Search - Gideon Freudmann :: Hologram Crackers

Unique and peppy

David J. Loftus | Portland, OR USA | 04/28/2000

(3 out of 5 stars)

"I have a hard time rating this one. Its utterly unique sound deserves five stars, but I have to wonder how well it will wear over time. Dr. Didg's _Out of the Woods_ also leaped out of the speakers at me and demanded to be owned; I still get a kick out of it now and then, but it's not the sort of thing I listen to regularly. _Hologram Crackers_ may turn out the same.But boy is it COOL the first time you put it on! This is an album with which to astound your friends. Gideon Freudmann plays an electrified cello (its skinny, non-chambered body with arms that loop up from the bottom and down from the neck resembles nothing so much as an old-fashioned ship anchor) that can harmonize and sing with itself through the magic of digital delay and tape loops. He'll often lay down a punchy rhythm track or two which repeats many times while he has the cello sing above it on the upper registers.Freudmann calls his music "cello bop," which is as good a term as any. There's a bit of blues in the mix, and a lot of boogie. The title track really hustles; I've noticed it getting incidental airplay on National Public Radio news. "Robin Hood Changes His Oil" features melodic quotes from "Eine Kleine Nachtmusik" and "Mary Had a Little Lamb."Some of the sounds he gets are incredibly strange: the rhythm line to "Cocoon" makes one think of large droplets of cello strings dripping in a distant culvert. The album drags a bit at times; I didn't get much out of the slower cuts such as "Flume/April March" or "Haunted Merry-Go-Round."But Freudmann's clearly found a musical niche all his own in today's rich variety of musical offerings. I just hesitate to give it more stars because I'm not sure whether the musical appeal outweighs (or will outlast) the novelty."