*Piero's online cultural magazine
-monkey with a gun
Davis and Jones are the only personnel on Monkey With A Gun (Symbolic Insight, 2003). The sound relies even more heavily on Davis' ghostly trumpet, a worthy successor to Jon Hassell's fourth-world trumpet, particularly within the floating soundscapes of Charisma and Red Tide that open the disc. As usual, the most satisfying tracks are the lengthier ones. The musique concrete of Tweeter Reamer (eight minutes) slowly unfolds, and reveals whispers and echoes embedded in electronic clusters, thus creating a morbid and murderous atmosphere not too different from Nine Inch Nail's. The chamaleon-like Copper Glow (nine minutes) begins with the percussions unleashing a tribal fury in a jungle of subtle noises, and ends with the trumpet intoning middle-eastern melodies. By comparison with these sinister scores, the quiet and melodic Disc 56 (nine minutes) is easy-listening, soft jazz, trip-hop. The voodoo beat over a tide of samples in Bolt (ten minutes) is the most hypnotic moment of the album. The closing Affraid To Change is a subliminal psychodrama that relies on a steady pulse and whispered emotion-less lyrics, like Suicide (the New York band) in the stratosphere. For the record, City Of Gold is the closest thing to a "song" on this album.

Entropic Advance - MONKEY WITH A GUN: It sounds (to me) like they dinna' give that dam monkey a gun... they gave him access to th' mixer... & he staggered all kinds o' electronic beetz' in amongst Wesley Davis processed trumpet, spook-vox, etc., & Casey Jones guitars/filters/motors. We reviewed these folks double-CD effort in issue # 61... this "Monkey" thang lets th' electronics take off where "RED/YELLOW" left off, exploring th' "space between the beats", so to speak. I liked th' strange vocal mixes better than th' thrum/throb beats actually... trumpet sounds are really nice, too... "layered" is th' word. Sorta' like electro-space-trumpet-bendoid exploratory experimentia; there are few spots where th' bass/electro-beatz tried to eat my speakers, tho'. Nice cover art, sonically th' album gets a HIGHLY RECOMMENDED from us. If yer' only into funk, you'll go elsewhere, but if you like to travel th' wormholes of acidia while you cruise fer' phunk-ee stuph - this is IT! Contact at Entropic Advance, at www.entropicadvance.com Rotcod Zzaj

Seattle KMLP i-radio Dj's Wesley Davis' and Casey Jones' 5th release is a great example of how parts of hostile glitch experimental extravaganzas can be combined with parts of spacey lounge electronics. Their temporal and structural underpinnings evolve around broken d'n'b fragments; their gluing manipulation involves ambient noises and progressive pads tweaking. Occasional odd field recordings and tv samplings render it all more tangible, like if they want you to keep in touch with real life. With or without those reminders it's easy to get carried away by the beautiful atmospheres by Entropic Advance, with their reverb-washed and soaked treated trumpet, their deep-end subsonic component, their tranquil and classy pace, their elegant and sophisticated chord sequences (when there is such thing as a chord sequence), their dreamy and disturbing alien beats and so forth. Interestingly the duo also get exciting when they sing to what they do (think of Roger Waters, Trent Reznor, Tweaker, Dream Into Dust, think vaguely...). A pleasant surprise that you should take into consideration.

Entropic Advance is the duo of Wesley Davis and Casey Jones. The two approach electronic composition from a unique perspective (and that's saying a lot...considering how many electronic artists out there do not!). Even the rhythms used in the music are obtuse and peculiar (the duo refers to this as "click & cut rhythms"). Monkey With a Gun is a heady and unexpected experience...as Davis and Jones combine spooky ambient sounds with samples and obtuse technology. The overall effect is quite dream-like and foreign. There are few familiar sounds and ideas to latch onto...and therein lies the beauty of these modern compositions. This lengthy disc (clocking in at 68:59) is mentally challenging...and highly entertaining. We can't describe tunes like "Charisma," "Copper Glow," and "Afraid to Change"...but we know when something pushes our buttons the right way. Excellent stuff. Recommended. (Rating: 5+)