Theta Naught & Alex Caldiero
Sound Weave
Differential Records 

When I first listened to this, I listened to it out of order and it in turn started me out on a bad foot. There are two seperate discs on this release and I had listened to the bonus disc. I thought I knew what I was expecting to hear, but I failed to hear it. It was purely instrumental pianos, drums, synths, strings, et cetera. Then I finally get around to the main disc; the one with Theta Naught and Alex Caldiero. Immediately after listening, the phrase “avante-garde” came to my mind. It’s not in the same vein of John Cage 4’33″, but it’s definitely crossing certain pre-ordained musical boundaries. I listen to some spoken word/poetry, but nothing like this.

As mentioned before, we have an attractive musical landscape of looping discordance and on top is the voice of the poet speaking his words which fit the music like a glove. If you’ve heard Jim Morrison’s speaking part in the long Doors song “The End” which was famous for the indecipherable scream of a certain four letter word (bear in mind that it was only the late 1960′s, hence the fame), then you will have some idea of what every single song from Theta Naught and Mr. Caldiero are like. The natural darkness of each of these tracks is almost overwhelming, both lyrically and musically; “Don’t know if this is hell or if I’m coming into the kingdom/don’t know what train keeps leaving me behind at the station/don’t know how many days I’ve been standing in a different light…/don’t know what kind of ending the end requires.” I have no intention of tackling the poetry, though I am studying English literature it would be unfair as it would require multiple pages of review. As you can see from the brief excerpt it is dark, and it is thoughtful and very abstract.

If you’re one of those pretentious art students who is unsatisfied with the new Tool record, then I suggest this to you. I really don’t know when you would listen to this other than maybe late at night driving on a dark expressway. Or I suppose you could take it to your English teacher or professor and try to persuade them to believe that you really are interested. Though it’s not exactly my cup of tea, I would recommend it because it is so unique and it stands entirely alone among a collection of floundering artists.

MP3
Calneva Drive

Websites
http://www.thetanaught.org/
http://www.myspace.com/thetanaught