Album Review: Koji Kondo/Eat Avery's Bones: D and N

As I made it clear with a previous review of the Koji Kondo/Eat Avery's Bones split, I love the 7-inch format. I mean who doesn't, even if it's just a novelty to you or part of the tacky silk-screen image on a ruined vintage button-up from Counter Culture? However, if there is one digital format that can rival the 7-inch for me it's the 3-inch compact disc. How damn cool are these things? They're humorously tiny and the brief statement an artist or band can make with one is oftentimes an integral part of the art.

Take for instance the new 3-inch release by local duo, D and N. The statement here seems to be a challenge of sorts for the artists to transcend the limitations of this particular format. The disc comes with two folded little sheets of artwork and the imagery is more intricate and rich than you might find on a double gatefold vinyl LP. The duo consists of Nevada Hill (of Idi*Amin and Zanzibar Snails) and David Price, a collaborator of Hill's in the visual project Corn Kit Dot Not, the hard copy of which I enjoyed more than most of all of the work I've seen hanging in galleries in the past 12 months. David has also played some random percussion in live Zanzibar Snails' performances.

The music itself seems to be one slowly flowing piece that is segmented across eight concise tracks that collect new bits of sonic debris with each numerical passage. For instance, the warbling ambient tone that starts the CD still continues in track 2, but an added desolate minor-key melody is picked on an acoustic guitar. Distant percussion disrupts the serenity of this brief folksy respite and welcomes an onslaught of alienating buzzing sounds, while the percussion only gets louder and more industrial. There really aren't any actual jarring moments on the disc and the music overall seems subdued and subtle, especially when compared to Hill's other projects, including a much-discussed five minute performance on improvised guitar and saxophone opening for Deep Snapper at the Fra House last weekend. This might be one of the most accessible pieces of music released by local noise artists that I've heard and it would probably make a good introduction to those who are wary of improvised or experimental music. There are even outright pretty passages with lowly humming keyboards and the aforementioned acoustic guitar.

So I recommend the less-is-more ideology behind the D and N project and I'd like to see an entire series of similarly terse statements by other local artists. It seems that the limits of such a small format can be unexpectedly liberating. Just don't try to put one of these motherfuckers in your Mac Mini.