Solid Eye, “Live at WFMU, September 13, 1998”

In certain non-essential (but appropriate for the purpose of this discussion) ways, performing free improvisational music is like making a mixtape. By that, I mean that once in a while, you have a case where you follow the the tape's directives perfectly, each moment progressing naturally from the prior one. Yet, at the end of the side, the whole thing just feels…flat.

The classic “I painted myself into a corner” trick.

Sticky shoes and unseemly footprints on the floor are the visual cues for this live recording created for WFMU back in ’98. In terms of coherence, each and every moment progresses naturally from the prior one - nobody's reaching blindly. From the winning ‘50s-sounding “mad scientist electronics” that mark the entrance to the gag-reflex-triggering voice loops that sweep up by the exit, it all follows.

It’s just that somewhere in the middle, the fellas follow each other into one too many quiet, contemplative, textural excursion after another. By minute 12, as they wends their way through thick underbrush made of drifting, lightly processed guitar, you begin to wonder if our guide has led us on wild goose chase, bwana.

I compare this not to the noisier sides on this set, but to other Solid Eye that I’ve heard. My favorite is the Fruits of Automation CD on WIN Records. I know that those were “composed” songs (or at least “edited improvisations”) so it’s probably a little unfair to pit these two against each other. Still, it’s instructive to see just how focused and manic Solid Eye can be when they actually wear the lab coats authoritatively, unafraid to tell the Gorts and the Garcos when to talk and when to shut the fuck up.