I.V. Catatonia

Eric Alexandrakis

Y&T Music, 1999

http://www.EricAlexandrakis.com

REVIEW BY: Duke Egbert

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: 09/11/2000

There is a fine, fine line between experimentation and indulgence, between clever obscurity and complete obtuseness. The trick in making sonic landscapes is to walk that tightrope where meaning is balanced against cleverness. Some artists succeed in this. Eric Alexandrakis' I.V. Catatonia is another story.

You know you're in trouble as a reviewer when the nicest thing you can say about something is that it's not the worst thing you've ever heard while reviewing for "The Daily Vault". (Jefferson Starship's title is safe.) Bluntly, Alexandrakis' techno-industrial sonic montage is disjointed, fractured, and pointless, flattened by the falling safe of juvenile self-indulgence.my_heart_sings_the_harmony_web_ad_alt_250

I think, and I could be wrong, that Alexandrakis was trying for an artistic statement through sonic collage. What it actually sounds like a cross between Information Society having an epileptic seizure and Trent Reznor tripping at WorldCon.

I admit, freely, to not being a big fan of this style of music, but it's rare I find nothing to like about a CD, no matter what the genre. I.V. Catatonia manages to be completely unlikable, ranging the full spectrum of musical mediocrity from pseudo-Queensryche soulful crap to overdistorted guitars with more fuzz than a three-month old peach cobbler in summer.

I didn't even like the packaging. No liner notes save on one of two loose inserts, no title on the spine of the CD, and a listener response card that asks for permission to stalk the buyer. Given that I can't imagine more than five or six people listening to this CD long enough to return the card, Alexandrakis should have a slow winter.

I suspect that some fans of this genre will accuse me of not "getting it". Maybe so. Perhaps to some minds there are nuggets of genius in this CD to be strained out from the manure pile. However, if the casual listener doesn't find anything to like about a given piece of music, why record it at all? It's like videotaping yourself masturbating; yes, it's a permanent record, but no one's interested except you.

Even if you're a fan of this genre, avoid I.V. Catatonia like the plague. There's a credit on the liner notes for 'vomiting'. Must have been at the pre-release party.

Rating: F

User Rating: Not Yet Rated


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