Erik Belgum/Blodder
Inertia Ensemble
Innova/American Composer’s Forum
This double-disc set sounds (on the surface) like a bunch of quadra-polar/multiple personality/schizoid poetry and stories. I would say that this is one of those CDs that you would put on to freak people out and grab their attention; it’s extremely hard to listen to without letting out some kind of reaction. These CDs could possibly be used as a quick personality test on a date. If the person gets out of the car and runs, it just wasn’t meant to be. On a deeper level, I found it to be very enjoyable. Listening to this is a mental sport: like reading 3 or 4 books at once and trying to follow the stories. If you are up for the challenge, e-mail the genius himself at belgu003@gold.tc.umn.edu.
American Composer’s Forum, 332 Minnesota Street, E-145, Saint Paul, MN 55101; http://www.composersforum.org