Flower-Corsano Duo - 2006 - The Radiant Mirror

Quality: 4.5 out of 5
Trip-O-Meter: 5 out of 5

Here's one that I've been anesthetizing my brain with for the past couple weeks. The All-Music Guide calls this one jazz, although the drums and distorted guitar combo definitely suggest more of a rock air. Really, with the modus operandi resting on a drone this is more of a future-injected raga. It kind of feels like the final five Cylon music out of Battlestar Galactica, but stretched out over 40 minutes. I mean that as a positive thing.

We've got tracks for three of the elements here; I guess these fellows aren't to hip on water. "Earth" gets this to a roaring star over its ten minute length. This must really send my brain into a trance as I've never had the impression that ten minutes have even passed when this one ends. The drone acts as the bedrock of the track while the drums spill all over the place in a style similar to Rashied Ali's pummeling on John Coltrane's very late period recordings (like the amazing Interstellar Space). I suppose that's where the jazz comes in. On top of that are some free form modal guitar runs that are pretty much the top form for that sort of thing. "Wind" brings things down a notch, although the basic instrumentation is the same. Our wild drummer does manage to reign himself in for an actual beat while the guitar attempts to cross the sitar barrier. Then everything comes together for the twenty minute "Fire," which passes us through raging torrents and graceful ebbs of roaring sitar-guitar and beats that seem to crest over rolling hills and epic mountains. This music will make you travel.

On The Radiant Mirror, you'll have the opportunity to hear rock/jazz/raga improvisation at its finest. I hesitate to refer to this as fusion as it doesn't really match up with that particular genre, but you will get an amazing blending of sounds different from anything you've experienced before. This is a true psychedelic experience.