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CyberZenSoundEngine and Matt Borghi: The Intercepted Transmissions 2001 In early 01, Matt Borghi recorded some deep atmospheres on his droning acoustic guitar. He made several CDR's and sent them to some of his fellow e-musicians. He requested that they add something and send it back. One of the CDR's went to GraceNoteX and Smith 6079, a.k.a. CyberZenSoundEngine. They liked Matt's base track so much that they proposed to embellish the entire set and produce a collaboration. From small circumstances and happenstance like this, greatness is often born. That is how The Intercepted Transmissions came to exist and it is a great CD. CZSE's atmospheres surround Matt's drone. The drone surrounds the atmospheres. This paradoxical CD is the ultimate juxtaposition. The atmospheres convey a sense of angst and a sense of hope. Experimental overtones cast doubt on all the proceedings. Deep listeners will appreciate the irony and the ambiguity of the situation. This highly emotional CD is a winner at every level. And it is an instant classic. - Jim Brenholts
December Impressions By Matt Borghi Self-published, 2001 Matt Borghi grew up in Michigan, and still lives near Detroit. A sense of place is important to him, and he has portrayed his home landscape in both his earlier album Huronic Minor and this ambient album, December Impressions. Michigan must be pretty bleak in the winter, if this album is true-to-life. Impressions consists of 11 sound-sequences, composed of mostly microtonal synthesizer drones. Each sequence is more or less the same: there is a slow bass-line, alternating between two or three notes which are sometimes in the interval of a second, sometimes a major or minor third, sometimes a fifth. This bass line is accompanied by a mid-range pulsing drone, and the high notes, whistling and whining like a northern wind, carry the microtonal “melody.” It’s drone style but on a much higher pitch than most drones. Altogether the ensemble conveys a sense of bitter chill, lowering grey skies, and monotonous flat expanses. In my opinion, the addition of some “environmental” noises like splashing water or the calls of geese might add a more accessible touch to an album which is otherwise unremittingly cold. Hannah M.G. Shapero 4/24/02
Matt Borghi: Huronic Minor (CD-R, 71:53); b: group records (independent release, full version) Also available as a MP3.com D.A.M. CD, concise version Cyberhome: ?? E-mail: matt@bgrouprecords.com In 1913, horrific storms decimated the poor ships and shoreline folks of the Great Lakes area in North America. "Many lives were lost" could have been that era's news headlines. Mother Nature went on a relentless rampage. The tragedy and its tales left an impression on Borghi, growing up near that same area, watching those same waters and winds decades later. As if echoes of the "day after" with one's witnessing the devastation and void left in one's soul following natural disasters – Borghi has crafted a superb collection of dark drones, bruised wanderings, and ravaged ruins, glimpses of a psyche's attempts to deal with nightmarish realities. So is this dark-lit ambience good? Yes, it is. Borghi has created a very well thought out work and performed it with pro execution. You gain a sense of emptiness and loss, "see" a wasteland of helplessness beyond horizons of shock. This is a soundtrack for the traumatized, the deep-sixed or should I say the deep-fathomed ones. This is rainy-day fog shrouded doom-cast netherworld music. Fans of Roach, Robert Scott Thompson, 1980s Robert Rich "sleep tunes", and all such "melting brain" music will enjoy this! Recommended release. ~ John W. Patterson Personnel: Matt Borghi –All synths Tracks: Nine tracks exist on this CD-R demo collection, whereas due to time constraints, only 6 tracks appear on the MP3.com version
Matt Borghi, "For Running Time" (bggroup) Cyberhome: ?? E-mail: matt@bgrouprecords.com This CD's packaging absolutely screams minimalism - the cover is a sea of white broken only by the artist name and title in simple black, and in lower case. Elsewhere the multitudes of pure whiteness are only occasionally disturbed. The same could be said for the music the album contains - static in mood and rarely doing anything particularly unexpected. While somewhat ambient in nature, Borghi puts in enough suggestion of melodic figures to just barely appeal to new age fans. Your assessment of his music probably depends on your tolerance for the two genres. Although his compositions' lengths range from just over 2 minutes to nearly 30, they seldom contain more than 30 seconds of actual musical ideas, and are then endlessly repeated and subtly developed. Some may find this horribly boring and some relaxing (or, like myself, rather indifferent as to which aspect is more prominent). Of course, the only instrument on this album by synthesizers, or synth-sounding devices, and the sounds produced are nothing particularly new for the genre. Undoubtably, it is not an album for everyone, but I can see some being swept away by its sense of peace and beauty just as much as I can imagine others being disgusted. A song-by-song breakdown seems pretty pointless for an album of this sort, since there are no drastic stylistic departures. In short, this disc probably won't radically alter anyone's tastes, so be especially conscious of yours if deciding to purchase this album. ~Jon Dharma Murphree~
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