Zenapolæ

Thomas Maos can make loud music. Can lead the ears to new borders, led to be sure always by the impetus of a sonic researcher, a limit tester, a habit killer, an other-being.

With this attitude, one can get far even in a conservatively reigned state: last year, the guitarist was awarded a scholarship by the Baden-Württembergische Kunststiftung (art foundation of Baden-Württemberg, Germany). What he made out of it, fits into every standard CD player: "CHILL IN DRILL OUT" the disk is named, subtitled "contemporary pieces for electric guitar".

Everything on the silver disk was recorded live, in real time. And even if it doesn't sound so: no overdubs or digital editing were made. At least the text on the CD says so. Real time compositions therefore, rather than computerworks.

Maos remained true to his impetus, but the product is another: no Noise music in the loud sense, no sound hurricanes, instead often easy-sounding guitar experiments, playthings - without the connotation of lacking requirement. Sound movies shot with a sampler, featuring the e-guitar, camouflaged in disguise, hinting at all other instruments and sounds, in any case however away from the six strings. Eternally repeating scenes. Every day greets the e-guitar, and again and again changes a trifle, adds a detail to the brush stroke, expanding itself into a sonic landscape.

Maos paints the strokes with all that lends itself to the manipulation of guitar strings: a string of pearls, maybe, a wire whisk, of course an e-bow, or simply the playing hands. The results only have little relation to music in the conventional sense: one frequently cannot set the sound in reference to its source, and the conventional categories such as harmony, rhythm or melody just miss Maos' pieces.

"CHILL IN DRILL OUT" is no an album one can listen to casually at the coffee party. ok, one can do that, but the metamorphoses (programmatically, the album's first track also bears that name) demand attention, like the oppressing "I loved the twin towers", a plain area in arousing dark gray, a flickering feedback wall, realistically catching the feeling of 9/11 in spite of all abstraction.

The quality of this disk surely will rush past streamlined ears. But those ready to let go will certainly listen with pleasure into acoustic virgin soil. And like any other guitarists will ask themselves: "My God, how does he do it?"

[Translated from German]

Sandro Mattioli, Schwäbisches Tagblatt 2005