One of the few bastions of the performance-art world to hit some level of critical mass in the eyes of the general public, Blue Man Group – consisting of three guys in black bodysuits with blue skin who create music with any number of invented musical instruments (including lots of PVC plumbing pipe) – has only just recently issued this, their first recorded studio performance.
Not having seen this trio of outcast Smurfs live, I can’t really offer any sort of qualified opinion on how Audio stacks up to their stage antics, but it’s intriguing and unique music in and of itself. Heavy, tribal-style rhythms permeate the entire collection, with a few doses of guitar and other instruments, though I suspect that some of the conventional-sounding instruments on here aren’t what we might think they are.
Audio won the Grammy this year for Best Instrumental Album, and justifiably so; it has a truly outstanding atmosphere of its own, loaded with the kind of compelling instrumentals that the Alan Parsons Project used to make once upon a time. I haven’t heard anything so weird – and yet so accessible – in ages. In case you’re wondering, these are the guys from the Intel commercials, and that is their music you hear (“Rods and Cones”, a particular favorite of mine, can be heard in the spot involving light bulbs and a vacuum cleaner).
This title is also available as an Audio DVD, but buyers beware: the DVD title is simply the same audio content as the CD, except in Dolby 5.1 Surround, with a slide show of stills rather than any full-motion video of the Blues in performance.
- TV Song (2:09)
- Opening Mandelbrot (3:14)
- Synaesthetic (5:32)
- Utne Wire Man (3:19)
- Rods and Cones (5:59)
- Tension (2:06)
- Mandelgroove (5:50)
- PVC IV (4:24)
- Club Nowhere (4:51)
- Drumbone (2:46)
- Shadows (2:07)
- Cat Video (2:21)
- Endless Column (8:04)
Released by: Virgin
Release date: 1999
Total running time: 57:35
