DARK

80'S Experimental/Jazz ensemble based in Germany and led by American percussionist Mark Nauseef.Nauseef had a long career in the fields of Free Jazz and World Music having already put up some solo albums and having collaborated with artists like Rabih Abou-Khalil or Joachim Kühn.Dark was his project on CMP Records, working next to engineer (and ex- Parzival member) Walter Quintus.On the 1986 self-titled debut Nauseef was accompanied by multi-instrumentalists Leonice Shinneman and Mark London Sims along with female singer Catherine Guard.

The love of Nauseef for the free forms of music is evident throughout the album and the opening ''Du reptile'' is a great cut, a combination of dissonant soundscapes with a powerful ending guitar-driven rhythm that just leaves you wanting for more.Unfortunately the rest of ''Dark'' is a much more experimental and cosmic listening experience.Nauseef focuses on the long repetitive grooves of his percussion and drums with the assistance of Quintus, who uses a Casio sampling keyboard, producing sonic soundscapes.So the rest goes like a mix of African and Arab grooves through the percussion with female wordless vocals and digital sound effects, while the bass and guitars remain deeply in the background as supporting instruments.As a whole the listening becomes very hypnotic along the way and often has a noisy than musical approach, not uninteresting by any means but definitely not aiming to a wide audience.

I wish this album followed the path of the opening great number until the end.As it is though I can only recommended it to fans of narcotic Experimental Music with an interest on ethnic enviroments.