Motor Totemist Guild - All America City (1999)

30 May, 11:44
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Artist: Motor Totemist Guild
Title: All America City
Year Of Release: 1999
Label: Rotary Totem Records #IRO1552
Genre: Progressive Rock, RIO, Avant-Prog, Experimental
Quality: EAC Rip -> FLAC (Tracks+Cue+m3u,Log) / MP3 CBR320
Total Time: 01:13:31
Total Size: 440 / 213 Mb (Full Scans)
WebSite: Album Preview

All America City is presented as the music from the soundtrack of the motion picture Yu Gakusei, a screenplay written by James Grigsby, the man behind Motor Totemist Guild. The story seems to involve Internet communication and beautiful Asian women, both themes also found in the Grigsby novella serving as a canvas for U Totem's album Strange Attractors (U Totem was another Grigsby project). The Motor Totemist Guild line-up is very different than on the previous album, City of Mirrors. Billed as the Guild are Grigsby (computer, samplers, composition), Rod Poole (acoustic guitar), Bridget Convey (piano), Hannes Giger (contrabass), and David Kerman (drums). Old-time Totemist friends Lynn Johnston and Sanjay Kumar are found in the list of "unwitting accomplices."

Between All America City and City of Mirrors the difference is huge, although both sport a double personality. While the latter alternated between Canterbury-esque songs and long avant-garde swing band numbers, All America City is constructed in two parts. The first 21 tracks and the album closer are all short (mostly between one and three minutes) pieces with titles descriptive of the scenes they are used in. This part of the album is mostly made of computer/synthesizer music and blends film music techniques with avant-prog complexity and some pop sensibilities, but the result remains cold (although some pieces like "Exterior Dilapidated Shack" are luminescent). The other side to this album is "Yamatonadeshiko," a 27-minute epic showcasing the musicians listed above as Motor Totemist Guild. This neo-classical composition focuses on acoustic instruments with Grigsby's sonic layers infiltrating the musical matter. Of an aesthetic somewhat new for the composer, this piece elegantly combines classical training and free improvisation into one impressive lump of music. It alone is worth tracking down this CD.

~ François Couture, All Music

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Motor Totemist Guild - All America City (1999)

Track List:

01. The Blue Lantern [0:19]
02. Close Shot of Attache Case [0:52]
03. Stardust Mobile Estates [2:33]
04. Parachute Kids [1:21]
05. Friendly Liquors [1:29]
06. Hostess With Whipped Cream Canister [2:16]
07. Shocks Hardware [2:08]
08. Exterior Dilapidated Shack [2:15]
09. Ron's Barbary Coast [2:01]
10. Strip Mall With Gas Station and Izakaya [2:27]
11. Nader's Furniture [0:51]
12. Ron's Barbary Coast Nude [1:54]
13. Edge of the Cliff [1:35]
14. Hinoki [1:08]
15. Donut King [1:03]
16. Obese Mice [1:59]
17. Town Motel [1:03]
18. D.J.Tiki Torch [2:45]
19. Sandy Vitale dance Studio [3:16]
20. Chapatsu Girls [3:35]
21. Amaterasu [6:02]
22. Yamatonadeshiko [27:21]
23. From Reiko's P.O.V. [3:20]

Personnel:
Bridget Convey - piano
Rod Poole - acoustic guitar
Hannes Giger - contrabass
David Kerman - drums
James Grigsby - computers, samplers, etc
with Lynn Johnston - saxophones
Tom Watson - feedback
Belinda Cheng - air & water
Sanjay Kumar - sardar
Kaori Grigsby - voice
Luigi Futi - sketchbook

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