Tuner - "Totem" Review

Artist/ Band: Tuner
Title: Totem
Label: Unsung Records
Year of Release: 2005
Artist/ Band Link (click for details/ ordering)

The Review:

Tuner is a duo of percussionist Pat Mastelotto (King Crimson) and guitarist Mark Reuter (Centrozoon) Their debut album, Totem, was released in 2005 through Unsung Records. The music of Tuner is based in the experimental, electronic and industrial genres of music. These two create a very good sounding album with a big sound which is mainly due to the looping of music. For the most part this is a instrumental album with some spoken parts especially on one track, The Morning Tide Washes Away. It has a dark gothic feel to it with synthetic female vocals.

There are some obvious similarities to Centrozoon and King Crimson (mostly the projeKcts), but it stands very much on it’s own. In fact I do believe the combination shows the best of what Centrozoon and King Crimson’s music. Fans of Crimson will notice in many places the bite showed in their last few albums. As much as I’m a Crimson fan, I must admit to enjoying Tuner much more than the last few albums. (Ducks to avoid sharp objects propelled my direction).

This is truly one of the more original albums of 2005 and hopefully it’ll get much more press outside the King Crimson and Centrozoon camps. It’s recommended to those bands as well as fans of experimental music. Generally this type of music is outside of what I normally listen to but I have enjoyed it more with each listen. I know I’ll be enjoying it for years to come. I hope there will be more Tuner albums in the near future. This is definitely a favorite album of 2005.

Reviewed by Ron Fuchs on December 13th, 2005

Tracks:

1. Flinch

2. Up, Down, Forward and Return

3. Mouth Piece

4. Totem

5. A Test of Faith

6. The Morning Tide Washes Away

7. Hands

8. Better Take Your Head Off

9. Kiss The Earth

10. Dexter Ward

Enhanced video: Mouth Peice

Reviewed Discography

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