BLONK / KOICHI / DUTTON / MINTON / MOSS - Five
Men Singing (Victo 092) That's right, you heard
right - just five men singing and what fabulous
group it is! This ridiculously cool delight
features David Moss (once of Golden Palominos &
his own Dense Band), Phil Minton (Four Walls).
Jaap Blonk, Makigami Koichi and Paul Dutton
(CCMC). Each one of these distinguished singers
is a master of bizarre vocal antics and each is
incredible in their own wacky way. David Moss led
another vocal quintet called Direct Sound about
fifteen years with a fine cd on Intakt. He has
also organized the Global/Vocal Village Project
over the past decade, which also features a
variety of distinctive singers, as well as few
choice instrumentalists. 'Five Men Singing' is
their live set from the Victoriaville New Music
Festival from last year and it was certainly one
of the highlights of the 24 challenging sets.
Since all of these fine fellows excel at doing
strange and wonderful things with their voices,
we get to hear a wide variety of vocal sounds
from many traditions - opera, doo-wop, ethnic,
cartoon characters, baby sounds, throat singing,
drones, whispers, screams, snores, grunts, bits
of narration, invented and alien words and too
many hilarious and absurd sounds too difficult to
describe. The only thing missing is the visual
schticks, that those of us who were lucky enough
to be there and witness this, will never forget.
When I play in the store, folks either faint,
puke or break into uncontrollable laughter. How
will you react, only time will tell.
CD for $15