Awaken, Tokyo! Monsters, attack!
Signal Path @ Mogollon Brewery
by Dean Bonzani
2-6-04
Dream sequence: you haul your freshly-scrubbed self out into the frigid night air, and immediately your hair freezes. A theme develops, taking shape at the periphery of your awareness. The crunching of your footsteps in the icy streets forms a rhythm, and as you near Mogollon Brewery, the stars in the clear night sky begin singing like cybernetic dolphins. You can’t tell if it’s a happy sound, or whether they’re crying for help. Then you realize that it’s not the stars making this sound, but Signal Path, who you can now see through the frosted windowpanes, five intense young men generating amniotic ambient jazz amidst a small city of electronic gear. You step through the front door, and a ravishing creature clad entirely in black vinyl crisscrossed with tiny, blinking blue LED’s hands you a tall glass.
“What is it?” you say, the words thick in your mouth.
“Chilled Gray Goose, with cubes of frozen Red Bull. Those are green grapes in the center of each cube.” the creature says in a crisp, sexless voice.
“Who’s playing? What is this music? So, familiar— so strange.”
Over the all-pervasive pulsing of the quintet’s acoustilectric anti-melody, the creature answers. Its voice comes from inside your head.
“This is Missoula, Montana’s Signal Path. Founded by guitarist Ryan Burnett, formerly of the experimental rock band, Abendego, it is an amalgam of organic and electronic textures, driven by house, drum n’ bass, down-tempo, and rare groove beats. Electronic drummer Ben Griffin is balanced by acoustic drummer Damon Metzner. Keyboardist Nathan Weidenhaft’s dense synthetic orchestrations find grounding in stand-up bassist Dion Stepanski’s circular lines. Supplemented by laptop computers, effects processors, and samplers, Signal Path generates a room-shaking aural hologram of Pat Methany-like riffing atop groaning sheets of chilly, crystalline digitalia and deep, thrumming grooves. Touring full-time for over a year, they have acquired a contagious synergy, and a crowd-pleasing deftness that is winning them growing acclaim. Their supple compositions can induce trance, and according to unconfirmed sources, boost immune-system efficiency by up to 30%. Would you care to dance?”
You roll a frozen grape across your tongue, and answer. “Sure.”
—end sequence.
Signal Path @ Mogollon Brewery, Thurs., Feb. 19. Transmission begins at 9:30. Tix: $5.
more? www.signalpath.org
©2005 by Dean Bonzani, All Rights Reserved