more moondogMoondog, otherwise occasionally known as the 'The Viking of 6th Avenue' is one of the most famous 'street musicians' of all time. For around 20 years he played his music on the streets of New York dressed in an elaborate costume including a horned helmet. His fans and musical acquaintances included: Charlie Parker, Igor Stravinsky, Steve Reich, Janis Joplin and Frank Zappa. Moondog invented and built an number of instruments specifically for his compositions including the 'trimba' a triangular percussion instrument and the 'oo' a kind of triangular harp. With this incredible backstory and the sense of theatre provided by Moondog's appearance and pronouncements it is difficult to approach his music with an open mind. Luckily, Moondog's music turns out to be as magical and confounding as the context that surrounds it. It is easy to hear the kinship composers such as Steve Reich or Philip Glass would have felt to Moondog's creations. The melodic lines here are clean, tonal and simple. Most compositions have a driving rhythmic feel and the overall impression is eccentrically modern. With a different kind of production, many of these pieces wouldn't sound out of place on a contemporary electronica compilation. The percussion is occasionally redolent of non-Western music, but there is a orderliness, a four-squareness, to the performance that somehow keeps things grounded in the streets of New York. The Moondog Monologue', with its rambling proto-hippyish spoken word associations ('I have just uttered a generalisation ... there is no such thing as up or down'), seems somewhat out of place among the carefully-crafted and short instrumental tracks that make up the majority of this disc, but does allow the listener a broader insight into Moondog's universe than otherwise would have been provided. Moondog's music is beautiful, strange and utterly essential. -- nick ilott
:: Moondog/More Moondog - Honest Jons/Indigo
