New Review of Janet Feder's New LP, T H I S C L O S E, at Positive Feedback Online

My review of Janet Feder's new LP, T H I S C L O S E, is now up at Positive Feedback Online. I haven't written for the good folks at PFO for quite some time, and David Robinson was gracious enough to get this review up the day after I wrote it! I have some more LP reviews coming up, so hopefully it won't be as long until my next PFO article appears.

You can read it here. Enjoy!

Janet Feder + Fred Frith: Ironic Universe

I've been a big fan of Janet Feder's since she walked into our room at the California Audio Show in August and asked us to play her superb new LP, Songs with Words. (You can read more about that album here.) In fact, I just turned in my list for the Top 20 Albums of 2012 to Jason Gross of Perfect Sound Forever and Janet's album was near the top. There's something about the sound of prepared instruments such as pianos and guitars that takes me somewhere both alien and comforting, and I could spend hours listening to the unique and haunting sounds she extracts from her acoustic guitar.

As it turns out, Songs with Words is not Janet's first album. She's been recording and releasing albums for many years, albeit at a very slow pace (roughly one every six years, judging from her discography). Working backwards from 2012, the next addition to my Janet Feder collection is 2006's Ironic Universe, which she recorded with avant-garde guitar legend Fred Frith. Mr. Frith appears on roughly half of the twelve tracks here, and he's the perfect complement to her lyrical yet deliberate--and sometimes folk-oriented--playing. On these duets, all live studio recordings without effects or overdubs, Frith shows off his fascination with the various genres of Americana by picking with the appropriate amounts of lonesoneness and soul, something that emerges as an illuminating contrast to Janet. The album's closer, "Closing," is a trembling whirlwind of decay and echo, a musically precise version of random metallic objects being blown about a junkyard during a hurricane. It builds to a swirling, crashing crescendo before it slowly fades over the horizon.

Frith is noted for dropping objects such as ball bearings and other found objects onto the strings of his guitar, usually as it lays flat on his lap. This is an interesting counterpoint to Janet, who places key ring curlicues onto the strings of her guitar to achieve a distinctly plucked metallic sound. On the songs without Frith, Janet explores similar landscapes as she would in the future for Songs with Words, but with a more fluid, intricate style. On the later album, she is more willing to explore the empty spaces between her ideas, something that comes with experience and confidence. On Ironic Universe, she is swifter and more willing to wow the listener with her talent. It almost makes more sense to start with Ironic Universe and then move on to Songs with Words so you can see the arc of her artistic expression.

The only downside to Ironic Universe is that I would love to own this on LP. I downloaded it from her bandcamp site (http://janetfeder.bandcamp.com/yum) in a FLAC file, which sounded fantastic, but I really love the sense of space and air on my beautiful LP pressing of Songs. At the same time, I continue to be amazed at just how good hi-rez downloads can sound, and how much they can engage my interest. In other words, this is an incredible marriage between an artist pushing the boundaries of a musical instrument, and a commitment to celebrate that instrument with stunning clarity and realism. Highly recommended.

(By the way, several YouTube videos can be found of Janet Feder and Fred Frith performing these tunes. Originally Ironic Universe was released as a CD/DVD combo package.)

Janet Feder's Songs with Words on LP

"Can you play my record?"

As an exhibitor, I'm used to hearing that at trade shows. Show attendees bring their favorite CDs along and hope they'll have a familiar recording played so they can accurately judge a specific audio system. I've discovered a lot of great music this way, and I've heard some strange stuff as well. This was the first time, however, that the person in question meant "Can you play my record?" as in, you know, the one that I actually recorded, featuring me?

Janet Feder, a singer-songwriter based in Boulder, Colorado, quietly entered our room at the California Audio Show and made the request. In one arm she carried the SACD of her new album, Songs with Words, and in the other she carried the LP. She was game to let us play either format, but I opted for the SACD because the turntable in the room, a Clearaudio Ovation, wasn't quite dialed in yet. (Also, to be perfectly pragmatic, the SACD would require that we used our Unison Research CD player as opposed to someone else's analog rig.)

She played the first track, "Heater," which started off with a collection of seemingly disjointed sounds, beautifully recorded, presented in a huge space between the speakers. Slowly and deliberately these sounds, which were made by a prepared acoustic guitar and a toy piano, congealed into a melody and gained momentum. While I think the other attendees in the room had more mainstream tastes and didn't quite get what she was trying to achieve, they did give her an enthusiastic ovation after the song was over and she graciously grabbed her little disc and went on to the next room. Personally, I was intrigued and wanted to hear the entire album. I made a note to track her down and buy the LP, which I did.

Songs with Words sounds like an ordinary title for an album, but it's far more unusual than that. The sound quality is immense; the album was recorded by 15 microphones that were placed completely around Janet as she performed. Her prepared guitar, which will remind you of Arvo Part's prepared piano works with their slightly alien, percussive tones, was recorded live along with her vocals and piano. She achieves these otherwordly sounds by placing small metal rings--the same as you'd find on a key ring--on the strings as she plays. Other additional effects were added later using "analog plates, reverbs and tape-based manipulations." The liner notes state, in bold type, that "There are no digital effects in this recording." Everything was recorded on the largest SONOMA system in the world--32 tracks of surround sound. That's why Songs with Words sounds so huge and intimate at the same time.

Janet's songs are so unique because they exist in a singular logic that eschews normal melodies, song structures and sounds. Even when she performs a cover, such as "Blowin' in the Wind", or steals a few verses from Nirvana's "Come As You Are" on "Plan to Live," you'll be hard-pressed to identify it until you hear those familiar lyrics. The melodies, keys and tempos come from her and her alone.

You can get Songs with Words directly from Janet's website--the LP is only $20 and includes a DVD with hi-rez files, and the SACD is only $15. I'm definitely happy that Janet Feder walked into my room and asked me to play her record.