Hillbilly Tape Music was the third volume of solo recordings of
Henry Flynt issued by either Recorded or Locust, after
You Are My Everlovin' and Spindizzy, documenting performances on violin and guitar from 1971 to 1978 and ranging from wild avant bluegrass to steady-state drones. It opens with the raucous "Violin Strobe," where
Flynt begins with an almost
Reich-like accumulation of bowed notes, swiftly coalescing into a devil's hoedown, all harshness and overtones, while never absolutely abandoning its Appalachian roots. If the remainder of the disc never quite attains these dizzying heights, there's still plenty of fine work to sink one's ears into, from the twangy reverb of "Guitar Rebop" to the double-tracked guitar/violin whirlwind of "Jumping Wired." The final three tracks, making up about two-thirds of the disc's minutes, are a different kettle of catfish. Softer, echoing, volume pedal-drenched, the two "Leather High" pieces and the concluding 15-minute "S&M Delerium" [sic] waft by like hillbilly ambient music, flitting along like a dragonfly, making only the briefest of allusions to their source. Enjoying these pieces might require a bit of a mental shift on the part of the listener -- there's nothing very concrete or catchy to grab onto -- but if accepted on their own terms, they're quite attractive and rewarding, developing a surprising connective node between country blues and the work of New York-based conceptualists like La Monte Young. ~ Brian Olewnick