DAFELDECKER/KURZMANN/DRUMM/ERIKM/DIEB13/NOETINGER
Dafeldecker/Kurzmann/Drumm/eRikm/Dieb13/Noetinger
Charhizma
020
OREN AMBARCHI/JOHAN BERTHLING
My Days are Darker than your nights
Hapna
H 10
Perhaps the key to really satisfying improvised electro-acoustic performances
is related to the number of players present. At least the group grope
that populates the final track on the Charhizma CD here provides more
than enough tones and textures to differentiate -- and elevate -- it above
the other selections.
Self-aggrandizement plays very little part of this music, which thrives
on nicknames -- dieb13 and eRikm here -- and a conception of the program
as undivided tonality. For instance the six tracks were recorded in Berlin,
Granz, Austria and Vienna, but run together as if they were one performance.
Yet, with everyone on board -- Austrians Christof Kurzmann on clarinet
and G3 and Werner Dafeldecker on bass and electronics plus American Kevin
Drumm on guitar and synthesizer and Frenchman Jerome Noetinger on electroacousti
devices, not to mention eRikm on electronics and Dieb13 on turntables
-- the soundfield suddenly becomes that much more expansive. Rather than
the intermittent pulses and drones that characterize much of the disc,
there are drum beat intimations, the sound of a jet taking off, the ricochet
of a door stopper, something that could be triggered feedback, a fire
drill siren, scraping noises, static rustle and an approximation of what
seems to be a robot executing trampoline jumps.
Trying to ascribe individual sounds to individual instruments would be
pointless. And it helps to note that the gang is made up of tricksters
too. Although the final piece is timed at 5:10, after seven minutes of
silence when it supposedly finishes, sounds suddenly radiate again for
another four minutes or so, featuring bass chord echoes, pulsating sine
waves, pedal coloration, whistles, horse whinnies and signals from outer
space.
Also absorbing is the penultimate track, which features Noetinger's only
other appearance on the CD. An old hand in trio situations like this --
he also recorded an exceptional disc with pianist Sophie Agnel and Lionel
Marchetti on tapes and electronics -- he, Kurzmann and Dafeldecker manage
to create something that at times suggests that all the technology, keyboardsandmechanics
are underwater, as bubbling squeaks and whistles percolate to the surface.
Other sonic adventures include intermittent squeals, what could be a real,
live motor running and bird-like electronic chirps that resemble the sounds
of a flock of wild fowl attacking the interface. Underneath all this is
the minute aural suspicion that diminutive ants are somehow manipulating
microscopic sidewalk drills.
Centrepiece of the disc, though less satisfying than some other pieces,
is the abrasive "Berlin1" -- almost 21 minutes of an assembly
line of scraping metal -- courtesy of the entire crew minus Noetinger.
Although EuroImprov followers may be hard pressed to connect these sounds
to Dafeldecker's work with Polwechsel, which makes a virtue of near silence,
he had a history of playing drone-based improv with others. Perhaps too
it's his bass -- or Drumm's guitar -- which delineates the occasional
chord heard. Among the wavering and repetitious drones and buzzes are
pulses that, probably arising from the G3 or synthesizer could emanate
from vibes, percussion, bells, maracas, or even a primate's throat. Where
the clarinet tones are supposed to appear is anyone's guess, though.
Before the high-pitched track dissolves from a variegated, wavering drone
that seem to take up all available audio space into static, another dynamic
can be heard. It's a recurrent chord pattern that, like a similar motif
in the work of British experimental band AMM, creates a base on which
other tones are displayed.
AMM seems to figure into the concept of the other CD, which features one
slightly more than 30-minute improvisation by Australian guitarist Oren
Ambarchi and Swede Johan Berthling playing harmonium. Ambarchi, who has
interacted with AMM's guitarist Keith Rowe, would seem to be perfectly
at home in this setting. But the setting is a bit unusual for Berthling,
an exceptional Swedish bassist, who usually works in jazz/improv with
countrymen like pianist Sten Sandell and drummer Raymond Strid. In fact
much of this CD can be tough sledding for many listeners. It's definite
that the piece would wear out its welcome if it went on any longer.
Most of the time it seems as if the two performers are extending variations
on a single, dense, droning tone, which swells like a mammoth cathedral
organ ejaculation. Pulsations billow up from elsewhere after a while,
but the closest approximation to the sound would be bagpipe timbres. The
idea -- as with some of AMM's discs -- is to so overload the organ of
Corti that you begin to hear variations within the viscous noise. Somehow,
in fact, here a third timbre appears, though you can't really be sure
to which instrument it can be ascribed. Finally, in the last few minutes,
the hint of guitar fuzztone surfaces and the solid aural mass seems to
break up slightly, with the harmonium defining the bottom and static whirring
on top. Just before the fade as well, the guitar line parses itself down
to slightly resemble Pete Townshend's intro to "Baba O'Riley."
Improvisation always includes the danger of unevenness, and both these
CDs exhibit that, as well as portions of great creativity. Those interested
in change should probe these discs, but be prepared to take the less-than-stellar
with the stimulating.
-- Ken Waxman
Track Listing: DKDMDN: 1. Berlin* 1; 2. Graz 2#; 3. Wien# 1; 4. Berlin
2+; 5. Berlin 3+#
Track listing: Days: 1. My days are darker than your nights
Personnel: DKDMDN: Christof Kurzmann, clarinet and G3; Kevin Drumm, guitar
and synthesizer [except track 4]; Werner Dafeldecker, bass and electronics;
eRikm, electronics*; Dieb13, turntables#; Jerome Noetinger, electroacoustic
devices+
Personnel: Days: Oren Ambarchi, guitar; Johan Berthling, harmonium