Clarice Jensen - For This From That Will Be Filled (Miasmah, 2018) ****

By Stef Gijssels

It's amazing that musicians release solo albums as their first album ever. A daring undertaking, but Clarice Jensen wouldn't be the first one. It's a courageous adventure: you're on your own. Any comment or criticism touches you, and you only. There is no escape behind an ensemble or behind others.

Clarice Jensen is a classically trained cellist from the Juilliard School, and artistic director of the American Contemporary Music Ensemble (ACME). She is equally comfortable playing Bach's cello suites as recording and performing with pop idols such as Paul McCartney, Nick Cave or The Arcade Fire.

On this album, she does something else entirely, using effects and loops which hide the performance of the single instrument in long, almost ambient and drone-like developments.

The first track was co-composed with the late Icelandic composer Jóhann Jóhannsson, and offers slow, almost meditative cello sounds, to which additional layers are added, some higher, some lower, creating a very spacious atmosphere. The second track, "Cello Constellations", blends no less than 25 multi-tracked cellos intersecting computer-generated sine waves, yet despite this, there is no wall of sound, but rather a fragile fabric of gliding tones, that slowly, very slowly develops and gets more momentum and power. The last two tracks, "For This From That Will Be Filled", are again carefully construed, with sounds that swell and subside like waves, mimicking the deep resonance of a pipe organ, majestic and massive, with repetitive cello phrases piercing through the backdrop, meditative and insistent, shifting into again a multi-layered foundation for its second part, intense and dark, slow and majestic, and out of this dense mesh, for the first time on the album a single cello improvisation can be heard, discernible and pure, accompanied by announcements from New York's Grand Central terminal.

Even if it's not remotely related to jazz, Jensen's musical vision, and her deliberate intent to create some new listening experience, will probably also please quite a number of our readers. It is meditative at times, and clearly inspired by composers such as Bach and Glass at moments, as well as modern ambient and electronics.

Worth listening to, alone, on a quiet evening.

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Magda Mayas, Pierre-Yves Martel & Éric Normand - Boule-Spiel (Tour de Bras, 2017) ****

By Stef

Even if the trio is Magda Mayas on prepared piano, Pierre-Yves Martel on viola da gamba, feedback, objects, and Eric Normand on electric bass, speakers and snare drum, the instruments don't really matter. The trio's focus is on improvised sounds, little sounds, little noises, creating sonic universes that shift between the calm and the eery, the contemplative and the outright frightening. It is sound lifted beyond music, as a wonderful texture of things falling, scraping, hitting and plucking or just resonating, marbles rolling over strings? an endless bow on one string? metal gliding over all piano strings? piercing feedback through the speakers? raindrops hitting wood? wind rushing through leaves? animals crying in the distance? rhythmic industrial activity? a far unoiled metal door opening?

The sonic universe evolves at its own pace, slowly, slowly building, and growing within its own logic, or even lack thereof, within its own organic nature.  Every sound has its own space, carefully positioned, cautiously placed, audaciously created, resulting in a exquisite and intense listening experience. There is an incredible beauty in it, defined by its own aesthetic. There are emotions too: shifting, and sometimes superimposed, like sadness and fear and resignation all at the same time, like joy and distress and surprise as one feeling. You can't put your finger on it. And that makes it so wonderfully enjoyable.

Listen and download from Bandcamp.

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Jacaszek & Kwartludium - Catalogue Des Arbres (Touch, 2014) ****½

By Stef 

Minimal jazz and minimal free improv and electro-acoustic music and modern classical at times merge into some beautiful results. This one is a true gem. It is beyond genres, and of a subtlety and fragility that is beyond words, that can, actually, only be reflected by the sounds themselves.

The 'composer' is Michał Jacaszek, who tries to sonically evoke the sound of trees : "their forms, atmosphere and mystery", and in order to do so he first recorded the actual sound of the trees, turned them into a background drone, for Kwartludium, a Polish ensemble, to improvise on. The quartet are Dagna Sadkowska on violin, Michał Górczyński on clarinet, Paweł Nowicki on percussion, and Piotr Nowicki on the piano. After the improvisation, Jacaszek rearranged the sounds into its current collage.

The end result is absolutely stunning: surprising, moving, vulnerable, solid, vibrating and incredibly dynamic, and all this with an incredibly musical vision and sense of coherence.

No more words: listen to the music

 

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Marc Ducret - Tower-Bridge (Ayler Records, 2014) ****

Review by Joe

For all of those who haven't heard Marc Ducret's Tower series, now is maybe the time to start. This record represents the last instalment of an incredible journey through many musical territories, yet with one musical thread tying them together, that of Marc Ducret's original musical thinking. Tower-Bridge is the fifth, and supposedly last part of the series (see below) which took as its inspiration Vladimir Nabokov's novel Ada. There are copious liner notes - as liner notes throughout the various volumes - which give some explanations to the connection between the music and the book, but for this short review it is suffice to quote the Ayler Record's presentation which states, "[t]he music [is] composed to convey Nabokov's text complex structure and writing process"¹.

Although I reviewed several albums from the series - digital versions sent by Ayler records - so I haven't seen the covers.  However, I did get a hard copy of this latest record. I'll mention the music shortly but the packaging of this disc merits a detour. The album is made up of double CD, with triptych folding sleeve, a small booklet with extracts from Nabokov's Ada, and an interesting fold-out with some notes from Ducret - which include a score of his composition Real thing #3. A last bonus is quite a crowd draw, access to exclusive video content, a 23 minute film by Sylvain Lemaire titled Tower in the Mist. I won't tell you what's on the film, after all that would only spoil the surprise! So, what can I say except buying a 'physical' copy is well worth the money.

The music on the album is taken from two live concerts recorded in Strasbourg in 2012, producing around a 100 minutes of music over the two CDs. Like the previous albums, this recording re-examines pieces from the 'tower' series. An example such as sur l'électricité (tk1 CD1), has been presented in two formats. The first time was on volume two with Tim Berne: alto saxophone; Dominique Pifarély: violin and Tom Rainey on drums, along with Ducret on guitar. The second time was on volume four (an excellent album), where Ducret performed a selection of these pieces in solo format on acoustic guitar.² The appeal of Tower-Bridge lies more in the extended performances of these pieces, and of course the line extended up that performs them. The musicians, 12 in all, are the sum of all the albums in the series, forming a sort of mini big-band. This produces plenty of sparks and some fine music with powerful solos supported by tight ensemble playing.

If you haven't heard Marc Ducret's music before and you're open to rock meets free-jazz meets Zappa meets contemporary classical music, then you'll love this. There's plenty of dynamic interaction between the musicians. Ducret has a knack in providing action-packed pieces, his rhythmic concept often develops around tight interlocking contrapuntal lines to produce long melodies which have a logic of their own. He also loves to use dissonance as a tool, combining it with rhythm in a powerful combination.

There is so much on this record it would be impossible to delve into each piece. A few highlights include Tim Berne's inimitable alto leading the way on sur l'électricité (tk1 CD1). This track has a lot of information, a great theme, and plenty of muscular interludes with several gripping solos. The fantastical atmospheres conjured up in Real thing #1 (tk2 CD1) builds around a succession of duet/trio sections leading gradually to feature for the violin of Dominique Pifarély. Track 3 (CD1), real thing #2 has a wonderful strident solo from Kasper Tranberg (trumpet) who manages to ride over the heavy rocking ensemble, punctuated by powerful piano chord clusters. Softly her tower crumbled into the Sweet Silent Sun (tk1 CD2) flies out of the speakers like an angry neighbour shouting. The final track of the album L'Ombra di Verdi (tk3 CD2) produces a mysterious theme in the closing half which hangs somewhere between a film noir theme and a 6/8 rock ballad.

What else can we say about such a great record? I guess that if you haven't heard Ducret before this is a good place to start, there's fine compositions and performances all here. And, if you like this then you'll need no encouragement to look into his work even further. As for Marc Ducret fans, if you haven't got this one, buy it!

The website says this is a limited edition of 1000. 

Here's a video of the group live. The recording is more 'centred' sound-wise, but here you get some idea of the groups sound, and size. If you look for Ducret's Tower-bridge project on Youtube you'll find plenty of other examples. 

The musicians on this record are: Kasper Tranberg - trumpet; Dominique Pifarély - violin; Tim Berne - alto saxophone; Matthias Mahler - trombone; Fidel Fourneyron - trombone; Alexis Persigan - trombone; Frédéric Gastard - bass saxophone; Antonin Rayon - piano; Sylvain Lemêtre - percussion,vibraphone, xylophone, marimba; Tom Rainey - drums; Peter Bruun - drums and Marc Ducret - electric guitar

Other albums in the Tower-bridge series:
Tower, vol. 1, Tower, vol. 2, Tower, vol. 3, Tower, vol. 4

¹ http://www.ayler.com/marc-ducret-tower-vol-1.html, accessed Sept. 6, 2014.
² It's interesting to add that volume four is the only record that has pieces unique to that record. There are a few pieces which are re-examined from the other volumes, however, tracks: From a Distant Land; Sisters; Ada; ... A Distand Land; Sybil Vane, and Electricity (by Joni Mitchell), are to be found only on this album.  

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People - 3x a Woman: The Misplaced Files (Telegraph Harp, 2014) ***½

By Stefan Wood

"3xawoman" is the latest album by People, a group formed by guitarist Mary Halvorson and drummer Kevin Shea (of Mostly Other People Do the Killing).  Here, they are joined by bassist Kyle Forester and a brass section consisting of Peter Evans (trumpet), Sam Kulik (trombonist) and Dan Peck (tuba).

One would think that this group, given their pedigree, would be an exploration into jazz improvisation, but People is not about maintaining musical boundaries.  While the opening track, "Prolegomenon," essentially features only the brass players in an improvised chamber piece, the next track, "These Words Make Up the Lyrics of the Song," reveals a genre bending blend of alternative, punk, and free jazz, with Halvorson and Shea providing the hardcore elements offset by Evans, Kulik and Peck, who maintain a controlled and even temperament above the crushing din.  There is that dichotomy between the genres that inhabits the entire album, sometimes favoring jazz or improvisation, other times hardcore punk or math rock (pick your alternative subculture here). 

"What's So Woman About the Woman" is straight up punk, with Halvorson providing the low end rumble of the guitar and high end wailing vocals, with Shea just drilling his drum equipment to a pulp.  There's also a sense of humor throughout; a subversive send up of the alternative music from the past twenty five years.

The best track on the album, "The Lyrics Are Simultaneously About How The Song Starts and What the Lyrics are About," is a hilariously and fiendishly good showpiece for Halvorson and Shea, in a send up of the 60's classic "Madison Time," Shea literally lays out vocally the entire track, notifying time signature changes, structures, procedures, etc as if they were dance steps.  "Reinterpreting Confusing Lyrics To Popular Songs" is Shea wailing like Frank Black from the Pixies, incoherent, with acoustic guitar accompaniment.  The structure of the album also has a Minutemen "Double Nickels on the Dime" feel, with seven of the track at under 90 seconds, all of those concise sonic structures that rush into your listening experience and then abruptly leave. 

There are moments where the album settles a little too comfortably in the alternative music world -- "Interoperable Intertrigo" and "Piles for Miles" feel like they could have been pulled out from a Breeders album.  "3xawoman" is at its best as a subversive mashup, a sonic fun fest by seasoned musicians.

Recommended.

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Akio Suzuki - Mu Ro Bi Ko (Senufo, 2014) ***

By Stefan Wood

Akio Suzuki is known as a sound artist, one who examines the concept of making sounds, how it is heard, and the relationships between it and the listener.  For over 55 years he has devoted his art to the desire and art of listening to sounds, and he has performed internationally at galleries and performance spaces.

Mu Ro Bi Ko is a live recording of a performance in Milano, Italy, playing the Analapos (an echo instrument that Suzuki invented), rocks, and a glass harmonica.  It is only 34 minutes long, comprising of three tracks.  Analapos, running over 11 minutes, is a very concentrated effort comprising of sounds, vocals, etc., that are painterly in their use -- the elements are not linear, but seem to come in clusters, break up, then reappear in a different form.  The use of silence is very important, as one becomes very aware of it in relation to the sounds, like positive and negative.  Stones at just over six minutes is percussion using stones.  Glass Harmonica, the final piece, at over 15 minutes, is the most interesting track, as Suzuki seems to cull from a history of Japanese percussive music with a battery of rhythms and sounds, delicate and loud.

Mu Ro Bi Ko as a sound performance piece is an example of an experienced artist at work, and for those who are interested in sonic art, this is a welcome addition.

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Things That A Mutant Needs To Know, More Short And Amazing Stories (Unsounds, 2013) ****½

By Stef 

There are times when you weep at how music is turned into a commodity, the result of fast and cheap production, to be shoved into the maelstrom of sonic consumerism, the flavor of the day, and on to the next one. Luckily there are also exceptions, when the end product is presented like a gem, like something highly valuable, the result of lots of investments by various people, the result of a clear artistic vision, the result of passion, the result of love. 

This is the case with "Things That A Mutant Needs To Know, More Short And Amazing Stories", a wonderful book of literary texts, a collection of fifty-five short tales and fifty-five brief musical works composed and performed by some of today's most forward-thinking artists. 

The idea is the result of Reinaldo Laddaga repeating the initiative that Argentinian authors Jorge Luis Borges and Adolfo Bioy Casares published in 1955, called "Cuentos breves y extraordinarios" ("Short And Amazing Stories"). Laddaga collected this new volume of amazing stories from the hand of authors like Lucian of Samosata, Herodotos, Cicero, Virginia Woolf, Emanuel Swedenborg, Blaise Cendrars, D.H. Lawrence, Oscar Wilde, Martin Buber, Carl Jung, Sir John Mandeville, often not even stories but very short excerpts that set a mood, a bizarre context, a disruption of expectations, taking the reader by surprise and opening new ways of thinking. 

The music itself is brought by the avant-garde musicians of today, and in that respect a great introduction to new and free music, to new artists and new concepts, giving us more than two hours of music in mostly very short evocations or interpretations of the stories. The artists include John Butcher, Christine Abdelnour and Andy Moor, well known to the readers of this blog, and also Claudio Baroni, Justin Bennett, Sylvia Borzelli, Alan Courtis, DJ Sniff (Takuro Mizuta), Barbara Ellison, Ron Ford, Yannis Kyriakides, Anne La Berge, Reinaldo Laddaga, Francisco López, Machinefabriek (Rutger Zuydervelt), Gabriel Paiuk, Santiago Santero, and Felipe Waller.

The music is avant-garde, in a high variety of approaches, acoustic, electronic, improvised or composed, dubbed or instant creation, yet always interesting. Like a box of Belgian chocolates, you get a lot of choice, but all the very finest quality.

It is published in the form of a book with two CDs, but also as an iBook, in English and Spanish. And it is relatively unique. There is lots of music inspired by literature, but seldom do they come together in one package, and definitely not such a nicely produced one.

Some advice to buyers of this book CD: because you can't read and listen at the same time, it is best to read one story, savour it, then listen to the accompanying music ... savour it fully ... take your time ... and then to move on to the next surprise.

Let yourself be carried away in a world of slow wonder.

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Elena Kakaliagou, Schmoliner, Stempkowski - Para-Ligo (Creative Sources, 2012) ****

By Stef  

The first sounds on this album come from the French horn played by Greek musician Elena Kakaliagou, a deep and dark wail arising from the depths of human emotion in a desperate cry to be heard, heartrending and beautiful, followed by the double bass of Thomas Stempkowski and the subtle piano touches of Ingrid Schmoliner, both from Austria. The three young musicians create a warm yet sad welcoming sonic environment.

Once you've been welcomed, you get different aural vistas, with sounds emanating from the same instruments, but now unrecognisable, yet intense, vibrating around a fast repetitive rhythm, that quietly dissolves once the horn makes its entry, an entry of silence and deconstruction of sound fragments trying to get a life and structure.

On "Ti ine?", Elena Kakaliagou recites poetry in Greek. What she recites is ununderstandable to me, but in contrast to most poetry recited in a jazz or musical context, it sounds lyrical, intimate and beautiful, in sharp contrast to the bombastic declamatory style that I abhor.

"-1°", the long center piece of the album sounds slow and sad, with some uncanny wails over light percussive sounds, no, it is extremely sad and extremely desolate, amazing what you can create with so few sounds.

"Sandra" offers more recognisable instrumental voices, with the horn, the bass, the piano using their intended sound, offering a small waltz-like song, fresh and simple and beautiful, gloriously disrupted by the rattling strings on the piano on "Canidae", offering a torturous backdrop for the muted plaintive laments of the horn, interestingly surrounded by a lightly jumping walking bass.

"ihobkanfoelagsehn" is a long slow piece circling around a tonal center played by the bass, with muted parlando-style horn, a strange dialogue interrupted - or complemented - by resonating piano chords.

A young trio, with an unusual line-up, brings us remarkable music with a strong musical vision and voice.

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Joe Morris Quartet - Graffiti In Two Parts (RogueArt,2012) ****½

By Stef

One of my preferred albums of last year, and one that has been haunting for a while, and I have blamed myself more than once that I still had  not reviewed it yet. The thing is : the music on this album is hard to grasp and hard to describe, but more than worth looking for.

The album brings a live performance from 1985 with Joe Morris on guitar and banjo-uke, Malcolm Goldstein on violin, Butch Morris on cornet and Lowell Davidson on aluminum acoustic bass and drums.

At first listen, this is free improv in the best European sense of the word, with sounds colliding out of the acoustic instruments, in a very granular fashion, like stones raining on industrial machinery, like rain dropping like stones, even if it sounds weird at first, some rhythm emerges on plucked violin strings, or on the banjo-uke. Once in while the granular, and often mesmerising sound gets a prolongation by bowed violin or long moaning tones on the cornet.

To my ears, the end result is of a devastating sadness, like small and vulnerable beings conversing about the woes that befell them, expressing feelings that defy storytelling and language whatsoever, yet the sounds produced reveal something more, undefinable and strange. The second track has more wailing sounds, with Davidson picking up his aluminum acoustic bass, the mesmerising percussive sounds are still there, yet are complemented with wave-like movements coming from cornet and violin, resulting in a longitudinal version of the first track.

The thing is : it is magical. All four musicians continue this hypnotising interaction for twice thiry minutes without any repetitive elements or phrasing while also staying extremely close to an almost primitive single tone persistance. Emphases change, volume changes, instruments change, yet the plucking and plocking goes on, captivating and beautifully. It's magical because all four musicians move as one, creating a unique sound, one that sounds familiar like everyday objects while at the same time revealing some deeper unfathomable things. As I said, hard to describe. I can only recommend that you try it out for yourself, if you have open ears.

Again, we can only applaud RogueArt for releasing this music after so many years.


Buy at Instantjazz.

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Barrel - Gratuitous Abuse (Emanem, 2011) ****

Reviewed by Joe

Well, I'm not sure how this one got missed in our folders? Alison Blunt (violin), Ivor Kallin (viola/violin) and Hannah Marshall (cello) whip up a real storm using just strings and an impressive storm at that! Hannah Marshall is a name that pops up on this blog from time to time as one of the UK's leading improving cello players. Alison Blunt's CV (you may already know her) includes a long list of very diverse and extremely interesting groups and projects ranging from 'Tindersticks' to the Tony Marsh 4tet. Ivor Kallin seems to be a very interesting artist whose interests go in many directions including film, radio shows and poetry. The thread that unites these three players seems to be the ever evolving London Improvisers Orchestra, certainly a fine recommendation if needed! If you don't know the LIO then the best way to explain them is : a group that's often presented in programs as - 'LIO band members can be ....'

This is surely one of the most creative records of improvised music I've heard for quite a long time. The group really creates a canvas of sounds that makes you wonder if you're listening to something written by the late Elliott Carter. But no, this is a real improvised string trio of the highest order with not one boring second to be found on this album, it's simply stunning to hear these three at work on the CDs four tracks. Three of the pieces (Tks, 1, 3 and 4) are between 22 and 32 minutes, the second track 'Soft Porn, Hard Cheese' is just 1:51sec. The trio uses all available means to make music with their instruments and voices, and even though they mostly use the bows on strings to communicate there are plenty of shrieks and verbal mutterings to be heard as well. All these elements seem to come together at the perfect moment, never leaving you waiting to see what could happen next. What's also interesting is the polyphonic lines they constantly develop and which give an impression of a very contemporary string trio. They also attack their instruments : slapping them, scraping them, plucking, double stopping and anything else that can be used to make a sound.

I can imagine that this is one hell of a trio to see live, great energy and plenty of imagination. I noticed there's a video from 2009 on YT which will give you an idea of the trio in action (here Pt1 and Pt2). Although these pieces are shorter than on the CD, you do get to see how these three go way beyond abstract improvisation, managing to combine melodic ideas with extended techniques.

I think this is certainly an album that will bear up to repeated listening on many different layers. Great stuff, or as we say 'a sleeper'.

© stef

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Coat Cooke : Conversations and High Wire

By Paul Acquaro

Saxophonist, composer, band leader and figure on improvisation scene in western Canada, Coat Cooke is a player with a command of a wide range of styles and approaches. He recently released two very different and intriguing duo albums, one paired up with percussionist Joe Poole and the other with guitarist Rainier Weins.

Conversations w/ Joe Poole (Now Orchestra, 2012) **** 

Coversations is a collection of improvizations that really cook along. The first tune "Checkin' In" has Cooke quietly delivering melodic snippets with a slightly fuzzy tone. This tune keeps its intensity in check, and under Cooke's restrained melodies, Poole provides a lot of splash to keep the it buoyant. The improvisation that follows, "Feeling Fit" takes off with a stronger feel and engages in a little back and forth before they really start digging in into some heady lines and runs. A true highlight is the intense "Bob Weaver". Pooles drumming is so tight and propulsive that you can feel a moving baseline in between the two players. Each track has its own distinct flavor and feel. 

This is a solid recording and a great introduction to both musicians for me. Listening in on their conversations is enjoyable and their repartee doesn't miss a beat.

High Wire w/ Ranier Wiens (Now Orchestra, 2012) ***½ 

Now with guitarist Wiens, High Wire is actually a more percussive and textural affair than Conversations. Well named, this album is an document of daring acts on the sonic tight rope, and it's the sonic funambulism that gives this album its edge. Cooke balances on Weins' rhythms precariously, navigating deftly between Wiens' thumb piano wires and his percussive guitar work. A texturist, Rainier's approach to guitar is unusual and unexpected.
Overall, High Wire, to me, is not as captivating as Conversations but still full of original playing and fascinating ideas. 

Available through the NOW Orchestra (http://noworchestrarecords.com/) web site

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Eli Keszler - Catching Net (PAN, 2012) ****½

By Paolo Casertano

“I didn’t know you were into tribal stuff now …” This is what my wife told me peeping into the room where I was listening to the record mentioned above. Actually, she’s not properly my wife, but we live together and we share a lovely kid. What I don’t want to share with her is my record collection.

There was in any case some truth in her remark. Reading from Eli Keszler’s website we learn about this release what follows. Catching Net is a two-disc collection of selected installations and compositions the artist created during the last two years. It includes both stand-alone recordings of the installations and the integrated ensemble scores performed in conjunction with those. We find, on disc one, two ensemble versions of Cold Pin, a superb percussion composition resulting from a technological installation that had been previously released on vinyl in 2011, plus a 26 minutes long excursus given by the mix of several live ensemble recordings of such a work. To be more accurate, the installation going under the name of Cold Pin features 14 strings and piano wires of various lengths strung and stretched along a wall and struck (I imagine maybe with different intensity) by micro-controlled motorized beaters. Come on! Help me please and watch this video!

eli keszler : cold pin from eli keszler on Vimeo.

The result is a self sufficient musical universe that can be enhanced by the live performance of a varying ensemble that numbers, in this case, Eli Keszler on drums, percussion, crotales and guitar, Ashley Paul on alto saxophone and bass harp,  Geoff Mullen on prepared guitar,  Greg Kelley on trumpet,  Reuben Son on bassoon and Benny Nelson on cello.

Especially the long live act gives us back all the sound gradations and the stylistic undertones that constitute Keszler’s musical vision and approach. Percussive clusters, jarring resonances, scraped cymbals emitting drilling whistles and harmonically complex tones interact and merge in an archaic maelstrom of paths to follows in the dark, bursts of light, death and life. My involvement during the listening is more epidermal than aural. That’s why in some way I understood the definition of “tribal”. This music is timeless and boundless to me. I can imagine it playing both as an hidden soundtrack during the rush hour on a NYC subway and as a far echo coming from a bonfire in the Gobi desert at night. It’s tribal because it sounds as our lives sound. It’s tribal because it has the urgency and unavoidability of the mechanism of life itself.

The second part of the work begins with Catching Net, a 17 minute score for string quartet and piano performed by pianist Sakiko Mori and the Providence String Quartet to be played in conjunction with the Cold Pin installation. Then we find two recordings of Keszler’s large-scale installations functioning on their own. One is a solo version of Cold Pin without live performers. The other is Collecting Basin which features piano strings/wires splayed from a water tower in Louisiana across two large empty basins acting as amplifiers for the installation. Imagine a drunk and immense double bass playing a stunning perpetual low chord. I’m the kind of person who can be motionless and enraptured for hours “seeing” live such a sound.

Packaging offers besides an extensive selection of images and sketches of the installations, program notes, electronic schematics from the projects and drawings by the artist himself.

This is what Keszler’s music also makes me think. As John Cage reported more than once in his writings, when you enter in an anechoic chamber - a specially designed room to stop and absorb reflections of either sounds or electromagnetic waves both from inner or exterior sources - you will not find in any case total silence. You are going instead to hear two different noises. First is a low uninterrupted tone. That’s the flux of your blood. Second is a sharp recurring pitch. That’s your nervous system at work. We could summarize saying that sound is inside you, something you cannot completely get rid of. Something that has always been there, that you can maybe cut out of your attention but that sooner or later will emerge to take a coherent shape. In my opinion this is what happen as well in the Eli Keszler’s music conception.

I was about to give a five stars rating, but this is in any case a collection of already released stuff. So, I promise that the missing half star will be added to the next, I’m sure even more challenging, Keszler’s release. Per aspera ad astra

I was there overflowing while thinking this thoughts when I felt the need to listen to Mats Gustafsson “Needs!” album.

“Is our washing machine broken?” She came and asked. I will not marry her.

Listen if you want.

Buy if you like.

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Fabula (Creative Sources, 2012) ****

Reviewed by Joe

I thought I'd wade into some of the 'noise' CDs waiting to be reviewed in our files. In fact I notice more and more bands around that are working in a completely different area from what we would probably call 'music', a more 'noise' oriented area, built up of work with electronics, live and prepared instruments. With these records one has to find another level to listen on, a little like acousmatic and electro-acoustic music. Pierre Schaeffer a man who is more or less responsible for 'musique concrete' and 'acousmatic music' talked about sounds in a new vocabulary, which I believe is called 'solfege du l'objet sonore'. Here he developed a whole new language to describe the construction of sound(s) to make new sounds unheard before. Anyhow I digress, let's move on to Fabula.

And so we have it, Fabula, made up of four musicians : Axel Dörner - trumpet, Ernesto Rodrigues - viola, Abdul Moimême - prepared electric guitar, Ricardo Guerreiro - computer. But how to describe the music (or maybe the sound) they make? Their music is built of fine layers of sound that come together to form a sort of pleasant 'interference' or wall of sounds that organically change throughout the piece. In fact I was immediately taken by the first few minutes as made me think of the noise an alien may make to communicate with, maybe fans of sci-fi will bare that out? In a way that's the beauty of this piece which spans 46 minutes. We hear many colours and combinations, most of which combine well, keeping the listener fixed to the speakers. The trumpet of 'Dörner' rarely uses traditional notes, sound is of utmost importance, texture seems to be the goal. 'Rodrigues' uses his viola in a more traditional way, franticly bowing his instrument or caressing it in a tentative manner hoping to find new vibrations which produce harmonics. Rodrigues and Dörner also develop moments of extremes of pitch which blend into the whistle and hiss of the group's sound. 'Moimême's' guitar is hit, scraped, fed back and changed in various ways, and even though his natural sound can be heard it is only maybe the tightening of a string, or a hammer-on, all very atmospheric. 'Guerreiro' is probably the only one who sounds like himself (a computer), and of course able to finitely change sound and re-process all that happens around him into a new vocabulary.

The music, which is a concert performance, swells around you creating a sort of semi-industrial sound-scape, sometimes mysterious and at times dark and cold. Yet the great thing is it does progress (develop), if not via a tonal system then by an inner logic that the performers felt at that moment. I guess performances of groups such as 'Beast', or the 'Evan Parker Electro Acoustic Ensemble' also work in this very exciting area which to my mind could be thought of as visual sound.

If you enjoy music that has the ability to make you hear mirages (!?), then you'll enjoy listening to this very image oriented sound piece. If you've been working in heavy industry you'll probably recognise some of these sounds. Just remember, 'Please do not adjust your hi-fi, there is no problem with your system!'

    

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Ra-Kalam Bob Moses - Sacred Exhalations (Ra-Kalam Records,2012) ****

By Paul Acquaro

Sacred Exhalations from Ra-kalam Bob Moses is a fiery affair, one where you can feel the music as much as you hear it. It is dense and pulsating at times and reflective and searching at others.

The opening track, 'Sacred Exhalations' is a wide-ranging and free affair. Instrumental voices rise and fall, searching tones and unfulfilled wails contrast with -- and ride upon -- Moses' strong pulse and kinetic drumming. The sound is full bodied and heartfelt, and the improvisation is captivating. The ten minute 'Invocations' is almost the title track's inverse, more inward looking, it builds off of a long drum and sax duet into a free and yearning mix of sax and bass clarinet swirling around each other. This can be contrasted again against the mournful tones and chanting found in 'Surrender to the One', which cannot help but to conjure up some rather striking and dark imagery.

Joining Moses is Stan Strickland on Tenor Saxophone and Bass Clarinet, Raqib Hassan on Tenor Saxophone, Musette, and Tibetan Horn, and Om-Mudra Tom Arabia on Tenor Saxophone. The oboe-like musette makes a spirited appearance on 'Animal Magnetizm (Zoo Illogical)' which is a rollicking and exciting affair.

Some obvious reference points may be to the recordings of Archie Shepp and latter day Coltrane, and perhaps even the Dunmall/Bianco album reviewed here a little while back. However, the commonality is not found in direct comparison, but rather in what recordings like these invoke -- a deep feeling of humanity and life connected by music.

'Sacred Exhaltations' is dense and full of passion. It would be hard to ignore its inspirational nature.

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Jon Lundbom & Big Five Chord - No New Tunes (Hot Cup, 2012) ****

By Paul Acquaro

It begins with indistinct chatter morphing into a piercing sine wave, then shifting into a high energy solo percussion and finally into an avant-garde yet modern-jazz inflected horn driven melody, all within mere moments. 'The Bad! Thing' is an intense introduction to guitarist Jon Lundbom & Big Five Chord's fifth album, No New Tunes.

Like a lot of modern and avant garde jazz coming out as of late, there is a good deal of rock mixed in within the compositions. It seems like the magic combination, enough structure for the listener to grasp onto, enough free playing to let the music breath and a nice dose of adrenaline when the distortion kicks in. The song 'The Other Third One' is a perfect example of this blend. As the music amps up in intensity, a snarling guitar is deployed over the deep and tricky bass groove, playing out an eviscerating melody until only a few power chords are left.

Lundbom's melodic ideas are jagged and rhythmic. He doesn't play ones that are easy to digest, and his bandmates deliver aptly angular lines that push the boundaries of their instruments and musical notation. The feeling of being just on the edge of control gives tunes like the aformentioned 'The Bad! Thing' a palpable excitement. The song 'Taken for Surrender' exudes a more controlled atmosphere, featuring a guitar bass and drum passage that mixes up the melodic and textural exquisitely. The horn lines that weave in and out of the solo passages can be quite 'cool', but can also deliver winding and punchy solos like the one opening up 'Follow the Swallow.''

But, then again, what would you expect from a group that features such a stellar cast of NYC based musicians including Jon Irabagon on alto and soprano saxophones, Bryan Murray on tenor and balto saxophones, Moppa Elliott on bass and Dan Monaghan, drums?

All in all, an excellent recording, bringing new ideas to what jazz guitar can be but not abandoning the rich legacy of jazz guitar.

Download from http://jonlundbom.com/no-new-tunes

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Dans Les Arbres - Canopée (ECM, 2012) ****½

By Stef   

In April 2008, I guess I was the first reviewer to hail the unique musical vision of "Dans Les Arbres", the debut album of the French-Norwegian minimalist band with Xavier Charles on clarinet and harmonica, Ivar Grydeland on acoustic guitar, banjo and scruti box, Christian Wallumrød on prepared piano and harmonium, and Ingar Zach on gran cassa and percussion.

I gave the album a five-star rating and rightly so. The band manages to create a sonic universe built of pure sound, carefully improvised as one minutely paced coherent and minimalist vision. Every single note requires attention and respect as it adds something tiny to complete the slowly evolving dynamics of timbre and lightly woven texture.

So it is on this album. Bringing again this strange magic of purity and beauty, pristine and mesmerising and free and fragile like insect wings, transparent as mist, yet the result of incredible concentration, self-constraint, control of the various instruments, masterly interplay, and strangely enough driven by an uncanny intensity.

Like lots of great music, it is this paradox of lightness and intensity, of freedom and control that leads to again a magnificent result.

It is hard to believe that it took four years to release their sophomore album.

Again highly recommended.


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Daren Burns - Fear Is Not The Natural State Of Civilized People (UrbanNerds Records, 2012) ****½

By Paul Acquaro

Bassist Daren Burns describes his album Fear Is Not The Natural State Of Civilized People as 'post-fusion recording for the new world' and it is recording that is at once a comment on the world post-9/11 and fusion done freely and fiercely well.

The hard hitting passages on the opener, 'Gothalay' start off with a furious flood of sound from which Burns emerges with single electric bass note runs and distorted chords that eventually becomes interlocked with Craig Bunch's percussion. Burns' bass never settles into a steady groove but rather one that pulsates and pummels. Soon, trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith joins and proceeds to spit out melodic projectiles while pianist Sarah Phillips lends accompanying tonal clusters. Following the two, guitarist Scott Collins appears with a blast of distortion and begins shadowing Smith's lines until the two trade places and he delivers some scorching agile runs.  

The next song, 'Gandhi', opens with Phillips delivering exploratory lines on the piano, over an undercurrent of droning tension. By the time the trumpet joins in, the song has become a slow burning fuse. It smolders and sizzles, and like watching the fuse progress, it's a study in anticipation. 

The track 'Aung San Suu Kyi', begins with an extended slow build of percussive sounds and chant like droning, with sprinklings of melodic improvisations by the trumpet and piano. It's a melancholic and evocative soundscape. The album was recorded in 2009, before Aung San Suu Kyi's 2010 release from imprisonment and recent rise as a major political figure in Burma.

Of the albums theme of the struggle for freedom and equality, and its flip side, the fear and paranoia that causes people to willingly give it up, Burns writes:

This recording is dedicated to Goyathlay (Geronimo) the great Apache leader, Gandhi the Indian revolutionary, Aung San Suu Kyi the Burmese political prisoner, Fela Kuti the Nigerian fighter of governmental corruption, and anyone else who believes that life based on fear is not an option. Music Is the Weapon.

It's interesting to note that Burns is currently working in the beautiful chaparral and red rock splendor  of Sedona, Arizona. While Sedona itself seemingly projects its own peaceful aura, the state of Arizona is currently a hot bed for the contentious immigration issues rippling across the US. Whether there is truly a connection is beyond my knowledge but the tension between natural beauty and freedom versus human suffering and struggle seems to frame this oft biting and deeply felt music.

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Arts and Sciences - New You (Singlespeed Music, 2012) *****

Posted by Joe

I met Michael Coleman (the leader of Arts and Science) in Brussels quite a few years ago. He was on the usual European tourist trip with a friend of his - maybe Jordan Glenn, the drummer on this album? Michael told me about another interesting project called Schumann's Humans, a group playing the music of Schumann, but re-imagined. I remember checking out via MySpace the group and being highly impressed, but of course since then I'd lost track of Michael's groups and career. Well, time has caught up and here we are in 2012 with a record from Michael Coleman under the title 'Arts and Science - New You', and it's to my ears a corker! I should also add, for all those that read the recent Aram Shelton review, that this is another record out on the excellent Singlespeed Music label.

If you're ready to be taken on a burning trip of musical ideas and styles, then this is the one you might indeed be well advised to check out. If you remember the free wheeling blowing and sheer eclecticism of Human Feel then you'll already have a vague notion of what the music could be. Although not as 'free', it does however have a power and imagination that easily matches that genre breaking group. The groups makeup does (in a way) mirror some of Human Feel's elements as it's two sax front line, no bass, drums and in this case keyboard may suggest. Each of the musicians deserves a mention as everybody plays sublimely well, blowing hot and cold all over the music, prepared to take the risks needed to give the music an excitement and energy that keeps the listener pinned to their seat!

Both Jacob Zimmerman (alto sax, flute, percussion), Matt Nelson (Tenor sax, effects, percussion) are new names to me, and a revelation also. Both players seem to mold together to form a front line that instinctively thinks as one. Their solos sometimes scream out of the speakers and at others come together to form tight ensemble work. Jordan Glenn (drums) is certainly a key player in this complex music which at times sounds not unlike early King Crimson in it's ensemble work. The modern melodies fly out at you never letting one guess which direction the music will take. 'Seram' (Tk 7) swings away at a fast tempo, whilst the gorgeous melody of 'Shunting' (Tk 8) has an almost sinister obstinate riff for the two saxes to blow around. Baby Boner (Tk 3) turns into a polyrhythmic piece, like a pigmy melody taken straight from the rain forests. 'Scientology' (Tk 9) makes use of gongs and bowed cymbals leading us to a beautiful and delicate melody with extra horns and a guitar. And the final brooding 'Jazz/Shadow' (Tk 10) with strangely distorted recorded horns and keyboard, roll like the sea with the two horns wailing above. Every track is a winner!

The myriad ideas of Michael Coleman really keep each track fresh, and although there is clearly a huge range of musical styles, somehow Michael manages to make the whole thing completely coherent. His keyboard playing (only keyboards) never dominates the ensemble, yet there are constant ideas flowing back and forth. His use of the sound palettes available is always well chosen ; mellotrons, percussive glockenspiels, tiny pianos, old wurlitzers, etc. However, what is clear is that this is no solo record, but a true group project that live must be very exciting to hear indeed! The recording technique and sound also used on this record is also very interesting, at times clear and at others heavily treated, all of which (I imagine) is intended.

Highly recommended to all those who love King Crimson, rock, out jazz, Human Feel, downtown scene, pygmies...!         

Listen and download from their Bandcamp page.     

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Jessica Pavone - Hope Dawson is Missing (Tzadik, 2012) ***½

By Philip Coombs

Hope is a very powerful concept. Without it, there is a huge void in the human condition. There has to be something better. It is why writers write the second novel or why musicians compose the second album. Hope is what gets us there. Hope that the next one will be better. This is, of course, if you are an optimist and hope becomes the parents of many other things like, endurance, tenacity and sacrifice. For pessimists, however, there is no hope and no reason to ever think that there will be. This breeds contempt, complacency, and depression. But what happens when hope goes missing?

Jessica Pavone (Violin) chooses to tackle the question by personifying hope as Hope Dawson in her latest Tzadik release "Hope Dawson is Missing".

Before I started listening there was a very important thing that I had to consider before I could jump off of the pessimist/optimist fence.  There is a vocalist here. Emily Manzo sings her way through the album in a falsetto, ethereal tone that really doesn't offend but doesn't challenge the ear much either. I found myself listening to her more as an instrument than a lyricist thus leaving the analysis of the poetry alone.

The first track on the album, aptly named "Hope", serves up a big melodic theme with both Tomas Fujiwara (Drums) and Andrew Roitstein (Double Bass) punching it home for good measure. A big sweeping cinematic beginning that I have found myself humming days after first hearing it. I was becoming an optimist.

"Dawn to Dark", turns up the depression factor tenfold as members of the Toomai String Quintet and Pavone slow things down to long exhausting notes until Mary Halvorson (Guitar) makes an appearance and by strumming lightly, she manages to change the tone into a lighter more folky one. While on the subject, don't expect the note and space bending Halvorson that comes through on her work as a leader. She never breaks the mood that has been clearly set out by Pavone. It is her selfless respect for her frequent collaborator and would assume, friend.

"If You Can't", swiftly brings me back to the pessimistic side. I can't get over its big adult contemporary pop song feel. I was losing hope for the rest of the album. And then it hit me. This song cycle was working, and it had me just were it wanted me. I was emotionally attached and living a parallel life with Hope Dawson. This is the lowest point but there is a light in the distance.

It all turns around on "Jump to the Thunder". Hope and optimism are both resurfacing as the main musical theme returns from the opening track. It comes in just after what seems to be a soundtrack for a Morris dance. "And at Last", is a celebration of Hope's return. Fujiwara gets to bash out the intro before Halvorson and Roitstein pluck out the melody. Slowly, the strings come in and out giving everything some breathing room. It builds again as Fujiwara pounds away at his cymbals before returning to his understated style from the beginning of the album, a mere 40 minutes or so before.

Although I had a great deal of fun listening to this recording for this review, I don't, however, hold out much hope that I will be returning to it all that often.

The members of the Toomai String Quintet that appear on "Hope Dawson is Missing" are:
  Pala Garcia - Violin
  John Popham - Cello
  Erin Wight - Viola

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Fire! feat. Oren Ambarchi: In the Mouth a Hand (Rune Grammofon, 2012) *****

By Martin Schray

Mats Gustafsson is to me what Wadada Leo Smith is to Stef. I thought of not giving him a five star rating here because I already gave him two in the last few months but then I have listened to his new collaboration with Fire! again and again and I could not find a fly in the ointment – the album is simply marvelous as to creating unique sounds and atmospheres.

As usual Fire! are Mats Gustafsson (saxes, Fender Rhodes organ, live electronics), Johan Berthling (electric bass), Andreas Werliin (drums) and again they have a guest: Australian guitarist Oren Ambarchi, who is known for his collaborations with drone metal bands Sunn 0))) and Boris. What already sounds promising is actually a match made in heaven, the result reminding of a seminal band like Can or Norwegian progrock gods Motorpsycho.

The first track of the album, “A Man Who Might Have Been Screaming”, starts with Berthling and Werliin playing a rather simple and tough rhythm and Gustafsson howling over it in its typical manner, but after four minutes you hear and feel something else. First you hardly recognize it, but the track gets more complex, even somehow uncomfortable – it is Ambarchi crawling in with which turns out to be an enormous feedback. Then Gustafsson drops out and Ambarchi completely takes over and all of a sudden there is only sound, you can hardly hear single notes. This would have been a great soundtrack for the end of Stanley Kubrick’s "2001 – A Space Odyssee", when a frightened Bowman finds himself speeding across vast distances of space, viewing strange alien landscapes of unusual colors. Here Ambarchi displays his influences from Jimi Hendrix’ anarchic moments to Morton Feldman. You can hear  a huge drone, a very physical approach to music, but in this whirlwind you can also find beautiful details and a great harmony among the three players. And when the whole thing seems to fall apart Gustafsson takes over, the band members pull themselves together to land their spaceship smoothly.

The second track, “And The Stories Will Flood Your Satisfaction (With Terror)”, even raises the tension. The first half is a real Krautrock monster with a massive drum beat and a menacing bass line. Gustafsson’s sax is blaring and wailing like a mad dog on an evil drug and Ambarchi is supporting him playing psychedelic rock riffs that sound like 1980s space rockers Spacemen 3 before you find yourself in a huge psych metal/ free rock/outer space jazz orgy again. At last here the music has seized you and you have no chance to escape.

“He Wants To Sleep In A Dream (He Keeps In His Head)” begins with a brutally solid techno riff played on the bass while Ambarchi and Gustafsson are interspersing guitar and electronic sounds and specially Ambarchi’s  guitar sounds like buzz saw or like kamikaze planes. This is the most abrasive and brutal, even torturing, but also challenging part of the album. It is music as a raw power, an existential fight, but you feel good after listening to it, as if you completed some exhausting  piece of labor.

“I’m Sucking For A Bruise” is the last track on the CD version of the album. It is by far the shortest one and it is actually a reconciliation mainly consisting of bass drones and heavenly guitar feedbacks. Like listening to distant thunder and watching distant lightning you know that the storm is over.

The LP version offers an alternative ending called “Possibly She Was One, Or Had Been One Before (Brew Dog)”. Especially at the beginning the band reveals its free jazz roots. The bass remains in a rather monotonous drone again but Andreas Werliin especially leaves behind his rock approach to play freer, more subtle and versatile rhythms. Above this rhythmic carpet Gustafsson soars to unknown beautiful and melancholic heights showing that he knows his Coltrane, too. After seven minutes the band almost stops, leaving behind a uniform electronic pattern. Then the drums re-enter just to support a typical psychedelic Sixties organ which sounds much like Pink Floyd’s "Live at Pompeii", a last psychedelic reminiscence. This part fades out again and what is left is electronic static, white noise, interrupted by very distant drum and bass sounds now and then. The whole epic lasts 23 minutes.

When I reviewed The Cherry Thing one of the comments said that Mats Gustafsson was the musician of the year for him (or her) although there are another 5 months to go. I totally agree. He deserves it for his musical openness, for his creativity, for his diverse musical projects and his ability to integrate various musicians in his musical cosmos.

In the Mouth a Hand is available on double LP and CD, rune grammophon offers a limited edition of 100 in white vinyl (for the hunters and collectors out there).  Make sure you get one.

If you want to get an idea what it sounds like, you can watch this (although the album is even better):




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