AMG All Music Guide

What Is It Like to Be a Bat
Artist Brazelton/Naphtali
Album Title What Is It Like to Be a Bat
Date of Release Jun 24, 2003
AMG Rating ****
Genre Rock
Library View Click here to see this album in MARC format
Product Purchase Click here to buy this album
 AMG REVIEW

Bat? CDWhile not knowing what it's like to be a bat, it should become fairly obvious within a few minutes what it's like to listen to a recording so unbelievably complex, organized, and chaotically funny that one can forget all one knows about contemporary music and its various genres. This is punk rock without punk rock and free jazz transformed by a reliance on found sounds; stop-on-a-dime arrangement; insane, seedy Lower East Side production; and absolutely no songs. The no songs part isn't a detriment, as Brazelton and partner in disorder and mania Dafna Naphtali wreak havoc with great glee upon notions of song, electronic production, improvisation, and avant-garde music as well. Using all manners of guitars, samplers, drums, and machines, this duo (with the help of a couple of friends) rips the entire postscript that is postmodern rock to the ground. And they laugh their asses off while doing it. It will not do to pretend and classify this kind of "fun" as the same kind offered by Los Lobos, Jad Fair, Yuka Honda, and Captain Beefheart, but it is safe to say that there is nothing whatsoever safe or reassuring on this recording. Brilliant and dangerous. --- Thom Jurek


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related links:

"What Is It Like To Be A Bat?" the band

"What Is It Like To Be A Bat?" the CD

Tzadik, the label

Other CDs by Kitty Brazelton

Kitty Brazelton, composer

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MARC Format

100 1 ‡aBrazelton/Naphtali

245 10 ‡aWhat Is It Like to Be a Bat ‡h[sound recording].

300 ‡a1 sound disc : ‡bdigital ; ‡c4 3/4 in. ++‡e1 booklet 1 v. (unpaged) : ill. / 12 cm. 500 ‡aCompact disc. 505 00 ‡tShe Said - She Said, "Can You Sing...‡g(PBrazelton) --‡tShe Said - She Said, "Can You Sing...‡g(PBrazelton) --‡tShe Said - She Said, "Can You Sing...‡g(PBrazelton) --‡tShe Said - She Said, "Can You Sing...‡g(PBrazelton) --‡tShe Said - She Said, "Can You Sing...‡g(PBrazelton) --‡tShe Said - She Said, "Can You Sing...‡g(PBrazelton) --‡t‰She Said - She Said, "Can You Sing...‡g(PBrazelton) --‡t5 Dreams; Marriage: Aria 1‡g(PBrazelton) --‡t5 Dreams; Marriage: Answer 1‡g(PBrazelton) --‡t5 Dreams; Marriage: Aria 2‡g(PBrazelton) --‡t5 Dreams; Marriage: Answer 2‡g(PBrazelton) --‡t‰5 Dreams; Marriage: Aria 3‡g(â3:28) --‡t5 Dreams; Marriage: Answer 3‡g(PBrazelton) --‡t5 Dreams; Marriage: Aria 4‡g(PBrazelton) --‡t5 Dreams; Marriage: Answer 4‡g(PBrazelton) --‡t5 Dreams; Marriage: Aria 5‡g(PBrazelton) --‡t‰5 Dreams; Marriage: Answer 5‡g(PBrazelton) --‡t5 Dreams; Marriage: Glory Chorale‡g(PBrazelton) --‡t‡g(â2:43)

511 0 ‡aTom Mark (Engineer), Kazunori Sugiyama (Associate Producer), Danny Tunick (Bass (Electric), Drums, Vocals, Recorder (Soprano), Sampling, Octopad), John Zorn (Executive Producer), Scott Hull (Mastering), Jamie Saft (Mixing), Marc PoKempner (Photography), Paul Geluso (Vocals, Engineer, Editing, Mixing), Kitty Brazelton (Arranger, Bass (Electric), Composer, Vocals, Engineer, Computers, Sampling, Editing, Mixing, Processing, Field Recording), Heong-Heung "Chippy" Chin (Design), Dafna Naphtali (Arranger, Composer, Guitar (Electric), Programming, Vocals, Editing, Mixing, Max, Live Recording), Jill Peltzman (Cover Photo, Inlay Photography)

590 Record created by All Media Guide. http://www.allmusic.com

650 0 ‡aAvant-Garde

650 0 ‡aModern Composition

650 0 ‡aExperimental

650 0 ‡aMixed Media 650 0 ‡aRock

700 1 ‡aMark, Tom

700 1 ‡aSugiyama, Kazunori

700 1 ‡aTunick, Danny

700 1 ‡aZorn, John

700 1 ‡aHull, Scott

700 1 ‡aSaft, Jamie

700 1 ‡aPoKempner, Marc

700 1 ‡aGeluso, Paul

700 1 ‡aBrazelton, Kitty

700 1 ‡aChin, Heong-Heung "Chippy"

700 1 ‡aNaphtali, Dafna