LICHT, ALAN - A New York Minute

2003 release. -¢‚Ǩ-ìAlan Licht wears many hats. Over the years, hes been a curator of music as well as a tireless performer. And hes as well-known an author as he is a musician. Its one thing to have eclectic tastes; its another to make a practice of them. While Lichts earlier records have seamlessly melded his improvisational guitar playing with extended plundered sounds, A New York Minute takes things a few steps further. Instead of fusing the many sides of Licht into one monolithic mega-mix, this disc separates them into discrete compositions. Theres a lot more at stake here: the guitar pieces are showcased as guitar pieces and the plundered works are just that. The conceptual tendencies in Licht no longer hide behind his talent as a guitarist; likewise, the guitar pieces are no longer propped on hooky concepts that take our attention away from his fretwork. The good news is that both work: Licht is as strong a conceptual artist as he is a composer.-¢‚Ǩ¬ù - XI.