MOG - Visible Fractures

Hear The Track Here

Remember that conversation we were having a llittle while ago about artists changing their mind about the track up for review at the last minute? Guess who the culprit is this month? ;) In the UK cats are, for some obscure reason, often referred to as 'moggys' and I'm a-wondering if we are dealing with the same pussy here... No, wait. On second thoughts, lets not go there at all. So, MOG puts up a track and then changes his mind so I am duty bound - being a right curious George - couldn't resist listening to the dumped track (The Signs Are Everywhere) and hey it isn't bad but a tad on the monotonous side after a while. Always a problem with sample snippets I find and it doesn't help that its a 10 minute monster into the bargain Nonethless, it's a decent enough stab at it and is definitely worth a listen while you make up your own mind.

You do know how to make up your mind, don't you? You just put your lips together and blow...

Even on a first listen I can well understand MOG changing these tracks around. I don't know but maybe he is aware of my short fuse on many issues (such as overlong tracks for example) but even so, Visible Fractures is far and away the better track in so many ways. My first attraction came about because I am fascinated by time. Not the tick tock variety, naaah too mundane by half, but the musical sense of time. Visible Fractures is not your normal 4/4 outing (known to most musicians as the Missionary Position for some unknown reason) but a peice in 7/8 time so it should - by definiton - sound strange to your old lugholes. Especially if you were expecting a floorfillah. Surprisingly enough, even though you are aware of the oddity of the style, it does draw you into its very complex little heart.

Originally a guitar peice, MOG obviously expanded that idea a bit with this full on track containing (and I quote) 'a bass speaker cone being tapped, beer can, Stumpf Fiddle and the heavily twisted vocal sample is from "Keep on the Sunny Side" By Byron G. Harlan from 1906' and believe me when I say this, it all sounds much better than it reads. Take the bass speaker cone thing, for example, in actuality it becomes a rhythm instrument par excellence. That takes a nerdish mind folks, and one I appreciate even though - to my ears - it isn't always right on time. Mind you when faced with the choice this track gives you of sounds, rhythms, times and all, almost everything else pales into the background. Personally I found Visible Fractures an extremely listenable almost-dance track that shows MOG is an artist worth keeping an eye on.

Excellent experimental approach. Recommended.