God Is Greatest

Until recently the Dorgon (or Mr. Dorgon, as he is credited here) name has usually been applied to sax outings with our man behind the moniker using other names, like DJ$Shot, for non-reed experiments. God Is Greatest though, is a mix of loops, turntable manipulation, and electronics with nary a recognizable saxophone in its workings. There are three long textural pieces built around lo-fi loops, records played backward, and layers of hiss and electronic fizzle. As the name reveals, the first, "BagpipeVinylVersion," is built around loops of bagpipes that are layered into a colossal chiming drone. The second, "Memorialday," incorporates backwards vocals, choppy hip-hop beats, and what sounds like bagpipes yet again, although even more processed and distorted than the first time around. One short track, "Spicy," breaks up the longer, ponderous workouts with a sweetly warped and distorted keyboard melody that would be at home on the soundtrack to Eraserhead. The third collage, "BustUpshot," sounds like someone attempting to scratch a record over a confused dancehall/British 2-step beat -- and surprisingly, it works well. Or at least the rough, loose style that Dorgon applies to the turntable is synchronous with his other work, primitive but effective and that, really, is Dorgon in a nutshell. God Is Greatest has the endlessly searching quality of a home taper's experiments with a four-track, which is both endearing and disappointing, as it's hard to recommend that any listener visit this album more than once.