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Dusted Reviews
Artist: Fabulous Diamonds Album: Fabulous Diamonds II Label: Siltbreeze Review date: Jul. 14, 2010 |
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Hypnotic monotony!
It’s been done before, by Can and This Heat and Faust and Swans. It has left behind some awesome artifacts, some distinct statements of purpose, and Fabulous Diamonds II fits easily into that canon. How much does something change – how powerful is it – when it repeats itself over and over again?
If you’re considering piano lessons, keep this in mind: Here’s the dark side of learning anything about music: You lose your appreciation for people who bang out the same chord over and over again, for 12 minutes, to say nothing of the people who drone mantras on top of it, for 12 minutes. Come to find out, it’s way too easy. And the world deserves more than the same thing over and over again, right? That loss of appreciation, that’s a loss. Because the effect of hearing the same chord over and over, and hearing someone drone over it, can be therapeutic. Much more therapeutic than someone trying to be creative.
The Fabulous Diamonds formula is, basically: Find one chord and plug into it. Chant over it, the same thing, again and again. Before we get started, let’s pump up the drums and organ all the way, so we don’t have to adjust them at all while we’re taping. We will not vary the pace. And we keep going ‘til we’re done, whether it’s three minutes or 12 minutes.
Some critics will describe Fabulous Diamonds as subject to “Eastern” influences. But that’s bullshit - it’s all about their embrace of monotony, which is a pan-cultural thing. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I’ve listened to this record five times today, and am completely hypnotized by it – please don’t listen to a word I say.
By Emerson Dameron
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7 Songs