All Time Present: Good Vibrations/No Expectations

The New York City-based “Evolving Ear” record label gets out of the gate in a flurry with this ambitious new release by the three guitar, two drummer/percussionist aggregation known as “All Time Present”. On, Good Vibrations/No Expectations the quintet performs within an unclassifiable climate, teeming with abstracts, surreal dialogue, happenstance and curiously interesting interplay amid untitled yet numerically identified tracks.

The overall tone of this effort is fabricated upon spontaneous interaction and spurious invention, whereas percussionists David Gould and Toshi Makihara trigger responses from the moderately amplified sounds of electric guitarist’s Chris Forsyth, Rich Gross and Ethan Sklar. Here, the dual rhythm machine maintains an oscillating foundation underneath fragmented crunch chords, slight injections of electronic feedback, jagged statements, steely edged lines and unlikely themes as the absence of a bassist empowers the band to perpetuate a variegated rhythmic flow. Hence, a loose unrestricted pulse prevails throughout, via free form and unending pastiches of sound, as notions of an untamed beast rummaging through the wild infiltrated this reviewer’s imagination.

Overall, the guitarists utilize their respective artistic savvy, whether employing a slight scrape of a string, subtle EFX or Derek Bailey style chord voicings atop the percussionist’s kaleidoscopic beats. No doubt, Good Vibrations/No Expectations is a suitable title for an outing consisting of arbitrary sounds, curvaceous themes, defiant implementations and atmospheric soundscapes.

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