Thomas Belhom, Cheval Oblique (side A)

At the New York Art Book Fair this past fall, a table with some beautifully-packaged records on it intrigued me, but my initial conversation with the fellow selling them mostly confused me. His descriptions were fairly confusing, and I wasn't sold. The more I talked to Volker, I realized that we have a lot of common friends (from his touring in Calexico), and our long conversation about Peter Kowald left me curious about these albums. Knowing nothing about Thomas Belhom, I bought Cheval Oblique, which Volker put out in 2007 (the label is called Apparent Extent). Belhom is primarily a percussionist, and he plays most instruments on this record. I'd loosely describe it as a cross between Radian and Les Batteries, both of whom are only slightly less obscure then Belhom—maybe that's why Volker had such a hard time too?