I have never heard of Argentinian electro-acoustic improvisational musician Federico Barabino prior to receiving this CD to review, and he apparently has a slew of releases going back to 2004, obviously none of which I am familiar with. On 'Can You Listen To the Silence Between the Notes?' Barabino utilizes only electric guitar and no input mixer for one 33:49 minute long track. It begins with some sparse electric guitar improvisation ' a few languid jazz guitar chords and riffs, and then'¦silence..for a while. Eventually a sound emerges that had me believing my tinnitus was coming back. It is fairly subtle and sustained without pitch variation. Soft lazy guitar notes and chordal figures are played over this sporadically, but the guitar ceases after a while. The sustained tone intermittently cuts in and out like a broken patch cord. Later it develops into the noisy hum of a really bad connection. It ends with the noise subsiding and more gentle, sparse guitar improvisation.

Okay, I'm not getting this at all. This is either beyond me, or I'm beyond it. It is not something I can even rate. I don't throw in the towel very often, but I cannot see the point of this. This kind of avant-garde music can be intellectualized and analyzed to the nth degree, but I have to ask- Did I enjoy it? Did it make me think or feel something? Did I have any clue as to what the artist was trying to accomplish? The answer to all three questions is a resounding NO, and I'm not ashamed to admit it.