Review : Ghost I – IV. Open Source Music
Having read my colleagues post on the Trent Reznors open source music project, and being a fan of Nine Inch Nails earlier work,
I zipped right out and fired up ktorrent to download the albums. I say albums as Ghost I – IV is not a single disc, but rather more
like 4 discs with 9 tracks each. The discs are labeled 1 – 4, and the tracks 1 – 36. Even though the tracks are listed contiguosly, I
recommend listening to one disc at a time, as a body of work unto itself. Each disc (album?) has a feel that seperates it from the others.
Ghost 1, has a much more raw feel, than Ghost IV. In this age of voice enhanced, throw away lyric, pop, or highly derivative techno, the Ghost disc
come across more like funk, rock, jazz fusion. The Jazz elements come through in traditional call and response, with underlying bass
lines coming through during breaks, to give a consistent feel to the tracks. The main downside to the set, is the extensive use of drum
tracks, I much prefer the organic sound of live percussion to electronic drums. The entire set could easily be confused with a soundtrack
as Rezner builds and fades each peice as if to build on a visual moment in time. I would not be surprised to see tracks used for effect in
movies or theatre. There are several tracks ( Ghost IV – 28 in particular ) that have a eastern Asian feel to them. And several other tracks
that I can easily see having lyrics added at a later time. ( Ghost II – 17 being one. )
Overall, if you are in a instrumental mood, I recommend the whole set, but Ghost IV is my favorite by far.
On a scale of 1 – 10 Lines of Code, I give it a 7 LOC.
1 Responses »
Thanks for looking out, I’ve had so much going on I would have never known about this.