Favorite Songs of the '00s, #2: "Bolan Muppets," Glissandro 70

By the look of it, Glissandro 70 is one of those projects that seems more of a one-off than anything else, despite a fair amount of evidence to support the contrary. The facts: the Canadian duo of Craig Dunsmuir and Sandro Perri released a lovely eponymous debut in 2006, played about 11 shows in Toronto (six in 2008), and have remained pretty much dormant thereafter. They're still on a label, and Sandro Perri has a questionably active blog, but no one seems in any rush to make a go at the crown.

The song featured here--Bolan Muppets--is one of five strong tracks on Glissandro 70 (there's only five on the LP, mind you), and though I feel it stands alone, it probably works best in context of the other pieces (oh well). Like the rest of the debut, the song is as heavily indebted to minimalism as it is to post-rock; it just sort of floats from A to B without any larger structural repetitions, making the most of fewer ideas. I've worn the song out to the point where the late bassline (3:12) doesn't hit the spot as well as it did in '06, but I wish you luck with it.

What I like best about the piece, and why it's included here, is it's music that requires a process. Perhaps I lend too much credit to methodical overlays than I should, but there is a supremely satisfying feeling when instruments 1 through 7 suddenly interlock unexpectedly, and then melt away into something entirely different. It's the same principle that guides most great DFA cuts, though obviously operating under its own set of intentions. The whole "music as process" bit is also particularly difficult to do right, so pay mind where mind is due.

(To see the previous "favorite song" entry, click here.)