Album Review: Alexey G's "Model For Assembling"

Hey all. I'll be from time to time posting record reviews here of things I'm working on for the website I write for. While a lot of what I have to review is shit, some of it is quite good and you should check it out if you have the chance. Enjoy!

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Alexey G

“Model for Assembling” – LP

Reviewer: Reed Burnam

Four Stars (out of Five)

Where to start with Alexey G’s “Model for Assembling”? The adjectives aren’t short in coming. Initial impressions: kinetic, free, cloistered, smart, airy, brooding, jazzy, schizophrenic, talkative, slick, heady, rounded, ambling, spastic, proggy, meditative, evocative. If that random list of buzz words isn’t any indication of what you’re getting into with this record, well…

“Model for Assembling” is like a soundtrack to a silent film that doesn’t exist, a slow-pan over a cityscape in constant flux, a window into the nexus of a neutron bomb that plays out fast and furious like a Looney Tunes chase sequence, all emanating from the sleeping mind of a hyperactive child blissed out on too much sugar and playtime. On repeat listens, new nooks and crannies reveal themselves like vast, foreboding, and unmapped frontier regions on some alien world; the music busies itself blazing trails into new territory after new territory.

After that introduction, one might be wondering what exactly is going on here. Seemingly, the devil is in the details, and this album has them in spades. Alexey G (one Alexey Gorokholinsky) has put something together that rewards the attentive ear. A classically-trained clarinetist and pianist since his youth in Russia, Alexey G has attained quite a pedigree for his years (Mr. G is quite accomplished at the ripe young age of 25). “Model for Assembling” was his first solo effort while still at The Juliard School in NYC, and is an attempt (in his own words) to “produce accessible/creative electronic music with [the] edition of classical elements…aiming to combine two worlds where listeners of both cultures could get to know each other in context.”

According to his bio, the record explores (in this order) themes of: Prog Rock/Breakbeat, Ambient/Folk/Trance, Acid Drum n Bass/Classical, Slow Psychedelic Techno, Traditional (Berlin School) Electronic/Trance, Electro/Industrial Techno. Six thematic variations, six tracks, six assembled parts of the whole. Throughout it all, Alexey’s amazing clarinet work is the lynchpin, the vocals on an otherwise voiceless outing. And make no mistake, this guy can play his instrument really well. His technique is precise, free-form yet structured, emotional and resonant. It provides the point of recognition stringing the whole structure together.

Mr. Alexey’s aim here seems to be to create a record, or a “model”, of various spare parts assembled one by one and strung together either by happenstance or design (the listener can figure that out?) that are representative of the disparate musical realms that are obviously near and dear to his own tastes. The result is quite sublime at points, though following the blueprint on this model is likely to be bewildering for all but those with the most evolved knowledge of the nuances of both historical electronica and neo-classical styles. But be not afraid, gentle listener: it’s meant to be a bit daunting. One doesn’t learn history by simply showing up to the lecture, you have to visualize yourself into the whole teeming, seething forward progression.

And wow is it ever teeming. Album opener “Flashback” drifts in with heavy, delayed synths and a heartbeat of a bass-line that opens up into Alexey’s first lilting clarinet flurries. Electronic buzz and effects meander into and out of the foreground, as the bass and rhythm lines chug forward with Kraftwerkian propulsion over ground that at times recalls the more techno side of the Eno/Cluster collaborations. Album standout “Jabberwocky” delves deep into the riff zone, with amazing bass/clarinet runs and an overall sound like Danny Elfman and John Zorn co-writing a prog-metal opera. “Memoria” is ambient enough, haunting and embryonic until the dramatic synths creep in around 4:40-ish, finally exploding into a full on free-techno dance party towards the end of the track. “Metropolis” is another standout, emotional and varied and splicing in the dancehall and the Euro-beats at the right time for maximum efficacy, while “Split Second” manages for a minute or two to take drum n bass on tour to the renaissance festival before collapsing into the soundtrack of some b&w 60’s art film…and that’s just before it gets a bit aggressive. “Take Me to the Moon” ends it all in the arms of a highly danceable constellation of beats just before fading out on the notes of a lullaby.

So what’s the final analysis? The album is difficult, but rewarding. Beautiful, amazingly verbose, and well-played to the rafters. This is not spectator music. It makes demands of the listener that more modern music should be attempting, and not only that, but Alexey wants you to know your genres, your history, and your free-radicalized associations. The only question that remains is: has “Model for Assembling” fulfilled its stated purpose? Is this record simply a box full of model parts lacking a master blueprint? Or does the listener come away with an enlightened view of the tectonic power of fusion electro-industrial-classical? As far as this reviewer is concerned, if it keeps coming like this, then bring on the revolution. Great stuff.

Model For Assembling is available at CDBaby, Itunes, and Bandcamp, and numerous other online sources.

http://www.russianclarinet.com