Ran into Evan Miller, who recently transplanted here from Iowa City, at a Grouper show the other week and he handed me off a copy of the new Plane tape, which is his guitar duo project with Phil Ochs. I've been really digging it. Rare Youth, run by one of my favorite drone/improvers Geoff Mullen out of Providence/New England, put the tape out and I just got in touch with him about stocking the tapes, so I'll have those in a little bit, along with a couple other choice Rare Youth items, including a Keith Fullerton Whitman tape which I couldn't be more excited about. Anyway, getting the Plane tape was a reminder of the huge backlog of tapes I haven't had time to write about, Evan's tape for Gel among them:

EVAN MILLER - CONTRACTING THE EYE - GEL06
Two placid, shimmering drones from Evan, each given it's own side. They are very appealing in their focused simplicity. The theme here is the soft, shifting pulse of two near-frequency tones. The glacial evolution of the work refuses narrative or linear dynamics, yet the pieces never quite slip into the background, moving at just the right pace to appear static but never actually settle. $6