dRed – Found Sounds Volume One / 2005 Whose Mother / 10 Tracks / http://dred.smother.net / [email protected] / Reviewed 20 December 2005

The opening track to “Found Sounds Volume One” starts out with an interesting clip from President Bush but rapidly moves into repetition as dRed finds eirself in a rut by the first minute. The only thing that saves this track from the rubbish heap is the Bush quote, which may just be the first time that our fearless leader can be honestly said to work for the common good of the American public. The same ethereal sound is created for “Chew On The Sciatic..”, but the use of a didgeridoo in the track adds some much needed variation to dRed’s music.

However, where there was not enough in the way of new material present on “The Evil Empire”, the much-extended runtime of “Chew On The Sciatic Nerve” creates the same sort of problem, clocking in a hair under eight minutes. In much of the same way as the previous two tracks, “Factory Leg” starts off in an interesting way, with a number of electronic noises painting a futurist picture. This picture, perhaps at a sterile location (the track says Factory but I would have to say Hospital), has a much shorter track length than “Chew” and more things to be repeated over and over. The inclusion of more material is what the disc and dRed had been needing throughout “Found Sounds”, and this track is perhaps the first step in a positive direction.

Now, if there was a track that combined a shorter runtime with this same “lush” arrangement, dRed would be in business. When there is a shorter track like “The Hiroshima Choir”, dRed continually creates an environment that is repetitive from the get-go. It is almost as if dRed was a car on a cold morning, trying valiantly to start but without oil in the engine. There are some interesting arrangements on “Found Sounds”, but they are largely lost with the inclusion of a tremendous amount of filler. Perhaps if dRed cuts the lengths of eir songs by two or three minutes a piece, the results would be much more effective and impressive than what is currently committed to disc. Innovation is here, but expansion on this innovation is curiously absent; the one kernel of a good idea that can be found in many of the tracks here has not germinated into a full plant. Wait a few years and dRed’s music may be up to the level that ey honestly should be at.

Top Tracks: Survival of the Obedient, The Evil Empire Marches Onward

Rating: 3.5/10

[JMcQ]