Staff Reviews

White Out - Senso

Review by Rory Gibb

It’s difficult to know how to rate Senso, and it feels a shame to reduce it to a mere number. There’s much to be found lurking in its dreamlike middle states.»

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white out are indeed 'white' and, in transcendence of such inherent nothingness, most definitely 'out'. they are also man and woman and, in this case, man and wife. lin culbertson and tom surgal met in the still wild mania of 1986 new york city in front of cbgb during a big black show (steve albini's notorious chicago trio of miscreant salutation). they were introduced by ex-sonic youth drummer richard edson and, after discovering mutual fascinations with the avant-garde marginalia of no wave, free jazz, noise rock etc., began to play music in a secret location on the upper east side of manhattan. surgal had been playing drums his entire life informed by the majestic energy of elvin jones, as well as the primal insolence of bradley field (of teenage jesus & the jerks 'fame'). linn had come out of modern 20th xx composition studies in madison, wisconsin. by the mid-90s white out had become one of the more interesting and increasingly stunning lights on a downtown scene that had grown a keen and critical eye on contemporary moves in improvised music. (early on in this scheme, thurston moore had introduced tom to no wave guitar legend rudolph grey and the two men re-established mr. grey's incendiary blue humans project, incorporating thurston on intermittent second guitar, alongside a young alan licht.) ecstatic peace released the first white out cd red shift in 1995, and in 2001 released drunken little mass, an amazing recording with acclaimed multi-instrumentalist and music theoretician (and, at the time, sonic youth member/secret weapon) jim o%u2019rourke. the uk based atp (all tomorrows parties) label released the china is near cd in 2005, also with o'rourke and employing the wizardry of william winant, an acclaimed percussionist who has worked with john cage, iannis xenakis, and cecil taylor as well as being involved in an infamous trio with surgal and moore, which rears its head when the demons beckon. senso is a live recording from two shows at the heralded and, sadly shut, tonic club in nyc december 18, 2004. it was a lovely evening when o'rourke and moore, both of whom had played with white out, but never together, would set the controls for the heart of the universe. each set was its own distinct drama and captured the four players in a unified mind meld bringing the audience with them on a spirit-high journey
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