CAT#: ULY031
ARTIST: David Michael Moore
TITLE: Circle the Wagons
DATE: 07/02/2024
FORMAT: Digital
PRICE: $7

1994's 'Circle the Wagons’ is the first honest-to-goodness Masterpiece of our David Michael Moore archival series. All of them are classics. But there will be Three Undeniable Masterpieces revealed by the time we complete this archival endeavor. The compositional leap David makes on ‘Circle the Wagons’ is nothing short of profound. Think of Eno and Hassell’s Fourth World. Think of composers from Béla Bartók to John Cage’s prepared piano; from Edvard Grieg to Vangelis. Think of them and yes, you might be close. We are not bullshitting you on this one. “Heaven’s Grind.” “Flatboat River Witch.” “March Pomposo.” “Nothing to Jeckle-Nothing to Hyde.” This is a God level avant-garde songcraft. A man bumping his head on The Sublime and piercing the veil before your very ears. A person with simply better luck than David would be performing these pieces with Kronos Quartet or Bang on a Can All-Stars at National Sawdust — if not Kings Theatre. Billowing, inventive and massive hymns. Beyond the Hall of the Goblin King. The abject beauty and horror contained in the synthesized chorus of angeldemons that rises and falls in the background of “Flatboat River Witch” and in the foreground of “Hymn For Her” sends a feeling through me that is quite honestly beyond my writing abilities. Naming it would be ugly. And this is Pure Beauty. Pure Horror. One day, we’ll put this one on vinyl and all that. Its music deserves to be heard far and wide. It deserves better luck than it’s had heretofore. It deserves a better era of music listenership. It beckons the hungry and curious ear. It is unadulterated imagination, the Id unbound. It will feed you imagination if you allow it. It’s a Timeless Masterpiece of American Avant-Garde Music. Oh, and David also does a brilliant, minimalist variation of “Yankee Doodle Dandy” and calls it “Yank My Doodle.”