SIGNAL TO NOISE
Summer 2006

There are so many striking things about these two discs from Jarboe (plus various collaborators), that due regard for the singer/composer's considerable achievements here may well-nigh be impossible. So I'll say this up front : The Men Album is one of the most amazing things released this year. Ê True to its subtitle ("Guitars"), disc one of this double disc set is full of churning, arpeggiated riffs (both electric and acoustic) that refract among its ten tracks, developing a cohesive impact upon initial hearing. Both thematically and musically, "This Is Life" will resurface in various forms throughout the set, but as an opener it kicks major skull, ending with a keening Jarboe, multi-tracked, alone in space. "Found", an incantatory duet with vocalist Alan Sparhawk, combines the corporeal and the numinous like a Carl Dreyer film, over a cool "Tomorrow Never Knows" - like drum program. In a better time, tracks like the poignant "To Forget" , and a moving version of Kiss's "Reason To Live" (where Jarboe's heart-rending vocal provides an early emotional highlight). would be riding both sides of the airwaves. And the deeply erotic "A Woman's Dreams" evokes a Kate Bush/Lydia Lunch tryst, with a mesmerizingly seductive William Faith vocal arrangement.

Einsturzende Neubaten's Blixa Bargeld contributes what may be the yowling shriek of the decade on "Into Feral" and "Feral Blixa", two short tracks that segue into "Feral" proper; its opening minutes surround Jarboe's voice, impossibly elongated in space. When she and Bargeld enter simultaneously, they signal a wild squall of Steve Von Till's guitars, stoked relentlessly by drummer Michael Rollins. At various points, the singers float harmonies that evoke the struggling, ravaged creatures at the climax of Ken Russell's film, Altered States. "Your Virgin Martyr", the thrilling 8-minute closer for Jarboe and Nic Le Ban's vocals and guitar, treads breathtaking expressive territory (I dream of a trio with Jandek), and emerges as one of the great album "closers" of all time. Simply brilliant. Disc two, "Rhythms", deepens and recontextualizes elements of disc one. Its cinematic, stripped-down mix earns its subtitles by drawing on dub, electronica, and drum and bass, perhaps nowhere more skeletally than on the James Izzo-produced "Penance", which has some great, Motown-ish string touches. Other men appearing in this setting include Percy Howard, who features on a brutal, "Meridien" version of "This Is Life", and PanSonic's Mika Vainio, who salutes Jarboe's "Dark String Sauce" (indeed), in a brief, hilariously deadpan snippet. JG Thirlwell seethes memorably on the malevolent "Angel Jim - Low Rider Mix", but it's the 13-minute "Edward Life", with its trippy mix by Legendary Pink Dot Edward Ka-Spel, that seals this puppy with a tour de force kiss. Incorporating parts of "This Is Life" into its kaleidoscopic room of mirrors, it approaches the cavernous trance of Popul Vuh in its last minutes, leaving the listener on a whole other plane. Endlessly enjoyable, The Men Album is one for the ages.

- Larry Nai