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CD
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PING 033CD
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The New York and Miami based-duo ROM deliver this CD with 12 wildly energetic instrumental pieces. Pingipung very happily welcome Roberto Carlos Lange and Matt Crum to their artist family. ROM is the vibrant collaboration of two sound artists who have been on the radar for a long time, as members of beloved projects such as Savath & Savalas (Warp, with Prefuse 73's Guillermo Scott Herren), Comic Wow (Asthmatic Kitty, with Tortoise's John McEntire) or Roberto's solo project Helado Negro. ROM's first appearance marked their self-titled debut on the Japanese WIMM imprint in 2005. Despite having been recorded over the span of three years, and in various locations in different cities, ROM's sophomore Foot Signal effort is an entirely cohesive sonic outing. That they used mostly broken instruments throughout the process only reinforces that soundscape they sought to create. That they played them even with their feet as the title reveals gives us a slight visual hint at the anarchy of the sessions. Could they have used an organ that stayed in tune? Probably. But taping its keys down and pressing record in hopes to document something at all usable is part of the random fabric that makes ROM's music so incredibly transcendent. Largely recorded with Will Loftin at Shangri-la Studios in Atlanta, Roberto Lange and Matt Crum captured scores of live improvised sessions onto two-inch tape. The two also set up shop in apartments, studios, and storage units in Miami, Savannah, New York -- even Jeremy Lemos' Chicago studio to try and document the inspiration they felt lurking. The sessions were then labored over at home studios, shared over the Internet, processed and reorganized until this collection of 12 instrumental pieces emerged. Standout track "Whale Vomit" does not sound like the regurgitated mess it purports itself to be. Instead, it is the perfect combination of unwavering percussion, vibraphone flourishes, and studio-manipulation wizardry. It's the kind of stuff that makes ROM so darn exciting.
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LP
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PING 033LP
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CD
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WIMM 002CD
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[deleted] This is Miami/Georgia-based Rom's self-titled debut full-length release on Wimm Recordings. Rom began in 2000, and produce better grooves than post-rock, and more melodies than hip-hop. These are two multi-instrumentalists who achieve diversity by melding genres. Member Matt Crum comes from a guitarist background, turned drummer and multi instrumentalist while Roberto Lange began playing guitar and doing cassette deck overdubs before getting into recording. They released a 12" entitled Into The Clouds from Counterflow Recordings in 2003 with help from the Secret Frequency Crew. Rom is a multi-state affair that played out between 2000 and 2005; a travelling continuous conversation that spans across emotional distances as much as it does state lines. This is a highly imaginative instrumental narrative crafted with a caring attentiveness and extremely tight production. Lange and Crum assemble their distinct compositions with both a sense of weekend-session urgency and the patience of a Sunday driver. Rom is full of haunting melodies and creative percussion, a weave that warms you with its familiarity and sense of invention.
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12"
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COUNTER 015EP
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$6.50
NOT IN STOCK, SPECIAL ORDER
"On their introductory 12" for Counterflow Recordings, entitled Into The Clouds, ROM experiment with their own sound, pulling together three songs and a Secret Frequency Crew remix that fill with each other while simultaneously trying to fit into their own space. Two standout tracks, 'Into The Clouds' and 'Too Late' almost visually show the changing nature of their music, making listeners sift through what is live and what is synthetic. While 'Jumpic' is the middle ground between programmed and organic, the Secret Frequency Crew remix sets a parallel vibe, similar yet dynamically different. From massive to minimal, from wonderful to wandering, ROM's music is the vine in which, if let alone to grow, may just cover it all."
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