The Canadian Olive has been applying radical techniques to reductionist improvisation since the late 90's, with releases on Celo, Bricolodge, Evolving Ear, Even Stilte, and tracks on the Improvised Music from Japan compilation series. Olive is a Japan transplant, frequently travelling to perform with a who's who list of modern minimal electro-acoustic improvisers: Alfredo Costa Monteiro, Haco, Fritz Welch, Bertrand Denzler, Martin Tetreault, Sachiko M, Greg Kelley, &c. His own ear for compatible players has led him to great collaborations, particularly his frequent work with electric guitarist Bunsho Nisikawa, with whom he released an untitled album on the Japanese label Gule Disk in 2004.

With Olive it's important to put in perspective that his initial interest in music was rock based, and he's been a part of the bands Nimrod, Twerdocleb, and Soap-Jo Henshi. His instrument is most typically the bass, but to say that he plays with an identifiable bass sound would miss the mark. In fact, on this album it's far easier to guess that both Olive and electric guitarist Nisikawa are playing a variety of close miked string and metal objects that create sounds more akin to metal pipes, car axles, big bed springs gone bad, and other unidentifiable sources.

Supernatural Hot Rug And Not Used is a fun record that owes quite a bit to rock and pop music, but in a very abstract way. The cover art from Marc Bell, who also did the cover for the recent Tim Olive / Francisco Meirino duo release, gives a good idea of a futuristic cartoon world (a la Jim Woodring) where inscrutable machines make inexplicable sound. The eight pieces on this release find Olive and Nisikawa developing sounds that are really compelling, and record them so that they get a good rich quality that demonstrates their odd sonic qualities. The pace shows great restraint, allowing each sound to be analyzed and digested in it's own time. It's weird but not out of grasp, a series of pieces that describe themselves on their own terms. No doubt your average friend won't understand what you're listening to, but if they listen with an open mind they may find enlightenment, seeing that these two are not serious scowlers working in a sonic lab, but instead a couple of people having fun using an unconventionally extended language coaxed from nothing but the bass and guitar.