b r a n d o n

While Shalabi Effect experimented with accessible song formats and melodies on their previous album, Pink Abyss, with the live Unfortunately we're back to total obtuseness and lengthy drones. At least, that's the impression that one would get just from listening to the first track, 13 minutes of the most uncompromisingly unstructured, unmelodic, un-anything music that this band has yet recorded. Consisting of creepy wheezes and moans (of both the instrumental and vocal kind) over incessant drones and electronics, there's not much to hang onto here, and it might be enough to scare off even the die-hard fan of Shalabi Effect's earlier material. But Shalabi Effect are nothing if not unpredictable, and so "Pai Nai" abruptly introduces a straightforward guitar riff that's repeated throughout its brief duration. Then the listener is returned to the dark, claustrophic depths of bump-and-scrape improvisation over drones and monotonous beats in the next two tracks — this time slightly more accessible than the opener, but not by much. Luckily for those looking for something easier, the second half of the album is far more "musical" in the conventional sense, opened by gentle acoustic guitar strumming in "Half Life" (that leads into several minutes of nearly inaudible improvisation, but still, it's a start). The high point is probably "Harpie," in which Shalabi Effect goes back to the Middle Eastern influences that characterized The Trial of St-Orange and uses them to craft a slow-burning jam with hints of Popol Vuh's spirituality. Unfortunately is technically a live album, but it's been culled from three nights' worth of improvised performances, features no crowd noise, and feels like a studio effort. The first half of the album is a bit too obtuse for me, and I find it rather boring if not in the right mood. The latter half is much more to my tastes, but unfortunately (no pun intended) even the high points here — "Harpie" and the haunting, cinematic "Vegas Radiation" — aren't up to snuff compared to some of the band's earlier output. Unfortunately is Exhibit #1 of why I often really enjoy free improv in a live setting, but can't find the same enjoyment of it on record. An album that can be safely avoided by anyone but established Shalabi Effect fans, and then even by some of those. review by Brandon Wu — 6-15-06 —