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Zeitkratzer :: Random Dilettantes (Staalplaat/Mort Aux Vaches, CD)
Here we have a German collective of about a dozen international musicians – strings, brass and electronics under the direction of pianist Reinhold Friedl. The recordings, made up of fifty short, out jazz-like warm-ups and mid-sections and big finales has no filler or dependant centerpiece Random Dilettantes is as fresh as wheedling through the first snow. For these pieces the artistic direction immersed these several musicians in the playing of instruments they do not ordinarily use, kind of a musical chairs for an orchestra. From the start, one must again tip their hat to the ever-creative folks at Staalplaat for releasing a disc with cover art that is lottery ticket, scratch-off style material, under which reveals the actual colorful and glossy text art after removed with fingernail or coin. These gentlemen normally perform works by everyone from Nam Jun Paik and John Cage to Terre Thaemlitz and Sonic Youth. Herein the percussion just bewilders and lil’ surprises like track 25’s elastic lips, phonography piece testifies. The hiss and grumbling channels of the varied tooting squeek-squack is playful, yet somehow serious as if it were a recital. In one piece it sounds like a distortion of elongated vowels alongside a resilient violin bowing. This has all the grown-up elements of say, the Either/Orchestra, Godspeed You Black Emperor, or maybe even somewhat partial to the out there Sun Ra’s Orkestra at times. In other words – there is always something happening, at every turn. The random improvisation of it all makes it completely intoxicating without expectations.
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Various Artists :: In Memoriam Tarkovsky (IVB, CD)
A limited edition (500) tribute to Russian filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky (1932-86). This cross-cultural concept was begun in 2001 and artists here include Michael Prime, Christian Renou, Stanislav Kreitchi, and Roger Doyle, paying special homage to the life of a modern director who dedicated his life to recording the darker realities of life as he knew it on celluloid. Inspired by films like Stalker, Solaris and Ivan’s Childhood, these composers have delivered four lengthy tracks making the nod in Tarkovsky’s direction. Prime’s “Across the River” uses the savagery of nature to develop his nod to this legendary artist. There are sound clips from his films that are sterilized, bloated and otherwise distorted. At just about 10 minutes the piece has the pacing and drama of any essential soundtrack, only here a warped remix of the original.
Christian Renou uses a deep, masculine voice that sets an ominous tone on Tarkovsky. I hear big, silver-screen lips, resilient, steely, almost frozen. Of course, as expected of Renou, there are opportunities to redux to motors and other crackling, aged electronics. I am unconscious and there could be belly dancers and old Fords in the room – but I cannot be sure. White noise bleeds from every edge as if it were spray-painted over the entire scene and then to a dizzying refrain; a rubbery echo wavers in and out. Moscow’s experimental composer, Kreitchi lands his orb in a body of “Water, Water, Water Everywhere” and doesn’t shrug off the spare parts. Washing floods and simple draining are components in this cryptic and very physical work. The clinking, crashing of metal and other objects makes for a tactile impression of most every sound in this wet adventure. At fourteen minutes “Water…” floats and drifts away and trickles back. Sudden boundaries crash and a huffy childlike creature keeps pace with the goings on as if running in the darkness. In “Mr. Foley’s Final Moments,” Dublin’s Roger Doyle reveals a piece that simply smolders as it crawls cautiously through a light harmonic drone.
Parts angelic and others perturbed this is nine plus minutes of percussive play with samples, soundtracks and everyday objects, partial to their own idiosyncrasies.
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