Cerberus Shoal / Guapo - Ducks And Drakes Of

  by Andrew Carver

published: 2 / 9 / 2003

Label: North East Indie
Format: CD

intro

Mildly disappointing third offering in the series in which they collobrate with other like-minded artists finds American psychedelia band Cerberus Shoal working with Britain's Guapo

For the third instalment in their series in which they collaborate with other rural-psychedelic artists , Cerberus Shoal linked with Britain’s Guapo. Like the two previous EPs in the series with Herman Duene and Alvarius B, the CD is nicely packaged in a flexible plastic sleeve with a colourful drawing of what appears to be weasel-rats and aliens at an exhibition of  modern art. It’s appropriate, as this is the most experimental of the three disks. Guapo kicks things off with the droning 'Idios Kosmos'. The sound comes firstly from the tightening and loosening of strings, which you can hear creak and ping as the tuners are adjusted, and secondly from the shimmer of cymbals, which build to a reverberating crescendo,and then dissolve into vocal and choral drones, then build and build again, over the course of 17 minutes and 20 seconds (the CD’s other two tracks are of similar length). It is a nicely conceived and executed work of minimalism, not dissimilar to something John Cale or Rhys Chatham might produce. The second number, "A Man Who Loved Holes' by Cerberus Shoal , is more of a hodge podge — apparently it was made from sixteen separate one-minute works. A voiceover, run through an unappealing growly electronic processor, juxtaposed and echoed by a chipper holiday singalong, recounts a dreary tale over buzzing, clicking musical backdrop. This is odd and okay. On the final track, the two bands unite as Guaperos Shoalo on 'Kdios Liosmos, He Two Loved Holes.' It sounds much like a musical conflation of the two tracks; Guapo’s drone dominates over distant flutes, bells, accordion, clicks and clunks. While it does have its moments, this is the disk in the series I’m least likely to listen to again.

Track Listing:-