Search - Bill Laswell :: Oz Fritz: All Around the World

Around the World in an hour 52:40

Billy The Id | 07/22/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Being appreciative of the work of Bill Laswell I am also by default familiar with the name Oz Fritz. This CD is a compilation of recordings Oz snagged in his travels with a Folkways/Smithsonian work ethic. The CD recording can actually be compared to the film "Baraka". It must be experienced to be fully realized. I am more than convinced this disc can transport your psyche and soul to regions you will never otherwise experience in this lifetime. It will require a certain degree of surrender and a commitment to allow the sounds to penetrate (many segments contain religious chanting and natural acoustics from sacred spaces), but you'll thank me later. Highly recommended for those who dare."

Sonic Documentary

David M. Madden | salt lake, utah United States | 11/13/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"A recurring notion in Ray Bradbury's writing is an idea of televisions - giant ones that cover entire walls - that engulf the viewer (the more affluent your family, the more screens you have, generally all located in a single room). Not simply a statement on the harm of television, Bradbury's version of televised entertainment is a bit more involved, the viewer literally sinking into the program to participate (i.e. your children leave the living area to wander in tall African grass).



Oz Fritz might not pluck a note, press a key, strike a drum or sing a note, but he makes wonderful music. As he explains to a young passerby during the first few minutes of track one, Oz Fritz makes "recordings", but it's not as simple as that: Fritz catalogs the music and ambience of holy places, Asian countries and unnamed city streets and transparently arranges them into a fascinating, dynamic, intimate program, not unlike the aforementioned Bradbury scenario. One moment you're walking to your pew during an organ prelude ("Our Lady") then enjoying hymns from Easter Mass performed on skin drums and dulcimers ("Easter Mass Midnight Mass"). Suddenly, you're plunged into a temple full of explosive drum reverberations, the local fowl chiming in for good measure ("Temple Drumming"). From Egypt to Brooklyn, Fritz's work takes you there, plunging you head first, teleporting you like a news reporter, on the scene at every story, during the evening news. All Around the World is a real-time sonic documentary of the world you can almost touch and smell.



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