Sonic Absorption has several good pieces. Ostensibly linked to the horrific dragging death of James Byrd in Jasper, Texas, Christian Marclay's Guitar Drag subjects an electric guitar to the same treatment. I was enthralled by the epic montage and well-paced intercutting between three classes of sound--solo howling guitar, the guitar atop pavement (or amid underbrush), and a roaring truck drowning everything else out--yet the metaphor doesn't hold: Byrd was chained and killed in Jasper; Marclay used a rope and filmed in San Antonio. In music, sonic metaphors (and their limping cousins, liner notes) wear out over time: Effective political pieces make direct use of pertinent source material.
Other must-hear highlights of Sonic Absorption include Ted Apel's Potential Difference, whose buzzing, tinkling, and ringing piezo-disc-implanted light bulbs startle a closely placed ear and eye. I adored the spaciously chirping birds of Joe Diebes' Aviary and Secret, and a couch spilling secrets recorded by Yumi Roth and Rosemary Williams, but the absence of acoustic isolation sometimes mars these works. Don't miss Perri Lynch's Soliton and Ashley Hope Carlisle's untitled cones, the best of which bristles with wood chunks resembling Rice Chex. Both blorped, burped, and roared enough to keep me coming back. CHRISTOPHER DELAURENTI
Sonic Absorption runs through Sun April 4 (Consolidated Works, 500 Boren Ave N, 381-3218), Thurs-Fri 4-8 pm and Sat-Sun 1-8 pm, $5 suggested donation.
