part two: on arab on radar

It is in Arab On Radar's sound that the real interest lies. Discordant and very trebly, repetitive with no real melody in the vocals, just a high pitched, jerky speaking/yelling style. But yet it is somehow the most impressive sounding thing ever.
There is real benefit to be had from repeated exposure to this music. The entire recorded output for the band is somewhere in the vicinity of two hours, and a dvd was recently released on the three.one.g label.( This label is also responsible for recently re-releasing two albums of Arab's own music as well as music by the Chinese Stars, a later group comprised partly from members of Arab. This band is currently quite active in Providence and elsewhere.) There are four discs of Arab's music in total. The names for these are "The Stolen Singles"(3.1.g.), "Queen Hygiene 2/Rough Day at The Orifice"(3.1.g), "Soak The Saddle"(Skin Graft), and "Yahweh Or The Highway"(Skin Graft).
The above discography is chronological in an historical sense. That is to say that two albums are re-issued and one cd is not even an album in the proper sense of the term, but literally a collection of all the bands individual singles, like 7 inches and whatnot. This disc is of course "The Stolen Singles."
From the outset one is hit by a sense of the unexpected. The music is forceful and thoroughly unique. Hypnotically repetitive and timbrally jarring, the music presents a "rock-n-roll" experience unlike any other, sounding more like the accompaniment to a nervous breakdown than traditional rock music. Each guitar locks in with the other, each playing specific repetitive patterns that counterpoint the other. These figurations bear little resemblance to the root-fifth-octave power chords that so completely dominate most rock styles. Instead we are confronted with
angular, repetitive lines of a highly fractured rhythmic quality. At times these lines take on a quite hypnotic aspect. This last especially calls to mind the last track on Soak The Saddle, with its broadly concieved, quasi-glissando that climbs and falls gradually, breathing like a giant bellows. This broad, arcing line is offset by a higher pitched faster line that repetitively snakes back on itself. The oblique and subtle rhythmic interplay between these two parts develops a specific rhythmic matrix that is fulfilled by the drum part, which accents the two lines in such a way that at first appears to be contrary to all logic but after repeated exposure reveals itself to be the perfect logical extension of the guitaristic proceedings. The subtle intricacies of rhythmic interplay between the two guitars is highly intriguing. Very clear repititions contain subtle shifts that seem to demarcate sectional changes, endings and the like.

This band existed in a state of artistic innovation. This music is not for those with narrowly defined sensibilities, as a broad concept of the POSSIBILITY of music and an ability to let go of preconceived notions, no matter how thoroughly grounded they may be in perceived academic erudition and acceptability is absolutely necessary. To maintain such an attitude in the face of ones learning requires the necessity of acknowledging the facts of history, and these facts dictate that in almost all cases theory has followed, not lead, practice. Today's movement begets tomorrows reflection.

Go to Arab on Radar's myspace page:

www.myspace.com/arabonradar