THE SYNTAX CABAL
THE SYNTAX CABAL ===========================4-song sampler -----review by Kevin Filan -------- Montreal bassist/songwriter/engineer Santino Coco created The Syntax Cabal as a "personal playground for discovering and developing new music." This four-song sampler from his 2002 MP3.com CD is more experimental -- and, frankly, more interesting -- than his rock project, Fly Amanita. Coco's dark ambient stylings are always interesting and frequently haunting, and show real musical talent and promise. Like many another bassist/composer, Coco's music tends to develop along rhythmic rather than harmonic lines. Songs like "The Sleeping Itch" are driven by fast drum machine lines, broken at off intervals by dissonant piano spikes, and waves of industrial noise. In "Slice of the Sky" digideroo and acoustic guitar sounds clash at first with a slow bass line, only to join together in a jittery sound sculpture punctuated by jagged piano lines. Taking his cue from the minimalists, Coco holds his songs together via a few simple phrases, repeated to form a background atop which he lays other riffs and counterpoints. "Bubbles from China" combines zither melodies with a tape loop of running water to create an Industrial zen koan that reminded me of vintage Coil. The real standout track on this CD, "Celexa" also has a World Music feel. Named after an antidepressant, it is the most melodic track here. Slow mournful rhythms weave dark and funereal against each other. Behind them a tape loop bubbles softly; as the song continues it grows louder, until finally the melodies themselves are swallowed in a dark, atonal noise which attains to its own transcendent beauty as it too dies. It's an eerie and unsettling moment, possibly the most intelligent and most chilling I've heard yet on a dark ambient CD. Coco is obviously a developing musician (one could hope that ALL musicians are developing musicians, but that's another story.... ). He certainly has an interesting ear and a unique way of putting material together. I'd like to hear more of his work within this milieu: I'd also like to hear him record some more danceable songs. A few moments within "The Sleeping Itch" hinted at danceability, but the groove, alas, never arrived. Still, this is a smart, creative and accessible CD. Composed, performed and recorded by S.Coco1) Slice of the Sky 2) The Sleeping Itch 3) Bubbles from China 4) Celexa
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CHECK OUT COCO'S OTHER BRAINCHILD ----FLY AMANITA
