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Avant-garde and minimalism are a straight line, where at some point, everything tends to become convoluted.
A bit like a clear sky outlined by clouds, cloudlets, and the flights of flocks. The wind. It is precisely the wind that assaults our faces and ears when everything becomes more intricate. It is strange to define the motivation to make music as taken for granted. Lydia Lunch said she would rather drink razor blades than water, comparing the latter to the feeling one has when listening to light little songs.
Minimalism contrasts with the pursuit of a standard that includes intro, verse, bridge, and finale. The preference is to work the same theme, slowly enriching it with exceptional insights.
Terry Riley is the guru and prophet of everything that was conceived from the late Sixties reaching up to Stereolab or Air. The title track is the manifesto of the genre. Games, jokes, celestial, and dark moments freely communicate within these eighteen minutes. It is not virtuosity for its own sake. Nor is it the raga-like darkness of La Monte Young and Zazeela.
Like lying on a meadow and staring at the sky.
What Popol will bring, especially in "Vuh," is echoed by "Poppy Nogood." A mystical, static ascent, where one can extract an infinite array of colors, scents, and unimaginable waterfalls.
The same Eden of Kubla Khan. Welcome to Xanadu.
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Other reviews
By NicholasRodneyDrake
Terry Riley can be considered one of the most innovative and revolutionary composers of the post-war period.
A modular, circular, and hypnotic ride, where the progress of the synth recalls episodes from Floyd's 'The Dark Side of The Moon.'
By paolofreddie
The title track is extraordinarily complex: innumerable instruments are played by Riley alone, such as the electric organ, a particular electric harpsichord, and the Dumbec.
Terry Riley is part of the history mostly erased from memory, he has become a cult figure.
