Dead Hollywood Stars: Gone West Dead Hollywood Stars: Gone West (Mad Monkey Records - 2000) Having been variously aligned with diverse acts such as Xingu Hill, Ambre, Moonsanto, Urawa, Snog and more, John Sellekaers, C-drik and Herve Thomas have formed their own sonic posse by the name of Dead Hollywood Stars... the boys have Gone West pannin' for a gold mine amongst the sonic vistas of heretofore unexplored territories. Rough textures spread in sky-spanning drones, emitting digital effervescence and softly humming vocal fragmentations in the strange-but-lovely incantation. Crunchy beats and fluttering electronic grit add extra footstompin' power to the bluesy jangles of slide guitar and fiddle breaks of all star western; the riff may get a bit overplayed, but the juxtaposition of old and new are quite cool. The track smears off into a darkly glimmering murk, from which jigsaw motel (6:56) arises... sporadic guitar strums resonate within a continually churning electron field, laced with locational interjections and spooky piano string blasts. Rangey steel guitar strings waver across a shimmery evening sunset to join with low-down city drums; streamers soar gorgeously over dreamland's burning, the standout track that was aptly described as "Slim Westerns with beats". Piano twinkles join the stunning panorama of rhythm-stirred ebb and flow. A melting pot of mishapen samples and sounds, the way of the fugu swirls in big gloopy loops, revealing something new with each contortion (including what sounds like "the old prospector" getting tortured!?). Flowing brass, guitar twangs, xylonotes, spastic beats and other unidentifiable miscellany have musical mojo worked upon them. The rumbly shapelessness of arid zona and the darkly moody meanderings of lunacy take interesting detours down trails less-traveled. Gritty and quirky, amongst the stars plays with words and grungey percussion, filtering in smoother dreamtones as the piece develops. Mutated sing-song loops briefly as afterlife (see you later) (0:54) distorts noisily, then buzzes out. Dead Hollywood Stars have whipped up a batch of real unique listening, just as long as you're not a stickler for cohesiveness. Thoroughly mixing more-familiar musical elements with tracks of way-out-there experimentation, Gone West covers alot of ground in a mere 42 minutes. Definitely worth checking out in both veins, gathering an 8.5 Consider this release WANTED.... ride on over to Mad Monkey Records to pick it up. This review posted March 28, 2001 AmbiEntrance © 2001-1997 by David J Opdyke (except CD cover art, rights retained by original owners).