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    Levin Marotta Gorn --- From the Caves of the Iron Mountain
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From the Caves of the Iron Mountain is an album recorded inside the
Widow Jane Mine in the Catskill Mountains.  The artists featured on
the album are Tony Levin (King Crimson, Peter Gabriel), Jerry Marotta
(Gabriel, The Indigo Girls), and Steve Gorn (Glen Velez and Jerome
Robbins' New York City Ballet).

From the Caves is a very John Cage-ish sort of an album, but the
primarily difference from Cage's work is that there is a /mix/ of
background ambience and sophisticated instrumentation in the music.
The album opens with just the background noise in the caves,
illustrating exactly what the ambience is like, followed by the
interplay between Levin's Chapman Stick, Marotta's Taos Drums, and
Gorn's Bansuri Bamboo flute. The instrumentation is minimalist and
subtle, and the natural reverb, the noise of the crickets, the sound
of water, all add to the beauty of the music.

The flute makes the album very "eastern" sounding, and the
accompanying drums have a primal feel to them.  Levin "holds down the
bottom" while playing some cool riffs every so often.  His is the only
instrument that could be classified as "rock" and the contrast enhances
the quality and mood of this album.  The music could be best described
as Eastern-jazz.

The recording is binaural, which means that when you hear it over the
headphones, you will be listening to exactly what was heard in the
caves.  I personally didn't notice that much of a difference between
using headphones and using a good stereo system.

Some of the tracks could easily serve as sound track to a Tim Burton
movie.  This is not an album you can listen to sitting down (unless
you're a music fanatic and interested in the technicalities), but it's
definitely one you can pop in your car as you drive cross-country.

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      Levin Marotta Gorn --- Tales from the Widow Jane Mine
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In the video, which shows how the album From the Caves of the Iron
Mountain (see review above) was made, not only do you get to see how
the recording was accomplished amidst the caves, but also the
interplay between the three musicians who recorded the album, which is
fascinating at times.

It's great to see faces put to this recording, which makes it seem all
the more down-to-earth.  There is motivation given for use of the
unique instruments in the record, which clearly brings out the passion
in the players as they record this unique piece of music.

The PR info I got has the comment: "From the Caves of the Iron
Mountain is such a special project, in that it encompasses an
atmosphere, a place so special that its presence is felt in every
note."  Watching the video and listening to the album in the quiet of
my room, it almost feels like you're in the Widow Jane Mine listening
to Levin, Marotta and Gorn do their thing.

Both the video and album aren't available in stores anywhere, but can
be gotten through the Papa Bear Records web site
(http://www.papabear.com).