Three Legged Race - Mourning Order

Mountaain
Released: 2006

It's a slow slider, this one-track CDr release from Three Legged Race (aka Robert Beatty of Hair Police, Eyes and Arms of Smoke, and Nicholasville, KY). Beatty ably saunters down the line between effective transmission and numbing repetition, letting each semi-melodic synth line or shipment-bruised sample state its own case before being left behind. From a basement spook opening, it's off to the food processor buzzing in harmony with the in-sink-er-ator in the kitchen, then up through busted ceiling tiles to rat-chewed wires sparkin' in the insulation. Ever upwards: "Honey, aren't you glad we added on this second floor balcony, and the basso profundo wind chime from Keith's Hardware?" I am. But a balcony isn't the only thing to see up there. There's a kid in his bedroom bonding with some pre-disco Tangerine Dream, and in the next room Uncle Peach, whose HAM radio needs a new speaker. Robert Beatty says: "I'm trying to get more 'musical,' slowly but surely." He should say "slowly and surely."

- Aaron Rosenblum