Audio CD

    GeneralGeneral | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music
    GeneralGeneral | Rock | Styles | Music
    Experimental MusicExperimental Music | Miscellaneous | Styles | Music
    GeneralGeneral | Alternative Rock | Indie Music | Stores | Music
    GeneralGeneral | Rock | Indie Music | Stores | Music
    ASIN: B00000GWW9
    Release Date: 1998-05-01

    Tracks:

    1. There Must Be More To Life Than This
    2. Darkness Swallowed
    3. Nothing To Believe In
    4. Together Again For The First Time At Last
    5. Foreign Coffee Memory
    6. Jaded Eyes
    7. Flight of the Flight
    8. The Expanse
    9. Following the Armadillo
    10. Cause the Rain
    11. Tsuki E
    12. There Isn't Any Other Song
    13. Bangalong
    14. Chopsticks
    15. Emily
    16. Questa Sunset
    17. Why We Don't Live on the Mauretania

    Album Description

    A free form psychedelic collection of music assembled by Magnetic owner and former Camper Van Beethoven viloinist Jonathan Segel. Features appearances by the alter egos of Victor Krummencaher, Alison Faith Levy and the Lords of Howling Dave and Anne Costanza.

    Customer Reviews:

    3 out of 5 stars CVB members + pals + DIY mishmash+ ADD.......2007-02-14

    This is the second CD issued by Dent, a Bay Area project of members of Camper Van Beethoven (Jonathan Segal & Victor Krummenacher, at least) along with it seems Scott Miller and Alison Faith Levy from the Loud Family and a few others whose psuedonyms I cannot match to real-life musicians! It's supposed to be better than their first such record; judging by the decidedly mixed results I would not rush out to buy the debut. As many of these studio-experiment efforts go, it's par for the course.

    The best tracks reflect what I have on Amazon earlier remarked upon in my reviews of Alison Faith Levy's solo work: she's sounds most promising when matched with either folkier, classically tinged, or DIY rock. The tracks from 6-9 align her and her mates most closely to the lower-key, sketchier, yet expansive, rather forlorn, indie pop work of CVB or the LF, for example. These songs are matched by tracks 15-16, that again return to similar hues.

    However, songs 2-5 in the first section of the CD, and some in the latter third notably "Bangalong" and the I suppose ironically named "Chopsticks," turn truly tedious. They sound like what a teenager and a digital audio recorder can do on a laptop. There's an attempt at merging Eastern European with Western rock sensibilities as filtered through Bjork, but "Tsuki E" proves only a dissonant mess. Too bad, since on other records Segal's violin ability has shown itself to better effect. Mashing up hip-hop and found sounds and dissonance and overeducated but undernourished attempts at clever beats has been done much better elsewhere for any listener preferring that sort of semi-musical accompaniment. Sorry, I don't. Dent would be better off refining their DIY skills in the quieter, more emotional, and potentially more memorable-- if less raucous-- tunes that I have mentioned already.

    A song title about Mauretania echoes closely one on the Loud Family's CD Days for Days, but the snippets here are not a cover, but a sort of devolved lounge-lizard short piece. This album skips all over the place, and while intellectually I understand the intent of this musical ADD, it's too inconsistent as a result to add up to a sum greater than its parts. These parts vary in quality. Six strong songs total. These, tracks 6-10 and 15-16, do salvage the album, which at least is generously loaded with songs, but the rest of this CD I found negligible. The opening track is a toss-up, repetitive but evidence for the band's search for a signature mood. The madly monikered players have talent, but the composers or sound compilers need more discipline in choosing what to place on the CD. Not every blip and glitch should have been kept. We don't need another indie collective aping Zappa let alone Primus.

    A blurb on Amazon touts "Follow the Armadillo." I agree. ALF's vocals on this twisted country-ish tune again fit well into the CBV aesthetic. As shown well on this song as well as the pairing of "Emily" and "Questa Sunset," more reflective, introspective, desolate tunes reveal that this is a path that lures Dent closest to its true potential-- at least for this listener to this eclectic, enigmatic, if intermittently engaging record.

    Music:

    1. Very Best of [Limited Edition]
    2. Vespertine Dazed & Confused Box Set [Box set] [Import]
    3. Wake Up and Smell the Coffee [Import]
    4. When The World Is Wonderful
    5. Writing to Reach You
    6. WXJL Presents Music for the Masses
    7. XTC Live [Live]
    8. You Wanted More / Sugar (AUS) [CD-single] [Import]
    9. 6-Track EP [EP] [Import]
    10. A 24 Syllable Haiku

    Music

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