NoBusiness This one is from 2009, and features guitarist Caine in the company of Tom Blancarte (bass) and John Wagner (drums). In the liners, the leader talks extensively about the wish of “approaching the guitar from a different perspective every time I play it” (which, it must be told, should be obvious for a trustworthy [...]

Groove House Only now I finally managed to listen to this, a 33-element orchestra conducted by Ernesto Rodrigues who also handled violin chores in it, performing together with several names that we found on past Creative Sources recordings, plus someone else whose activities I’m not familiar with; the taping occurred in 2007. Given the considerable [...]

Creative Sources A rather frigid but serviceable album for accordion, objects and electronics. Once again I have to praise the choice of keeping things short at 35 minutes, probably the ideal duration nowadays for this type of release. The components are distinct and clearly identifiable; the accordion’s toneless ebb and flow in the initial “Bellow, [...]

Cave 12 When it comes to the impact of a statement, I’m all for conciseness. This piece by Antoine Chessex, which lasts 29 minutes, is a perfect specimen of how an essential concept can be entirely developed across a short time span if lucidity is there from the beginning. The Swiss artist is better known [...]

Mirror Tapes Northam inhabits sonic highlands where apparently ordinary actions are informed by a portion of just anything in the intersecting areas of exploitation of concrete substance, field recordings, deconsecrated ritualism and tactile entrancement. He applies an individual discernment of the “beyond” to a series of gathered materials which turn out to be, with the [...]

pfMENTUM The acronym stands for Optional Parameters To Improvise Organized Nascent Sounds. This is a venture managed by trumpeter Bruce Friedman, who kindly sent me the CD over two years ago (no need to repeat my customary excusing blah-blah, I suppose). Essentially, we’re in presence of a nonet gathering some of the finest musicians of [...]

Skirl Drumming composer Smith leads a quartet whose inventive vividness is directly proportional to the deserved fame of the participants, which include Andrea Parkins on accordion, electronics and organ, Mary Halvorson on guitar and Tony Malaby on tenor sax. There are several positives to highlight, starting from a perfect duration of 35 minutes which gives [...]

Mystery Sea OK, let’s get ready to rumble, as ring announcer Michael Buffer would have it. Abstruse project name with symbols to be found in the depths of Windows Vista’s bowels; check. A cipher designing the aspirant artist (in this case, “S/”); check. Already existing title; check (“Laguna Sunrise” is a Black Sabbath piece; apparently, [...]

Moonjune / Nevermore Joseph Smalkowski (aka Copernicus) keeps any observation about humanity strictly linked to the concept of nonexistence, an obstinate quest for convincing everybody to “turn subatomic” constituting the basis of Cipher And Decipher. Consequently, the futile concepts on which men all over the world clash and fight are going to mean less than [...]

Ictus For sure composer and percussionist Andrea Centazzo doesn’t remember the naive letter sent to him circa thirty years ago by a very young man asking for the eventual availability to publish the foolish dabbling of an unknown Roman improviser – namely, the same person – on his Ictus imprint. The reply was gently pragmatic, [...]

Unfathomless Utilizing an assortment of diversely shaped field recordings (including a light aircraft, the wind in a pipeline and the washing waters of a river) Kassel Jaeger created a work that – amidst stacks of comparable releases – stands out for rigour and succinctness, not to mention the engrossing static harmonies involuntarily generated by the [...]

Chmafu I have listened to this CD several times, always remaining not persuaded. The peculiar orchestration – which includes two double basses, two recorders, drums and organ besides vocal components and various kinds of electronics – in conjunction with the ensemble’s name elicited the idea of some sort of growling monster with a degree of [...]

Olof Bright My first contact with Birgit Ulher’s idiom occurred during a time in which her trumpet – together with Ruth Barberan’s – was being featured on Creative Sources (a never enough sung label, if you ask me). I vividly remember the instant admiration for two women who were producing unheard sonorities through such a [...]

Olof Bright This double CD was received a good while back – at least two years – yet this is a typical illustration of the main reason behind Touching Extremes’ existence, namely shedding some light – even a posteriori – to interesting releases that might have fallen through the cracks of public indifference when they [...]

Entr’acte Lux Payllettes consists of circa 32 minutes of movie snippets that eRikM sampled and accurately processed, seaming tiny durations to achieve a density which rivals that of acclaimed purveyors of musique concrete. The shape of the composition might recall similar attempts, perhaps through the use of different sonic fonts; one can’t keep the mind [...]

Elevator Bath Don’t bother to dissect the mix of Soundtrack For Dislocation in the hopeless attempt of decoding the sources used by Matt Shoemaker. Of course one can try and guess a part of them, probably erring. Shortwave radios? Rubbed metals? Slowed tapes of percussion instruments? Synthesizers? Heaven knows. But there’s nothing more distant than [...]

Unfathomless Even in the world of field recordings, the exhausted adage “less is more” can be successfully applied. Aguatierra – recorded by Calarco in ecological parks and reserves of Argentina and Mexico – easily stands among those albums that fully justify the use of the adjective “unassuming”. The only human-generated sounds emerging from the natural [...]

Cuneiform This lineup of Upsilon Acrux comprises guitarists Paul Lai and David Moeggenberg, keyboardists Phil Cobb, drummer Chris Meszler and bassist Marty Sataman. Released in 2009, Radian Futura is the group’s fifth album and my first encounter with their work. Implacably verbose yet tight as a new pin, these guys mix a myriad of influences [...]

Hibari Few records imply unconditional certainties ever since one reads the notice of their release. In the case of Slugabed – a fusion of Nikos Veliotis’ cello’s severity with Klaus Filip’s sinewaves – we’re sure both of a first-rate artistic assertion and a direct proportion between dearth of movement and emotional response. As if some [...]

Contour Editions Take a look at the array of sonic generators that Costa Monteiro and Owen employ in Frêle À Vide before analyzing the remarkable effects that the resulting music achieves on a listener’s sense of balance over the course of four segments. As a matter of fact, the sources include walkman feedback, radios, amplifiers, [...]

Leo This improvising duo for trombone (Matthias Müller) and drums/percussion (Christian Marien) is unequivocal, starting from the album’s very title which expresses exactly what happens throughout its six tracks. Obviously, it falls on the big horn to produce the large part of grumbling, bubbling and obsessed blah-blah; this is something which this writer, who has [...]

Bedroom Community Terry Magson (aka Puzzle Muteson) is a singer and guitarist living in the Isle Of Wight, endowed with a timbre defined by a tremulous near-female register. En Garde is his first album, and a welcome addition to Bedroom Community’s gallery of characters whose music enriches your day without overindulgence, just by the depth [...]

Clean Feed The cover – picturing a lean and mean bare-knuckle fighter from an ancient era – is attractive in itself, however the tunes performed by this quintet are both refined and functional besides the “wiry strong” character they are indubitably gifted with. Leader Ralph Alessi is an archetypal specimen of egalitarian coordinator: scores that [...]

Entr’acte The magnificent The Spiral Staircase, also on Allon Kaye’s ever-puzzling imprint, had been the last album by Esther Venrooy to enthral this reviewer. The pragmatic sorceress is now back with a shorter, but still meaningful work based on the sounds emitted by harboured cargos. The composer relates her interest to a childhood recollection, according [...]

Nitkie The credits read “percussion, objects” (Jerman) and “guitar, electronics” (Theriault), yet Tathata is the kind of record that makes one instantly feel at home amidst sounds that possess a natural tendency to inform a particular juncture of the day and stay there, welcome (and, in a way, relieving) throughout the whole duration. A physical [...]

Entr’acte Entirely crafted through the processing of sounds deriving from the manual procedures related to the assemblage of ceramic tiles, the 18 minutes of Dyed In The Grain belong among the best work heard in recent times by Italian entities operating in this area of sonic manipulation. The latter word is essential in picturing the [...]

Edgetone “Malik raps, Lorin scats”, says the press release. But it’s not so simple, especially if you’re familiar with the implausible jargon invented by Benedict, who came to our attention last year when reviewing Holly Martins’ No. No. Yes. No. on this same label. Without repeating all the praises, the guy’s an outstanding instant creator [...]

Tilt I had met double bassist Garside as a member of ARC, a trio with Sylvia Hallett and Danny Kingshill, while – quite incredibly given the lengthy career – this is most probably my very first time with saxophonist Caines, whose involvement in the scene of jazz and improvisation dates since the late 60s (he [...]