In mathematics there is the concept of an Erdos Number. Paul Erdos was a rather prolific, itinerant mathematician, who would arrive and announce, "my brain is open." In this way, he collaborated with an extraordinary number of mathematicians. One's Erdos Number describes how closely you collaborated with Erdos. To have an Eros Number of 1 means that you collaborated with him directly. Having a number of 2 means that you collaborated with someone who collaborated with Erdos, and so on down the line (one of my undergrad math professors has an Erdos Number of 3 – Hi, Zinovy Reichstein!).

By the same token, we could easily have a Dimuzio Number for those of us in experimental music, in looking at the sheer number of people that Dimuzio has collaborated with on this set alone (for the record, my Dimuzio Number would be 2). Just to give you a taste of some of the bands included here, we have Amber Asylum, Wobbly, Antimatter, Arcane Device, Thee Majesty, Illusion of Safety, Reynols, Matmos, Sharkiface, Doctor Nerve, and many, many, many others. All of these are a great way to show how synergy works. Dimuzio is in his own right a rather versatile musician, but this is showcased on the various duos, trios, and combos. As the label describes it, "49 Artists, 28 shows, 10 years… Thomas Dimuzio and friends deliver a stunning live anthology of noise, dark ambient, textural, experimental, and electro-acoustic music in distinct duo, trio, and combo configurations. Exquisite excerpts combine the sublime synergy of live spontaneous music with the visceral energy of the stage across this colossal and compelling collection."

Sounds good, so let's dive in. Three hours of music is a lot to review individually, so let's think about some word cloud associations. Here are some of the thoughts that I had as I listened to this set. Metallic percussion. Clanging metal. Gong. Broken tape recorder. Malfunctioning tape recorder. Penny Whistle at a festival. Squeaky cat toy being mauled. Bass drone. Resonance. Creativity. Most importantly, synergy. The beauty of this set is that none of them particularly sound like any of them individually. Indeed, this seems to be Dimuzio's genius. He seems able to draw out elements of the individual artist that you wouldn't otherwise expect.

There is a wide variety on this set. For example, on "Irritable Distance (Excruciating Proximity)" with Chuck Bettis, Nick Didkovsky, and Michael Lytle we have heavy bass drone pulses with squiggly tape noises that then gives way to saxophone and sparse electronics. On the other hand, "Paging Rubber Chickens" with Scott Amendola and Philip Greenlief gives us a kind of freak out free jazz that you'd expect to hear on Public Eyesore Records. It begins sparse and then gets more and more frenetic with saxophone and drums. "Suspension of Disbelief" with Evelyn Davis, Dan Burke, and Jeanie-Aprille Tang is a master class in musical tension, with heavy amounts of reverb and female vocals that are processed beyond recognition that then give way to heavy percussion. And you have to love the range of titles; where else will you find "The Dildo Factory" on the same disc as "Yesterday Died and Tomorrow Won't Be Born" (which is as ominous as it sounds) and "Collecting Particles Under a Dying Sun" (which is a lovely, almost hypnotic track)?

The tracks are as varied as the artists Dimuzio collaborates with, ranging from noisy to peaceful and calm. If you like experimental music, this is one well worth picking up. Highly recommended.