BENTLEY, MEL - Red Green Blue

Algorithmic language detritus. Tape devolution. Queasy string work and pescatarian poetry. Vitrine closes out its Fall batch with the first audio publication from Philadelphia-based writer and artist Mel Bentley. This follows such strong showings as 2013-¢‚Ǩ‚Ѣs & parts, released as a chapbook through Damask Press. Red Green Blue collects a wide berth of live performances and stray discomfort. Bentley-¢‚Ǩ‚Ѣs writing evokes Black Tarantula-era Kathy Acker bisected by Ron Silliman and the panoply of Nathaniel Mackay. Aggregate Internet waste and epistolary diversion. Red Green Blue-¢‚Ǩ‚Ѣs melange of text, field recordings, free improv intersections and tape manipulation harkens back to the openness of cassette magazines such as Underwhich Audiographics or Edition S Press. The Dundee Telegrams by the Paxton Group and Paula Claire is a somewhat probable touchstone, though there is a palpable vitality to these sonic extensions unfettered by reference or deference. Recitation ranges from the languid to the deadpan to a heated stumble of apprehension. There-¢‚Ǩ‚Ѣs a freeness to these live recordings, as Bentley presents a variety of perspectives to approach the writing. The latent air within the performance space, the shuffle and cough of the audience and a torrent of rain fall on Baltimore Avenue are all given their opportunity alongside the character of Bentley-¢‚Ǩ‚Ѣs formidable poetry. -¢‚Ǩ-ìWhy can-¢‚Ǩ‚Ѣt I dig my way out of a personality.-¢‚Ǩ¬ù Limited to 100 copies. - Vitrine.