Many artists, once they reach the "safety zone" of having secured a few million sales and an equally important fan base, decide to engage in self-indulgent activities such as side projects. Remember U2's The Passengers? No? Didn't think so. System of a Down's lead singer Serj Tankian has teamed
up with fellow Armenian Arto Tuncboyaciyan for a collision course of musical genres. The singer spotted the multi-instrumentalist, multi-talented avant-garde folk artist Arto when he performed using a Coke bottle at the 2000 Armenian Music Awards in Los Angeles. Two years later, their project Serart – a contraction of their names and the first release through Serj's label Serjical Strike – is as unpredictable and surprising and boundless as their use of instruments. Everything has the potential to make music.

Traditional instruments such as Arto's pockets, commonly used to make bird sounds, and "wilder" instruments like the electric guitar are only some of the tools used to make this album. Serj and Arto often depend on themselves to produce sound (though I cannot say if they fall into the traditional category or not).

The product of pure improvisation – Serj claims nothing was pre-written – Serart is one continuous medley of genres, crossing oceans and continents and decades. Rock, jazz, metal, Armenian, African, Chinese, Japanese music come together forming a kaleidoscope of mini sonic booms. Musical worlds collide, rebuild themselves, then explode into something unexpected – and right when you least expect
them to.

"Devil's Wedding" is a sort of ritual African dance taking place in China by an indigenous tribe. The vibes are haunting; the spell is cast. The "sadana" (which means devil in Armenian and other languages) is repeatedly heard in the chorus, as if to call on the gods to bless this wedding of sounds. "Cinema" gives off false hints of a George Clinton sample, but it unpredictably falls into a jazz scat, then metal,
before traveling to China. And that's just a few of the many genres in that one track. The rest of the album is equally unpredictable taking you on a voyage of rich sounds very often fronted by Arto, who haunts and mesmerizes with his voice from some past epoch. Serj's whispering narration on "Black Melon" is like a climax to the aforementioned wedding party. Images of post-battle desolation and the apocalypse are conjured up amid the war sounds of "Love Is the Peace." Many of the tracks, such as "Claustrophobia," are written – sorry, improvised – in LA minor, the key in which many Armenian folk songs are composed, the "sad" key. This album is the soundtrack to a black-and-white film of an intellectual nature. An experimental film.

That's just it – Serart is more about experimentation than improvisation. Just listen to the structured melodies. Improvisation may give the idea that, hey, they sat in a studio and played whatever took their fancy, like on "Gee-Tar." And in some instances you may believe that, but the album contains carefully arranged melodies. Beautiful "Narina," featuring vocals by Jenna Ross, is probably the most marketable track.

That said, when artists step outside the finely drawn boundaries of commercial music to produce side projects such as this, while the result may be interesting and colorful, it may also end up gathering dust on your CD rack.

The Serart Web Links:
http://www.serart.net/
http://www.serart.net/ecard/

:: Rock & pop: this week's album releases