Kelley, Greg

Self-Hate Index

Label: Semata Productions Country: USA

"Self-Hate Index is Greg Kelley's 4th "proper" solo CD and his first since 2005's I Don't Want To Live Forever. If we count 4 limited edition CDRs, a one-sided LP, and a cassette, we have a small body of work to dig into over the past decade ranging from synthesizer explorations, a couple of guitar freakouts, musique concrete experiments, and some 4 track experiments using electric fans, contact mics and cheap keyboards.

But what of the trumpet? Isn't that the instrument he's supposed to play? Of all the above-mentioned recordings, 5 of them feature barely any trumpet at all and 2 of them chop up the recordings to the point of non-recognition (recorded on microcassette?!). This basically leaves 2000's Trumpet CD and 2005's Uncomfortable one-sided LP as the sole representatives of this trumpet player's trumpeting in all its vulgar nudity.

Enter Self-Hate Index. Recorded this Spring in a proper studio environment on a proper recording medium (yes, Pro Tools was used - like the real musicians), this is Kelley's first recording in some time that features real-time recordings of one person in a room playing an instrument. Like Trumpet, there is some manipulation of the recording medium, awkward placement of mics, close-micing, the leaving on of an air conditioner, etc. But unlike Trumpet, this may be the first solo recording of Kelley's to bridge the (perceived?) gaps between the quiet micro-worlds of nmperign, the blazing feedback of Heathen Shame and the edited constructs of some of the previous solo recordings. Purely acoustic tracks mix it up with amp & distortion pedal workouts and curious inquiries regarding mic placement. But in the end, we have one person, with a trumpet, banging his head against the wall of what music is and what it expects of him."-Semata

Read more about this item

At The Squid's Ear!