Rick Brown is an administrative assistant in daily life and Che Chen works in a medical institute. Years ago, this New York duo met at My Space where they shared their distinct musical ideas. Since then they have been active as 75 Dollar Bill, with Chen on guitar and Brown on mostly improvised percussion instruments such as boxes and barrels. Their often drawn-out and bluesy drone pieces come to
… full bloom at I Was Real. As in Indian ragas, each repeating song has to get going before slowly strikes the trance and the music seems to rise. But there is also always steaming blues in especially the raw playing of Chen. I Was Real thus becomes a bizarre musical journey around the world, from to and the North African desert blues. It is mainly the mesmerizing world of this illustrious duo themselves that makes an impression. (MR)more
