Re: Hartung's 'Fragments'

[Daryl Shawn <highhorse@mhorse.com>]

I've been listening to "Fragments" for weeks now since Krispen sent it 
off free (thanks!) and thought I should do a brief review. It's 
impossible to get away from the space metaphors, like everybody else...I 
think there's no question, this album is out there!

On this particular recording (Krispen's a /wide-ranging/ artist) he 
specializes in interplanetary soundscapes, full of oddly twisted guitars 
that repeat like babbling creatures and all kinds of far-off noises that 
may or may not be powered by solar wind. "Mork og Iser" sounds like 
gyoto monks being encircled by serpents. "Attack of the Mini Tabla" 
somehow finds a sexy rhythm in the confusion, unlikely as that is. That 
plus the shocking bongo solo make it seems like a scrap of Jobim that 
made its way to another galaxy through a rip in the fabric of the 
universe, and somehow managed to jam along with the three-headed 
natives. The last track, "Nebula", is gorgeous, its lush emotion brought 
into even sharper relief by the stark obliquity of the preceding tracks. 
All in all, it's a wonderful and strange ride through a place very few 
have visited, and only those with powerful telescopes and deep 
imagination have even glimpsed.

thanks again Krispen.

Daryl Shawn
www.swanwelder.com