BRIAN AND CHRIS ///
3 ///
DIELETRIC ///

While listening to Pink Floyd's "The Wall" on a late fall drive through the snow dusted mountains in Vermont, the stereo's mystical spirit was possessed to skip the old disc. Brian Fraser and Chris Palmatier's "3" began playing from the soundsystem of the Mini I had rented. I don't really listen to enough cinematic rock records these days but perhaps I should change that. This music is a vibrant road trip up the Pacific Coast Highway in the salty, crisp air of early summer. Cactus flowers are blooming, treacherous winding roads will not relent and an evergreen forest awaits at sunset. The sky is as blue as Fujichrome can take, the tidal pools are ripe with starfish - it is dank, I won't lie.
The list of instruments played by these two might make you think they're some kind of wunderkids or sideshow freaks for that matter - I think it's called talent: rhodes electric piano, Russian dulcimer, electric tanpura, and my absolute favorite 'miscellaneous percussion.' Mr. Fraser is one of the more talented percussionists I've heard in awhile and if I knew anything about polyrhythms, I'd break that shit down for you right here, but you'll have to check the Wire review for that sort of thing, I suppose. Mr. Palmatier and Mr. Fraser have a recording studio out in Oakland and by the sounds of it, they've been spending a lot of time there. Palmatier's studio production touch will give you faith in the church of Lee Perry and Steve Albini. The guitar playing on this record is absolutely gorgeous--the low end, delicious. There are no vocals on "3" in a departure from the group's first LP, but both musicians are able to craft quite distinctive voices in both the instrumentation and seductive production of the record. These two have a healthy love for synthetic sound and it shows in the depth of texture and unpredictable progression of these six songs. Warm flannel sheets for the winter time, my friends, and turn the lights down low.

Sire Arye Dworken