[From the press kit] ""Montauk Project," also called the Phoenix Project during some of its phases, was a covert government’s ultra-to-secret electromagnetic mind control and time experiment project that took place during the 1970’s and early ?80’s at an abandoned Air Force radar base at the southeast tip of Long Island, New York. GS provides you with the perfect soundtrack to go further into this secret world."

I usually come at this kind of music as an opportunity to create a mood, and it seems to be more effective the less context I give to the piece. Considering its abstract nature less is more when it comes to saying what it all means. GS is attempting to give us a look at mind control presumably from the inside out, that is, from the subject’s point of view. The disk contains what one would expect from the title, lots of electronic noise and tones depicting various states of mind representative to electronic mind control. But since this is music and not a psychological dissertation we ask the question: does it succeed? I would say that it does if this is an attempt at portraying an inner journey effected by outer manipulation.

This project is comprised of the duo Niels van Hoorn (soprano sax, etc.) and Richard van Kruysdijk (Electronics, softsynths, samples, etc.). When there’s a sax player anywhere in the mix you immediately think jazz, and there’s plenty of that kind of thing ging on here, but this is modern jazz, and a bit RIO. All kinds of music is presented here, from traditional arrangements to abstract noise and atmospherics. This was originally released as vinyl as Rorschach & Rorschach II. But here’s the tracks individually:

1. Rorschach

angular soprano sax melody, dissonant harmony, busy jazz drumming, buzzy electro bass in a repeating pattern with various embellishments added each time the theme comes around leads immediately into

2. Black Earth

synths set up an harmonic tension underpinning with harmonized soprano sax in delay mode on top, various electronic effects for added sonic seasoning, busy drumming to hold it all together

3. Alpha

heavy halting drums over delayed electro tones, white noise, leading into

4. Omega

jazzy electric piano and female vox and drum programming, reeds and flutes in accompaniment mode

5. Simulcra

scratchy samples in loop mode, noisy percussion added to repeating synth melody figure, slowly building and changing form, new melodies and patterns added but holding the same center of melodic gravity held in place by bass clarinet

6. The Mind Travels Further Than The Body

ominous, dissonant voices, a pulse, a distant calling horn

7. Never Say Never

the voice of LPD tells us another of his strange stories in his usual style

8. In the End It’s All Pretend

jazzy fretless bass sets the tone of rain on windows, slowly moving crowds with heads down staring at the sidewalk, living inside their own heads

9. Dreamtime

treated vocals (by Richard Sinclair of Hatfield and the North) on a bed of wispy synths, driven by a repeated bass figure saxes and drums

10. Scrap Metal

back beat with dissonant melody and counterpoint, cute/creepy I would describe this

11. Fishface

vocals by the LPD guy again using the melody line from the previous track , dark atmospherics added for extra depth, "feed me" he says, a fishy tale, water samples used as rhythm section is a nice touch

12. 26 September

a musical question mark for electronics and soprano sax

13. Five Below Nothing

Sax section of Tenor, Bari, and Bass all played by Hoorn. Good drum programming since the track credits list no one else helping. Goes straight into

14. Melancholy Station

vocals by Marie-Claudine Vanvlemen of Sonar Lodge, with vibe based jazz combo, nice

15. Undone

I think I recognize a Mahavishnu Orchestra sample being used or am I going to get someone in trouble here. The looped sample is accompanied by a bass clarinet, and more vocals by Marie-Claudine

16. Fifteen Years Of Sorrow

same MO sample used but with soprano sax accompaniment this time, vocals by Ka-Spel this time, dreamy synth pads and deep bass add to the mood, aha, I think I hear a Soft Machine sample too! track builds nicely around the vocals

1. Hypothetical Tardigrade Resurrection, Parts 2 & 3 visit the dark – a door opens – enter and leave all hope behind – met by many witnesses – force of habit leaves me cold – ambivalence and seduction merge and couple – a foundation of questioning rises and falls before our fetid eyes – born of fire and ice we continue 2. Perekluchenie: The Stairway to the Blue Light Subsides schizoacoustic musings – my eardrums imploded and shredded – blood boiling and boiled 3. Wretched Density Iberian landscape of waving trees and dry grass leaning towards the crooked arms of time’s subtle caress – foolish fight, foolish knight 4. Hypothetical Tardigrade Resurrection, Parts 4,5 & 6 sunrise announced by hard light rays of yellow gold – purposeful reflection on sonic paranoia – should we run and hide? – steel wings steal pass lightly and alight – windows – full frontal – communal mind of lasting grace – purification – deception – the attendant signs – focus the right and left descending might 5. Milking the Dead for Distraction distraction and struggle – reach toward the inner out – shards of heavy air – vibrating motes of eyes

The Infant Cycle – Unrelated Work Tapes pointillistic evolutionary waves of iconic life forms – new realms of auditory generation – joyful embraces – jagged children incensed by time – a bidding and biding – the path of patient distress is followed – ARC – Raw Circle hesitant ambience – on the verge without fear – point of fact point of view – square seven – phonetic flight of fancy – arrival of the fittest – winged meme

1. 02:18 continental ideographic phoneme 2. 06:28 finding the words – tragic traffic and trance – sonic font of Faustian proportions – hovering primal warfare - a surface tension - the patina of blood and soil 3. 04:28 southern ideographic phoneme – wall of rounded wave bullets swimming in the ether 4. 05:09 mime the light fantastic – lightly spin the glow – mind the outlet and ignore the pun – rather a fin than a claw 5. 03:19 do funny things! – run amok and mud – spell the spell – a portion of potion for the mind – climb the hill and see the end – chaos as fashion – fall apart 6. 03:39 insect Muse – fortean dreamer – past tense life 7. 00:59 rhythm – sound – other mind 8. 03:56 data overflow – attitudinal cascade – cupidity – solemnity – parsimonious flaw 9. 12:06 rim rhyme Rimbaud – circle of black – the oscillation of indecision – structural interjection – blow blue absurdity – sequential masks of burning glass – semitransparent – photogenetic eyes of rind