If Wendy Carlos joined the Shaggs to perform Ravel’s Mother Goose suite, it might sound like Flybys. If the Albert Ayler ensemble took a break from the Love Cry sessions to score the Rockford Files on portable moog and electric kitchen colander, it might sound like Flybys. If Brian Wilson recreated Stan Kenton’s City of Glass for the Commodore 64 platform, it might sound like Flybys. If Forever Changes, Martians Go Home and Beefheart’s Tropical Hot Dog Night were summarized a la Masterplots on musical 3x5’s, it might sound like Flybys. Think of asterisks, park maintenance, telegraph wires and the alpine biathlon. That’s what the Curtains did when they wrote Flybys!
They call the Curtains "coming of age" music. Full of sweet accidents and big ideas in small packages, what you get are compact, highly personal compositions, neither hot nor cold, but whimsical, lighthearted, portable and idiosyncratic - the warm inventions and cool abstractions of the thinking man’s casual imagination on the move.
California is full of strange hybrids! It’s one of our youngest states, and the Curtains are one of our newest bands. With members of Deerhoof, Natural Dreamers and Open City, they are certainly a mixed bag, but you’ll like it! Their music is episodic and picaresque instrumental flights of fancy that often burn up upon reentry. The average song is under two minutes, but the trio aims to write fifty each year, so you’ll have time to make the toast. Once you’ve inserted the CD into your stereo system, it’s plenty fun to hear the songs and musicians fly right by, on their way to the next great idea. One, two three - now it’s your turn!
The Curtains - "Flybys" LP & CD
Track Listing & Credits
A1. Park Work
A2. The Burl
A3. Computer Finch
A4. Bummer with Cakes
A5. Time Center
A6. Watch for: The Eliminator
A7. Fast Talks
A8. Blink, Professor
A9. Asterisks by MoonlightB10. Hatching the New Guy
B11. Partners
B12. Death Constellation
B13. Binotic Ting
B14. Moment with Plankton
B15. Telegraph Victories
B16. Saga
B17. Observations
B18. Pure Bronze
B19. The Shooter
B20. Alpine Hunter
B21. It's the Bunklords
B22. Snowy VisitorsPersonnel:
Chris Cohen - Guitar
Andrew Maxwell - Drums and Vocal
Greg Saunier – Synthesizer