Multiverse

Recorded in the summer of 1993 in Holland and released a year after PERIL's debut album on the Australian label Dr. Jim's Records, Multiverse pushes the trio's art further into aural assault while retaining a wild funk-rock basis. It's like listening to Pain Killer, Ground Zero, and Robert Musso (the projects he produced on his label MU Works) all at the same time. The music allies the brutality of grindcore, the cut and paste, citationist aesthetic of Otomo Yoshihide in the early '90s, and that danceable Arabic funk pulse that provided the backbone for Electric World and Drem Bruinsma's Six Reels of Joy. Drummer Tony Buck penned most of the 21 short pieces. Fans of Palinckx and Kletka Red will recognize his energetic signature, but those coming to his music from his work in the Necks will find it impossible to relate any of this to the Australian avant-lounge jazz trio. The music on Multiverse progresses in leaps. Short quasi-uncontrolled outbursts that get this close to noise-based free improv segue in suite form, but occasionally you land on a five-minute piece that straightens things out with a rock beat and a song structure that is easier to perceive. Such examples include "Illegal Alien," "Hit and Run," and "New Peril." Yoshihide spins classical music cues, Japanese voices, '80s drum machine loops, and inconceivable noise out of his turntables, exciting like most of his music from that period. Guitarist Sheridan and bassist Thierry Fosmale add a heavier touch. Fans of Ground Zero and Mr. Bungle (especially the latter group's Disco Volante) should definitely lend an ear. ~ François Couture, Rovi