Red Crayola

With the entirely new music statement, Sighs Trapped by Liars, The Red Krayola renew their association with conceptual artists, Art & Language. Beginning in 1973, their collaboration includes the video projects 'Nine Gross and Conspicuous Errors,' and 'Struggle in New York,' as well as the much-acclaimed and decried music releases, Corrected Slogans, Kangaroo?, and Black Snakes. Thirty years has mellowed the various parties not at all. The faint-hearted might want to swallow something calming before giving Sighs Trapped by Liars a spin. Sighs Trapped by Liars is as much a delightful bit of latter-day entertainment as it is a sensational musical excursion not trapped in any era. The composers of Red Krayola classics such as 'Keep All Your Friends,' 'Portrait of V.I.Lenin in the Style of Jackson Pollock,' 'Black Snakes,' and 'Born In Flames' have made another try at negotiating the relationship between language and music in this new collection. Speaking in a contemporary (and frequently foul-mouthed) voice they say something we could all stand to hear -- in a popular music format that we can all enjoy. Those expecting a further trip into the radical leftist pamphleteering of the former works will have to listen closely; these are new songs for new days. Perspectives are taken from quotes, exhibits and jokes of history are translated into material that addresses the state of the art. This music couldn't be made without the experiences and politics of former days. The questions the '60s asked about the very idea of music and objects inform the practice today; the relationship of these new songs to the old ones is projective and analytical, subject to change without notice.