Erstwhile The common dosage among the habitual reviewers of works belonging to what was once called “reductionism” reads more or less “1/4 of circumstances and origins of the project and synthetic bio notes, 3/4 of literary/artistic references” (aka “as sounds diminish, erudite gossip expands”). Desperately disinclined to test myself in any of those departments, nevertheless [...]

Die Schachtel The interpretative liberty left by Philip Corner for the rendition of his atypical scores is utilized with good taste and open ears by Manuel Zurria, a classically trained musician who nevertheless succeeds in discarding the theoretical rigidness of academy to conjure up evocative suggestions and snippets of breathing realism in sensible translations of [...]

Monotype Subtitled “Fourteen Rotted Coordinates” and dedicated to Throbbing Gristle’s late Peter “Sleazy” Christopherson, this 32-minute effort by Kim Cascone – of Silent Records and David Lynch fame – is a lucid dream for field recordings, electro-pollution and synthesis, consummately crafted via Linux-based software, recorders and microphones (everything is meticulously listed inside the digipak). Starting [...]

Tzadik Another first encounter, in this instance with a composer and clarinettist based in Brooklyn, NY who with Fire Sign has come, if maths are done properly, to the fifth self-signed release. Shame on the commentator for the lack of publicity, though this aging man doesn’t remember having received any of Jeremiah Cymerman’s previous albums [...]

Clean Feed This record – born in September 2009 at Casa Da Música (hence the title) – is permeated by a striking forthrightness parallelling the equally impressive dexterity and improvisational fantasy of each of the contributing musicians. Consisting of five “scenes” (plus an encore not indicated on the cover), it is initially a tough nut [...]

SPHERE REX – For Electronics And Piano I was left guffawing by the hilarious reinvention of the “legend” surrounding Brian Eno’s conception of “ambient” narrated in the press release, according to which Mr. St. John Le Baptiste De La Salle had nothing better to do than clutching at the echoes from the outside world while [...]

JUSTIN VARIS w/KEVIN PONTO – Mountains While I have tried – for about thirty seconds – to understand if Kevin Ponto is just a fictional character (no news whatsoever to be found in the press release or in the label’s website), Justin Varis – from Cincinnati, living in Los Angeles – published this a few [...]

Heddy Boubaker sent me four records he’s involved in as a performer (plus an excellent CD by Guillaume Viltard – Running Away – reviewed a while ago) in 2009 or so. I hereby thank him, for the patience and for some tremendous music contained by these small but precious gifts. Although all these discs feature [...]

Pozitif Muzik Yapin A soundtrack-like meeting between Turkish guitarist Helvacioğlu – aiding himself with electronics – and the formerly mysterious to me Bandt, an Australian woman bowing and plucking a peculiar instrument called Tarhu, whose range is in close proximity to a cello’s. The essential intent, surely worthy of praise, is that of a lamentation [...]

Kadima Collective Having attempted to read the original version of this book (“A Voix Basse”, published in 2008 by Editions MF), my nonexistent French had hindered the complete enjoyment of what this reviewer judges as the best rationalization of improvisation he’s met to date. That’s right, superior to Derek Bailey’s. Kudos to JC Jones’ Kadima [...]

Interval Concerned with the multidimensionality of the notion of identity, polyvalent Irish artist Jennifer Walshe connects the listener with a schizophrenic world of sounds, wheezy utterances and wacky recollections that’s really beyond compare, as well as unpredictably staggering. The four compositions in Nature Data exploit the manifest attributes of her communicative persona, mixing original vision [...]

Un Rêve Nu This nugget was sent to me a couple of years ago by French sax improviser Heddy Boubaker (more on him in an upcoming review). It comes in a peculiar package: two hand painted wooden rectangles held together by small magnets at the corners. Inside, a man hides behind a double bass; a [...]

Emanem In reference to the subject of the review, a triple CD, label manager Martin Davidson writes that “no doubt some critics will complain that they don’t have time to listen to so much music”. A 48-hour day is now officially demanded to find more room for editions comparable to this, spun in its entirety [...]

NoBusiness Classic piano trio (the title means in fact “three” in the Apache language) led by a Horace Tapscott alumnus – who has played, among others, with David Murray, Han Bennink, John Tchicai and Louis Moholo-Moholo – escorted by two sons of trumpeter Dennis Gonzalez, Aaron on bass and Stefan on drums. I confess to [...]

Don’t you dare to call this advertising, but bassist Nick Stephens’ imprint publishes some of the finest jazz-tinged improvisation around, in this case explicated by three different lineups of his ensemble Calling Signals plus a duo and a trio. Check for yourselves, and celebrate the existence of musicians who still manage to combine first-rate technical [...]

Solstice If there is an adjective that cannot be associated with Koji Asano’s music, that must be “predictable”. Since his first albums halfway through the 90s to last year’s insect-based Galaxies, the Japanese composer has been surprising audiences with abrupt turnarounds in every release. Solstice Eclipse is, in a way, a look back at the [...]

Creative Sources With a curriculum including names like Anthony Braxton, Fred Frith, Keith Rowe and Evan Parker, TonArt Ensemble has been at the vanguard of orchestral improvisation for over twenty years. This set with Ernesto Rodrigues was put on tape in 2008, when the Portuguese violist participated in a workshop fellowship granted by the City [...]

Sol Disk Already aware of Molina’s excitingly propulsive drumming style, this is my first contact with guitarist and composer Pugh. Though the press release depicts these pieces – born as improvisations and subsequently charted – as informed by a symphonic spirit, there’s not much here that made me think about Gustav Mahler. In truth, it [...]

Sophie Productions Describing Sophie Dunér as a “jazz singer” – which she is, for the girl’s artistic roots lie there – is quite reductive after having listened to her latest effort, recorded at London’s All Saints Vicarage in 2010 with the aid of the magnificent girls of Callino (Sarah Sexton and Fenella Humphreys on violin, [...]