"We Await Silent Tristero's Empire"

[profanebloom at gmail.com]

Hey there... i'm a  lurker in New Orleans and recently happened upon
this CD review in a (real) weekly here and thought it might be worth
breaking the silence. i had heard of the band before but still haven't
their music---

http://www.bestofneworleans.com/dispatch/current/cd-reviews.php

Chef Menteur 
We Await Silent Tristero's Empire 
(Back Porch Revolution) 
In Thomas Pynchon's novel The Crying of Lot 49, the word "WASTE,"
written on seemingly innocent trash cans, was revealed to stand for
the same phrase these prog-rockers used to title their first
full-length studio recording. In the novel, the phrase was part of a
complex conspiracy that was laboriously explored but never
satisfactorily solved -- in the traditional sense. Instead, suspicion,
subtle paranoia and layers of possible meaning that floated through
the plot were laid out for the reader, sometimes coming together to
create small solutions to the larger puzzle, sometimes not. It was a
confusing and unsatisfying book.
What this has to do with the record is that Chef Menteur has created a
sonic text here similar, in a lot of ways, to Pynchon's literary one.
Layers of sound -- sculpted by as much traditional instrumentation as
electronic effects -- create a trancelike, ambient wash that's often
lovely, but not necessarily cohesive. The two core members of Chef
Menteur, Alex Vance and Jim Yonkus, are known for being relentless
tinkerers with their sound, and the album is, according to the liner
notes, a collection of "psychedelic improvisations and lo-fi
experiments."

The standout track, "W.A.S.T.E.," nudges the listener out of a
trance-drenched fog with staccato electronic beats that dissolve into
a wash of acoustic guitar and dulcimer on top of what sounds like
barely discernible human chatter. For those who like their space-rock
lulling the whole way through, the album might fare better without the
17-minute closing track, "Io." The dissonant, crashing experimental
sound is a rude awakening after a long, pleasant psychedelic naptime.
-- Alison Fensterstock


there's also a not so Pynchon-oriented review at

http://offbeat.com/artman/publish/article_1010.shtml

best,
lindsay