专辑简介

by François CoutureCall it an honest title, as this album presents pieces and cues Lee Ranaldo produced for a film by Dania Saragovia (Jealousy), and three plays by Michele Salimbeni (Demons, Bluebeard), and Gil Kofman (American Magic). Sonic Youth's guitarist worked on all these projects at around the same time, using as source material improvised studio sessions between him, guitarist Alan Licht, turntable legend Christian Marclay, experimental percussionist Günter Müller, and drummer William Hooker. Ranaldo edited, looped and recomposed these improvisations, often using the same bits more than once -- the track titled "The Fire" is identified as appearing in three of the four projects. As a result, Music for Stage and Screen displays much more homogeneity than one would normally expect from such an album. Sadly, several of the 19 pieces featured here are simply too short to be relevant. They were created as incidental music and, once put together, they still sound like incidental music. The group seems to work very well as an improvising unit, but the short edits get in the way of the listening pleasure. There are some fine moments, like the soft serenity of "Dance of the Coats," the surprise appearance of a string section in "Secret Meeting," and the intensity of "Sciatov Assassins." Fans of Ranaldo who enjoyed "Text of Light," his live project of improvised soundtracks for Stan Brakhage films, will find themselves on relatively secure territory. Let us hope that Ranaldo eventually releases larger, unprocessed chunks of these sessions. It would probably be much more interesting than the bits and pieces collected here.