Pilesar - It's A Surprise (Open Your Eyes)!

Hear The Track Here

It isn't very often that a musician will freely admit that 'I just slung this together', and the musician who said it would have to be Pilesar; it's a logical sequence, ya see? Despite the groaning from certain quarters about rabid musicians making noise for noise sake, Pilesar isn't just another noisemaker. Ever since he first stunned me with the incredibly opaque Acka Fracka (October 2004) in his group Mandible personna, Pilesar has become one of the most reviewed - and unquestionably my own favourite - experimental artist. The great thing about Pilesar is that underneath all the musical lunacy is a sharp musical brain, and it shows in his music - no matter how chaotic it sounds.

Personally I have a real taste for his live stuff (with or without the usual suspects) but I'll pretty much take anything I can get. Which he obviously knows because he's trying to foist something 'he just slung together' on me this month. Actually It's A Surprise took a whole one day to germinate, which when judged by time in the Pilesar universe could stretch on into infinity; depending on how bloody minded he is feeling towards us. On this track, the man enters a time warp wormhole which transports us to 1967 Berkeley just as acid hits the streets and people start doing some really, really, weird things; especially with musical instruments.

Funnily enough, I think this is the commercial side of Pilesar - if the C word can be applied to something that could have been dreamt up by Country Joe and The Fish. And it was 1967. T'ain't though, it's 2007 so how would a more freaked out version of that band fare today? Welp, judging by the amount of airplay Pilesar gets (just under his own name, mind, can't count his many collaborations), perfectly well fank 'ee very much. As he should because a mind this creative (not to mention completely foolhardy) cannot be allowed to reside in obscurity. They say that England is the land of eccentrics but I have to say the US is rapidly gaining ground. In all seriousness, this is the most accessible track I have ever heard from this artist; appealing, off-the-wall, charming and sounds like a great deal of fun was had creating it.

MUST HAVE for fans. Highly Recommended for the scaredy-cats...