STYLE: Dance/Electronic RATING OUR PRODUCT CODE: 28577-26461 LABEL: Probe Plus 32 FORMAT: CD Album ITEMS: 1
Reviewed by James Attlee
The RAIJ concept is examined more fully elsewhere in this issue. Within Christian music their sound probably is revolutionary but as any seasoned hack will tell you, there's nothing new under the sun. The collective persona and the 'anonymous' live appearances (hidden behind sheets, etc) hark back to British avant garde rock performers like This Heat; the found' sounds of foreign conversations to Holger Czukay of German group Can. Even the matching of sung liturgies to different beats is not exactly new (the 9 O'clock Service on Sheffield and Enigma's chart entry spring to mind). Having said all this, RAIJ would doubtless maintain they'd heard of none of the above artists, but that's not the point anyway. It is refreshing to hear a religious piece of work that's genuinely trying to break new ground outside the mainstream stylistic straightjacket. The trouble is I like my avant-garde rock 'hard' -anyone who's ever seen Test Dept. live will know what I mean. For my ears RAIJ are not radical enough - when the inevitable melodies break through they sound too simplistic, twee almost. "Theme de 'L'homme Qui Pas Croyes En Lui-Meme'" is just what it says - music for a non-existent film, drawing on Third Man' and Morricone territory, featuring the slightly annoying 'breathy' female vocal that recurrs elsewhere, "Psalm" is recorded live in Prague. We are told the band's travels in the Eastern Bloc have inspired much of the record. Apparently Vaclar Havel likes Lon Reed and The Rolling Stones. So it goes.
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Posted by Richard in London @ 21:02 on Mar 13 2009
Thanks for the review its good to see some blogs on this
group> Howevevr you could not have ever seen this band live.
There gigs were memorable visual and musical
experinces.Powerful creative and challenging events that
stay in my memory . i have never seen anything like it since
Thanks for the review its good to see some blogs on this group> Howevevr you could not have ever seen this band live. There gigs were memorable visual and musical experinces.Powerful creative and challenging events that stay in my memory . i have never seen anything like it since