Ted Killian: Flux Aeterna

Jim Santella

Senior Contributor since 1997

Jim Santella has been contributing CD reviews, concert reviews and DVD reviews to AAJ since 1997. His work has also appeared in Southland Blues, The L.A. Jazz Scene, and Cadence Magazine.

Recent articles (1,677 total)

Published: October 1, 2001

New creative music can mean many things to different people. It's an opportunity for the artist to find new ways to express himself. Interpreting the results may leave many paths for the listener. It's a personal decision.

Ted Killian's compositions fall into the realm of "space" music. Outer space may contain programmed loops, noise, and electronic pulses. Some of it is random and some of it is not. To this, Killian adds forceful guitar phrases. They're meant to intimidate. They're meant to shock you. And they're meant to provide you with the means to "let yourself go." After all, aren't many film soundtracks filled with the same kind of mystery?

A guitar strikes familiar sounds. All over the world, folks are comfortable with its timbre. From its most piercing cries to its most mellow tones, the guitar's vocabulary can handle every hue. While Killian stays with a science-fiction pattern through much of the session, his imagination does wander far and wide. Elongated tones squeeze and ooze through tunnels of sound. Close your eyes and watch the clouds go by. You won't be dreaming about gentle flowers and grasses that sway in the wind. This music is alive with action. Imagine a gunfighter staring down Clint Eastwood, or a Vulcan preparing to land on 21st Century Earth. Killian's creative music has a charming effect. It won't lull you to sleep. Instead, it will provide you with hours of varied sounds that stimulate different memories each time out.

Track Listing: Hubble; Leaving Medford; Cauterant Baptism; Last Sparrow; Recurvate Plaint; Nocturnal Interstices; Reverse Logic; Convocation Solitaire; Gravity Suspended; Flux Aeterna.

Personnel: Ted Killian- electric guitar, acoustic guitar, samples, loops, sound design.

Style: Modern Jazz