TOMMY GUERRERO & GADGET
Hoy Yen Ass'n (Function 8)
Reviewed by DJ Johnson

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I've said it before and I'll say it again. WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!? Seems the music of this duo leaves me bemused and askin' that question fairly often. This time it's because I just listened to a beautiful, peaceful, haunting piece that features a man's slightly off kilter voice repeating "He's dyin', dyin', dyin' in the ditch." So much for love songs.

Hoy Yen Ass'n is a hodge podge of recordings from the career of the duo, including their first 12-incher, "Weed On The Tree, Forty On The Floor," and it's harder to find flipside, "2 Days Later." The A-side of their second 12, "Mechanism," is here, too, closing out the CD. And yet it doesn't sound like pot luck.

Tommy Guerrero's bass grooves and Gadget's drum programming are the main ingredients and always have been. There are a million of 'em out there and most don't add up to anything more than an okay way to pass eight minutes of mesmerized web-surfing. Not so in this case. You've got to stop and listen. They've got ears of their own, ears that can hear some simple sound and minds that can imagine it expanded into something greater. They have friends that send them tape loops. Wait'll you hear what they do with those. Johnny Herndon sends them a sultry little loop of vibraphone sounds and they turn it into something totally different. Gadget's a wizard drum programmer, and Guerrero can handle guitar, bass, keyboards and a laundry list of instruments. Now and then they enlist the help of Gadget's Godfather, Merle Saunders, who plays a very soulful Hammond organ, and a few other guests pop up here and there.

One of the most memorable moments involves what sounds like a few hundred guests. "Let's Get Out The Village is a legitimate party with a lot of people having a wild time, yelling, conversing over the sounds of handclaps, drumloops and Guerrero's simple but funky bass line. Eventually, everyone begins to chant "Let's get out the village" over and over. This isn't a genre that is synonymous with fun, but they were sure having some. Me too.

© 2001 - DJ Johnson