MUSIC/REVIEWS

PEACE ORCHESTRA
PEACE ORCHESTRA
(G-Stone)

The keen marks of cool pleasure. Quality really. Grades and layers that marry, finally, into the art soup. I*fm stoned and listening to the Peace Orchestra.

It begins with sonic drops of water echoed out into whereabouts-in-the-wayback of your head. Then a melody comes from nowhere and you are walking. Going somewhere down the street. And drums. Things fall together as you know they will fall, like a flipped-film movie running in reverse. It*fs sounds that work so well together that they give you visions, audio story lines that your brain converts to geometric balls and planes of image. The way any pure music does. Listening to this I could very well see myself sitting with my eyes closed in a symphony hall, nodding pretentiously as different instruments emerge and fade.

Peter Kruder is the man behind Peace Orchestra, and you probably (or should) know him from Kruder & Dorfmeister fame. In the current electronic-beat-bossa-jazz-dub-headz-world, they seem to be the kings, and justifiably so. Here, Mr. Kruder works on his own to write, produce, and perform, and does so with the depth of an entire orchestra.

What makes it good is that there isn't a mediocre moment on it. Each moment stands with integrity by the next. The sounds are unique, not like much of electronic music that is really just patched pieces of break samples taken from purchased tool CDs. Mr. Kruder seems to have hunted down each instrument's particular sound, echo, and wave, then master blended. My favorite song today is the risky titled "Who Am I." It builds upon initial beats, layering spongy sounding sword swipes that chamber in and out, and stabs gently with a vocal loop. It's silly to describe it.

Mr. Kruder transcends his genre and raises the musical bar in the same way that people like Thomas Bangalter & Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo of Daft Punk, or, Roni Size, et al., transcend theirs, adding new sounds and new ways of presenting them. To do this requires not only the virtuoso's perception of music, but the vanguard technical cognition to bend and shape sound towards the perception. It's an exceptional task and means dedicating one's life to one's vision, and being good enough to do so without succumbing or having to succumb to corrosive influences. It's rare in the small-minded regurgitation world of the music industry, but so gratifying when it happens.

Peace Orchestra comes out on the G-Stone label which releases both Mr. Kruder and Mr. Dorfmeister (Kruder & Dorfmeister), as well as Mr. Dorfmeister's side project Tosca. They also have the best selling DJKicks of the series, which is of course on the K7 label. Peace Orchestra is as good as any of the duo's work, fully satisfying and substantial. Get this one.
--BRETT COLLINS

Swingset - "Young Armstrong"