Licht, Alan / A New York Minute
Album: A New York Minute   Collection:General
Artist:Licht, Alan   Added:Sep 2003
Label:Xi Records  

A-File Activity
Add Date: 2003-10-19 Pull Date: 2003-12-21
Week Ending: Dec 14 Nov 9 Nov 2
Airplays: 1 1 1

Recent Airplay
1. Jan 13, 2010: Customary Surprise
A New York Minute, Remington Khan
4. Nov 05, 2003: Brownian Motion
Freaky Friday
2. Dec 24, 2003: Browninan XXX-mass Eve
Freaky Friday
5. Oct 30, 2003: Brownian Epiphany
Another Sky
3. Dec 10, 2003: press and release
A New York Minute

Album Review
Gabe
Reviewed 2003-10-14
Alan Licht, veteran of many bands and scenes, here treads onto experimental collage and looping ground. Pieces assembled from tapes rest easily aside pieces militantly proclaimed “no overdubs”. Seemingly one-idea tracks take on multiple levels on closer inspection. Patience is rewarded on both of the second CD’s half-hour-plus tracks.

CD 1
1. A collage (more assembled than cut-up) of minute-long radio weather reports from a NY station in January 2001; one funny detail is how the reports feature teletype machine sounds in the background when it’s highly probable that no teletypes are used; maybe my mind is just imagining this, which in itself would be remarkable; another interesting thing is that the reports are of basically the same info (though slowly mutating) but presented differently – a spoken take on pieces that appear to repeat but in actuality, gradually mutate; a bit of subway station ambiance is suffixed
2. Multitracked guitars, that through the magic of electronics, sound like melodicas or harmoniums; about halfway through, the sound changes to looped guitar figures and eventually, bass also comes in; hypnotizing
3. Crickets, loop flutes, stoopid guitar and drums loop, and to ice this sonic cake, chants of Ali’s name
4. Multitracked organ drone

CD 2
1. A half-hour of tense guitar trilling resolved by a few minutes of cathartic, melodic picking layered on top of same guitar trill; patience is the watchword
2. Starts very quietly – the Marantz CD players may elide the 3-4 minutes of low level sound away – then a slow buildup to a Fahey-esque delicately picked out melodies alongside somewhat more guttural rhythmic strums; this eventually fades and then the motif returns but with a much more nasty fuzzed bassline juxtaposed to the delicate fingerpicked melody; again, patience is the word as this piece lasts some 35+ minutes

Track Listing
1. A New York Minute   4. Another Sky
2. Freaky Friday   5. 14, Second, Fifth
3. Muhammed Ali and the Cricket   6. Remington Khan