(P)Review of Rick Walker's PURPLE HAND CD

[Tim Nelson <psychle62@yahoo.com>]

Rick Walker has more personae than Sally Field did as
Sybil. First, there’s Rick Walker the WorldBeat
percussionist. Then, as L()()p.p()()L, Rick is a
dayglo green live looper and concert/festival
impresario. There’s a goth character with what seems
to be a shifting moniker; is it Lament or
UltraViolette, or are those separate, autonomous
facets of the Rick Walker experience?

For the past two years, Rick has been working on a
computer-based abstract electronica project, and with
its release comes yet another musical persona: Purple
Hand.

I’ve had Purple Hand in my CD player for a couple of
weeks now, and I still don’t feel like I’ve heard the
whole thing. That’s good.

The disc opens with ‘Silky Blue’, a shimmering
sequence beneath which a deep synth bassline swims
like some shapeshifting leviathan. On ‘Old Habits Die
Hard’ and ‘Relax’, Rick (or should we call him Mr.
Hand now?) approaches the bass guitar (or what sounds
like one) in a percussive manner that leaves no doubt
as to his background as a drummer. One of Walker’s
strengths on this recording comes when he remembers
that he’s a world-class percussionist; in
‘Conversation Never Had’, the melodic content occupies
the spaces behind the rhythm like shadowy figures
lurking behind tree trunks, the percussion providing a
foreground rather than a background, an interesting
way to frame the sonic picture.

Slow, stately and hovering, ‘Goodbye Noel’ explores
faux-reverse dynamics, and the echoed thump of a
steady, unhurried frame drum lends ‘Hayli’s Song’ an
ominous air. ‘Sumping Funky I Cooked Up Tonight’ would
not be out of place on a TransGlobal Underground
album, while the album closer ‘Wish You’d Change Your
Mind’, elegantly panning like Max Middleton’s Rhodes,
manages to be both retro and futuristic at the same
time. 

Check it out!

-t-

ps: I've included Rick's contact information below...

--- "loop.pool" <looppool@cruzio.com> wrote:

> It is also available through the mail by sending a
> $15 check to:
> Rick Walker
> Purple Hand
> 412 Darwin Street
> Santa Cruz, California
> 95062-2629
> 
> For the next month, anyone who mentions Loopers
> Delight can not only buy the 
> CD for $12, but I will also donate $5 of those
> dollars  to
> Kim Flint, our illustrious leader here at L.D.
> 
> This also goes for any CD in the L()()p.p()()L
> discography:
> 
> Loop.pooL (2001)
> Translucent Dayglo Lime Green Plastic (2002)
> Faux Voix (2003)
> Purple Hand (2005) 
> 
> 



                
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