3CD - XI Records
David First’s debut album with XI Records sees the experienced guitarist and composer working alongside such luminaries as “Blue" Gene Tyranny, Peter Zummo, Chris McIntyre and The Black Jackets Ensemble. The work features drones, dilated harmonies and diverse psychoacoustic manifestations. This label, curated by Phill Niblock, has been active in contemporary sound research since 1998, and as well as releasing the work of its head honcho, it has also produced several essential records, including work by Gen Ken Montgomery, Matt Rogalsky and David Watson. The quality expressed in the three CDs that make up these "Privacy Issues" is clear - easily distinguishable in the rarefied linguistic twists and tonal expressions, connected with a mastery and knowledge of codes, though perhaps sometimes compressed in the canons of a restrained and "traditional" avant-garde culture. Particularly exciting and entrancing is the single track that makes up the entire third CD - “Pipeline Witness Apologies to Dennis" - which is spherical in its overtones, airy and almost orchestral; a pure reflection of complex and alluring acoustic-digital harmonies.
Aurelio Cianciotta