DIATRIBES & ABDUL MOIMÊME – Complaintes De Marée Basse

Insubordinations

Diatribes is an expandable French duo featuring D’Incise and Cyril Bondi on an array of objects and percussive materials that they hit, stroke and bow under the auspices of a laptop. The press release reports collaborations with people of the calibre of Keith Rowe and Jason Kahn, the latter’s spiritual presence indeed defining the most “unevenly static” segments such as the excellent “Voile Et Vapeur”, the conclusive part of “Pavillon Noir” and the final “Naufrage”, whose merging of bowed cymbals and thundering low frequencies is truly impressive. Portuguese Moimême (maltreating a couple of guitars besides using additional metallic devices and zinging springs) has been seen around the realms of Ernesto Rodrigues’ activity, both as a releasing musician on Creative Sources and a member of the Variable Geometry Orchestra. Complaintes De Marée Basse is a brilliant record, no ifs and buts. By severing every connection to concepts of themes, melodies and harmonies, the performers let a resonantly grumbling creature take centre stage in a blend of shabby reverberations, randomized irritabilities and proficient exploitation of the musical qualities of noise. Stains of corroded guitar strings and anti-patterns depicted on a snare drum are enhanced by a silent intercommunication between subterranean coincidences, the flood of an intelligent wrongdoing constituting – quite absurdly, one might say – a sort of “industrial balm” for ears too used to commonplace masked with fake Buddha smiles.