SCHMOOZING WITH THE APRÈS GARDE

"The first sounds to be heard are those of a crowd, probably the après garde ofthe title which is subjected to an alien sawing sound, as though said crowd werebeing sawn through. A single note is played forcefully on a piano as if in annoyance at the chattering that surrounds it. The piano fills the sonic foreground. More notes twinkling into the upper registers are interrupted by distorting echoes of themselves. Down again and then welling upwards. There's a feeling of near-claustrophobia, as though the pianist and his instrument were hemmed into the corner of the room by the party going on around them."